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	=Log=		=Log=
−	<div></div><br> <br>A group has been called to meet outside the city, in the eastbank forest bordering the mountains for the purpose of scaling towards a nearby peak and entering a out of the way set of ruins rumored to be dedicated to the mighty kitsune. A tall hawk stands in the middle of the designated clearing, his heavy clan portrayed upon his necklace proudly. He appears to be rather impatient, awaiting arrivals with a tapping of his boot.<br> <br>Sally arrives in proper order, tail twitching lightly, jingle jingle, "Kitsune stories you say," she asks as she approaches, "A fascinating topic," so speaks the fox.<br> <br>Moroko arrives and for once has his book closed. He glances around the area curiously as he wanders forward and then smiles as he looksaround the area andthenbegins picking his way towards the hawk as he looks to see who else is about.<br> <br>Mazurek is one of those who has arrived, his body gleaming with a recent visit to the beach for a swim.  He's still in his swimming trunks, too, which is something of an oddity for him.  He's in his shorter, non-dragon form at this time, not really expecting the need to use his larger frame anytime soon.<br> <br>Zero steps through the mist, looking up the mountain. Looking down, he sees the man slightly. Allowing a small twitch to play on the corner of his mouth, he begins to moves towards the figure.<br> <br>Walden shows up geared up for adventure. A brown cloak covers him, and he has a pack full of useful supplies. "Hello! Who's up for a good hike?" the armadillo asks cheerfully with a big smile. He is, that's for sure.<br> <br>Kilsa smiles as she walked up to the hawk, she smiled and gave him a friendly nod. "I'm very interested in this topic myself." She speaks aftering hearing sally. She looked to Walden, "I'm always up for a hike." She joked looking at her own armor and chuckling. "Though not as ready as you it seem." <br> <br>Ryusho would be walking up with Kilsa, his standard equipment, with a bag with his basic smithing and repair equipment within it, as well as some other nececcities for his work, "Indeed, ready for a hike, or repairs, or whatever I may be needed to do." he says with a soft chuckle and a bit of a smile, glancing to Lady Ironsoul, even though he had been visiting with her for a while this night, to talk with her about various things, being one reason he arrived with her rather then seperate.<br> <br>The hawk looks over the arrivals and nods once. "It appears we have quite the turnout for this request, I trust none of you shall fall behind? I also trust each and every one of you is able bodied and ready for this, if you are not go home now. You see, there is no developed path on this side of the mountain that leads to the ruins, we're going to have to climb up for ourselves. I am Bolum, and I will be your guide." he says before nodding to Sally. "Yes it's quite the marvel up there." he says before casting a wing behind them. "If you please, follow me so we may begin this trek." the hawk says before strolling off with a whistle.<br> <br>Zero burst into a full on grin as he sees Kilsa<br> <br>Kilsa smiled at Walden, "I knew there was a reason I liked you." She nodded and began to heft her bulk up the chain. "What news Lady Solacious?" Kilsa asked while still climbing the chain with no difficulty. "I've been out of the grapvine while catching up on my forge work." She chuckled.<br> <br>The avian begins to tap his boot again, shifting a few rocks idly as he waits, a rather bored look on his face.<br> <br>Ryusho would similarly wait, as he would be able to use his wings to get up to the ledge as ewlleven though he wanted to wait and help others who might need it first, though he then chuckles, "Just work on your research Moroko, You will get it figured out with time.." he says after a moment or two, but like mazurek he would want to wait a bit..<br> <br>Mazurek shakes his head, "I haven't been awake for very long, Sally.  The only thing I know of any recent events was that the priests were supposedly going to use this Mass to explain something or another.  I'm quite vague on what it was supposed to be."<br> <br>Walden seems to be having no difficulty climbing, either. It seems it may partly be due to his strength; otherwise it seems he's reasonably experienced at this. "Pshaw, and here I thought it was because of my carapace," he says teasingly to Kilsa with a grin. He'll make it up before long having started climbing with such enthusiasm from the start.<br> <br>Sally tilts her head at Maz a moment as she keeps up with the crowd, "Really? You must listen to the news a bit more closely. The message from the Creators has been revealed, and it's quite a doozy, thrown many people right on their ears with worry."<br> <br>Bolum begins to add a warble to his whistles, helping people near the top up onto the relative safety of the flat ground, which is a big step up from a straight drop down.<br> <br>Zero continues climbing the chain, slipping slightly every now and then.<br> <br>Moroko smiles at Ryusho and nods, "I suppose it's too much to think it'll happen quickly. If it was easy someone else would have done it." He then starts heading up the chain as well following along to the group.<br> <br>Kilsa chuckles, "While its certainly adorable and I wouldn't mind decorating it. I perfer your friendly demenor and wonderful mind." She  smiled and begain to increase her climbing speed, trying to keep up with the speedy dillo. "Forging armor for your kind is always fun work." She joked thinking of pass orders. "Armor on armor."<br> <br>Mazurek hikes an eyeridge slightly while never taking his gaze off of those who are climbing.  As folks are beginning to make the top of the climb he settles into a crouch and spreads his wings to prepare to launch, "I'll be sure to listen much more closely and ask others in the know when we return from this trip.  It seems others in this group would be perfect to speak about it, though, if my ears aren't deceiving me."<br> <br>Walden is right there with Bolum once he's up, offering a helping hand as well to help people up. Should be even easier now. "I never have been able to figure out how I might wear something heavy," he says to Kilsa when she's up. "S'why I stick wtih the lighter chains and scales and such. It's more flexible to work around the carapace. I could probably use a few pointers!" He grins at the sight of the couple of dragon folks, shaking his head. "Heh. Wish I had wings like that."<br> <br>Ryusho grunts as he shifts, though since he was not visiting with others he woudl leap into the air with his large wings flapping hard as he begins to shift and make his way up though soft -grunts- every couple of flaps, as to just go straight up is a bit of effort, but it would not take long for him to get up there and land a short distance away so he wouldn't cause air turbulance near those who were climbing up or ontop already...if he could.<br> <br>As Zero climbs, his resolves weakens, causing him to slip slightly. Growling, he redoubles his effort to reach the top alive. Reaching the top, he latches his paws onto the edge, foot trying to find purchase to scramble up to the safefty of the ledge.<br> <br>Bolum shakes his head as he works. "Wings aren't all they're cracked up to be, it's an alright alternative to being good with wind though I guess." He pulls Zero to safety and waits for the finals members of the party to finish the climb.<br> <br>Kilsa smiles as she is being helped up to the top by Walden, "You should come see me at my orphange some time. I could forge you some armor that is as fine as silk and as tough as dragon scales." She smirked pointing to her retainer. "My retainer could also forge very wonderful armor for you." She looked at the hawk and chuckled, "I would haven't never though I would hear one blessed with flight speaking ill on having wings." She smiled, "I can't say I wouldn't want to try flying but I lack the magic aptitude or the wings to do such a feat...for now." She winked at Bolum.<br> <br>Sally nods, "I will fill you in when we're back in the city," she assures, "But it's not something that can be safely ignored." She puts more attention to the act of climbing, scaling along the sheer face up onto the flat surface, then stretching as she moves to join the rest, "What is the main obstacle between us and the objective?"<br> <br>Zero readily accepts Bolum's hand. Scrambling to a safe spot, he breath a sigh of thanks and relief. "Wow.... This... could be bad for the gro...group."<br> <br>Moroko takes his time, hand over hand slowly working his way up. He listens to Bolum as he pulls himself up to the top and rolls onto his back panting for breath, "MMm so wings have troubles? Do you have a statement ont he drawbacks of wings? I'm certain any spell I design should be targetted at addressing such things."