Fire Emblem: Curse of the Goddess [IC/PG-16/Not Accepting]

[Yui]

---

"We strike."

 

"Take that one alive."

 

Prisoners? Azar was never one for taking prisoners. There was never a guarantee that they'd do whatever you captured them for, not to mention she was looking for something similar to a prisoner herself, and "prisoner" was too similar to "slave" for her liking. The idea of taking somebody as one herself didn't sit well with her. She would much prefer to get whatever the boy wanted out of the enemy at the end of the fight, then kill them afterward. Azar didn't have much time to think about it though, as soon the combination of man and protean were on the foxes. Not to mention Catriona had already jumped on them. The enemy Proteans assumed their fox forms without much hesitation.

 

With the other members of this little scouting party now in the fray, Azar was free to cast her spells. Tome in hand, Azar stood up straight and pointed the cover of her open tome at the more injured fox. "Flux!" That was a spell fired off, aimed for the fox Catriona had stabbed earlier.

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

"Robbie? Sorry, he's not here at the moment. He should be back anytime though, he said he'd go explorin' the forest with his friends." She clapped her hands together. "Which means we can play a gaaame! Ooh, that'll be so much fun!"

 

Don't be frustrated don't be frustrated don't be frustrated. Gunther kept the chant in his head all the while he and the young girl played game after game. He kept a kind smile on his face, knowing any sign of frustration could easily make the poor child sad. And he didn't want to make a child upset.

 

The house was quite comfortable, though Gunther wasn't all too unused to such things anymore, and he couldn't help but relax a bit more as time went on. He didn't really pay much attention to the tapestries, as they were something he had seen plenty of times, so he wouldn't notice the somewhat odd scene upon them.

 

He couldn't ignore the man who came in, though.

"Well, this is a surprise," the man drawled in an accent similar to the fighter's, a country accent. "And what can I do you fine folks for? I must say, I didn't 'spect company today."

 

There was something...somewhat familiar about the man but Gunther couldn't place his finger on it. Perhaps something Penelope had said once...well, whatever the case, Gunther realized how rude he was being.

"Ah, I apologize." Gunther said, getting to his feet and giving the man a quick bow. "We should not have intruided but, as you probably know, this young woman..." He smiled fondly at the girl, "is quite forceful. We were just passing through and we noticed, ah..." How could he just say "Your house was in ruins and then wasn't and it really shouldn't exist logically but here we are" so he settled for "We noticed your house seemed to be quite lovely. I am Gunther, and you are...?" Glancing at the girl again. "Er, Robbie?"

---

 

The plan was working, Link was able to reach the orb...and apparently her plan worked a bit too well. For not only did they distract the creature they caused it to come for them. Which, in retrospect, was somewhat ironic. Link had gone in and yet the animal was coming for them because they had stayed up here. Granted it had attacked Link too but she could certainly appreciate the humor in the situation.

 

What she didn't find humorous was the animal trying to bite her new friend. As she prepared her spell, Penelope spoke to Tsetseg, "Did you know some of the most dangerous aquatic life are considered to be various species of eel? And that some are poisonous to eat, but are considered a delicacy in some areas? I wonder if this is one of them. But who knows, there's over 800 species of eels, this one could be completely edible!"

 

As she said this she sent her gust of wind at the animal in an attempt to catch it on the side.

[Alaina]

 

Tsetseg felt a sense of pride through herself as she had managed to hit the slippery adversary, though her focus remained all the same. Without having confirmed that it was dead yet, Tsetseg was not about to let go of her concentration on the creature. Getting an arrow out, nocking it in her bow, she drew back the arrow as the creature rushed to the surface. She sat there waiting, watching, and ready for how her prey would move. As it rocketed up through the water, Tsetseg's expression did not change as the White Haired Girl next to her started listing off facts about eel. However, without turning to face her, Tsetseg said, "eel is delicious." With that, when the creature leaped out of the water, mouth agape, Tsetseg fired her arrow into the creature's mouth. 

[Sethera]

De Kikkers

With Catriona, Shiro, and Azar all targeting the same Protean, the beast went down quickly. Soon it was unconscious, the kick having buckled its legs, and the Flux having smashed against its skull in the moment it collapsed. The lord glared down at it, sword poised to end its sorry life, when a commotion to the side caught her attention.

 

Edrick's fox rolled over, crushing the lancer beneath its heavy body to the ground for a second before bounding toward its fallen companion. Cursing, the woman abandoned the other fox and ran forward, sword stabbing out at the still-conscious Protean. However, it would not go down nearly as easily as the other one, its ears flattened, head lowered. It struck like a viper, its snout coming away dark red with blood. Catriona winced at the wound, but kept her guard up, slashing at its legs with her blade.

 

.

 

"Ah, I apologize." Gunther said, getting to his feet and giving the man a quick bow. "We should not have intruded but, as you probably know, this young woman..." He smiled fondly at the girl, "is quite forceful. We were just passing through and we noticed, ah... We noticed your house seemed to be quite lovely. I am Gunther, and you are...?" Glancing at the girl again. "Er, Robbie?"

 

The man relaxed his guard somewhat at that, giving Ahri a look of exasperation. "Ah should've known it was you." He turned back to Gunther and Alois. "Sorry 'bout that, fellas, she's pretty lonely. I hope she hasn't played any tricks on you?" The man shook his head. "But enough about that. My name's Robin. It's a pleasure," he shook hands with both men, seeming a lot friendlier than before, though he did look at Alois as if waiting for the fighter to give his name as well.

