IC: Sanctuary REVAMPED

[Zekai]

Pine Grove

While Nera was getting rope, Zero was resting with Zena and Saru while keeping his eyes on the bone dragon. "Let's be honest for a minute, even with Photomancy, do we have a chance of winning?" Zero asked Zena and Saru. "I don't have much experience when it comes to fighting giant creatures, let alone a bone dragon." He said to them.

[SUSTIC]

Pine Grove

As Saru was waiting for Nera and resting with Zena and Zero. Saru was simply hanging upside down from a tree branch, meditating for the upcoming challenge. As he was he heard Zero ask them if they even have a chance at winning. This prompted Saru to respond.

"I myself am unsure of our chances. I have face creatures much larger and more powerful than myself and came out holding onto the fragile line that is a life. However I have not faced something as large as this being of bone and evil before. So I cannot tell you our chances. The only way we will truly tell if we can win is if we actually fight and manage to win. That is my thoughts on the subject." Saru spoke as he continued meditating upside down while holding onto a tree branch with his feet and tail. His eyes closed the whole time he provided his answer.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Pine Grove

The paladin seemed to have followed Saru's example and took this time to meditate on the task at hand. she had gotten off her horse to give the creature a rest from carrying both her and Saru's combined weight. She had already been thinking on how they could stop the bone monster's attack and thus she was prepared to answer Zero's question when it was asked.

"In a head to head battle? no all of us would die in vane if we were to try that. However in my years as a paladin I've learned a lot about slaying the undead, enough to know two important things about fighting this creature. The first being all undead have a soul. This soul is inslaved and forced to do the bidding of the necromancer who raised it. The second is that dragon souls are nigh imposible to control. The dragon's will is so powerful that they can't be manipulated in death. Or at least that's what i thought until now"

"But regaurdless of how impossible this seems this also gives us an advantage. When a soul is trapped within an undead it forms a soul cage to keep the souls trapped. These soul cages are usually only metaphysical meaning only elves can really see them. But for a dragon, the soul cage would have to be massive and contain as many physical components as spiritual. A ritual of sorts somewhere within the fortress or the dragon's body.Chances are it's heavily guarded but if we could somehow reach it and destroy it... I'm afraid that's the only chance we have. Even on my best day the most i could do to that dragon would be to stun it for a few moments."

Interior | Chronomancer's Tower

As Seki and Azeruk ventured deeper into the depths of the tower the girl grew more and more wary of the situation she was now in. It still made sense that thhe book would be deeper under ground but it was also possible she was being lead into some sort of trap. So long as the boy was walking in front o her and leading the way she didnt' see any reason to question her next step but she would be ready at a moment's notice.

Hearing his next question actually seemed to take her by suprise but only just slightly so. "He promised to return to me what rightfully belonged to my master. That's all you need to know."

[Zekai]

Pine Grove

Zero listened to both of them and it's just as he thought, it's going to be a tough battle. As Zena talked, Zero can agree with a few things. Dragons are strong willed, he should know since he is half dragon. But then Zena mentioned about it having physical components along with spiritual and that gave him an idea. "Maybe.......... if we can combine my Wind Dragon God Style: Supremacy Lance with her Photomancy's power against undead............ it might be possible to pierce the entirety of the dragon in one shot." He said talking to himself in a voice just audible enough for Zena to hear. "But using even one of the Wind Dragon God Style techniques is dangerous for me." Zero thought even know it was their best shot.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove


As Nera was waiting for the equipment to be given to her, she spoke to the group about the bone dragon "Something that big surely has either a powerful nechromancer or a set of ritualists, if we deal with that obstacle, the control of the dragon will either lower down enough to it to show us some physical weak spots to free its soul, or it could shatter in minutes because of the loss of magic withing its bones" she pointed out. The yaju then looked at the hybrid "I have a question to you Zero, have you seen an animal version of your species? I mean in the feral form like that dragon" she asked gesturing to the undead dragon

[Cucoo5]

(Note: Aion already handed Nera the Equipment)
Pine Grove

Aion turned to face where Nera pointed and his eyes widened at what he saw in the near distance. It wasn't just what he could see of the dragon that amazed him, however. "I don't recall there being any... Castles in this area. Wait... That's on the beast, isn't it?"