<br> <br>Walden peers over the edge curiously to see who's still climbing, and then he nods back to Kilsa. "I've learned how to make some pretty basic things," he says. "But... but what I really want to study is alchemy! I'd love to see the wonderful sorts of things that could be made! And- and Lady Kilsa, I would love to spend time at the orphanage. If there's anything I can do for you and for the kids, you let me know! I'm a pretty handy guy, I think." He smiles, and he looks over as Zero makes it up. "Oh, y-yeah," he says to him. "Are you alright? You look shaken."<br> <br>Mazurek launches into the air after Sally begins her climb.  He is much slower in his ascent than Ryusho was due to still learning the subtle nuances of flight.  His steering is barely over the hatchling level and he has to climb the chain after about halfway up.  When he finally reaches the lip of the ledge he is panting hard enough to sound like bellows.  He didn't have this much trouble in his last flight...but that would be understandable since there are no suitable updrafts here and it is straight up.<br> <br>Bolum pulls the length of the chain upward before freeing it from a rather sturdy rock and coiling it up to stow away. "Distance or trouble, that's up to you further along. For now we should move. Of course the ruins aren't all that safe either." he says before whistling again, leading the way up some rocks. "They can fail you when you're tired, lets put it that way." he offers as he does so.<br> <br>Zero nods to Walden, slowly recovering his breath. "Yeah... just... got spooked...." Sighing, He stands back up, ready to move further on.<br> <br>Ryusho shifts slightly as he would be ready to walk, "Well, thats one reason why flying actually is composed a lot more of -gliding- and a lot less effort being used, The only time you should be -using- your wings is to gain initial altitude, or when there is no heat or updrafts to gain altitude with.....otherwise its just gliding.." he says from his own experience<br> <br>Kilsa nods at Walden, "Sure. I would love to have you join me over a glass of ale." She chuckled at Bolum's reply, "I don't think I would enjoy falling to my death after getting worn out flying."  She envisions a badger shaped crater in the middle of the firmament and shivers. "I think this badger will stay on Promise with her claws dug into the dirt." She thought for a moment before speaking up again. "What we expect from the ruins themselves?"<br> <br>Sally hmms, "You remind me of some rather uncouth gossip I heard at the air magic demonstration. Something about fearing for ones life if a certain badger were to take up the art of flight mathematics," she says in a soft sing song, ribbing the fellow noble.<br> <br>Mazurek speaks while he follows on all fours, apparently able to do so quite easily with his leg structure, "Yeah...  I..still need...to learn how to do it.  One day, Ryusho...just might take me for...a long flight so I can really get used to it."  Despite his exhaustion he does not slack at all, letting the steady flow of the trek give him his breath back.<br> <br>Walden slips over to pat Zero on the back with a nod. "You'll be alright. Besides, if anything happens, it seems we have the dragon folks ready to lend a hand or a wing. And if you get hurt, I've always got my trauma kit handy." He smiles proudly; this is what he is best at, it seems. He chuckles happily at what Kilsa says to him and responds, "Ale? Oh, that's just the right sort of thing. Now that we have plans for ale, you definitely can't fall!"<br> <br>Ryusho would nod slightly, "Might...if You can get so you can handle a flight up like that just a bit better...Get so your not completely exausted from that, and we might be good." he says softly, as he shifts slightly, though ahh yes...we need to keep going..so he woul dbegin walking along though he might make sure Kilsa was good to go as well, and anyone else just making sure everyone was doing well as they started on their way again<br> <br>"That doesn't really help you at the bottom of a pit." he addresses to the flying advice before laughing. "You know what the Kitsune are all about? Tricks and pranks, and these ruins are loaded with them. Most of them are harmless but you might find yourself in a terrible situation once or twice if you all aren't careful."He leads the group higher and higher, looking back occasionally to see that no one has fallen behind. Now that the climb has started he couldn't just leave someone stranded here.<br> <br>Ryusho can't help but hope there are no pranks that involve the destruction of clothes....because that would be horribly emberising for anyone...<br> <br>Zero nods his head in reply to Walden. Looking over to Kilsa, his ears perk up "Ale?" he ask. Looking back to Walden, Zero smirks a little bit, saying "Well, if I need to climb any more clif faces, I think I'll be more prepared.<br> <br>Kilsa chuckles at Sally, "The day this badger flies will be the same day that the whole firament starts putting up spells to keep my from falling on them. I would rather not land on some poor folk and end their life and mine pre-maturely.  I would rather not have that on my mind or imprinted in the floor." She looked over to her retainer, "I'll leave the flying to you Ryusho." She winked.<br> <br>Mazurek rises to his feet when his breath has returned to normal, which takes less than five minutes during the walk.  He listens to the conversations as best as he can, but with everyone talking almost simultaneously he can't really keep track of much.  He falls back to the rear of the group, taking on the task of assisting anyone who happens to become a straggler.<br> <br>Moroko considers the haw's complaint and hmms, "Stamina is a weakness of wings. Interesting." He smiles as he follows the group, "MMmm riddles are always entertaining." He says and begins padding along at the tail end of the group again.<br> <br>Sally looks Mazurek over at that point, "You're built wrong for flying far. We all are. The creators built us for working on solid ground. Even those who call the sea home return to the shore to do their work in the end. I am told the Creators were masters of the elements, however, and could fly for days with their sorceries, so unimpeded that they could do other work while they were up there." A shake of her head, "I wonder at times how much of it is fable."<br> <br>Walden climbs over various rocks to keep up; he's doing a pretty decent job. "Well, Zero, I'm starting to think the other guys have the right idea. Just turn into a dragon, solves everything," he jokes. "Hah. Not that I can do that. And I actually don't think I'd really like flying all that much. I'm with Kilsa here. I like the ground! ...Though look at all the rocks up here. I might have to get some good samples on the return trip!"<br> <br>Ryusho looks to Sally, "Actually, What your thinking is constant flight" he says simply, "Your thinking using your energy constantly, flapping wings without end, that -is- one form of flight, but true distance flight is based around using as little energy as possible."<br> <br>Zero chuckles lightly. "Like you friend Walden, I perfer to keep my feet on the ground." Noticing his cheery attitude, Zero remarkes, saying "You seem to truly enjoy being on the ground, don't you?"<br> <br>As they ascend the mountain Bolum turns back, stopping the progression. "So time to decide." he says as he claps his hands. "To the left, we have a scaleable cliff, it will take a while but it's safe unless you lose your footing. To the right..." he says as he points a wing back to a cave "We have a cave that serves as home to two varietys of beast, which can be a little troublesome. There are some ankle biters and some big beasts who should be asleep but we might wake them. It comes out up there." he says as he points to an opening a great distance up the mountain. "What do you decide?"<br> <br>Kilsa shakes her head at the thought of flying one last time. "Walden, IF you find any ore, I would be happy to forge it for you." She looked at Bolum, "My common sense tells me to go left but my badger sense says 'OOH a cave!' I'm going with my badgers sense so I'm fine with going to the right. Also might find a spot to get some ore for later." She smiled to her self and confident that her allies can handle ANY beast.<br> <br>Mazurek chuckles, shaking his head, "Who are we to choose between the easy path and the hard path?  I am sure that the Creators would have wanted us to go any way we desired.  I personally vote for the path that is supposedly yielding the most danger."  He winks to Zero, "And to avoid the possibility of one of our own from falling to his death."  He cracks his knuckles, "Besides, delving into caves has turned out to be quite fun in the past."<br> <br>Sally shakes her head, "I'm not afraid of any beast. If I'm done in by Promise's creatures, however fierce they may be, what use am I against the Shadow? We have some unsure feet, the cave seems the better option of the two."<br> <br>Walden laughs a little, hearing a couple responses to the question already. "They're both dangerous. The trouble is trying to determine which his the least dangerous for the most number of people. I can certainly deal with a good climb, but not everyone likes that, I'm sure. If you guys like the cave, I have no complaints. I've got the medical supplies if we've got any nasty biters. So, call me neutral."