 

Now that he had fully relaxed, they could see a sort of devil-may-care openness to the man, a demeanor that seemed at odds with the mansion he lived in. "As for this place? Yeah, I'm not much for fancy dos, but ah'm sure 'Gus would appreciate the thought. He's the one that built me this here manor. Honestly, I'm still getting used to livin' in a place with multiple rooms, but least it's big enough to host all me mates when they hanker to visit. S'pose you could relate, huh?" he nodded to Alois, recognizing in him a fellow yeoman.

 

It was at that moment that Alois would realize why the man looked familiar, and why his accent, while also familiar, was so...archaic. He had seen his likeness in multiple depictions around Histia. He was a national hero, second only to the Great Dragon and King Pallas in fame, and first amongst the commoners. Robin of Pelinna, more commonly known as Robin Hood. This was either a very good imposter, or something else was afoot.

 

Meanwhile, Ahri was bouncing around. "Okay, okay, now that the boring introductions are done, let's do something fun! Like tell stories or something!"

 

"You should be getting to bed," Robin said sternly. "It's almost yer bedtime."

 

"Ptooey. I don't understand why I still need bedtimes when I'm older than you!"

 

"Because ye don't act like it," the bowman sweatdropped. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry ye had to see that," he shot a disgruntled look at Ahri who rolled her eyes. "Are ye folks lookin' for a place to stay then? E'en if not, ye can surely stay for some grub, I mean uhh, a spot of tea."

 

--

 

De Vossen

The arrow caught the eel right in the mouth. The creature paused, as if taking a moment to figure out what went wrong. Then it convulsed, falling backward into the pool, splashing water everywhere, including on the two girls. Aside from the orb in Link's hands and the now-dead eel, there was nothing more of interest in the room.

 

At first glance, there was nothing particularly noticeable about the orb, but a second look would reveal that it had been cut on the inside, as if somebody had poured molten glass around a cone, and somehow removed the cone, leaving nothing but a hollow, cone-shaped interior.

 

Were the trio to backtrack to the cavern, they would notice that the bowl-shaped indent seemed to be about the same size as the orb. They would also notice what looked like a scuffed patch of stone right in front of the bowl, between it and the crack leading outside.

 

.

 

The fire room had nothing more of interest. Were Ciela and Sienna to backtrack, they would arrive before their companions. The lantern in Sienna's hands seemed even brighter than ever.

 

[spoiler=OOC]

Team Kikker

- The injured fox is now unconscious, but the other fox is still going strong, having rolled over Edrick and injured Catriona.

- The strange man has introduced himself, and also looks just like Robin Hood.

 

Team Vos

- The orb seems to have a cone-shaped piece cut out of it on the inside. Also, the orb seems to fit the bowl-shaped indent perfectly. However, there's also a scuffed patch of stone right in front of the indent...

 

Strike one.

 

 

[Wind Rider]

After taking the unusual lantern from the once blazing room, Sienna lead Ciela out and made it back to the main chamber where the paths split. The thought passed through her that they hadn't been studying the chamber, instead they focused more on the split paths. Walking through the chamber, she looked at the strange bowl-like indention in the ground and the spot where she could've sworn that Link took something from it.

 

She put the lantern down and studied the indention more closely, it seemed that something could fit into it. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned to see the others coming back from their path, and they looked like they had been swimming, Link more than the other two.

 

"Maybe that orb thing... Ah!" she got up and ran over to Link. "I thing I got an idea on how to solve this. Link did you pick up an orb or something from this room? That may be the key to this." she explained as she pointed towards the indention in the ground.

[King K. Azo]

Shiro had a small smile on his giant frog face as the team took down the fox. It felt... good. Like he was doing something instead of watching those he cared about die. It was a fine feeling to be sure. Maybe... he could be more than a bystander now. Looking up, he could see the human riding a fox being thrown off, and the princess moving to attack, only to be bit by the beast.

 

Using his mighty legs, the frog hopped into the air, attempting to crash land on the fox's back. He would do more damage than a human trying to ride it, this was sure of. He just had to hope he actually landed on it.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Embarrassingly, Edrick was demoralized when the others not only ignored his suggestion but refused to even try and help him with his attempt at bringing the fox down non-fatally. Instead they turned their attention towards killing the one Catriona had struck against. Understandable perhaps, she was their leader, but that none of them understood the need for answers frustrated him immensely. Not that he was allowed to be frustrated especially long. The fox rolled over, and he was pressed between it and the ground. This creature was certainly much heavier than he had given it credit for, he felt like a horse had just fallen on him. There was even the familiar popping of something, somewhere in his body giving way. Not that he could tell exactly what. Soon enough the fox was on its feet and, presumably, charging his friends. Specifically Catriona when he managed to get to his feet and saw what was coming of it. That was a problem, especially while they were without their healer. Even so, he refused to give up on taking at least one of the foxes alive. This was a rare chance to get some real answers, and he intended to take it.

 

"We need answers!" He managed once he got his feet under him again and saw the others moving to attack, most likely fatally. Not that he could waste much more time on words. There was a fox that needed bringing down. To that end he once again launched himself at it, using its momentary gain on Catriona as a distraction in the hopes of wrapping his arms around its neck to wrestle it to the ground. "And answers are very hard to get out of the dead!"

[Hakima]

Link was desperate by the time he reached the bottom of the pool to scoop up the orb. His chest was painfully tight, his lungs felt ready to burst, and he had to fight to stop himself from  inhaling a lungful of the freezing cold water. When his hands closed around the orb, he struggled to get a firm grip on it, his fingers numb and unresponsive, but after a moment he managed and pushed off the floor of the pool to surge toward the surface as fast has he could.

