Quest [Regional Quest] Stranded

[Sira]

It wasn't hard to find Ishgrameer. The telltale sound and sights that came with shifting quickly drew Sira's eyes, and by the time he was dressed again she had reached him. Sira had actually met very few kelvics in her life. Her daughter was one of them, and then there was the other that she had met years ago who tried to attack Sairque. Despite the negative interaction between herself and the kelvic, it had led to Sira meeting Aidara, so she couldn't be too mad about it. Other than that, though, her sightings of her own kind had been few and far in between.

"Hi," she said warmly as she approached, "That was some nice flying back there. I'm Sira. What's your name?"

Caste differences aside, Sira was excited to meet another kelvic, and hoped he would be more talkative than subservient. She hated it when she tried to hold a conversation with somebody, but all they could do was mumble whatever they thought she wanted to hear because they were afraid she would be angered by something else. If she wanted something specific, she would order it, but Sira craved genuine conversation, and there were so few to give it to her. She had always wanted to learn more about her race. Perhaps Ishgrameer could help with that.. if she could befriend him during the journey.

[Alori Sai]

"Sira.."

Alori called out as she took a few steps forward and hugged the Wind Eagle kelvic. It was times like this, when the Avora's emotions took over and she did things without thought, and another near-death experience was just the thing to bring it out of her. The while thing had happened fast, and she through it all, Alori had no idea where Sira was, or what was going on beyond the thick rocks that blocked the others path from getting by.

"That was insane right? I'm just glad they decided to retreat."

There was a look in the teen's hazel eyes, a look of hope and fulfillment. As crazy and uncooperative as the group had been so far, they had made it through, and without the lost of life to anything human or animal. She took a deep breath, her lips parting as her words came out, though she was speaking more to herself than to Sira. "I think we're going to be alright."

Once Sira left to check on the others, The little huntress turned and stared out towards the area where the Yanus had fled too. Perhaps the Avora understood now, more than ever in her life the different between a senseless slaughter, and when a hunter didn't have much of a choice. Luckily the owl kelvic came along when it did, and spared her of having to make that choice. She turned back and headed into the group then to check on the others as well.

Soon enough, she found Sira again while she was talking to the owl kelvic, now back in human form and dressed. Alori walked over and hugged him as well, he was the hero of the day after all. She didn't know him, but after having saved her life, she had to say something to him. "Hey, that was pretty amazing back there. Thanks for helping me out. I'm Alori by the way.." She smiled and gave a quick glance towards Sira while she waited for him to respond.

"Oh , look at these.."

She offered, as she held out her hands and showed them both the feathers that she had. "They must have fallen off the Yanus. Pretty sweet right?" The teen reached a hand up, and combed back her hair to where it curled behind her left ear and placed one of the feathers neatly just above her ear."What do you think?" she asked glancing between them both. "Its fashionable right? I bet they would go for good pinions too." Alori licked her lips and took a step forward and placed the second feather behind Ishgrameer's ear.

"There...it's perfect."

[Elna]

The rocks slipped out of the bottom and came tumbling to the ground. The plan was a success! Elna raised her hands in the air in victory. It felt good to see something go right, even if she couldn't come off as a major contributor. Elna could see straight though the open to the other group. One way or another the threat seemed to be gone although their were no carcasses. With the archers having their guards down, Elna could only assume that the creatures had safety retreated, they wouldn't be hiding around the corner or anything. Pulling out her falcon call, she summoned Segdahl back to her arm and made her way though the hole.

She was starting to come out of the ordeal on a high note, the group was successful and they didn't take any casualties. However, for Elna at least, that positive feeling would wind up ending fairly quickly. Kaden stressed that the group had to work better as a team. As he did he gave, Elna a dirty look as if the comment was directed at her in particular. That look made her heart sink and her jaw drop. She couldn't see anything she had done wrong. Kanri started an argument with her, but she swallowed her pride and walked away. She helped set the plan to take down the wall in motion dispute her distrust of it coming from a foreign leader who looked as young and inexperience as she was. Despite everything working against her, she was working with the group. She just couldn't believe the look she received. And then that was it, he said no more and tuned his back on her, continuing down the path. Honestly though, it didn't matter how well she was doing, the fact was she was still failing in the eyes of the Valintar. To him, Elna was doing more harm then good, and considering the whole reason Elna was out here was to prove to the Valintar that his faith in her was not misplaced, that was the only thing that really mattered.