<br> <br>Zero "Hmmms" as he looks to the cliff face then to the cave entrance. Holding up his hand for a moment in a gesture to hold on, he unsheaths a crimson red blade, walking over to the cliff face. Without a word, he moves to plunge the blade into the side, seeing if it'll pierce the earth.<br> <br>Ryusho shrugs slightly, "I will head whatever way seems best, so If Lady Ironsoul wishes to head through the cave, well then, why don't we head through the cave?"	+	<div></div><br> <br>A group has been called to meet outside the city, in the eastbank forest bordering the mountains for the purpose of scaling towards a nearby peak and entering a out of the way set of ruins rumored to be dedicated to the mighty kitsune. A tall hawk stands in the middle of the designated clearing, his heavy clan portrayed upon his necklace proudly. He appears to be rather impatient, awaiting arrivals with a tapping of his boot.<br> <br>Sally arrives in proper order, tail twitching lightly, jingle jingle, "Kitsune stories you say," she asks as she approaches, "A fascinating topic," so speaks the fox.<br> <br>Moroko arrives and for once has his book closed. He glances around the area curiously as he wanders forward and then smiles as he looksaround the area andthenbegins picking his way towards the hawk as he looks to see who else is about.<br> <br>Mazurek is one of those who has arrived, his body gleaming with a recent visit to the beach for a swim.  He's still in his swimming trunks, too, which is something of an oddity for him.  He's in his shorter, non-dragon form at this time, not really expecting the need to use his larger frame anytime soon.<br> <br>Zero steps through the mist, looking up the mountain. Looking down, he sees the man slightly. Allowing a small twitch to play on the corner of his mouth, he begins to moves towards the figure.<br> <br>Walden shows up geared up for adventure. A brown cloak covers him, and he has a pack full of useful supplies. "Hello! Who's up for a good hike?" the armadillo asks cheerfully with a big smile. He is, that's for sure.<br> <br>Kilsa smiles as she walked up to the hawk, she smiled and gave him a friendly nod. "I'm very interested in this topic myself." She speaks aftering hearing sally. She looked to Walden, "I'm always up for a hike." She joked looking at her own armor and chuckling. "Though not as ready as you it seem." <br> <br>Ryusho would be walking up with Kilsa, his standard equipment, with a bag with his basic smithing and repair equipment within it, as well as some other nececcities for his work, "Indeed, ready for a hike, or repairs, or whatever I may be needed to do." he says with a soft chuckle and a bit of a smile, glancing to Lady Ironsoul, even though he had been visiting with her for a while this night, to talk with her about various things, being one reason he arrived with her rather then seperate.<br> <br>The hawk looks over the arrivals and nods once. "It appears we have quite the turnout for this request, I trust none of you shall fall behind? I also trust each and every one of you is able bodied and ready for this, if you are not go home now. You see, there is no developed path on this side of the mountain that leads to the ruins, we're going to have to climb up for ourselves. I am Bolum, and I will be your guide." he says before nodding to Sally. "Yes it's quite the marvel up there." he says before casting a wing behind them. "If you please, follow me so we may begin this trek." the hawk says before strolling off with a whistle.<br> <br>Zero burst into a full on grin as he sees Kilsa<br> <br>Kilsa smiled at Walden, "I knew there was a reason I liked you." She nodded and began to heft her bulk up the chain. "What news Lady Solacious?" Kilsa asked while still climbing the chain with no difficulty. "I've been out of the grapvine while catching up on my forge work." She chuckled.<br> <br>The avian begins to tap his boot again, shifting a few rocks idly as he waits, a rather bored look on his face.<br> <br>Ryusho would similarly wait, as he would be able to use his wings to get up to the ledge as ewlleven though he wanted to wait and help others who might need it first, though he then chuckles, "Just work on your research Moroko, You will get it figured out with time.." he says after a moment or two, but like mazurek he would want to wait a bit..<br> <br>Mazurek shakes his head, "I haven't been awake for very long, Sally.  The only thing I know of any recent events was that the priests were supposedly going to use this Mass to explain something or another.  I'm quite vague on what it was supposed to be."<br> <br>Walden seems to be having no difficulty climbing, either. It seems it may partly be due to his strength; otherwise it seems he's reasonably experienced at this. "Pshaw, and here I thought it was because of my carapace," he says teasingly to Kilsa with a grin. He'll make it up before long having started climbing with such enthusiasm from the start.<br> <br>Sally tilts her head at Maz a moment as she keeps up with the crowd, "Really? You must listen to the news a bit more closely. The message from the Creators has been revealed, and it's quite a doozy, thrown many people right on their ears with worry."<br> <br>Bolum begins to add a warble to his whistles, helping people near the top up onto the relative safety of the flat ground, which is a big step up from a straight drop down.<br> <br>Zero continues climbing the chain, slipping slightly every now and then.<br> <br>Moroko smiles at Ryusho and nods, "I suppose it's too much to think it'll happen quickly. If it was easy someone else would have done it." He then starts heading up the chain as well following along to the group.<br> <br>Kilsa chuckles, "While its certainly adorable and I wouldn't mind decorating it. I perfer your friendly demenor and wonderful mind." She  smiled and begain to increase her climbing speed, trying to keep up with the speedy dillo. "Forging armor for your kind is always fun work." She joked thinking of pass orders. "Armor on armor."<br> <br>Mazurek hikes an eyeridge slightly while never taking his gaze off of those who are climbing.  As folks are beginning to make the top of the climb he settles into a crouch and spreads his wings to prepare to launch, "I'll be sure to listen much more closely and ask others in the know when we return from this trip.  It seems others in this group would be perfect to speak about it, though, if my ears aren't deceiving me."<br> <br>Walden is right there with Bolum once he's up, offering a helping hand as well to help people up. Should be even easier now. "I never have been able to figure out how I might wear something heavy," he says to Kilsa when she's up. "S'why I stick wtih the lighter chains and scales and such. It's more flexible to work around the carapace. I could probably use a few pointers!" He grins at the sight of the couple of dragon folks, shaking his head. "Heh. Wish I had wings like that."<br> <br>Ryusho grunts as he shifts, though since he was not visiting with others he woudl leap into the air with his large wings flapping hard as he begins to shift and make his way up though soft -grunts- every couple of flaps, as to just go straight up is a bit of effort, but it would not take long for him to get up there and land a short distance away so he wouldn't cause air turbulance near those who were climbing up or ontop already...if he could.<br> <br>As Zero climbs, his resolves weakens, causing him to slip slightly. Growling, he redoubles his effort to reach the top alive. Reaching the top, he latches his paws onto the edge, foot trying to find purchase to scramble up to the safefty of the ledge.<br> <br>Bolum shakes his head as he works. "Wings aren't all they're cracked up to be, it's an alright alternative to being good with wind though I guess." He pulls Zero to safety and waits for the finals members of the party to finish the climb.<br> <br>Kilsa smiles as she is being helped up to the top by Walden, "You should come see me at my orphange some time. I could forge you some armor that is as fine as silk and as tough as dragon scales." She smirked pointing to her retainer. "My retainer could also forge very wonderful armor for you." She looked at the hawk and chuckled, "I would haven't never though I would hear one blessed with flight speaking ill on having wings." She smiled, "I can't say I wouldn't want to try flying but I lack the magic aptitude or the wings to do such a feat...for now." She winked at Bolum.<br> <br>Sally nods, "I will fill you in when we're back in the city," she assures, "But it's not something that can be safely ignored." She puts more attention to the act of climbing, scaling along the sheer face up onto the flat surface, then stretching as she moves to join the rest, "What is the main obstacle between us and the objective?"