CLOSED MAIN STORY The Evrensel Conflict: Prologue -- The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday -- SINAI

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"Kaathe!"

Upon seeing Kaathe, Anri dashed up to him and climbed onto his back to make sure it was the real him. It was. No one else could have such relaxed muscles when being randomly climbed on. Oh! And he was giving her food! She can't say no to that! So she grabbed the treat and ate it like a hungry rabid dog, ripping the cooked flesh apart, caring not one bit about the sand. Within a moment, there was nothing but the bone left, and even that would not be spared by the little girl. She crunched it apart piece by piece, chewing the marrow until it could go down her gullet.

As she finished the bone off, she realized that no one else was introducing themselves, so she decided to make herself known to the group of creatures. she swallowed the piece she was eating, and exclaimed,

"I'm Anri! And this is Kaathe!"

Anri patted Kaathe as she introduced him, before proceeding to pop the last of the bone into her mouth to finish off.
 
"Where I come from sir knight, I was trained to stand at altitudes far greater then your mount could fly. I should be fine." Karena couldn't help but crack a small smile, which had the added benefit of flashing her fangs again. Oh the words she could say right now...

"I know it is because you would rather keep me in eyesight the whole time, but part of me wonders if you think a pretty woman pressed against your back will damage your purity." She teased with a small giggle. "Anyway, we are wasting time." She made her way over to the steed and made an effort to get settled in with the knights help.
 
Louis coughed fitfully at the maiden's jest, tilting his head away from her sight as he helped her onto his steed. However, the keen eye would easily discern the blush writ upon his weathered face; one the knight tried to conceal with his right fist pressed against his lips. Humorously, a typical Knight of Bretonnia need not worry about the matters of purity when laying with a woman. However, Louis was never one for such distractions, partially due to his devotion to his quest, yes... but largely due to his bashfulness around the fairer sex. Such was his embarrassment that he could not think of a proper response to the maiden's witty remark; perhaps beneficial as staying silent may have been wise in this situation.

As Karena climbed aboard Mignonne, the bird gave a mild squawk in acceptance of the added weight. Surprisingly, she was rather comfortable with the additional passenger upon her back and did not fuss as they ascended. It seemed the traitorous bird liked the vampire... or perhaps everyone in their party, she had seemed oddly docile around all of them.

'Fie' thought the knight as they reached a kilometer in the sky, both due to the knight's distracted thoughts and because it provided a better view higher up. He much needed to recover his wit, perhaps talking would help?

"Thou sayeth thou hast stood at greater altitudes than a hippogriff, Lady Karena. Or trained to do so... in any case, I would like if thou wouldst expound on that. If you please, of course."
 
Alande's face scrunches up slightly as he watches Anri eat the Harpy leg, watching what looked like a human act in the most uncivilized and feral way achievable. He forces his mouth shut and grits his teeth, watching his pleas about the importance of shelter in this harsh environment ignored as people embrace trying to make progress with a compass and height. Watching the Vampire cozy up with a person he initially thought was going to be a worthwhile ally was the final nail in the coffin of frustration. Colt was all he'd have for the moment as a reliable ally that isn't a Reality Deviant. He hated it here already. His mind drifted to his own group which was no doubt as isolated as he was, probably going through their own issues, and eventually further back home. Abruptly, he dismissed the thoughts, reasoning that ultimately they would only serve to stress him out. He brings his cane up close to his face, brushing off a few grains of sand. He speaks quietly to himself. "Lets just hope we get shelter soon."
 
Ass the group began to move, and also introduce themselves, Xeir figured it best to also join them and introduce herself, once there was a quiet lull in the conversation she spoke up. "I am not sure what the humans on my world would have named me other then a Beast General or Beast King or Beast Lord, they never gave names to individual monsters. But my... I suppose you could call them guards and underlings ? They referred to be as Xeir" She however pronounced "sir" as "xeir", with a very hard X sound to it.