Elna could only hang her head in shame as she followed the group. Despite her best efforts, she was looking just plain useless, as always. Last fall she thought she could help by tailing the rogue Dek, but others found the hide out without her help anyway. Now she thought she could offer an idea to climb over and it only ended with people angry with her. Dispite the group making it out without a scratch, it still felt like yet another failure fore herself, and she had already had enough of those for a life time.

Still, Elna knew she had to put more effort into working with this group and getting along. Unfortunately she didn't really know how to do that. Elna just didn't see anyway to squeeze herself into any conversations. It seemed like everyone had split off, happily chatting amongst each other, seemingly proud of how things went. The state she was in right now would just clash with all that. She didn't even feel like talking to Segdahl right now, and she didn't even have to worry about his response. All that considered, she was just keeping quietly to herself for now.

[Eilea]

Everything happened too quickly! Before Eilea could comprehend everything, the group was gathering together once again. The Vantha felt so stupid for acting like a child. Even the Valintar pointedly made a remark about it.

“I'm sorry, Sir.” She said and lowered her eyes, not allowing herself to make eye contact. She was embarrassed, and not feeling well. The whole climbing... flying... ordeal had taken a bit of energy from her. All she wanted to do was sleep. Eilea sighed to herself, before stumbling towards Kane.

“Hi Kane!” She said, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I missed you!” Without meaning to, the girl began to nuzzle her nose against his neck. “You're so smart and so brave and so...” She trialed off as she closed her eyes. “Oh I love you Kane.” Being both out of it, and tired, and possibly a bit confused, the girl continued to cling to her love as she tried to regain her composure. “I looooovveee...” A sound of a horse snorting, caught her attention. “Wine!” Eilea realized Kane and then spun on her heels before moving towards her horse quickly.

“Wine!” She then wrapped her arms around her horse then and did the name nuzzling notion with her nose against the horse's neck as she had done to Kane, preivously. “Oh you are so soft.” She rubbed the horse's neck and leaned against her, smiling. “Can I ride you?” She asked. The horse gave her a nudge and the Vantha quickly moved around to her back and adjusted her bow and quiver on the horse's saddle. The girl got on the horse's back, mostly for rest, and then led Wine back over to Kane and his horse.

“Sorry... I was really dumb back there.” She apologized. “You did do well, though!” She smiled at him and her eyes changed to a light green tone. The girl didn't make any notice of any of the other adventurers in the group. To her, Kane was the only important one. And he deserved ALL of her attention.

[Kanri]

Kanri was relieved they had finally gotten over this. What a mess! They clambered over the rocks to the group that had finished fighting off the Yanus. Perfect timing! That had been lucky. She wanted to congratulate the fighters but she did not know any of them and felt to nervous to say anything. She knew of the Endal, but she didn't want to inflate their undoubtedly high egos anymore than necessary.

The Valintar addressed the group before they continued. He warned they still did not know what awaited them in Thunder Bay. Also, he said "For the sake of the Gods, work as a team!"

And nothing could have been more true! Good grief! They all had had their own ideas and just gone off to do their own thing. No one had been listening until the Valintar had stepped in and told them to listen to that one guy. It was almost insulting, to have to listen to an outsider, though it made more sense. The Inarta were all too proud and headstrong to listen to one of their own who had not been pre-delegated the authority. Kanri felt slightly proud of herself because she had at least avoided getting in the way. She wasn't about to go interjecting her own ideas into a nebulous that wasn't listening, even if she thought she had a better one. But maybe next time, if people were that chaotic, she would have to. She really was not one to enjoy leadership positions but if things continued that badly, she resolved to try to get their attention.

