Tales of Iciaura: Search for the Story Fragments

Raven watched the Ice Wolf wake up and fall on his butt, his clear recognition of Aezra and Luminere making it obvious that he didn't want to be caught. Narrowing his eyes and concentrating, he made the air in the room denser until he could make it strong enough to blast the retreating Ice Wolf in the back. Before anyone could react to the steadily decreasing air pressure in the room, a large, condensed gust of air hit the Ice Wolf in his back with enough force to put a fair dent in a brick wall. Soon afterwards, the air pressure returned to normal and Raven casually walked out from his hiding spot. He walked over to the Ice Wolf with a straight face.

"You know, running from people who haven't shown hostility to you is quite rude. They don't mean any harm after all."

He mentioned, offering the Ice Wolf a hand up from where he was. He only hoped that the display of rare magic he'd just used wouldn't raise any real questions. He had tried to be discrete about it after all.

"And shooting someone in the back is more polite? Hostility means nothing; your very presence here is trouble enough!" Sadon scowled as he slapped away Raven's hand and picked himself up. Still backing away from the group, he glanced at Aezra. "Get out of this place, and this won't get any worse. You'll have your thief on your doorstep soon enough, Chief. I'll even wrap 'em up with a little bow on top for you. Just turn back."

"Hold it right there!  I'm not finished with you!"

Quickly reequipping her badge to her belt, she dashed after the Ice Wolf, stopping when she felt the distortion in the air.  After Raven blasted Sadon down, she stopped to listen to what the blade-weilder had to say.

"I don't want you doing anything of the sort, citizen, if you are indeed from this world.  It's not your job to do these things," she snorted, her eyes narrowing.  "Did you really think you could do something like this by yourself?  And why do you target this particular criminal?"

It was hard for her to believe that he was on her side, especially with his sassy comments about leaving the crook for her to deal with later.  Before she let him respond, she flipped around to Luminere, wanting to know more about this scenario.

"What kind of crypt even is this?!"

Luminere went to answer, raising a finger and everything, when she looked past the three as a shadow loomed over them. Her ears flattened against her head as her finger slowly lowered. A Large mantis like creature twitched it's head and antennae, making loud clicking noises. It seemed to have heard them and came to try and locate the group.

"Whatever you do... Do. Not. Move." She whispered. "This isn't a crypt..." 

She took a breath and dimmed the light on her ears.

"It's a Yao Guai nest."

Raven frowned at the Ice Wolf as he quickly refused his hand up, watching the exchange between Aezra and Luminere before he heard what she said. Blinking in confusion, he turned to look at what she was looking at and saw the giant mantis-like creature. He blinked at it a couple of times before tilting his head at it.

"Well now....that's not good."

He said under his breath as he soon started to make the air denser around them, ready to fight assuming that the rest of his new companions didn't just run.

"Oh look -- carnivorous insect manslaughtering hellbeasts from the pits of Charisma herself. What a perfect way to ruin my day." Sadon muttered, making no effort to hide the snark from his voice as he spoke in hushed tones. Being that he'd been up here alone for several days, he'd known there was a possibility that these creatures would show up, especially when he confronted the thief... but now, if that thief heard fighting when they arrived at the drop-zone...

Feeling the air pressure increase like it had earlier when Raven attacked, Sadon raised an eyebrow. Did the other three truly intend to fight an entire nest of these creatures?

Aezra's eyes widened as the mantis beast appeared before them.  She'd been living on this world for so long and yet had never seen something so terrifying in her entire life.

A wild crowd of savage-behaving citizens with armed weapons?  A 4-on-1 quickdraw dual between herself and a gang of master marksmen?  A face off in the coldest, darkest parts of the woods with a vicious pack of ice wolves?  All paled in comparison to a nest of these monsters.

Her first instinct was the whip out her special gun and set the phasers to "fire", hoping to melt the living Spirits out of these things in order to escape, but there was a risk of losing the thief AND the icy not-crypt around them.  Using fire here was practically suicidal, however, Raven seemed to be altering the pressure again, thinking that if he was going to fight, she would stand with him.  But Luminere, the one who Luna, Queen of Iciaura appointed to one of the highest positions, didn't want them to fight...  She was torn between her respect for her leaders and protecting the innocent...