Xeir crested a sand dune a bit later and looked about. The world felt strangely familar, yet also quite alien. Mental compass showed her hoped for direction being directly.... west, as if the poles were reversed ? Or was her own mental compass off ? Most monsters on her world had a natural sense of the cardinal points of a compass, it was natures way of saying "Find a place to call home, even if humans live there" So in Xeirs case, she had a home, but given the look of this desert....

"Where are we ?"
 
"Well... to answer that question..." Karena had to think for a moment. How were she going to explain this to the knight. "Where I come from we build massive ships that can sail above the clouds. Other countries prefer to make giant metal tunes that can fly much like your bird here. But my people prefer to make steel hulled boats, and let them float above the clouds using sacks of hot air and screws that propel them forward."

She paused to let that sink in a little bit. "Before my current job I was a... nun... for lack of better terms, well... not really a nun, more like a warrior priestess. It was our job to maintain and repair the airship, then dive off the side of it either by ourselves with a cloth designed to slow our fall, or in smaller flying ships to attack our enemies while the cannons rained fire down in them."

"The winds on deck could get very very strong, along with the sway of the ship itself. A kind of... sea legs, sky legs, are acquired rather quickly."
 
~~GM~~

When Karena finally took off into the air on Mignonne, she would have an excellent view of the desert.

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The dunes would vanish several dozen kilometers in any direction, turning into flat expanses with several large rocky islands between them, before ending at the vast mountain terrain that seemed to go on forever. No signs of vegetation could be seen, or any sources of water. There was something, however, on the horizon of the salt flats just to the east. A massive sand cloud was moving across it, heading west along the foot of the mountains. The way the sand was being kicked up showed it wasn't a storm causing it. Too narrow and small for that.

It seemed to be a caravan. A big one. And while Karena wouldn't be able to see what exactly the caravan looked like, if she and the others were quick enough, they could make their way across the dunes and down to the salt flats before it passed them by.

But, immediate danger was still hiding away. While they all talked and bickered and discussed a plan of action, the creature behind the mass of skeletons was stalking its prey. Its head stuck out the edges of another sand dune across from them, like a crocodile bobbing its head just above water. It had been watching them all, scanning their weapons and technology to determine their threat level.

When it deemed them no possible threat to itself, it then sunk back into the sand, and slithered towards them...
 




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Darlo rolls his eyes in annoyance at the yapping of the two aerial scouts. He was getting restless just sitting there waiting. He glances back to the bone pile, an eerie feeling settling in and itching beneath his scales like a stuck shed. His gaze flicks back up to survey their surroundings once more, gaze lingering on the neighboring dune. Hadn't there been some little rock poking out the top of it? Wind was still, it couldn't have been covered up…

He slowly circles around the group to place himself between them and the point of concern. He carries himself lower to the ground, letting his earth magic extend outwards, picking up the vibrations of their group loud and clear…. And something else, articulating beneath the sand. Heavy. Metallic. Another ambush predator. "Something's coming. We need to move, now." He warns the group. "You guys got something or are we winging it? Gotta start making decisions down here." He calls up to the yappers.


 
Luer nodded in Alande's direction when he commented on the alcohol. "That is not a bad idea, actually." He mused. If he could do that it could prove to solve their problem for a little while. Moving on from that though then was the discourse of which way to go. Getting moving was not a bad idea either. Daro was right, he did not want to find out what killed these poor souls.

He looked between the others as they went on about and began doing some very odd things. He did not like judge people on habits, he was the last person to do such a thing, but the child eating that thing was disturbing. He shook his head of it, instead turning to simply size up his new companions. He preferred to work alone, but given what was going on, he really did not want to. These people were all kinds of strange that he was far from ready to contest alone.

He glanced over when he noted Daro moving, inspecting something. What caught his attention? He gave a concerned look when the man spoke up. He did not like the sounds of that, getting his bow ready. "Anywhere but here at this point…" He muttered to himself.
 
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Henryboy003 said:
But my people prefer to make steel hulled boats, and let them float above the clouds using sacks of hot air and screws that propel them forward.
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"Ah, that is quite interesting. I have actually ridden aboard such a vessel years ago, in service to a dwarven engineer early in my quest. Tis why I decided to tame my cute little Mignonne, in truth. The experience of soaring through the skies like the Great Duke, Agilgar of Parravon, was a pleasure I had not known until that moment and I was fain willing to do so again afterwards." The knight, now suitably distracted from his embarrassment spoke passionately, for he very much enjoyed flying through the skies.