Kanri walked near to the back of the group, watching as everyone formed their little talking groups again. She looked but she couldn't find Ardal. She had wanted to yell at him for being reckless, and apologize for not trusting in his climbing skills. Since he wasn't nearby, she kept looking for someone to talk to. She wasn't the type who found it easy to be alone in a crowd and clung to people she knew. She noticed a girl practically suffocating the guy who had taken leadership in the group. Kanri winced. That was exactly the sort of girl she never wanted to be, a girl that obsessed over boys. Then again, that girl was a foreigner. She gave the girl an annoyed glare and kept moving through the group. She saw the Endal-kelvic approach the owl-kelvic. That would be an interesting conversation to listen to, but she kept a respect distance of the Endal. Then, she saw Elna walking by herself. There was another person she could talk to!

Kanri ran up next to her. "Hey Elna! I'm sorry I yelled at you back there. I was just worried about Ardal because he's very important to me but I had no right to take it out on you. Sorry."

[Ishgrameer Windwalker]

Despite what he had thought previously two women approached him one after another.

The first woman, who's name was Sira, he had seen before. She was the other Kelvic whom could take the form of perhaps the mightiest avian he knew of. It filled him with a brief sense of envy, and competitiveness, as befitted his animal nature. Yet, he smiled despite his nature. She complemented his skills. It filled him with pride. "My name is Ishgrameer Windwalker. It is a pleasure to meet you. Yes. You were not bad yourself". He smiled. His eyes locked downward at Sira in a curious manner of what seemed like an assessing gaze.

The second woman to approach him he had seen before with him above the rock collapse. Alori was her name if he remembered correctly. She hugged him. It was pleasant, and in fact rather delightful. He did his best to awkwardly hug her back, despite the height difference. He had been right about her name he soon found out. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well. I am Ishgrameer Windwalker. Glad to see you alright. Safe. Mmhmm".

Alori then placed one of the Yanus feathers behind his ears. He smiled, clearly delighted. Although, he picked the feather out and looked it over. Then he ran his hand through his hair until he found a spot where he could weaver it in with the others. Finally he found a spot where the feather would stand out, and secured there.

"May we find such fortune all along the road ahead. Yes".

[Kane]

Kane’s heart leapt in relief as the rocks broke away from the wall. It worked! His plan had worked! He could feel a grin making its way across his face. At the moment, he truly felt like he’d really accomplished something. Really been helpful. And the proof was right in front of him. There was a path large enough for the group and their horses to make their way through. Ansel himself seemed to sense that he’d been useful, and was practically preening. Kane rolled his eyes at the horse, but patted his neck as a show of good work anyway. Turning, he jerked his head at Saul, who had been staying near the tree line and out of the way as they'd worked, telling the dog to follow after them. Everyone began to make their way through the newly made hole, they could finally make their way to Thunder Bay. As he stepped through, leading Ansel by his reins, a hand rested on his shoulder. Kane smiled at the Valintar, truly grateful for the kind words. And, well, everything really. Then, he caught sight of Eilea, and she didn’t look good. She looked incredibly disoriented, he was surprised she was even keeping herself up straight. Well, kind of straight. When she caught sight of him she began to stagger over towards him. Kane let out a frustrated sigh. “Do you know how stupid that was back there? You could have been seriously hurt. Or worse! You could have been-” He was cut off. Eilea had wrapped her arms around his neck, and began to gush over him in various ways. His eyebrow twitched. Why this? “Okay, okay, that’s enough. You can let go now.” Kane drew the line at her professing her love for him, and tried to push the Vantha away. This went about as well as it had in the past. Damn this girl is strong! She didn’t even seem to notice his attempts to detach her from him. Luckily for him, she was suddenly distracted by her own horse. Kane’s shoulders sagged and he rubbed at his neck. He really didn’t want to do that again. While she spoke to Wine, he turned back over towards his own horse. Ansel was still practically glowing with pride. “You’re so weird.” The horse snorted a gust of air at him, messing up his hair in the process. Kane shot a glare at the Gildling, before giving up and climbing onto the horse’s back. There was no point arguing with the animal; Ansel would only win in the end anyways. “You were super helpful and you are so amazing.” His words were completely in monotone, but the horse still responded in an incredibly lively manner. His steps were higher and he swung his head from side to side slightly as he moved. Kane chuckled lightly. At this point, Eilea was making her way over to them, now sitting atop her Windrunner. She apologized for her earlier actions as they fell into stride along side each other, and then went on to praise him. Kane crossed his arms and huffed but couldn’t stop the small smile that spread on his face. He looked over towards the Vantha. “Thanks.” It was all he needed to say.