"I'll do what it takes to get us out," she said under her breath.

She whipped out her gun and the weapon began to shift its shape with the touch of a button.  The barrel became narrower and longer, and the handle curved up and around her hand.  The ammunition chamber seemed to freeze over and the color of the weapon desaturated.  The gun was now in "Ice Mode."  She held it up as normal, prepared to fire if it charged them.

The Yao Guai lowered it's antennae and felt each of the forms in front of it. It's head twitched about as it clicked loudly. It's appendages passed over Luminere, Sadon and Raven, tickling them a little, but spent the most time on Aezra. The body heat she gave off mixed with the coldness of her armor and gun, made her more of an interesting subject.

The creature was currently making no hostile movements, but that could change at any time.

"A-As long as we stay calm..." Luminere muttered, her light flickering with her anxiousness. The Yao Guai didn't seem to notice, giving off the thought that this creature is probably blind.

Raven watched the Yao Guai carefully as he maintained the air pressure around him and his allies, observing its obviously blind behavior before giving a small smirk. Using the wind to put a sort of air cushion underneath his footsteps to silence them, he walks over to Aezra and puts a hand on her gun to lower it.

"Relax. If it can't see us then I can easily get us out of here safely. But do me a favor and put that toy of yours away so it doesn't accidentally misfire and give us away hm?"

He whispered to her, turning to Luminere and watching her light flicker on her ears. He gave an internal sigh and walked over to her in the same way he had with Aezra in order to mask his footsteps.

"Luminere, if this thing's blind then I can get us out of here. But you have to calm yourself or you might do something to get us found out. Got it?"

He asked her, hoping the elven fox-kin had figured out how he could help them get out of here peacefully. He looked over at the ice wolf next, watching him carefully for sudden movements. If he did anything stupid to give his position away, he'd try his best to keep the creature distracted so he could get away with the others but he knew his wind magic could only do so much to keep something like this thing at bay for too long.

His eyes had been focused on a singular point behind the Yao Guai, the whites of his eyes now turning a slight pink -- most likely from the lower air pressure that had been induced. Concentration had been difficult with so little air to draw upon, and Sadon could feel his ears verge on popping from the drastic pressure shift. Not a very pleasant feeling, honestly. But it wouldn't matter.

On the far wall behind the Yao Guai -- and away from the group -- a series of grooves began to form together, almost as though someone was drawing with a pencil on a piece of paper. The grooves came together to form a small string of runes, which took on a soft purple glow that was barely discernable. The sound of retreating footsteps began to emanate from the far wall where the runes were grafted, giving off the auditory illusion that the group had loudly fled the chamber -- a distraction to send away the insectoid menace.

At the same time, Sadon began to generate cold from his body, lowering his own body temperature to that of the ice surrounding them, and making the body heat of the other three less noticeable. Hopefully, the dual effort of the runes and cold would be enough to divert the Yao Guai's attention, if not send it away completely.

Aezra glared at Raven and refused to keep the gun down, figuring that his air pressure tricks wouldn't be enough to get them all out.  What would he do, blow it back?  It would only be temporary.  She was about to respond to him when she felt a new source of cold coming from Sadon, turning slightly around to see the crackling of grooves on ice and stone.

She then had an idea; aiming her weapon at the ground and slowing pulling the trigger, she began to freeze the floor beneath them that sounded like nothing more than a faint wind.  Signaling each one of them with a wave of her hand to lift up one foot at a time so that their feet wouldn't be frozen inside the rapidly forming ice, she determined that with Sadon's distraction and this slippery floor, they could slide to safety while the beast would go inspect what it thought it heard.

If this didn't work, she would try one of two things - shooting the monster directly into its face, freezing up its mouth and muffling its hearing, or generating an ice wall to stall for time.  These options would only work if this thing didn't alert any of its comrades, first...

The Yao Guai heard the cracking and crumbling of the walls, and turned its attention to this new sound. It clicked in more of curiosity then anything else.