"Hm? A castle on the undead dragon? Oooooh!" Achlys perked up significantly. "Where there's a castle, there's treasure..." A sly grin crept across her face. "I think we should join these heroes on their quest. Besides, might as well make them pay for the damages they've done to my goods- er- to Sanctuary." A frustrated sigh answered her.

"Achlys, you're not a mercenary. I am. And I say no. My job is to protect you, remember? And giant Bone Dragons and whatever forces are in that castle are a bit beyond what you're paying me for."

"I'm not paying you at-"

"Exactly!"

"Oh come on, Aion! Where's your sense of adventure?"

"You're definition of adventure is very different from mine! We are not going."

"Hmph! Well I am going and you have to protect me." And with that she started marching in the direction of the dragon only to have Aion catch up with her and sling her over his shoulder as he carried her back to the wagon. "Hey! Put me down, you-"

"Nope. We are going bac-"

"I'll burn your-"

"You settle dow-"

Achlys stopped resisting for a moment as she came up with one last idea. Since she was facing the group already she asked in a cheary voice: "Say, you lot wouldn't happen to need a Necromancer and a useless Chronomancer, would you?" Aion came to an abrupt halt and placed Achlys down.

Through clenched teeth he muttered the words: "Don't. Call. Me..." but he stopped himself short as he realized what she had done. Throwing his arms into the air in resignation he turned back to the group with a pleading look on his face mumbling say no, while Achlys simply stood there grinning as if she was about to win a competition.

[Zekai]

Pine Grove

"Either Nera is slow on listening or wasn't paying attention to the talk because we already established about the ritual spots." Zero thought sighing in his mind then Nera asked him a question. "If you're meaning my Jin half then, hm.............................. Maybe 4 months ago when I visited my dad's side of the family? But most had human shape. Don't remember if it met any like that." He said answering as Nera's question took him off his original thought.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove


"What I meant is about feral dragons´ weak spots, the ritualists may be on specific areas, like the fire gland, the heart and the soul center" she pointed out "I have had the chance of seeing a dragon or two of that kind, but from what I got in the books of lore about them is that they are all different like their humanoid versions like you" she spoke not minding the confusion in the half jin´s face. "If we get to know where those spots are, we can make this job easier"

[Zekai]

Pine Grove

Zero was a little bit annoyed since Nera didn't ask about weak spots first. "The only weak spots I know about feral types are the wing joints that are connected to the back, the tail, around the base of the neck and that's it. Other than those obvious ones, I don't know." Zero said to her. "Anyways, we better hurry up and get over there. The wind is acting up over there." He said as he leans off the tree and starts heading towards the dragon.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove


"All right, just let me prepare this thing" Nera responded to Zero as she tied up the ice hook to the rope and continued doing knots with the other segments to make it as long, but still durable enough for the challenge it would have. The yaju looked at where would be the best place to attack the hook on the dragon "The best place would be on the back end of the castle, so we need to get this either to the base of the tail connection or the hips" she said and looked at the hybrid "We need to make this in one shot, so pinpoint accuracy is needed" she said handing him the hook and rope for Zero to launch it with his aeromancy

[Tewi_Inaba]

Pine Grove

Zena watched the other elf and the human in their little display. she couldn't help but giggle at how silly they looked together with the man forcefully carrying her back to the wagon. She couldn't help but wonder what their story was. Upon hearing the elf girl's question though, Zena's interest was perked. If she was really a necromancer then she might have been able to help. A chronomancer with combat experience wouldn't' be a bad team member either.

"How experienced are you with necromancy? If we were to compassionate the necromancers controlling the beast do you think you could replace them? Taming the beast might prove more plausible than actually destroying it.

[Zekai]

Pine Grove

Zero looked back and saw that Zena and Saru wasn't behind them. "Wait, better go back and get those two." He said to Nera and headed back. It was only a minute before he got back to the two and saw that Zena was thinking about bringing them along. "We've already made our plan with the four of us and now this? -sigh- Zena, I hope you take responsibility for them." He said speaking to himself.