 

His vision was spotted black by the time he finally broke out of the water, shoulder brushing the dead eel, and he gasped and greedily sucked down air. His breathing was labored for several moments, and he just hovered, catching his breath. That was not an experience he was eager to repeat, but at least he was alive.

 

Link slowly swam to the edge, pulling himself out of the water and rolling onto solid ground. His chest rose up and fell, the only indication he was even alive, because he then laid there for several moments. His shirt clung to his ribs, painfully visible through the soaked white material, and there was a stained red spot on his shoulder from where he had stabbed the eel.

 

Finally, Link felt he had recuperated enough to get to his feet. He stumbled, pushing the orb into the Princess’s hands, and then handing Tsetseg her knife. Then, he hobbled over to where his clothes were, teeth chattering, to dress himself. He felt more comfortable once he had donned his mail and tunic again, warmer and not naked, and he was just finishing up wringing out his hair and shoving it into his hat when he realized that the other two had decided it was best to return to the other cavern.

 

Link followed without a word. He hadn’t managed to find his voice again yet, which was why when Sienna came up to him with bright eyes and full of excitement about them recovering an orb, all he did was gesture towards Princess Penelope with one still-stiff thumb.

 

She had the orb, not him.

[Yui]

---

Well, the fox Azar had targeted went down pretty easily. Granted, three people all attacked it at once, so that was simply to be expected. The other one didn't seem all that pleased with the sudden turn of events, and even foolishly ran into the fight against all of these people by itself. Azar couldn't imagine all proteans being this stupid, though the last time she'd seen a fox protean in a fight, it did start a forest fire and nearly caused half of its teammates to get caught in the flames. Perhaps all fox proteans were this stupid? The frogs actually seemed pretty smart.

 

And speaking of frogs, Shiro jumped down from his tree and into the fray, aimed for the same fox the Pontic jumped on again.

 

"We need answers! And answers are very hard to get out of the dead!"

 

Guess we're not killing it after all. Not yet, anyway. Azar moved out from her hiding spot, tome in hand and ready to fire again if the fox insisted on fighting. "I don't know what information he wants out of you, but I do know you're outnumbered, and if you try anything, I know you will die, very painfully. Best to give him what he wants." You owe me one for this.

---

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"This is quite intriguing..."

 

Ciela had been mostly silent as she followed Sienna around. The two had returned back to the previous room with Sienna holding a lantern from the burning room. It was around the same time that people regrouped too. So there was a bowl-like indentation, and the other group had an orb that was fitting in size with the indentation. It's as if the two were connected or something. Feeling a bit disconnected from the happenings so far, Ciela was content with herself as she asked the water group on what happened on their end.

 

"So what did you guys see down there anyway?"

 

---

[Alaina]

 

As the archer girl's shot was true once more, the eel had stopped in its movements, landing on the ground convulsing across the ground before it finally stopped dead. While she had been splashed by the water, the girl merely shook it, going out of her unfocused state saying, "yay!" She turned to the White Haired Girl before saying, "we did it! Now I wonder how this eel tastes." As she looked back  to the creature, her eyes flitting over it as if she were trying to analyze how to cut it up. Her attention then shifted focus as she looked towards the Green Man that had come back from the water, more specifically focusing on the orb that he had brought back from the water with him. "Whoa that's reaallly cool, good job Green Man!" Though she congratulated him, he seemed to be a bit out of it, and gave the girl back her knife and the princess the orb. With that, the group was about to begin trekking back to the rest of the party, when they were met up with Sienna and Blue Head. 

 

As Sienna seemed to point something out, Tsetseg turned to respond to Blue Head's question. "Oh, oh, oh. Well, we saw a big body of water and there was this pink fish eel thing in there and it was just sitting in the water. Like in a hole, cave, thing. But there was also an orb in there and we wanted the orb cause it was uh, shiny, I guess? Yeah. So, Green man over here went to and get it, cause he's really good at swimming, see," she indicated how wet the man's clothing was. "But then the eel pink thing was all like, "rawwwwr" and it tried to kill green man but I shot it with an arrow, and it hit! It was awesome. And then it tried to kill me! But I shot it again!" The girl nodded to herself, clearly proud of this. "And then Green Man got the orb and gave it to White Hair Friend, and then we got here and started talking to you guys and I started explaining things, about the water, and the orb and the eel, and fun times." 

 

After that stream of information, the girl then looked towards the bowl shaped indent that Sienna had been pointing towards and it suddenly clicked with her as she said, "oh, oh, oh!" She looked towards the White Haired Girl, making hand motions as if in the shape of the orb that they had just acquired making further motions to place it in the hole. After this the girl's attention was drawn towards the scuffed patch of stone, seeming to peer at it intently. 

 

 

While Alois felt that he was getting no closer to actually figuring out what was going on here, both he and the knight continued to sit around humoring the strange fox girl. It long though, until someone had actually come back into the house. The fighter was a bit on edge as the man made his way through the manor, being both already on edge from the house itself and the fact that someone else had actually entered it. As the man's icy stare rested on them, the boy couldn't help but feel a bit frozen. As he spoke, Alois realized that he had an accent that was strangely familiar but not at the same time. Beyond that, there was something about the way the man looked that was also strangely familiar to him. All the same, he sat back in wonder as the knight explained their situation to the man. 