[Arandolya]

Arandolya couldn't help but let out a frustrated breath as her arrow whistled straight past the bird, turned off course by its large beating wings. Down to almost ten, Arandolya stopped shooting, as she saw it was making no progress. Scattered and isolated, the group was failing to take down these monstrosities, though with all their noise, the creatures did not attack once more. Territorial? Knowing so little about the Yanus, Arandolya paused as she noticed they did not come after them, trying to connect the dots.

Before her thoughts traveled far though a familiar screech rent the air and Arandolya looked to see the small owl dart at the Yanus with an amount of courage she had to admire. Within moments the Yanus took the bait and were led away, back towards the trees where the calls strengthened. "Ah," Arandolya murmured, realizing it now. She watched the skies for the small black dot that had disappeared into the forest, praying to Priskil he had managed. She feared to think where they would be had the Kelvic not taken matters into his own wings as she looked around to see their group waiting wit the same held breath. Not much of a fighting team were they?

Trith chose this time to return, singing sweetly as she landed on Arandolya's shoulder. "Mm, convenient time to return," she noted, stroking the bird's head. The Inarta turned as a familiar voice thanked her, though she shook her head only saying in her stuttered Common, "I could, ah, not, let the healer ... get hurt, eh?" Though the Konti had moved off to those who had made it through. Arandolya spent a few moments to search for any arrows, hoping she would find some of hers if not Iosha's.

Arandolya blew out a short breath afterwards, and when things became to roll more smoothly, the owl winging back and returning to his human form. She moved to where the rest of the party was coming through, head tilted as she listened to the words of their Valintar. "A team," she murmured under her breath, hands tight on her bow as she dropped in with the party walking towards Thunder Bay.

As they walked down, they scattered into small clusters, talking idly midst themselves and chatting with friends. Arandolya hummed quietly, not unhappy to be left with her own thoughts, though the prospect of walking along the entire way seemed a tad daunting. Iosha once more swept in though, a faithful companion with her vibrant smile, this time bringing an animal. "Moonfire," Arandolya echoed, nodding. "Trith," she added, coaxing the mockingbird onto her fingers and presenting her to Iosha. "Part of ... family, too." With their company pets introduced, and a few pats exchanged, Arandolya felt her body relax in the presence of Iosha as they made their way down to Thunder Bay. It would be good bonding time for the pair, and Arandolya looked forward to working on her Common as it was the only language they shared partly between them.

[Whimsy]

Kaden kept to himself as the group began to move down to Thunder Bay, nearing the coastal settlement with every step they took. The fight with the Yanus had been sudden, unexpected, as had the rockfall which barred their way, and the Valintar was endlessly concerned that they had wasted valuable time with such trivial matters. He had thought about sending Sira ahead to the settlement, the Wind Eagle surveying the land ahead for them, to see what kind of destruction might await, but for some reason he had not. He wanted to see what this group could do. Kaden would stay quiet unless someone approached him directly, mulling over possibilities and problems in his brain as they plodded endlessly down to the bay.

Fortunately for the group, the rest of the Pass remained clear, and the weather of the night when they stopped to rest was beautifully clear, a sure sign summer was on its way. A brief rest beneath the open sky, Zintila's stars shining in all their grandeur above the adventurers, and a start early the next morning, the red light of dawn spilling out over the landscape. The day was clear. They had wasted an entire day since the flash of light over Thunder Bay. But they would arrive in just a few hours... to what, though?

The Valintar kept a swift pace, even more aware of the need that may be awaiting them. However, as they got closer and closer to the settlement, the land becoming less rocky and mountainous, they noticed something strange: or rather, they didn't. The landscape seemed as quiet and as peaceful as ever. Birds were singing, the rustle of animals in the undergrowth was heard, and no smoke rose over Thunder Bay, nor did any screams reach their ears. It seemed like any other fine Spring day. But that was not possible, was it? They had seen the crash themselves. How could no pain and destruction be awaiting them? The Inarta were ever on tenterhooks since the Djed Storm of the year past.