[WriggleRid3r]

Automaton Workshop | Chronomancer's Tower - Outskirts of Pine Grove | Time: 4:08 PM

---

"H- huh?" Lavender found every little response from the mechanical giants strange. Without any way to communicate using words, she could only stand around and wait until someone could come and translate what these automatons are saying to her. "Uuu... I don't know where to go... new Master sent me down here to hide, but..."

---

River | Near Tenma's Court

---

"Words, words, la la la." Kazeane dismissed Takeshi's argument casually. She was quite full of hubris unknowingly and, while she was skilled with swords and magic, she was vastly underestimating the forces in the outside world. "What being can hurt a Yaju with ability of flight, manipulation of wind, and superior swordsmanship skills? I hardly can think of any. But let's worry about it later."

Swimming around the river for a little bit, Kazeane stopped herself and asked Takeshi a question that has been itching at the back of her mind for a long time. "Hey Takeshi. Do you like me?"

[S121]

Interior | Chronomancer's Tower

Azeruk didn't really know what to ask next. He was quickly running out of questions, which also meant he was quickly running out of time. There was no doubt in his mind that they were about to get into a fight if the girl did not get what she wanted, but at least Lavender would be safe.

"Just a little bit farther.", Cronux's voice echoed within Azeruk's mind.

After a couple more minutes, the halls seemed to have a slight incline and looked even older than the rest of the tower. The corridor they were currently in seemed to stretch on forever into the distance. Strange ornate patterns circled over sections of the corridor every 20 feet, making the corridor seem even longer than it actually was.

All of a sudden, Azeruk suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked over to Seki.

"I cannot progress any further. My mentor forbids it. You must complete the rest of the journey on your own. Just follow the passage until you reach a door. Once there, knock on the door three times in the center, then two on the left and the door will open.", Azeruk said to Seki.





Automaton Workshop | Chronomancer's Tower - Outskirts of Pine Grove | Time: 4:09 PM

After a minute had gone by, the mechanical spiders that had scurried off from before had returned, this time carrying a rather comfortable looking chair. Wasting no time, the mechanical spiders carried the chair over to a nearby table and placed it down. After that, the large mechanical man pointed to the chair with its large hammered arm and motioned over for her to sit down. Surprisingly, it seemed that it even tried to speak to her, although the best it could do was flap its steam vents to make sounds that mimicked words. The guardian tried to tell the girl to sit, but the best it could muster was a rather noisy collection of hisses, but if Lavender paid close attention, she would be able to tell what the guardian was trying to say.

*SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiTch.*





River | Near Tenma's Court

Takeshi was about to make a somewhat snide remark about how dangerous the world truly was, but before he could, another question from Kazeane caught him off guard. Takeshi's rather relaxed demeanor suddenly dropped as he tried to find a way to navigate about this conversation.

"Like? Like how?", Takeshi asked Kazeane, acting somewhat coy as he did so.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Interior | Chronomancer's Tower

Seki had lived for a long time and as such she had learned many things. While this seemed like an obvious trap, It could also very well be plausible. Seki knew that the protection placed on the books were highly dangerous. She didnt' know exactly what made it so dangerious, only that there was powerful magic at work. After all that WAS why she was picked for the job. It made perfect sense that the boy's master wouldn't allow him to enter the vault, at least not until he was ready. The most likely scenario was that the boy had taken here here expecting whatever protection laid on the book to defeat her. But of corse she would never allow that to happen.

Without a word she pressed on. Step by step brought her closer to her destination. Her slow descent through the eerie hallway succeeded in making her a bit nervous. ("Just a bit further") She thougth to herself as she traveled. Finally she reached the door. It was massive, and appeared to be made of some sort of brass or gold. The dwarven craftsmanship was obvious in the design of the impressive door. ("Here it goes") *knock knock knock..... knock knock* As instrcted, Seki knocked three times on the center of the door and twice on the left side. would the door open for her? If it did open where woudl it take her? She was about to find out.