He would have continued however, had it not been for the yelling of one of his companions below.

AshenAngel said:
"You guys got something or are we winging it? Gotta start making decisions down here." He calls up to the yappers.
Click to expand...
"I see naught Ser Darlo, but I think that Lady Karena has spotted something over the horizon. Is aught the matter? Thou soundst as if thou hast seen something coming for us!" The knight yelled down toward his companion, placing a gauntleted hand over his poleaxe, his 'Drengudrakk'. The tone of the man below held an edge to it, one that Louis recognized from the more wary companions he had travelled with during his quest. Turning to the Lady Karena, he spoke again, "I feel it would be prudent if thou wouldst secure thyself Lady Karena. Thou may have 'sky legs' as thou said, but Mignonne is frightfully fast when she dives, and I suspect that she will have to soon if Ser Darlo's tone is any indication."
 
Alande, upon noticing the snake mans change in demeanor, blinks. Clearly the predator has come to roost. He spares a single thought to the creature, firmly believing its made its last mistake. Taking the cane, he flicks a dial and hits a button as a silent orchestra of gears, servos, and other machinery moves to reveal the rapier hidden inside. Bringing his hand up to his sunglasses, oddly helpful in the bright sun, he clicks a button on his sunglasses. Given that nothing was visible, and the snake deviant could feel it, they were probably moving beneath the soil. The glasses begin working overtime, looking for slight microscopic disturbances in the soil. It takes less than a moment for it to track a path in the sand, the creature that was coming for the group. He wishes he had the algorithms to figure out more, but it was never his specialty. "S-" he stops himself, these people probably weren't as educated as he was. "It's in the sand. I'm tracking it. Right there," he points the rapier at the disturbed soil.

He pauses for a bit, as he notes the direction the creature is coming at. Directly for them. He follows up quick, "It's coming right for me. Take a shot at it when it comes up, please," He takes a bit of a wider stance, crouching down slightly as he activates an auto-injector. He didn't have a lot left on him, but this will need to be enough. Nanobots begin coursing through his veins and arteries, invigorating his muscles slightly for peak performance, while the glasses give him advanced warning of when the attack is liable to occur. He gets ready to jump and roll out of the way of the ambush strike, feeling his heart pump from rising adrenaline levels.
 
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Kaathe kept quiet as he walked with the ragtag group of individuals. The dark elf didn't seem you're care who they were or where they were from. They were strangers that he didn't know of nor cared about. The people he did know and care about were mostly in his own world living their lives and dealing with new threats. This bunch will likely be part of a long list of random acquaintances…

Kaathe didn't like that sound. It was a deep shifting of sands. It wasn't loud, but it was distinctive enough to be heard by him. The lizard man's concerned tone lent evidence that there was something near, and it was all but confirmed when another person tried to point out the signs of its presence… Kaathe was a Monster slayer and hunter. He could tell that it was waiting.

"I hope you're ready for it."

Kaathe walked closer to Alande, Lance at the ready.
 
Anri​

She was practically bouncing up and down as she moved around with the group. She had reunited with a friend, and was now on a new adventure with new people! And it was starting off interesting! She hadn't been paying attention, as she was focused on humming, so when the others had begun to talk about there being something following them, Anri was curious about what they were talking about. Some guy said that it was in a certain spot, and Kaathe was cautiously moving towards him. And I, however, decided to start rapidly digging where the man had pointed.
 
~~GM~~

With an explosion of sand, metallic claws reached out from under Alande's feet to grab and pull him under. It swirled so fast, the dune they all stood on began to fall apart, and they would start sinking into the sand as it lost stability. Whether it grabbed Alande or not, the creature would again reveal itself as it blew back out onto the surface a dozen feet away; launching itself out from the dune's collapsing slipface.