"I-It's only a baby..." Luminere muttered under her breath as she carefully followed Aezra's directions. One foot up, then the other, now standing on ice.

She had to admit, the synergy between the rag-tag group was pretty good. She carefully pulled the bow off her back and aimed at the unaware bug creature. An arrow of condensed light flickered in and out of view, finally staying against the string. Luminere pulled it back and spread her feet apart slightly, taking her crash stance. Everyone could hear her exhale slightly as she readied the release.

"...Get out of here." She muttered to the others. "The door should open from the inside easily. I'll follow behind, and watch the flank."

The Ice Wolf mentally sighed as the situation unfolded before his very eyes. By now, he knew it was painfully obvious that his camping location was compromised -- and even more than that, it wouldn't be easy to find another vantage point that overlooked where the thief would be. As much as he resented the others for being here, it seemed he'd have to go with them now while this area calmed down. At the very least, the Ghost Sound rune had worked as intended, and the Yao Guai seemed to want to investigate the sound it thought it had heard.

As Luminere spoke, Sadon reluctantly stuffed the thief's portrait into the small satchel bag on his waist and he awaited the signal to get moving.

Raven gave a frown as Aezra froze the ground, moving his feet up slightly and back down like she instructed. Seeing Luminere aiming to keep the Yao Guai busy while they all escaped. He touched the hilts of his twin swords and walked over next to Luminere, giving her a small smirk.

"You're going to watch my flank? Who's going to watch yours?"

He said, turning to Aezra and the Ice Wolf.

"You two go first. I'll stay back with Luminere and help watch our backs."

He told them, keeping one hand on the sword hilt that went off to the right side of the back of his hip. Soon afterwards he concentrated and bent the air to his will again, this time not decreasing the air pressure but increasing it. He glanced at Luminere once he'd finished.

"No playing the hero. We work together and we all get out of here alive. I dunno what that shot of yours is going to do but right after it goes off I'll keep it back with my magic and swords while you start to leave with the others. I'll keep as close to you as I can the whole time in case there're anymore surprise visitors."

He told her, ready to move at any moment.

Disappointed, the policewoman shook her head as she glided across the ice smoothly, directing herself with her tail and hips until she reached the pathway that they used to get to this level.  She carefully dismounted her layer of ice and withdrew her weapon, initiating its detransformation sequence as she slid it back into its holster.

Her ears and growing headache finally could return to normal, what with all the air pressure distortion going on in this place, but her expression remained frustrated.  She then looked at Sadon, remembering that he knew something that she didn't...

"I'm gonna need your name, sir," Aezra whispered to the Ice Wolf as she stepped onto the ascending exit path. Nothing important, really, but just so she wouldn't keep calling him "sir."

Sadon glanced at Aezra as he came to a slow stop at the pathway the group had used to get to Sadon's campsite, his hands rubbing his ears. His eyes rested on the officer for a moment before he turned back to look at how Luminere and Raven were faring against the insectoid creature. They shouldn't have much trouble, if they'd keep quiet long enough to not attract the Yao Guai's attention... Speaking of which...

The Icewolf's eyes drifted towards the location where he'd placed the Ghost Sound rune, getting the feeling that it was going to be squandered in this particular situation. With an intense gaze, the rune that had been etched into the wall began to return the wall to its previous state, as if the rune had never been there at all. The sound of retreating footsteps that the rune produced also vanished, a result of the rune disappearing. His runebinding no longer necessary, he returned his attention to Aezra and spoke in quiet tones, enough for Aezra to hear, but hopefully not the monster.

"...I'm Sadon, from Kyuu. For personal reasons, I can't give you more than that. But I suspect you'd understand why I'd prefer to keep details sparse, Chief, seeing as how you're also native to the region. We didn't all get to live under the dandy benevolent rule of Queen Luna, after all." As he speaks, he brings back out the portrait of the thief for Aezra to see, unfolding the parchment for the Chief to get a good look. He speaks again, choosing his words carefully. "The thief... is part of a larger scheme to undermine the resources of Lady Charisma's royal rival. This particular stunt with the fabrics wasn't meant to draw police attention, but... apparently our thief spectacularly goofed up somewhere along the way."