 

As the man started to rattle on about the place, when he had turned to Alois asking if he could relate, the boy merely said, "um, yeah." He absolutely could not relate, though he figured agreeing was probably for the best. However, not soon after he said that did it click as to what was so hauntingly familiar about this man. As he put the name Robin together with the face, attire and accent of the man, Alois's eyes went a bit wide for a moment as he realize just who he was. The man before him was a legend, one of many in a group but one that he was more familiar with than the others. Robin Pelinna, or Robin Hood, an archer and bandit without peer; a hero who had aided the old king Augustus in defeating the goddess Inera. This was...impossible. 

 

There was no way that he would still be alive, meaning the only other options was that Alois was somehow where he was back when he was alive, or he was talking to a ghost. Neither seemed likely. Yet, all the same, the strange manor they were in defied common sense and if he wasn't the real Robin Pelinna than that meant he had gone through a large amount of effort to pretend to be a long dead hero, for no reason that Alois could see. His mind was a whir with all of this, being unable to process it all, which was quite evident as when Robin asked his next question to them, a flustered Alois responded, "uh, um, yeah, sure. That'd be, uh, yeah, good."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

Penelope gave Sienna a bit of a confused look. "We found an orb but certainly not in this room." She would have said more but then Tsetseg went off on her rather...interesting way of telling the story of what happened.

Once she finished, Penelope simply nodded. "Well you heard her, that's our grand adventure." The tactician couldn't help but smile as both Sienna and Tsetseg, in different ways, indicated she should put the orb into the hole.

She had a feeling there may have been more to it, but, she wouldn't know until she tried.

 

As she moved forward she glanced at the Archer who was examining the scuffed stone. There was what appeared to be a perfect circle, as though something had sat there before, however it was smaller than the orb. Perhaps a pedestal of some kind...in any case she moved onward towards the opening. "Be alert, just in case." She told the others as she put the orb in, with the hollow area inside of the orb pointing upwards....Nothing seemed to happen.

 

"Well, so that's not it. Unless there's another piece...Did anyone else see something that could be used?"

---

 

Gunther watched the man with interest. So his name was Robin, he lived here and he...was taking care of this Protean girl? He seemed like quite the man, confident, but humble, and kind. It was almost too good to be true.

 

And Gunther was a bit worried. Not only due to the strange circumstances but...What was Ahri doing here with him, and not her parents. Though, her words about being older confused the Knight. Was that common with Proteans? Perhaps he should have listened more to Penelope's lectures about them...

 

The thought of Penelope made him think what she would do were she here. She would accept Robin's offer, of course, as was only polite. But then she would likely start to question the man about what he did, why he was here, and what was going on.

 

Gunther had thought Alois might ask some of these but he seemed oddly...flustered, which surprised Gunther.

 

In any case it would be rude to not give an answer to the man. "Tea would be appreciated, thank you." He said with a quick nod. This is where he should begin to subtly interrogate the man. Find out what was going on regarding the situation. Instead Gunther couldn't help but ask. "That girl, where are her parents?"

[Sethera]

Grodorna

Shiro leaped into the air and crashed down onto the fox, though the landing itself was unsteady and he was easily shaken off. Still, the jump had done a decent amount of damage, and the fox crumpled to the ground for a second, and then rose once more.

 

"We need answers!" Edrick shouted as he launched himself at the fox. "And answers are very hard to get out of the dead!" He managed to get a grip, however loose, around its giant neck, and throw the weakened beast to the ground.

 

Azar moved out from her hiding spot, tome in hand and ready to fire again if the fox insisted on fighting. "I don't know what information he wants out of you, but I do know you're outnumbered, and if you try anything, I know you will die, very painfully. Best to give him what he wants."

 

"I'll never...grrk...tell you anything, filthy...scum!" the fox gasped, starting to thrash, causing the lancer's grip to loosen.

 

"He refuses to cooperate," Catriona said, voice cold. "There is no use in keeping this...assassin, alive."

 

"I am no assassin!" the Protean growled. "I'm a loyal fox! And if protecting our territory means somebody's got to get their hands dirty, then so be it!" He glared at the group, before suddenly turning into his humanoid form and slipping out of Edrick's grasp. He began to run for his partner, who by now had transformed back into his own human form in his unconsciousness.

 

.

 

"Uh, um, yeah, sure. That'd be, uh, yeah, good."

 

Gunther responded with much more grace. "Tea would be appreciated, thank you." He gave a quick nod. "That girl, where are her parents?"

 

"Oh spirits, should've known this'd happen," Robin muttered as he looked at Alois. "Oh, tea? Yeah, comin' right up," he made to rise then paused when Gunther spoke his next words. "Oh, her parents? Not sure," he shrugged. "She doesn't talk much about her past."

 

He got up to make the tea. "I'll be right back. Still getting used to this whole 'fancy man' business, so I can't guarantee its taste," he grimaced, before leaving through one of the doorways, leaving both Gunther and Alois alone with their thoughts, as Ahri had reluctantly left to go to bed.

 

--

 

Rävarna

The cavern lay unchanged, save for the reunion that occurred. The scuffed patch of stone, the orb in front of it, and the sharp slope downward, to the bas relief with the black gem in the center. Not to mention the crack that showed the darkening sky, and the scroll beside it.

 

[spoiler=OOC]

Team Groda

- The fox is on the run!

- Robin is gone at the moment to serve some dubious tea. Ahri went to bed, so now you two are alone.

 

Team Räv

- Yeah, not much has changed.

