Streke woke up, rubbing his eyes.
“Good morning.” He said, helping pack up.
“Good morning” Tarkur responded with a smile as he finished frying some eggs over the fire.
Approaching the city from the west, they would pass over a ridge and follow the river towards Karios. The mist hanging over the city burns away under the midday sun as they approach, with only the occasional traveler passing them on the road. When they get into the city they’d hear a market in the distance and see a grand building perched above the others on a hill.
Jaspar mirrors her shrug. “Oh, uh, sounds good to me.” He falls back a step, until he’s walking alongside her rather than in front of her.
“No.” Ekimu barely looks back at her. “This conversation is personal.”
“Want me anywhere?” Vohman drawls. @Runa
The guard squints at him, seemingly unconvinced. “Do you know the kinds of stuff Ekimu gets up to, kid? A bit more than a stroll through the woods.”
While whispers and astounded stares are numerous among the city residents, Kiva keeps a quick enough pace that they pass by all of them without issue. No time at all has passed before they make it to the plaza at the foot of the Elders’ platform.
There they find a crowd of Okotans, some seated but many more packed into standing positions. With his height Morrus would be able to see over the crowd, to where a pair of guards stand uneasily against some passionate-looking villagers. Kiva gulps, then pushes his way through the crowd, apologizing profusely until he has cleared a path for the both of them to reach the guards.
“There you are!” one of the guards calls. “The Elders have been waiting; you can head right up.”
“You?” a villager snarls, seemingly the one who had been speaking with the guards when Morrus had arrived. “They’ve been keeping us all locked up here because of you? Who do you think you are? Do you think your problems are more important than ours, huh? We have enough problems without you! Why don’t you slink back to where you came from, you, you- you overgrown houseplant!” With that the villager lunges at the Lord, the second guard bodily holding him back.
“Up you go,” the first guard says, unable to hold back a grimace.
4 Likes
Morrus strained his neck to look above the crowd. As he followed Kiva through, an uneasiness set in. Why were all these people here?
As the villager lashed out verbally at Morrus, his self confidence dramatically shrunk. By the time he jumped at him Morrus’ head had all but sunk into his shoulders and his green leaves were turning brown. Looking away, he forcibly gulped and shot a bit more green into his body before standing on the platform.
Why is the sun so cold right now?
1 Like
Reige began picking up on the negative emotions again that had led him into the jungle in the first place or was it. Something about it was illogical or at least weird.
Deciding to travel in the new direction of these emotions he had felt was ultimately the right choice in his opinion, wheter or not it was the same source. He had convinced himself that his duties had been neglected by this wild goose chase of his and he needed to get back to his goal, his purpose.
1 Like
“Got it. Keya comes with me, too. Anyone else wherever they want.” Hitora responds, picking Azure up.“And you’d probably be better off with Gladius.” He says to Vohman.
“When the woods are filled to the brim with Skull Spiders, and my village is close by to a spot where a certain someone disappeared, a hotbed for Skull Spider activity, I think it might be a bit more dangerous than you give me credit for.” Vinum responds.
2 Likes
Collected seemed to… stir as his name was spoken, his head giving a quick twitch before he suddenly let out a full body shudder, and staggered forward. Though only taking a single step before seemingly recovering himself from… whatever that was.
He also seemed to be a touch more… aware than he had been for a good portion of their travels so far, his shadowed eyes now lacking a previous… murkiness, though so light it was practically unnoticeable til it was gone, as he turned his head to stare directly at Gladius.
2 Likes
“Come along.” Gladius murmured, both happy and unhappy that the Collected had finally showed some sign of comprehension of his surroundings.
He directed his group towards the right of where Vohman had stopped.
Collected merely let out a low… it wasn’t exactly a huff, nor a grumble, more something a mixture of the two, in reply before he gave his head another quick shake, and moved to follow.
Azure is still barely conscious as she gets carried away.
Kiva sets the lift in motion, casting a sideways glance to Morrus. “You, uh… you okay?”
“Ehhh… well if something happens to you, it isn’t my fault, you hear?” the guard insists. “Ekimu went out west, towards the Dark Crater. Chasing down some big criminal, or something.”
The guide flashes Hitora a quick thumbs up.
He follows along, pulling a dagger from his belt.
2 Likes
Ilza continues to head forward, just kinda… walkin. She clicks her tongue, and adjusts her mask.
2 Likes
Morrus suddenly turned towards Kiva, seeming to forget he was even there. “Oh, uh, uh… I’m fine.”
Turning away again, Morrus drew his hands up to his shoulders, staring down at the crowd below. I seriously need to calm down. What’s wrong with me? Is it just because-
Last night’s message suddenly jumped into his memory, and he straightened himself with a considerably more dignified air than he previously had. “He’s just dying, is all. Nothing I need to worry over.”
He glanced out over the city, acting as if he had forgot Kiva existed again.