<br> <br>Zero readily accepts Bolum's hand. Scrambling to a safe spot, he breath a sigh of thanks and relief. "Wow.... This... could be bad for the gro...group."<br> <br>Moroko takes his time, hand over hand slowly working his way up. He listens to Bolum as he pulls himself up to the top and rolls onto his back panting for breath, "MMm so wings have troubles? Do you have a statement ont he drawbacks of wings? I'm certain any spell I design should be targetted at addressing such things."<br> <br>Walden peers over the edge curiously to see who's still climbing, and then he nods back to Kilsa. "I've learned how to make some pretty basic things," he says. "But... but what I really want to study is alchemy! I'd love to see the wonderful sorts of things that could be made! And- and Lady Kilsa, I would love to spend time at the orphanage. If there's anything I can do for you and for the kids, you let me know! I'm a pretty handy guy, I think." He smiles, and he looks over as Zero makes it up. "Oh, y-yeah," he says to him. "Are you alright? You look shaken."<br> <br>Mazurek launches into the air after Sally begins her climb.  He is much slower in his ascent than Ryusho was due to still learning the subtle nuances of flight.  His steering is barely over the hatchling level and he has to climb the chain after about halfway up.  When he finally reaches the lip of the ledge he is panting hard enough to sound like bellows.  He didn't have this much trouble in his last flight...but that would be understandable since there are no suitable updrafts here and it is straight up.<br> <br>Bolum pulls the length of the chain upward before freeing it from a rather sturdy rock and coiling it up to stow away. "Distance or trouble, that's up to you further along. For now we should move. Of course the ruins aren't all that safe either." he says before whistling again, leading the way up some rocks. "They can fail you when you're tired, lets put it that way." he offers as he does so.<br> <br>Zero nods to Walden, slowly recovering his breath. "Yeah... just... got spooked...." Sighing, He stands back up, ready to move further on.<br> <br>Ryusho shifts slightly as he would be ready to walk, "Well, thats one reason why flying actually is composed a lot more of -gliding- and a lot less effort being used, The only time you should be -using- your wings is to gain initial altitude, or when there is no heat or updrafts to gain altitude with.....otherwise its just gliding.." he says from his own experience<br> <br>Kilsa nods at Walden, "Sure. I would love to have you join me over a glass of ale." She chuckled at Bolum's reply, "I don't think I would enjoy falling to my death after getting worn out flying."  She envisions a badger shaped crater in the middle of the firmament and shivers. "I think this badger will stay on Promise with her claws dug into the dirt." She thought for a moment before speaking up again. "What we expect from the ruins themselves?"<br> <br>Sally hmms, "You remind me of some rather uncouth gossip I heard at the air magic demonstration. Something about fearing for ones life if a certain badger were to take up the art of flight mathematics," she says in a soft sing song, ribbing the fellow noble.<br> <br>Mazurek speaks while he follows on all fours, apparently able to do so quite easily with his leg structure, "Yeah...  I..still need...to learn how to do it.  One day, Ryusho...just might take me for...a long flight so I can really get used to it."  Despite his exhaustion he does not slack at all, letting the steady flow of the trek give him his breath back.<br> <br>Walden slips over to pat Zero on the back with a nod. "You'll be alright. Besides, if anything happens, it seems we have the dragon folks ready to lend a hand or a wing. And if you get hurt, I've always got my trauma kit handy." He smiles proudly; this is what he is best at, it seems. He chuckles happily at what Kilsa says to him and responds, "Ale? Oh, that's just the right sort of thing. Now that we have plans for ale, you definitely can't fall!"<br> <br>Ryusho would nod slightly, "Might...if You can get so you can handle a flight up like that just a bit better...Get so your not completely exausted from that, and we might be good." he says softly, as he shifts slightly, though ahh yes...we need to keep going..so he woul dbegin walking along though he might make sure Kilsa was good to go as well, and anyone else just making sure everyone was doing well as they started on their way again<br> <br>"That doesn't really help you at the bottom of a pit." he addresses to the flying advice before laughing. "You know what the Kitsune are all about? Tricks and pranks, and these ruins are loaded with them. Most of them are harmless but you might find yourself in a terrible situation once or twice if you all aren't careful."He leads the group higher and higher, looking back occasionally to see that no one has fallen behind. Now that the climb has started he couldn't just leave someone stranded here.<br> <br>Ryusho can't help but hope there are no pranks that involve the destruction of clothes....because that would be horribly emberising for anyone...<br> <br>Zero nods his head in reply to Walden. Looking over to Kilsa, his ears perk up "Ale?" he ask. Looking back to Walden, Zero smirks a little bit, saying "Well, if I need to climb any more clif faces, I think I'll be more prepared.<br> <br>Kilsa chuckles at Sally, "The day this badger flies will be the same day that the whole firament starts putting up spells to keep my from falling on them. I would rather not land on some poor folk and end their life and mine pre-maturely.  I would rather not have that on my mind or imprinted in the floor." She looked over to her retainer, "I'll leave the flying to you Ryusho." She winked.<br> <br>Mazurek rises to his feet when his breath has returned to normal, which takes less than five minutes during the walk.  He listens to the conversations as best as he can, but with everyone talking almost simultaneously he can't really keep track of much.  He falls back to the rear of the group, taking on the task of assisting anyone who happens to become a straggler.<br> <br>Moroko considers the haw's complaint and hmms, "Stamina is a weakness of wings. Interesting." He smiles as he follows the group, "MMmm riddles are always entertaining." He says and begins padding along at the tail end of the group again.<br> <br>Sally looks Mazurek over at that point, "You're built wrong for flying far. We all are. The creators built us for working on solid ground. Even those who call the sea home return to the shore to do their work in the end. I am told the Creators were masters of the elements, however, and could fly for days with their sorceries, so unimpeded that they could do other work while they were up there." A shake of her head, "I wonder at times how much of it is fable."<br> <br>Walden climbs over various rocks to keep up; he's doing a pretty decent job. "Well, Zero, I'm starting to think the other guys have the right idea. Just turn into a dragon, solves everything," he jokes. "Hah. Not that I can do that. And I actually don't think I'd really like flying all that much. I'm with Kilsa here. I like the ground! ...Though look at all the rocks up here. I might have to get some good samples on the return trip!"<br> <br>Ryusho looks to Sally, "Actually, What your thinking is constant flight" he says simply, "Your thinking using your energy constantly, flapping wings without end, that -is- one form of flight, but true distance flight is based around using as little energy as possible."<br> <br>Zero chuckles lightly. "Like you friend Walden, I perfer to keep my feet on the ground." Noticing his cheery attitude, Zero remarkes, saying "You seem to truly enjoy being on the ground, don't you?"<br> <br>As they ascend the mountain Bolum turns back, stopping the progression. "So time to decide." he says as he claps his hands. "To the left, we have a scaleable cliff, it will take a while but it's safe unless you lose your footing. To the right..." he says as he points a wing back to a cave "We have a cave that serves as home to two varietys of beast, which can be a little troublesome. There are some ankle biters and some big beasts who should be asleep but we might wake them. It comes out up there." he says as he points to an opening a great distance up the mountain. "What do you decide?"<br> <br>Kilsa shakes her head at the thought of flying one last time. "Walden, IF you find any ore, I would be happy to forge it for you." She looked at Bolum, "My common sense tells me to go left but my badger sense says 'OOH a cave!' I'm going with my badgers sense so I'm fine with going to the right. Also might find a spot to get some ore for later." She smiled to her self and confident that her allies can handle ANY beast.<br> <br>Mazurek chuckles, shaking his head, "Who are we to choose between the easy path and the hard path?  I am sure that the Creators would have wanted us to go any way we desired.  I personally vote for the path that is supposedly yielding the most danger."  He winks to Zero, "And to avoid the possibility of one of our own from falling to his death."  