 

 

[Alaina]

 

While there was a clear circular indent in the scuff that the girl was looking at, she couldn't really make anything out about it. And so, the girl merely backed off as White Haired Friend decided to put the orb in the bowl. While Tsetseg was waiting in great suspense, staring very intently at the orb she was...disappointed when nothing happened. Letting out a sigh she simply said, "awwww, man." However, after White Haired Friend made her question, the girl continued to stay in her disappointed state until a few moments had passed. "Oh, oh, oh! I know!" Instantly perking back up, the girl immediately bounded away, not waiting for anyone to catch up with her. Running down the corridor, the girl had eventually made her way back to the room with the sun pattern on the ground, the black gem affixed into the ground. 

 

Bending down, the girl placed both of her hands on it, trying to pull it out with all of her might. Yet, it did not budge. "Hmmm," she wondered to herself as she went prone to the ground. Examining the gem further, the girl rubbed her hands against the sphere, looking intently at it and even sniffing it at times, only to see that it was simply a black stone wedged in the ground. And in addition to the sphere being really dark, the room seemed to be getting dark too. Bounding back up onto her feet, the girl seemed stumped, walking back to the rest of the group. As she did, however, her attention turned to Sienna. More specifically, the light that was coming from her. More more specifically, what the light was coming from. With her eyes going wide she said, "oh, oh, oh! Sienna, come with me!" With that, motioned the girl over to where the black sphere was. 

 

 

As Robin spoke to them, Alois still seemed to be a bit shocked, but was coming to terms with who he was seeing before the man left them. Looking to Gunther he said, "alright this place is really weird." After he said that, he paused briefly before saying, "yes. I know. Shocking." Looking around he said, "so I think I figured out where we are, well relatively. But uh, when, that's a different question." Alois seemed to be deep in thought as he him saying this out loud seemed to make the absurdity of it all set back in. He also looked back to the knight before saying, "also I don't think he's known for making tea...maybe taking it."

[Hakima]

---

Link sunk into the background, glad to have gone unnoticed amongst the excitement. His eyes flicked between the four areas - the entrance, the opening behind the fence, and the two forked tunnels - regularly, waiting for any sign of threat while the other three worked on solving the puzzle. Many people assumed that because of how observant he was, he was good at solving mysteries, but he really wasn’t. Yes, he probably noticed all the clues before anyone else, but his brain wasn’t wired in a way that could put them together quickly.

 

So instead he focused on what he was good at. Standing guard, allowing the others to do what the were good at without any worries of danger. Link knew that people liked having him around for that exact reason; Mirana had told him as much once. Everyone else could relax while he was there. It was good to hear they noticed his efforts, but it added more pressure, knowing they trusted him in such a way.

 

Link doubled up on his attentiveness, standing a little straighter. He wouldn’t let them down.

---

[Wind Rider]

Sienna looked on as Penelope put the orb into the strange indention in the floor, after a minute or so however, nothing seemed to happen. Sienna let out a disappointed sigh just as Tsetseg did. "Darn... I was really hoping that would've done something..." she mumbled as she picked the strange lantern back up. Now they were at a standstill... Or were they?

 

Tsetseg seemed to have and idea pop into her head and she ran down one of the corridors and came back after a few minutes. "oh, oh, oh! Sienna, come with me!"

 

Sienna tilted her head as Tsetseg directed her towards the strange black orb in the other chamber, it was rather dark in the room. Maybe the lantern could help them find something? Either way, Sienna walked into the chamber, lantern in hand, and shined the light around so they could see things more clearly.

[Yui]

---

"I'll never...grrk...tell you anything, filthy...scum!"

 

"He refuses to cooperate. There is no use in keeping this...assassin, alive."

 

Say no more. Azar prepared her next spell, only to find the fox was running off. He wasn't loyal to the idea of dying in battle, at least, even if he was loyal to his own kind. Moving targets were never Azar's preferred enemies. As great as her natural aptitude for dark magic may have been, by her own admittance, her aim was never the best. It was part of why she preferred the Rashido Method; it was a lot harder to miss an enemy you're swinging a fist at, after all. Still, the tome would have to do this time.

 

"Flux!" Azar fired off her dark magic once again, aiming for the fox that was trying to run off in his human form. Smaller and moving target. Great.

---

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"oh, oh, oh! Sienna, come with me!"

 

Well, the orb didn't do anything, but it seemed that the airheaded archer had an idea and asked Sienna to follow her somewhere. That was intriguing. Truthfully after a while Ciela was somewhat disconnected on how should she deal with the situation at hand, so she decided that for now, it'd be best if she followed the lead of the others and figure things out along the way. It's pretty nice anyway, and Remy had calmed down a lot since earlier. As Tsetseg and Sienna went on their way, Ciela tapped Remy and asked him to follow the two. In the meantime, she decided to just coddle herself and embrace her partner while he's moving.

 

"This place really is strange, isn't it Remy? I bet you want to see the sun again already. The dark's a bit too scary, isn't it?"

 

---

[Asriel Dreemurr]

If nothing else, Edricks repeated attempts at getting a hole of the Protean had gotten him to shift back into his more manageable human form. Well, more manageable once he could get a grip of them again anyways. The fact that they were breaking and running perhaps should have made that harder to accomplish, but the young farmer felt that he could get a hold of him once again. Even so, something did come to his thoughts. They did have something that they could use to their advantage, but even so the standing fox needed to be held.