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The predator had finally revealed itself. A huge, bulking metal scorpion machine, double the size of a regular human being. But, it looked to also have suffered severe damage already to its armored body, and even its stinger tailed looked to have been blown off. Whether that would be an advantage for the group or not, the scorpion was quick to attack again once out in the open, firing several rockets from its claws towards the team as the dune continued to collapse and sink.
 
As the foe deigned to appear before them at last, Louis was, Lady forgive him, relieved. The thing held a heavy similarity to the tomb scorpions that the damnable tomb kings fielded in battle and was likewise smaller than other threats he had faced prior. In truth, he was expecting a more monstrous foe.

Pulling hard on the reigns, Mignonne dodged the projectiles heading toward the three of them and began to circle 'round looking for an opportunity to dive. Sparing a second to warn his passenger, Louis shared his plan, "The beast seems to be a construct of artificed metal, and while I do not doubt Mignonne's quality, I feel that it wouldst be most appropriate to use her to get onto the things back, rather than to risk injury. Thou couldst join or dismount when we land, the choice is yours. Regardless, I will continue forth."

Shortly after his words were said, the opportunity was found and Mignonne began her descent. Grasping the reigns, Louis spoke to his mount, "Go forth, Mignonne" he whispered, before spurring her onwards, her dive punctuated by a sudden roar on his lips, "TAKE THE GROUND!"

All those below would hear the bird's shrill shriek and the knight's fierce shout as they dived toward the scorpion at frightening speeds, Mignonne's wings unfurling just as they crashed against the foe, knocking it off balance. For a brief moment, Mignonne wrestled with the construct, her claws gouging terrible rents in its armor and knocking it further off balance before flying off again.

"FOR THE LADY AND THE GRAIL!" Cried Louis as he dismounted from the stirrups; charging down Mignonne's back and leaping onto the scorpion, blessed poleaxe aflame in his hands. Striking forth with the axehead, Louis found a foothold on the thing's back, an oft-favored tactic by those who followed the Virtue of Heroism. From there he distracted the scorpion, cleaving through the rest of the tail to sever it, and deftly beating back any wayward appendage that sought to knock him off his perch.
 
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Alande jumps right before the claws breached the surface, the glasses giving him plenty of forewarning. Soaring several meters away, the scorpion robot blows backwards and out of the collapsing dune far too late for him to get a retaliatory slash in. Alande, although spared from being grabbed by the creature, had a landing to stick. He was decently athletic, with his gear and optimized bodily metabolism only reinforcing the effect. As he lands, he is forced by momentum to make a rolling motion, falling along with the collapsing sand dune. Carried along by the sand, he hears the launching of the rockets, turning his neck sharply to look in the scorpions direction. Keeping their head down, he retrieves a wire and connects it to the hilt of the blade. A hostile computer virus lingers dormant in the blade, awaiting an opportunity to hit the construct of his ire. The sand finally settles enough for him to scramble onto his feet. Watching the mounted knight get the Scorpions attention, he had the chance to process the situation. That definitely looked like an accursed work of Reality Deviance. It didn't look like anything Iteration X or his own convention would make. Too impractical, too loud. None of that mattered right now at least. He needed to get closer, so he demanded his legs move to close the distance, trying to keep attention off of him.
 
"By The First calm down!" Karena cried out as the bird dipped into a dive. Feet first into hell she guessed. "You idiot you'll just blunt your weapon!" She yelled out after him, jumping off the side of the bird as she dove in and rolled to the side. During her roll she drew her gunblade and let it rest along her shoulder. Her Halo blazing into life around her as she felt her Tension rise up her spine. "Fine... if we are fighting a Golem then..." She quickly darted in, just trying to get a better look at the thing while the knight was poincing on its back. Trying to see just how the thing ticked and where she could hit and deal some real damage. It only took her a few seconds to find it. A small little gap in the platings of its legs.

She raised her gunblade and sent a shot right through that gap. Slamming a blast of energy into the Golems inner workings. She then focused a little bit, bringing her gunblade up and swinging it, throwing a bolt of magic at the knight, washing over his body in a protective barrier. "You're going to get hurt up there get the hell down, that thing is far stronger then you are and can throw you a good thirty meters if it wanted to!"
 
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