He cracks his knuckles, "Besides, delving into caves has turned out to be quite fun in the past."<br> <br>Sally shakes her head, "I'm not afraid of any beast. If I'm done in by Promise's creatures, however fierce they may be, what use am I against the Shadow? We have some unsure feet, the cave seems the better option of the two."<br> <br>Walden laughs a little, hearing a couple responses to the question already. "They're both dangerous. The trouble is trying to determine which his the least dangerous for the most number of people. I can certainly deal with a good climb, but not everyone likes that, I'm sure. If you guys like the cave, I have no complaints. I've got the medical supplies if we've got any nasty biters. So, call me neutral."<br> <br>Zero "Hmmms" as he looks to the cliff face then to the cave entrance. Holding up his hand for a moment in a gesture to hold on, he unsheaths a crimson red blade, walking over to the cliff face. Without a word, he moves to plunge the blade into the side, seeing if it'll pierce the earth.<br> <br>Ryusho shrugs slightly, "I will head whatever way seems best, so If Lady Ironsoul wishes to head through the cave, well then, why don't we head through the cave?"<br> <br>Moroko considers the question for a time. He shrugs, "I'm tired of cliffs. I too suggest the caves." He checks his gear and considers, "I suppose I should ready my spells."<br> <br>Kilsa chuckles at her retainers answer, "Today you may have prevented the death of your Lady from being a crater in the ground." She gives him a hearty pat on the back. "For that I am greatful." She watches Zero's stabbing the earth, "Going to climb yourself?" She asked hoping that he wouldn't try to go at things alone, Wolves can't fly either last time she checked.<br> <br>The cliffside does not yeild to Zero's blade, rather it emits a sharp clang and does it's best to scuff the metal. Clearly there is something very hard and solid behind where he struck. "I suppose we're going inside then, I will ask you to not slaughter needlessly, they do live here and we are intruding upon their home." he says as he pulls out a rather small firearm, loading the one handed weapon swiftly before drawing a rather thin blade and giving a thrust forward with it. "Shall we proceed?" he asks as he moves inside.<br> <br>Zero sighs as the blade does nothing, forcing him to sheath the blade. As he does, his ears perk up as if listining for something. Before moving, he ask, "Did anyone else hear that?"<br> <br>Mazurek looks over and comments to the wolf, "All I heard was your blade striking rock.  Did you happen to hear something other than that?"  He will continue his post as rear guard should the group proceed<br> <br>Walden grins at Kilsa and shakes his head. "Amazing," he says with a chuckle. He glances at Zero, thinking about this. "I did," he says. "I wonder if there's some sort of artificial framework built in beneath the rock. Or... could be a lot of quartz," he muses, contemplating the possibilities. "Ooh, now I can't wait to see what's inside." He snaps his fingers to conjure up a flame to light the way... or not. Nope, it goes out. He tries again, and grumbles in frustration. He's just no good at this, so he gets a torch from his pack and lights it instead. "Someday... someday."<br> <br>Sally lifts her shoulders, "The best swung blade is the blade that is not swung at all with victory in hand." she speaks as if proverb, likely quoting from someone or something else.<br> <br>Ryusho hums softly as he shifts, pulling out a torch of his own, and then with a puff of flame from his muzzle, he sets it alight, there we go, then he shifts, "Anyone else need help getting a torch lit?" ....show off...<br> <br>Zero looks confused from a mulitude of things. "I...I don't know.... This may just be coincidence, but I heard a wolf howling as I was sheathing my blade. And what did you mean by that?" he anwsers, his look dashed with worry.<br> <br>As the party proceeds into the darkness they can see holes scattered about the ground. At first they are easily avoidable, the hawk stepping to keep a large distance between his form and the area around them, but as the stone walls close in and narrow he steps more lightly, pointing his gun at the holes.<br> <br>Moroko searches his pack and pops one of his other souls back into place. He checks his staff and then robe and inclines his head, "Let's." He says to to the hawk. He glances towards Kilsa, "Yet, m'lady! We're actively working on it!" He watches the holes as well murmuring under his breath.<br> <br>Walden blinks at Zero, and he glances toward Moroko for a moment. "Um, I didn't hear anything like that, Zero," he says. "Sorry." He starts paying careful attention to the ground, shining his torch low to make sure he doesn't miss anything. "Eyes open, don't wanna fall, folks."<br> <br>Kilsa thinks of what Zero said, "Howling..... hmmmm." She begins to think on a sword, "Ooooh Black as night hilt, add a pale silver blade. Divine math to make it howl like a wolf during unsheathing." She smiles wider, "Then a bit of wolf fur in the hilt to give it a warm and fuzzy feeling." She smiled and begin forging the sword in her thoughts while traveling. "I can't wait to start forging again." She mutters to herself.<br> <br>Mazurek smirks, "A wolf howling, you say?  It sounds like the Kitsune just might be starting their jokes on you already if our hawk guide is right about our proximity."  Taking up the rear once the group finally gets going, the dragon eventually finds it difficult to maneuver as easily as he would like.  He doesn't even notice the way their guide is concerned about the holes at all, instead trying his best simply to keep his footing and all.<br> <br>Sally cants her head, "Ah, a thought occurs to me. Is anyone here of awakened kitsune nature?" she asks, glancing about, "Or are we all just curious on the matter?"<br> <br>Zero raises an eyebrow to Kilsa's remark. "Oh? That sounds like a decent blade." Not trusting his Fang, he takes out his plain sword, battered and slightly worn from combat.<br> <br>Kilsa looked at Sally, "I'm not beautiful or mischevious enough to even joke that I am of their nature." She sighed wistfully in thought of what it would be to have such a nature to claim as her own.<br> <br>Walden snickers quietly and shakes his head at Kilsa. "Yeah, you aren't mischievous," he agrees. And before he can say anything else, he lowers his torch at the holes again and stops. "Whoa, whoa. Okay, there's something alive there."<br> <br>Sally makes sudden soft gestures, military commands, directing where to proceed and going silent at the same time. Fortunately, presuming the others are all Sweetwater natives, militia duty is a requirement of all citizens, and the signal should be clear enough as she urges to stay in the center and to shut the ever loving heck up.<br> <br>Zero doesn't understand what Sally's trying to convey. Not wanting to look like an idiot, Zero follows the group silently, warry of the holes around him.<br> <br>Mazurek finally becomes aware of something at the same time others apparently do as well.  His gaze snaps to the ground to the hole that he has only just started to cross over.  He manages to catch the motions from Sally in his peripheral vision and he does what he can to guide the others toward her.<br> <br>Ryusho unknowingly got -really close- to stepping into a small hole he had not seen, but he would move to get with the group as he follows and stays close like everyone was doing in the middle of the path..<br> <br>Walden blinks at Sally, and then there's a spark of recognition. He knows what that means! He gets into formation with a nervous sort of grin.<br> <br>Kilsa notices the gesture and nods to Sally, Her muzzles shut tighter than a vice as she moves with startling grace in her armor to keep each and every joint from making even the lightest of sounds. She follows Sally's directions to the letter and avoids the holes she indicated. Remembering her military experience as if she was just released from duty, She will NOT show carelessness in front of her quasi-mentor noble. <br> <br>Bolum is carefully treding ahead of the group, the cave is no more than wide enough for two people where he is and it is becoming difficult to avoid proximity to every hole. As Ryusho attempts to leave the hole something lunges out and grabs hold of his leg, twisting to free a chunk of it. It's tan long form vibrates wildly as it works.<br> <br>Ryusho grunts a bit in supprise and -pain as he shifts, promtly working to draw his sword with one hand as he tries to pry his leg away all the while, working to get himself where he could shift and try to swing at it, without probably cutting his own leg at the same time, though its not the easiest thing to do to swing at something that is tugging and thrashing your leg, therefore thrashing your -balance- while your trying to keep your balance so you can cut the damn thing...<br> <br>Zero watches the scene unfold, attempting to move around to get a clear slice at the writhing thing.