 

"Don't be so hasty," he said to Catriona, "he just needs some convincing." His piece, for the time being, said he broke into a run and made to launch himself at the fleeing Protean from behind. If everything went according to plan, he would be able to get a nice firm grapple on him from behind. Though perhaps he had not paid as much attention to Azar as he should have, only now seeing the glow of dark magic being put to work. While he could argue her use of such magic later, when they weren't trying to subdue potential sources of information, Edrick might have just run into the path of the spell. Maybe he hadn't reacted quite quickly enough to get between it and the fox, maybe he'd end up catching some of it when he grappled the unfortunate man, and maybe he'd just end up with a brand new, and very distinctive, wound somewhere on his body. Too late to do much about it one way or another.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

Penelope watched as Sienna and the others went off with the lantern, bothered that they hadn't mentioned it sooner, and shook her head as she followed them away from the correct answer. The light struck the black stone and light shone off of the object. Rays going in every direction. It was quite the sight...yet nothing happened.

 

Penelope, struggling to keep her excitement from knowing the answer when no one else did at bay, went up to Sienna. "Excuse me, but if I may just borrow this..." She took the lantern from the girl and headed back towards the orb again.

 

She examined the scuff on the ground and, as she had suspected, it was the size of the lantern. As she set the lantern down the light bounced off of the orb and back to the lantern. She tilted her head, thinking for a moment, before clapping her hands together, some excitement leaking out. "That's it!" She practically skipped over to the orb and laid her hands on it, standing to the side to allow the light to hit it.

 

"The pupil yearns for the lady's strength, to light the clouded way." She recited the riddle out loud as she rotated the orb. She continued until the tip of the cone inside the orb was aiming towards the gem.

 

Once the light hit the gem it suddenly lit right up and turned a brightish orange color. Penelope laughed a bit. "A sunstone." She said. Amazing...A strange stone that is black until it absorbs sunlight.

 

The gem then flashes, lighting up the entire cavern. And, because of the angle, the light bounces again. From the lantern, to the orb, to the gem, and finally...

 

As the light hits the crevice there seems to be a ripple and, moments later, the crevice itself vanishes. And in its place is a rounded door set into the wall.

 

"Well. A job well done, I'd say." Penelope said. "But wow, Sienna, your people are impressive to have created such a thing!"

---

 

"Oh, her parents? Not sure. She doesn't talk much about her past."

"I'll be right back. Still getting used to this whole 'fancy man' business, so I can't guarantee its taste,"

 

It wasn't the most sufficient of answers but, unless this man was a spectacular liar, it seemed Gunther's worries were unfounded. Blushing a bit as he realized he was silently accusing his host, he decided to apologize to the man when he got back.

 

"alright this place is really weird, yes. I know. Shocking. So I think I figured out where we are, well relatively. But uh, when, that's a different question. Also I don't think he's known for making tea...maybe taking it."

 

And now this, too, was odd. His statement seemed to be confusing but it was the last part that worried him. Is he implying this man would poison the tea?

"Excuse me, Alois, but...do you know that man?"

 

"uh, well, not personally. If he is who I think he is then he's kind of a legend...or looks like one."

 

Legend...Robin...wait, no...Gunther was reminded of something Penelope had said. A legendary archer...whose name... "Spirits." Gunther said, reaching for something to grab onto lest he fall over. But how? He looked at Alois, concern on his face. "What did we get ourselves into?"

[Sethera]

Лягушки

"Don't be so hasty, he just needs some convincing," Edrick reassured Catriona. She wasn't sure how much she believed him, but as long as they could stop the threat this duo posed, then she was fine.

 

Soon afterward, Azar shot off a dark spell at the retreating fox with a "Flux!" but instead of hitting its target, it hit the back of one very persistent lancer. However, right at the moment of impact, a bright light flashed from his chest, and the spell, though it still hit, didn't seem to do nearly the amount of damage that it normally would've inflicted on the boy.

 

Catriona's eyes narrowed at the sight. She had seen such tricks before, protective amulets imbued with the power of certain spells. From the looks of it, this one was imbued with a Ward spell, which increased magical resistance, though she couldn't say how many uses it had left.

 

The Protean did not even stop to look behind, but scooped up his fallen companion and raced out of there. Catriona made to follow, but suddenly stopped, her chest choosing that moment to give a painful lurch, and she started to cough. By the time she recovered, the duo were long gone.

 

The small wolf cub chose that moment to bark, as if reasserting that he was there, and chased off after the Proteans.

 

.

 

Alois and Gunther would hear a distant crash, along with a curse. "Gods damn it all! What do nobles even see in this bitter water? Yowch!"

 

A familiar, black-eared girl chose that moment to appear. "Heeey, while he's busy wrecking the kitchen, why don't we play some more?" it was Ahri, who was assuredly not in bed like she was supposed to be. "Let's play uhh, tag you're it!" she poked Alois before scampering off into a nearby room.

 

--

 

Лис

The group would find that the door swung open quite easily, leading...outside? It looked like they were outside, walking through an idyllic, tree-lined path, but every time one of the group touched outside of the path, they would feel coarse stone walls. They would see yet another red gate and, once they passed underneath, their settings changed once again.

 

They would find themselves in a room that looked similar to the starting area, with a high, arched ceiling, polished wooden floors and wooden walls. There were a few windows crisscrossed with wood and covered in a film of paper, thin enough to show it was dark outside, but not enough to see details. Were any of the group to look back, they would see two doorways, one of which they had just came through, leading to dark stone hallways that sloped downward. Each entryway had some sort of symbol emblazoned on the floor, theirs a sun, the other a moon.

 

In the center of the room stood a stone altar, which held two burning candlesticks framing a portrait of a beautiful woman with black fox ears and nine white tails. Her yellow eyes glowed with mischief. In front of it sat an empty polished wooden bowl.