Soon enough, the road led them to Thunder Bay: and nothing at all seemed to be wrong. No fire, no crash sites, nothing. Just a simple sunny day in the coastal paradise. The Valintar looked around carefully, ushering the group through the streets of the settlement, and it was only then they would notice: there was no one around. There were the signs of them, of course, and the people could not be far off, but not one single Dek, Chiet, or Endal seemed to be present. Not one.

"To the water," murmured Kaden to the group, a quiet but undeniable order. He had been expecting more than this! Where was the chaos, the destruction? As the group passed through the streets of Thunder Bay, they would see shops had been open, houses had been used within the last day, but no one was there. Where were they?

The answer would come soon enough: they were crowded on the beach.

"The Valintar is here!" The cry would go up through the crowd, and the cluster of those Inarta already on the beach, all perfectly unharmed, parted to let the group through easily. Person by person, the group would get closer to the shore line, and would be greeted with a beautiful sight.

There, in the shallows, stood a whole host of Charoda, in all their ethereal beauty and strangeness. There were at least twenty of them, and one, the largest and male, stood closest to the shore, waiting for the group in all his regal beauty. He was the chief of the Charoda's party, and he waited for an audience.
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[Iosha]

The rest of the trip to Thunder Bay was uneventful, and Iosha found idle chit chat was the best way to pass the time, so she spent time with conversing with whoever would listen to the talkative konti. By the end of the trip, Iosha made her rounds between everyone accept for the Valintar who seemed to lost in thought most of the time. Iosha watched the leader of the Inarta people ponder the situation in silence. The konti was starting to wonder if he had a plan, or if he was just winging it. Iosha would completely understand if the man was just winging it because they know vary little of the whole situation. Iosha believed the whole group was capable of succeeding their mission if they knew the whole situation, but at the moment, everyone was grasping for straws trying to wrap their head around the mystery of the comet. Iosha decided to lead her horse over to Valintar, and she asked him some simple question about their quest, “What do you two think of the whole situation? When I saw the sky falling into the water, I saw no signs of a explosion. The fireball just seemed fade passively into the water when it hit it.. Do you think we are dealing with something out of this world, or do you think we are dealing with something related to the realm of the gods? I wanted to ask because it is quite odd to see no signs of impact if it were a comet.” Iosha knew they were easy questions to answer because nobody knew the facts, but it didn't hurt to ask the opinions of the other people in the group even the Valintar.

When the group made it to Thunder Bay, Iosha was astonished that the coastal town was completely intact with no sign of devastation anywhere in the small city. The curious thing was there no citizens to be found anywhere in Thunder Bay. It was a eerie feeling, and she started to wonder if the gods had a hand in the disappearance of the people. Iosha walked to Arandolya and gave her half-sister a weary smile. Suddenly, the Valintar barked at them to head towards the beach. Iosha immediately turned in the direction of the shoreline. When they made it to shore, Iosha let out a deep breath of relief that everyone in the town was safe, but the konti's violet eyes immediately went to the faces of the Charoda. To Iosha they weren't not strange or ugly, but the race as a whole was vary adapted for life in the ocean. Iosha learned from rumors that the Charoda were peaceful people who come to the shoreline to scavenge and steal from the land dwellers.

However, Iosha didn't put much stock in rumors because she had a feeling these were peaceful people, and they must be here because of the object that landed in the ocean. Iosha was curious about the Charoda because they were children of Laviku like the Konti. Iosha decided it was duty as a konti to greet the Charoda properly, so she walked up to the leader of the Charoda and said softly, “Welcome all of you to Thunder Bay fellow children of Laviku. My name is Iosha from Mura, and I hope the waters were warm and pleasant during your travels to Thunder Bay. May I ask you what brings you out of the peaceful embrace of Laviku?” Iosha knew it wasn't the best introduction, but she hoped her words sent a calm throughout the Charoda who were being surrounded by the gingers. Iosha was healer, so she had to asked another question as she held up her arm with the gnosis mark, “Also, I am healer of Rak'keli, and I wanted to ask you if you have any injured among your people?”