He pauses, as if about to say more but deciding not to. Putting away the portrait again, Sadon's hands rested on the pommel of his two-handed blade and he looked over at Luminere and Raven again, waiting for the two to succeed in their efforts to drive away the insect.

Luminere looked at Raven out of the corner of her eyes, almost glaring at him.

"I can watch myself, thank you very much." She snapped quietly. "At it isn't called 'playing the hero'," Her ears twitched up and down to simulate air quotes. " It's called doing my duty at part of the royal guard. Now if you want to argue, I'll gladly add a piercing shot into the fragments that are about to explode from this arrow. Useful for piercing any shield; Even magic." She turned her head slightly, and breathed again. "I'm not from this realm. I know things about combat that you would never be able to comprehend. Now follow my orders and leave with the group."

She aimed directly for the Yau Guai's head and steadied her breathing until it almost stopped. Her ears stopped moving, and her tail was as stiff as a board. Luminere looked almost like a statue.

Raven sighed audibly and put his other hand on the hilt of his other blade.

"Don't take this the wrong way Luminere, but your rank means nothing out here. Leaving you here to deal with this by yourself puts you in danger of getting hurt. So even if I'm going to get hurt I'm staying back to make sure you're safe. Besides, as much as I should probably leave for my own survival, I knew that this was dangerous before I decided to come on this journey with you. Those two however, don't know half of what we're doing here. Let them leave. We face this trial together or we'll never get anywhere with this adventure."

He draws his twin swords then, focus on the Yao Guai in front of him. His blades, one tinted red and the other tinted blue, both with strange Iciaurian markings on them, gave a sound like singing steel when they were drawn. The wind around him begun to intensify, ready to slice the very air in the room as he smirked.

"Besides, my swords want you to watch them sing and dance. It's rude to turn a performance down. Blizzard and Blaze love to perform for their enemies as they're cutting them down. I'm going to stay and let them perform for me whether you like it or not. And I'm certainly not going to let a thief take what we came here for just because we're scared of our first enemy attack. Now stop telling me to leave and focus on the enemy in front of us. If we work together we can do this but only if you stop worrying about me. I can take a hit or two if it means success."

He told her, holding his blades at the ready to jump as soon as Luminere's arrow finishes its work.

Aezra moved up the stairs along with Sadon, listening to his words and taking what she could get out of him for now.  Her eyes darted about the image once he displayed it for her, capturing it with her memory in the hopes it would help her identify the criminal.

The most intriguing thing about Sadon's exposition was that the fabric stunt seemed like it was a sloppy mess up on the crook's part or part of an overarching plan involving what he determined was an attempt for Charisma to usurp the throne.  Had she not tried this enough times in the past, when the odds against her were not quite as staggeringly high?  Either way, this news brought a new fire to her eyes as she began to speak softly.

"I see you're determined to end this case as I am.  I certainly understand your viewpoint, and I appreciate the insider info, but I hope you don't mind my skepticism.  You don't come across as an official to me, unless you are in the middle of training?" she asked him, really wanting to dig deep into this guy's background - how'd he get this picture, whether or not he was a secret spy for Luna that not even Luminere knew of?  She pined for more, but her police training told her to be careful.  However, it was hard for her to take this information for a grain of salt, seeing as it was so rare to find cooperative people anywhere on Lady Charisma's old land.  She had to take advantage of it!

"I'd like to have you stick around me for a while once we're out of this.  You have my word that I will not tell my ground force about you, but some of this information could prove valuable to them."

As they reached the midway point of the stairs, Aezra too, turned around, watching out for any surprises.

"Me? An official? Ha!" Sadon stifled a laugh as he placed a hand over his mouth in amusement. "But I think it best you not delve too much into who I am or this operation. Might complicate things too much, for you and for me. If we can catch this guy, I might be able to shake some info from him -- see if this op goes as deep as I suspect it does."

Now that they were a safe distance away from the Yao Guai, Sadon placed a hand on the wall, closing his eyes in concentration. After a moment, he smirks in satisfaction and removes his hand. "Looks like there may in fact be another route to the thief's rendezvous point where we can intercept him. When the others get here, we can head over..."