---

Revision as of 08:53, 1 October 2012

Participants

• Bite_PC
• Kilsa
• Mazurek
• Moroko
• Ryusho
• Sally
• Walden
• Zero

Date

1/10/475

Log

A group has been called to meet outside the city, in the eastbank forest bordering the mountains for the purpose of scaling towards a nearby peak and entering a out of the way set of ruins rumored to be dedicated to the mighty kitsune. A tall hawk stands in the middle of the designated clearing, his heavy clan portrayed upon his necklace proudly. He appears to be rather impatient, awaiting arrivals with a tapping of his boot.

Sally arrives in proper order, tail twitching lightly, jingle jingle, "Kitsune stories you say," she asks as she approaches, "A fascinating topic," so speaks the fox.

Moroko arrives and for once has his book closed. He glances around the area curiously as he wanders forward and then smiles as he looksaround the area andthenbegins picking his way towards the hawk as he looks to see who else is about.

Mazurek is one of those who has arrived, his body gleaming with a recent visit to the beach for a swim. He's still in his swimming trunks, too, which is something of an oddity for him. He's in his shorter, non-dragon form at this time, not really expecting the need to use his larger frame anytime soon.

Zero steps through the mist, looking up the mountain. Looking down, he sees the man slightly. Allowing a small twitch to play on the corner of his mouth, he begins to moves towards the figure.

Walden shows up geared up for adventure. A brown cloak covers him, and he has a pack full of useful supplies. "Hello! Who's up for a good hike?" the armadillo asks cheerfully with a big smile. He is, that's for sure.

Kilsa smiles as she walked up to the hawk, she smiled and gave him a friendly nod. "I'm very interested in this topic myself." She speaks aftering hearing sally. She looked to Walden, "I'm always up for a hike." She joked looking at her own armor and chuckling. "Though not as ready as you it seem."

Ryusho would be walking up with Kilsa, his standard equipment, with a bag with his basic smithing and repair equipment within it, as well as some other nececcities for his work, "Indeed, ready for a hike, or repairs, or whatever I may be needed to do." he says with a soft chuckle and a bit of a smile, glancing to Lady Ironsoul, even though he had been visiting with her for a while this night, to talk with her about various things, being one reason he arrived with her rather then seperate.

The hawk looks over the arrivals and nods once. "It appears we have quite the turnout for this request, I trust none of you shall fall behind? I also trust each and every one of you is able bodied and ready for this, if you are not go home now. You see, there is no developed path on this side of the mountain that leads to the ruins, we're going to have to climb up for ourselves. I am Bolum, and I will be your guide." he says before nodding to Sally. "Yes it's quite the marvel up there." he says before casting a wing behind them. "If you please, follow me so we may begin this trek." the hawk says before strolling off with a whistle.

Zero burst into a full on grin as he sees Kilsa

Kilsa smiled at Walden, "I knew there was a reason I liked you." She nodded and began to heft her bulk up the chain. "What news Lady Solacious?" Kilsa asked while still climbing the chain with no difficulty. "I've been out of the grapvine while catching up on my forge work." She chuckled.

The avian begins to tap his boot again, shifting a few rocks idly as he waits, a rather bored look on his face.

Ryusho would similarly wait, as he would be able to use his wings to get up to the ledge as ewlleven though he wanted to wait and help others who might need it first, though he then chuckles, "Just work on your research Moroko, You will get it figured out with time.." he says after a moment or two, but like mazurek he would want to wait a bit..

Mazurek shakes his head, "I haven't been awake for very long, Sally. The only thing I know of any recent events was that the priests were supposedly going to use this Mass to explain something or another. I'm quite vague on what it was supposed to be."

Walden seems to be having no difficulty climbing, either. It seems it may partly be due to his strength; otherwise it seems he's reasonably experienced at this. "Pshaw, and here I thought it was because of my carapace," he says teasingly to Kilsa with a grin. He'll make it up before long having started climbing with such enthusiasm from the start.

Sally tilts her head at Maz a moment as she keeps up with the crowd, "Really? You must listen to the news a bit more closely. The message from the Creators has been revealed, and it's quite a doozy, thrown many people right on their ears with worry."

Bolum begins to add a warble to his whistles, helping people near the top up onto the relative safety of the flat ground, which is a big step up from a straight drop down.

Zero continues climbing the chain, slipping slightly every now and then.

Moroko smiles at Ryusho and nods, "I suppose it's too much to think it'll happen quickly. If it was easy someone else would have done it." He then starts heading up the chain as well following along to the group.

Kilsa chuckles, "While its certainly adorable and I wouldn't mind decorating it. I perfer your friendly demenor and wonderful mind." She smiled and begain to increase her climbing speed, trying to keep up with the speedy dillo. "Forging armor for your kind is always fun work." She joked thinking of pass orders. "Armor on armor."

Mazurek hikes an eyeridge slightly while never taking his gaze off of those who are climbing. As folks are beginning to make the top of the climb he settles into a crouch and spreads his wings to prepare to launch, "I'll be sure to listen much more closely and ask others in the know when we return from this trip. It seems others in this group would be perfect to speak about it, though, if my ears aren't deceiving me."

Walden is right there with Bolum once he's up, offering a helping hand as well to help people up. Should be even easier now. "I never have been able to figure out how I might wear something heavy," he says to Kilsa when she's up. "S'why I stick wtih the lighter chains and scales and such. It's more flexible to work around the carapace. I could probably use a few pointers!" He grins at the sight of the couple of dragon folks, shaking his head. "Heh. Wish I had wings like that."

Ryusho grunts as he shifts, though since he was not visiting with others he woudl leap into the air with his large wings flapping hard as he begins to shift and make his way up though soft -grunts- every couple of flaps, as to just go straight up is a bit of effort, but it would not take long for him to get up there and land a short distance away so he wouldn't cause air turbulance near those who were climbing up or ontop already...if he could.

As Zero climbs, his resolves weakens, causing him to slip slightly. Growling, he redoubles his effort to reach the top alive. Reaching the top, he latches his paws onto the edge, foot trying to find purchase to scramble up to the safefty of the ledge.

Bolum shakes his head as he works. "Wings aren't all they're cracked up to be, it's an alright alternative to being good with wind though I guess." He pulls Zero to safety and waits for the finals members of the party to finish the climb.

Kilsa smiles as she is being helped up to the top by Walden, "You should come see me at my orphange some time. I could forge you some armor that is as fine as silk and as tough as dragon scales." She smirked pointing to her retainer. "My retainer could also forge very wonderful armor for you." She looked at the hawk and chuckled, "I would haven't never though I would hear one blessed with flight speaking ill on having wings." She smiled, "I can't say I wouldn't want to try flying but I lack the magic aptitude or the wings to do such a feat...for now." She winked at Bolum.