 

And kneeling in front of the altar was a lovely-looking Protean woman. She stood at their entrance, gazing at them solemnly with eyes the same shade of red as Sienna. "To you who have completed the trial, welcome. To the altar of Inari." Though she was not white like Sienna, it was a near thing, as her fur rippled with cream-and-fawn, her ears darkening to dove gray as they narrowed and her tail tipped with white.

 

At that moment, the chieftain appeared from the moon passage, his stiff posture relaxing when he saw Sienna. "So you passed," his voice was much warmer than it had been earlier. "It seems the spirits found you worthy." A sharp-eyed observer would notice that none of the guards were with him.

 

"This," he said, turning to the altar. "Is where Inari's Beads lay. Now, they have been stolen, and--" he cut off as not only himself, but the other Protean sank to the ground, clutching their heads. Sienna would also feel a pounding pain at her temples, as if she had gotten a terrible migraine.

 

[spoiler=OOC]

Team Лягушка

- Azar's Flux spell hit Edrick, but its effects seemed to be lessened due to the power of his pendant, and Catriona broke down coughing. Also the fox Proteans got away, but the wolf cub is chasing after them.

- Robin seems to be making a mess of things in the kitchen, and Ahri has reappeared to play some tag.

 

Team Лиса

- You have passed the trial and are now in the place where Inari's Beads got stolen. However, the fox Proteans seem to be having some sort of fit, even Sienna...

 

 

[Alaina]

 

The girl looked towards the black stone, as the light didn't seem to reveal anything else at first. However, with some ingenuity from her White Haired Friend, they had eventually managed to focus the light from one orb to the next, causing the black stone to glow like fire. Being quite enamored by the "sunstone" Tsetseg walked over to it and eyed it saying, "whooooaaa, that's soo cool. Or warm." As she was looking towards this, the girl's attention was then shifted towards the opening that was caused by this sudden sunstone glow, which caused the girl to only bound up and down even more. "Whoa White Haired Friend, you're so smart!" She congratulated the girl once again for her solving the puzzle, as the girl went through the door, walking down the new path. 

 

The girl looked around, curious at the outdoor like setting but all the more bemused as her hands ran across what felt like an invisible stone wall.  While the girl found no conclusions in this, she stopped caring as she saw yet another gate like the ones they had seen outside. "Guys, guys guys," the girl enthusiastically pointed towards the exit. Once there, she was greeted with a sight of a strangely colored fluffy tailed fox girl in front of an altar with another pretty fox girl overlooking an empty wooden bowl. Naturally, Tsetseg's response was, "ooooh, prettyyy."

 

As the fox chieftain had made their way inside, he congratulated the group, though Tsetseg found it odd that he was suddenly by himself. All the same, she looked to the rest of the group and said, "guys hear that? The spirits think we're super awesome and stuff!" The girl seemed to be beaming with excitement at this development, only to jump in shock a bit as the fluffy tails all started to reel in pain. "S-sienna, are you alright?" The answer was obvious, but the girl had no real idea what to do here and instead made her way to her fluffy tailed friend, incredibly unsure of what to do. 

 

 

As the identity of "Robbie" was made known to the knight, Alois gave a look that said, 'I know right?' However, before anything more could happen, the boy's attention was drawn towards the kitchen as a crashing noise followed by the irritated voice of Robin. Alois's had a curious look on his face as he looked towards the room, unsure of what to make of it but before he could say anything, Ahri had appeared once more to them. "Wait where did you- " though the girl started to rattle off about playing again. A sense of irritation started to well through the boy, but as she tagged him the boy pinched the area between his eyes. "Of all the-" the boy got out of his seat chasing after the girl saying, "get back here you little scamp."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

Gunther jumped a bit as he heard the crashing noise. Though soon after his thoughts were occupied by the rebellious little girl who had decided it was not bed time quite yet. As she tagged Alois, indicating the game she wanted to play, Gunther couldn't help but laugh. "I can't exactly give chase while wearing all this." He indicated his armor. "Take care of her, Alois, I...should check to see if our host is alright."
He didn't want to approach the man, particularly, still being in a bit of a state of shock. He couldn't exactly leave the man who clearly was having trouble. And so, following where he had heard the noises, Gunther walked towards what he assumed was the kitchen. "Excuse me, Robin? Is everything...okay?"

---

 

Penelope found herself surprisingly quiet as they made their way through the scenery. It was...incredible. It had to be some sort of illusion, right? It looked like trees but felt like stone. She wanted to study it more but it was clear their destination lay farther.

 

And thus it was they entered a familiar looking room. Though different enough to be clearly not the same. She was drawn towards the altar, and the woman near it, and even when the elder came in she would continue towards her. "The altar of Inari...fascinating." She still heard the elder speaking and, given what they had just gone through, she was unsure how anyone would steal the beads so easily.

Perhaps this woman would know more.

 

Before she could ask, however, as the woman, as well as Sienna and the elder, suddenly fell to the ground, stricken but...something. She moved to help the woman at the altar. "What is this, how can I help?" She asked hurriedly while looking at the woman to determine what might be wrong. While doing so she called back to Ciela. "Can your magic do anything to help?"

[Hakima]

---

Link couldn’t say that he had expected to run into so much magic when he had gotten out of bed that morning. He had grown up on the outskirts of humanity, where the only notable thing for miles in any direction were Ilia and her papa’s farm, and Rusl’s forge. His first experiences with magic hadn’t come until much later in life, with the 31st, when he had seen a man pull flames from the pages of a thick-spined book, caressing the fire with his bare hands before launching it at a nearby soldier.