He pauses for a moment and furrows his brows before he faces Aezra. "...Why exactly are you working with someone like Luminere to begin with, Chief? I didn't think the police would need someone in the Queen's personal guard to investigate someone stealing fabric... And certainly not Luminere, given who she is and her own history with Charisma."

Luminere lowered her bow as her arrow disappeared. She simply turned on her heel and started walking off to meet with the others.

"You obviously know nothing, Kid." She started as she walked. "My rank is EVERYTHING, no matter where I am. It's MY job to make sure that people like you don't try and play the hero, and end up getting themselves killed." She stopped walking and turned her head. "And if they didn't know what they were getting into, they wouldn't have come along. So if you want to be the hero and keep me from doing my job, then you deal with the creatures yourself. I'll be waiting with the others."

With that, she turned and continued walking.

"Oh and one more thing... Stop being a hypocrite."

Aezra sighed, reluctant to leave Sadon's personal information alone.  However, her ears perked up once he detected there was another chance at catching this thief.  He had a lot to show for his skills, dedicated enough to stay and wait in this crypt; surely, he wasn't joshing her with this.

"Good, good, don't lose it," she told him, nodding.  Once he stopped and questioned her appearance, she rolled her head back a little in thought.  "I hadn't told you, my apologies.  I'd been transferred from Kyuu to help get the Valence force back up to par with the rest of the world, until we had a call for this fabric thief.  I was interrogating the witnesses when Luminere and Raven came to the mountains."

She turned back to him, watching Luminere come towards the two of them, still keeping her voice down.  "I joined them because they were headed in the same direction I was - up to the ruins, thinking the crook was in hiding up here.  Looks like my hunch was correct... but they were coming for something else... Actually... she never told me what it was they were searching for."

Her eyes narrowed a little, just realizing that Luminere, nor Raven hadn't shared anything regarding their mission.  This became immediately frustrating to her.

The contemplative look Sadon wears grows more concerned as he hears Aezra's response.

"Kept you in the dark, eh? Seems a bit coincidental for the one member of Queen Luna's personal guard to just happen to come across you and your little investigation in these mountains. And when this investigation might involve Charisma?  The very same person Luminere blinded? What are the chances of that, Chief?" Sadon kept his voice down as he finished talking, turning his head away from Luminere to make it less obvious he was just talking about her. When the archer approached the group, Sadon placed his hands on his hips and spoke in his normal tone of voice. "So you got away from the Yao Guai, Archer. I presume your bird friend will join us shortly as well?"

Luminere raised an eyebrow at the sass this ice wolf was giving her, then she sighed. 

"Only if he chooses to come and join us, but I suggest trying to find a separate route to get around the mass of the nest. We're gonna run into the bugs no matter which direction we go, but if would have continued on the direct path we would have walked right into the queen's lair."

She looked at Aezra then Sadon, the to the way she came to see if Raven would show. If he did, then great! no one would be in a lot of danger. If he didn't she would only assume a couple things. The first being that he wanted to continue forth on that path. The second was that he got eaten. The final is that he would bring up the far rear and follow from far back. Either way, she didn't want to find out that anyone had gotten eaten...

(OOC: Sorry that I took so long. I had a had time convincing myself to post again. ^^; )

Raven blinked at Luminere's words, watching her walk away as he sighed and quietly sheathed his blades. She sounded like his father and that wasn't particularly favorable to be traveling with someone that thought rank mattered over everything. Nevertheless, without help or support his chances of tearing through the nest of those Yao Guai's were slim at best. With an internal sigh he let his wind powers die down and used a small air cushion on the bottoms of his feet to help him silently follow far being the fox-like elf. He didn't say anything to her or anyone else as he brought up the rear for her newest traveler's to join her. To be honest he didn't want to cause her to blow more steam in his direction so he stayed back a fair way with a neutral expression on his face. He only gave a nod to Sadon and Aezra as he got closer, not looking at Luminere's for the time being. It was best to just let girls like that cool off you know?