Sally nods, "I will fill you in when we're back in the city," she assures, "But it's not something that can be safely ignored." She puts more attention to the act of climbing, scaling along the sheer face up onto the flat surface, then stretching as she moves to join the rest, "What is the main obstacle between us and the objective?"

Zero readily accepts Bolum's hand. Scrambling to a safe spot, he breath a sigh of thanks and relief. "Wow.... This... could be bad for the gro...group."

Moroko takes his time, hand over hand slowly working his way up. He listens to Bolum as he pulls himself up to the top and rolls onto his back panting for breath, "MMm so wings have troubles? Do you have a statement ont he drawbacks of wings? I'm certain any spell I design should be targetted at addressing such things."

Walden peers over the edge curiously to see who's still climbing, and then he nods back to Kilsa. "I've learned how to make some pretty basic things," he says. "But... but what I really want to study is alchemy! I'd love to see the wonderful sorts of things that could be made! And- and Lady Kilsa, I would love to spend time at the orphanage. If there's anything I can do for you and for the kids, you let me know! I'm a pretty handy guy, I think." He smiles, and he looks over as Zero makes it up. "Oh, y-yeah," he says to him. "Are you alright? You look shaken."

Mazurek launches into the air after Sally begins her climb. He is much slower in his ascent than Ryusho was due to still learning the subtle nuances of flight. His steering is barely over the hatchling level and he has to climb the chain after about halfway up. When he finally reaches the lip of the ledge he is panting hard enough to sound like bellows. He didn't have this much trouble in his last flight...but that would be understandable since there are no suitable updrafts here and it is straight up.

Bolum pulls the length of the chain upward before freeing it from a rather sturdy rock and coiling it up to stow away. "Distance or trouble, that's up to you further along. For now we should move. Of course the ruins aren't all that safe either." he says before whistling again, leading the way up some rocks. "They can fail you when you're tired, lets put it that way." he offers as he does so.

Zero nods to Walden, slowly recovering his breath. "Yeah... just... got spooked...." Sighing, He stands back up, ready to move further on.

Ryusho shifts slightly as he would be ready to walk, "Well, thats one reason why flying actually is composed a lot more of -gliding- and a lot less effort being used, The only time you should be -using- your wings is to gain initial altitude, or when there is no heat or updrafts to gain altitude with.....otherwise its just gliding.." he says from his own experience

Kilsa nods at Walden, "Sure. I would love to have you join me over a glass of ale." She chuckled at Bolum's reply, "I don't think I would enjoy falling to my death after getting worn out flying." She envisions a badger shaped crater in the middle of the firmament and shivers. "I think this badger will stay on Promise with her claws dug into the dirt." She thought for a moment before speaking up again. "What we expect from the ruins themselves?"

Sally hmms, "You remind me of some rather uncouth gossip I heard at the air magic demonstration. Something about fearing for ones life if a certain badger were to take up the art of flight mathematics," she says in a soft sing song, ribbing the fellow noble.

Mazurek speaks while he follows on all fours, apparently able to do so quite easily with his leg structure, "Yeah... I..still need...to learn how to do it. One day, Ryusho...just might take me for...a long flight so I can really get used to it." Despite his exhaustion he does not slack at all, letting the steady flow of the trek give him his breath back.

Walden slips over to pat Zero on the back with a nod. "You'll be alright. Besides, if anything happens, it seems we have the dragon folks ready to lend a hand or a wing. And if you get hurt, I've always got my trauma kit handy." He smiles proudly; this is what he is best at, it seems. He chuckles happily at what Kilsa says to him and responds, "Ale? Oh, that's just the right sort of thing. Now that we have plans for ale, you definitely can't fall!"

Ryusho would nod slightly, "Might...if You can get so you can handle a flight up like that just a bit better...Get so your not completely exausted from that, and we might be good." he says softly, as he shifts slightly, though ahh yes...we need to keep going..so he woul dbegin walking along though he might make sure Kilsa was good to go as well, and anyone else just making sure everyone was doing well as they started on their way again

"That doesn't really help you at the bottom of a pit." he addresses to the flying advice before laughing. "You know what the Kitsune are all about? Tricks and pranks, and these ruins are loaded with them. Most of them are harmless but you might find yourself in a terrible situation once or twice if you all aren't careful."He leads the group higher and higher, looking back occasionally to see that no one has fallen behind. Now that the climb has started he couldn't just leave someone stranded here.

Ryusho can't help but hope there are no pranks that involve the destruction of clothes....because that would be horribly emberising for anyone...

Zero nods his head in reply to Walden. Looking over to Kilsa, his ears perk up "Ale?" he ask. Looking back to Walden, Zero smirks a little bit, saying "Well, if I need to climb any more clif faces, I think I'll be more prepared.

Kilsa chuckles at Sally, "The day this badger flies will be the same day that the whole firament starts putting up spells to keep my from falling on them. I would rather not land on some poor folk and end their life and mine pre-maturely. I would rather not have that on my mind or imprinted in the floor." She looked over to her retainer, "I'll leave the flying to you Ryusho." She winked.

Mazurek rises to his feet when his breath has returned to normal, which takes less than five minutes during the walk. He listens to the conversations as best as he can, but with everyone talking almost simultaneously he can't really keep track of much. He falls back to the rear of the group, taking on the task of assisting anyone who happens to become a straggler.

Moroko considers the haw's complaint and hmms, "Stamina is a weakness of wings. Interesting." He smiles as he follows the group, "MMmm riddles are always entertaining." He says and begins padding along at the tail end of the group again.

Sally looks Mazurek over at that point, "You're built wrong for flying far. We all are. The creators built us for working on solid ground. Even those who call the sea home return to the shore to do their work in the end. I am told the Creators were masters of the elements, however, and could fly for days with their sorceries, so unimpeded that they could do other work while they were up there." A shake of her head, "I wonder at times how much of it is fable."

Walden climbs over various rocks to keep up; he's doing a pretty decent job. "Well, Zero, I'm starting to think the other guys have the right idea. Just turn into a dragon, solves everything," he jokes. "Hah. Not that I can do that. And I actually don't think I'd really like flying all that much. I'm with Kilsa here. I like the ground! ...Though look at all the rocks up here. I might have to get some good samples on the return trip!"

Ryusho looks to Sally, "Actually, What your thinking is constant flight" he says simply, "Your thinking using your energy constantly, flapping wings without end, that -is- one form of flight, but true distance flight is based around using as little energy as possible."

Zero chuckles lightly. "Like you friend Walden, I perfer to keep my feet on the ground." Noticing his cheery attitude, Zero remarkes, saying "You seem to truly enjoy being on the ground, don't you?"

As they ascend the mountain Bolum turns back, stopping the progression. "So time to decide." he says as he claps his hands. "To the left, we have a scaleable cliff, it will take a while but it's safe unless you lose your footing. To the right..." he says as he points a wing back to a cave "We have a cave that serves as home to two varietys of beast, which can be a little troublesome. There are some ankle biters and some big beasts who should be asleep but we might wake them. It comes out up there." he says as he points to an opening a great distance up the mountain. "What do you decide?"

Kilsa shakes her head at the thought of flying one last time. "Walden, IF you find any ore, I would be happy to forge it for you." She looked at Bolum, "My common sense tells me to go left but my badger sense says 'OOH a cave!' I'm going with my badgers sense so I'm fine with going to the right. Also might find a spot to get some ore for later." She smiled to her self and confident that her allies can handle ANY beast.

Mazurek chuckles, shaking his head, "Who are we to choose between the easy path and the hard path? I am sure that the Creators would have wanted us to go any way we desired. I personally vote for the path that is supposedly yielding the most danger." He winks to Zero, "And to avoid the possibility of one of our own from falling to his death." He cracks his knuckles, "Besides, delving into caves has turned out to be quite fun in the past."