Gladius scanned for any sort of chamber entrance; any place the Protector may have gotten himself cornered. It was definitely a very overgrown jungle… Whose idea was it to make the jungle so humid?
1 Like
Reige continues towards the emotions his felt the jungle flashing by in the background, ever so often a tree gets cut through with his sword as he passes the falling trees
1 Like
Jaspar walks alongside her, his staff clicking like a metronome as they walk. He clears his throat, glancing over some of the nearby buildings and absent-mindedly wondering which ones were original and which were added in the city’s rebuilding.
Kiva blinks, taken aback, but before he can comment the lift comes to a stop. The lead Elder leans in, ushering Morrus forward.
“Lord of the Skies! Welcome. Come, come; we have much to discuss.”
No substantial structures mark the ruins from where he’s standing, only faded totems and crumbling pillars. The trail they were following continues to meander on to the southeast, with a narrower track angling off due south. The trail seems to be much the same as what they had been following all morning: not well-used by any means, but a clear path wide enough for two people to walk side by side, stone carvings dotting the sides and looming out of the underbrush. However, it would seem like a highway compared to the other trail: barely a game trail, it seems to vanish into the underbrush ten paces in. However, if one of the group is perceptive they might notice a snapped branch or two along its edge. @Runa
3 Likes
The Lord of the Skies nodded and folded his hands behind his back, glancing about casually as he entered. “Quite the crowd today.” He muttered, raising an eyebrow in the direction of the lift, mostly to see if Kiva was going to do anything.
Gladius scowled. No fine indication of anything occurring except maybe someone coming through once a year and removing fallen trees and the like; it was a remarkably clean path.
He rested on one knee and ran his fingers over the carvings in one of the stones. “With all this overgrowth, there’s a surprising lack of signs of life.” He murmured. “Vohman, who made these originally?”
1 Like
The two would head towards the grand building, perhaps they could find something of use there.
One of the guards would raise their spear flip and it around, sending the butt of the the weapon directly at Skipper’s head.
The walls on the sides of the crevice are smooth as glass, not a sign that any guard went across the gap. On the right side of the wall down below them is a dangerous ledge that does indeed lead towards the stone door. Whether it could be trusted, who knows, but is looks at least feasible to use it to get across somehow.
However considering how close they were to the guards it is very unlikely they went down that path, it would take too long and is too dangerous, perhaps there is another path, one that could be used in a quick motion. Perhaps the direction they need to go in is not in front them.
Dax would follow Ekimu, an idea of what the Mask Maker would say comes to his mind, but he quickly throws away any assumption he has going into this.
Sonata clambers up, standing tall. She needs to go now, who knows how much time she has left. She sprints towards the crevice, telling herself to remember what her husband told her. What he shared with her. Tears stream down her face, as she fears that she could be too late.
“You know…”
A voice came from the darkness above, the warrior lifts his head to see through the iron bars that are his ceiling and his cage.
“I’ve always dreamed that this moment would come to pass… but Symphony… Something feels off.”
The tyrant queen grins behind her mask, gold patterns adorning her armor.
“You would never give up so easily… well never before… you met your brother… you had given up and were committed to the act, committed to power…”
She teases him, her personal assassin, her personal grim reaper.
“Yet here you are powerless, less you strike and lose what you hold dear… your daughter. You know I have plans for her… I see a future where I raise her to be better than you could ever be. She would be my daughter… and my pride… perhaps that is what made you weak… but unlike you I have no compassion.”
The tyrant queen picks up and crushes a small glassed stone in her hand.
“I would make sure she completed her tasks… and who knows if I ever pass, perhaps she would become the new queen of the Dark Mist, perhaps she would be my princess of Okoto…”
Symphony stares at Azla Undel, fury burning in his crimson eyes. He would have his chance… but now he would need to endure,
“Heh Scum like you could never raise a child… you’d kill her before she became what you want… and one more thing. Lady Krad… know this I will rip that head of yours off your body and tear you limb by limb, I will cut through everything that gives you power and scatter its ashes to the wind, where they will become separated forever. You will never rule okoto and you will never become the mother of my daughter… that is my promise… and I shall keep it.”
The tyrant queen turns around, and walks away her eyes frozen with the cold touch of fear… She has a caged monster in her fortress and one should never test a monster.
Erebos nears the hills, there he finds a place to rest and hide until he can move again. The request of the Mask Maker… it’s one he’s going to keep, he must recover his mask, his power… then… he could bring true order to Okoto, then they would be safe…
4 Likes
Kryuna sighed in frustration as she looked around. She glanced up at the cave’s ceiling, hoping for any other possible routes than the flimsy ledge.
3 Likes
Looking at the ceiling… or well ceilings, she would immediately notice that the section of cave they were in had a lower ceiling than the overall crevice. Specifically with the Crevice, it reached much higher, perhaps threefold or greater in height.
3 Likes