 

It had amazed then, and it still did now. On the few occasions he had seen the young princess work such magic, he had held his sword a little tighter and made sure to stay out of the splash zone. Swords, knives, spears, even bows -- those were things he understood, physical weapons he knew how worked -- but the arcane was entirely different. A mage was easy pickings in a fight, if you could get to them, but the horrors that he had seen caused by just one spell was enough to cause even the hardest soldier to hesitate.  Someone who took a direct hit from a mage was sure to carry a reminder of their clash the rest of their life, if they even lived to tell about it.

 

Which was why the relief that washed over him when the group exited back into the forest was short-lived. Link knew something was off as soon as he walked out from the cave; he couldn’t smell the tang of pine that was so strongly permeated throughout the forest, couldn’t taste the fresh air, and there was no sign of any birds flying, or even vermin scurrying across the forest floor. When he extended his hand toward the edge of the paved path, it met with solid stone, as if they were still in the cave.

 

Link decided he couldn’t trust his senses, wherever they were, because someone was obviously fooling them. He could only guess that it was magic, but if that was the case, it was unlike any magic that he had ever seen. What little knowledge he had of the subject lead him to the conclusion that all magic was aggressive in nature, granting magicians the ability to tame lightning and throw balls of fire. He had never seen anything as low key as changing what the eye perceived.

 

...But maybe that was the point? How many times had he been fooled before?

 

Link was extra on edge as they neared the red archway, wracking his brain for any occassion he may have gotten fooled by similar magic. Nothing came to mind, but the thought was terrifying. He was double and triple checking, just to be completely sure.

 

The room the princess lead them into was similar to the area they had started in. Link did a quick sweep of exits, almost unconsciously, deciding the best exit strategy would once again be the windows. One strong swing of the sword would break the bars and film, and then he could boost Penelope and Tsetseg out and cover their escape.

 

With all of that planned within a few seconds of entering the room, the second thing Link noticed was woman. He had to glance between her and Sienna a few times, checking the resemblance, and he was willing to bet coin that they were related. The Protean was a very beautiful woman, with familiar red eyes. She was older in years, not to say that she was old, but she seemed to be older than Sienna. Possibly her mother?

 

Link grit his teeth and shook his head, to rattle those sort of thoughts. That wasn’t his business. He wasn’t a scout anymore, his job wasn’t to gather information anymore. He was just being a snoop. Regardless, the woman spoke. "To you who have completed the trial, welcome. To the altar of Inari."

 

At that moment, the chieftain appeared from the moon passage, his stiff posture relaxing when he saw Sienna. "So you passed," his voice was much warmer than it had been earlier. "It seems the spirits found you worthy."

 

Link didn’t miss the fact that he was alone. Had they faced a more dangerous trial? Had his entourage been killed? Or had he sent them away, fanned them out around the area? Link bit the inside of his lower lip imperceptibly. His chances of successfully evacuating Princess Penelope were significantly lessened, now, if that was the case. They’d have to outrun the proteans, or outfight them, and he doubted the two women could do either. The young princess wasn’t the swordswoman her sister was, and while Tsetseg was a skilled archer, she could do nothing to prevent it if they ran her down.

 

"Is where Inari's Beads lay. Now, they have been stolen, and--" the chieftain cut himself off suddenly, clutching his head and making a strangled noise. Link’s left hand flew to his sword, extending the other arm to keep Penelope at his back, his eyes sweeping back-and-forth across the room so quickly he was at risk of giving himself whiplash. He didn’t see any threats - what was going on?!

 

Princess Penelope brushed past his arm to rush to the woman that had collapsed. Link thought better of getting in her way, and he hadn’t identified any threat yet. Whatever was going on was obviously targeting the proteans, as only Rufus, Sienna, and the stranger had been effected. "What is this, how can I help?" Penelope asked hurriedly while looking at the woman to determine what might be wrong. While doing so she called back to Ciela. "Can your magic do anything to help?"

 

Link made a split-second decision. There was a part of him that wanted to use the momentary lapse to investigate, to check the perimeter and see if it was all actually real, but the better part of him won out. He sheathed his sword and hustled over to Rufus, making a makeshift pillow out of his hat by folding it over several times, then propping the older man’s head up on it. ”Prop their head up, massage their temples. If they’re jerking around a lot you’ll have to get something in their mouth for them to bite on, so they don’t bite their tongue off. One of you, help Sienna.”

 

His directions came out quickly, but his voice was strong. Care in the field was something that he had learned with much more on the line, in much more dangerous circumstances. The hardest part was staying calm, everything else was just going through the motions.

---

[Wind Rider]

She could just facepalm, how could she have not seen that the answer was in her hands the whole time? The lantern was the key and Penelope seemed to have figured it so easily, Sienna was more embarrassed than anything the fact that she couldn't figure the puzzle out. She simply nodded at Penelope's compliment to how clever Sienna's people were for creating the puzzle and followed the group out of the room.

 

The path was very scenic, even Sienna was in awe of the beauty, it amazed how the temple was built with paths like this. Entering the new room, the group was greeted by another fox protean, she bared a similar appearance to Sienna save for the differently colored fur. The chief appeared seconds later, strangely enough, without his guards. "So you passed," his voice was much warmer than it had been earlier. "It seems the spirits found you worthy."

 

The reunion was cut short however, as a sharp pain shot through Sienna's head, the same thing seemed to be happening to her father and the other protean. She fell to the ground holding her head, the pain was horrible, she could hear the others talking but couldn't make heads or tails of what they were saying. "Agh... My head... What is... Gah!" This felt worst than when she got whacked in the head by an axe, what in the world was going on!?