Sally shakes her head, "I'm not afraid of any beast. If I'm done in by Promise's creatures, however fierce they may be, what use am I against the Shadow? We have some unsure feet, the cave seems the better option of the two."

Walden laughs a little, hearing a couple responses to the question already. "They're both dangerous. The trouble is trying to determine which his the least dangerous for the most number of people. I can certainly deal with a good climb, but not everyone likes that, I'm sure. If you guys like the cave, I have no complaints. I've got the medical supplies if we've got any nasty biters. So, call me neutral."

Zero "Hmmms" as he looks to the cliff face then to the cave entrance. Holding up his hand for a moment in a gesture to hold on, he unsheaths a crimson red blade, walking over to the cliff face. Without a word, he moves to plunge the blade into the side, seeing if it'll pierce the earth.

Ryusho shrugs slightly, "I will head whatever way seems best, so If Lady Ironsoul wishes to head through the cave, well then, why don't we head through the cave?"

Moroko considers the question for a time. He shrugs, "I'm tired of cliffs. I too suggest the caves." He checks his gear and considers, "I suppose I should ready my spells."

Kilsa chuckles at her retainers answer, "Today you may have prevented the death of your Lady from being a crater in the ground." She gives him a hearty pat on the back. "For that I am greatful." She watches Zero's stabbing the earth, "Going to climb yourself?" She asked hoping that he wouldn't try to go at things alone, Wolves can't fly either last time she checked.

The cliffside does not yeild to Zero's blade, rather it emits a sharp clang and does it's best to scuff the metal. Clearly there is something very hard and solid behind where he struck. "I suppose we're going inside then, I will ask you to not slaughter needlessly, they do live here and we are intruding upon their home." he says as he pulls out a rather small firearm, loading the one handed weapon swiftly before drawing a rather thin blade and giving a thrust forward with it. "Shall we proceed?" he asks as he moves inside.

Zero sighs as the blade does nothing, forcing him to sheath the blade. As he does, his ears perk up as if listining for something. Before moving, he ask, "Did anyone else hear that?"

Mazurek looks over and comments to the wolf, "All I heard was your blade striking rock. Did you happen to hear something other than that?" He will continue his post as rear guard should the group proceed

Walden grins at Kilsa and shakes his head. "Amazing," he says with a chuckle. He glances at Zero, thinking about this. "I did," he says. "I wonder if there's some sort of artificial framework built in beneath the rock. Or... could be a lot of quartz," he muses, contemplating the possibilities. "Ooh, now I can't wait to see what's inside." He snaps his fingers to conjure up a flame to light the way... or not. Nope, it goes out. He tries again, and grumbles in frustration. He's just no good at this, so he gets a torch from his pack and lights it instead. "Someday... someday."

Sally lifts her shoulders, "The best swung blade is the blade that is not swung at all with victory in hand." she speaks as if proverb, likely quoting from someone or something else.

Ryusho hums softly as he shifts, pulling out a torch of his own, and then with a puff of flame from his muzzle, he sets it alight, there we go, then he shifts, "Anyone else need help getting a torch lit?" ....show off...

Zero looks confused from a mulitude of things. "I...I don't know.... This may just be coincidence, but I heard a wolf howling as I was sheathing my blade. And what did you mean by that?" he anwsers, his look dashed with worry.

As the party proceeds into the darkness they can see holes scattered about the ground. At first they are easily avoidable, the hawk stepping to keep a large distance between his form and the area around them, but as the stone walls close in and narrow he steps more lightly, pointing his gun at the holes.

Moroko searches his pack and pops one of his other souls back into place. He checks his staff and then robe and inclines his head, "Let's." He says to to the hawk. He glances towards Kilsa, "Yet, m'lady! We're actively working on it!" He watches the holes as well murmuring under his breath.

Walden blinks at Zero, and he glances toward Moroko for a moment. "Um, I didn't hear anything like that, Zero," he says. "Sorry." He starts paying careful attention to the ground, shining his torch low to make sure he doesn't miss anything. "Eyes open, don't wanna fall, folks."

Kilsa thinks of what Zero said, "Howling..... hmmmm." She begins to think on a sword, "Ooooh Black as night hilt, add a pale silver blade. Divine math to make it howl like a wolf during unsheathing." She smiles wider, "Then a bit of wolf fur in the hilt to give it a warm and fuzzy feeling." She smiled and begin forging the sword in her thoughts while traveling. "I can't wait to start forging again." She mutters to herself.

Mazurek smirks, "A wolf howling, you say? It sounds like the Kitsune just might be starting their jokes on you already if our hawk guide is right about our proximity." Taking up the rear once the group finally gets going, the dragon eventually finds it difficult to maneuver as easily as he would like. He doesn't even notice the way their guide is concerned about the holes at all, instead trying his best simply to keep his footing and all.

Sally cants her head, "Ah, a thought occurs to me. Is anyone here of awakened kitsune nature?" she asks, glancing about, "Or are we all just curious on the matter?"

Zero raises an eyebrow to Kilsa's remark. "Oh? That sounds like a decent blade." Not trusting his Fang, he takes out his plain sword, battered and slightly worn from combat.

Kilsa looked at Sally, "I'm not beautiful or mischevious enough to even joke that I am of their nature." She sighed wistfully in thought of what it would be to have such a nature to claim as her own.

Walden snickers quietly and shakes his head at Kilsa. "Yeah, you aren't mischievous," he agrees. And before he can say anything else, he lowers his torch at the holes again and stops. "Whoa, whoa. Okay, there's something alive there."

Sally makes sudden soft gestures, military commands, directing where to proceed and going silent at the same time. Fortunately, presuming the others are all Sweetwater natives, militia duty is a requirement of all citizens, and the signal should be clear enough as she urges to stay in the center and to shut the ever loving heck up.

Zero doesn't understand what Sally's trying to convey. Not wanting to look like an idiot, Zero follows the group silently, warry of the holes around him.

Mazurek finally becomes aware of something at the same time others apparently do as well. His gaze snaps to the ground to the hole that he has only just started to cross over. He manages to catch the motions from Sally in his peripheral vision and he does what he can to guide the others toward her.

Ryusho unknowingly got -really close- to stepping into a small hole he had not seen, but he would move to get with the group as he follows and stays close like everyone was doing in the middle of the path..

Walden blinks at Sally, and then there's a spark of recognition. He knows what that means! He gets into formation with a nervous sort of grin.

Kilsa notices the gesture and nods to Sally, Her muzzles shut tighter than a vice as she moves with startling grace in her armor to keep each and every joint from making even the lightest of sounds. She follows Sally's directions to the letter and avoids the holes she indicated. Remembering her military experience as if she was just released from duty, She will NOT show carelessness in front of her quasi-mentor noble.

Bolum is carefully treding ahead of the group, the cave is no more than wide enough for two people where he is and it is becoming difficult to avoid proximity to every hole. As Ryusho attempts to leave the hole something lunges out and grabs hold of his leg, twisting to free a chunk of it. It's tan long form vibrates wildly as it works.

Ryusho grunts a bit in supprise and -pain as he shifts, promtly working to draw his sword with one hand as he tries to pry his leg away all the while, working to get himself where he could shift and try to swing at it, without probably cutting his own leg at the same time, though its not the easiest thing to do to swing at something that is tugging and thrashing your leg, therefore thrashing your -balance- while your trying to keep your balance so you can cut the damn thing...

Zero watches the scene unfold, attempting to move around to get a clear slice at the writhing thing.