4137/First Stratum: Rescue the newbies!

First Stratum: Rescue the newbies!
Date of Scene:	22 May 2016
Location:	The Great Forest
Synopsis:	A distress call comes from Etria for Multiversal assistance! A newbie promptly learns that people in the Multiverse are way stronger than she is, and a lot of angry fauna explode.
Cast of Characters:	95, Inga, 807, William Pauwel, 979, 989

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Raquna Sheldon (989) has posed:
Getting into Etria likely wouldn't have been too hard with the coordinates sent to the interested parties. The guards at the entrance to the town of Etria would have had advance notice to let Multiversal responders through fairly quickly. A little too fast, perhaps, but the situation leading up to this sort of call for help hasn't exactly been a normal one.

     Waiting at the entrance to the Labyrinth is a red-haired woman clad in heavy armor and armed with a shield nearly as tall as herself, a sword strapped to her hip and a flintlock pistol strapped to her arm. She seems to be waiting for someone, pacing around at the stairs presumably leading into the Labyrinth proper. She looks somewhat calm, but it's clear from her frequent glances between the stairs and the town that she's running on a time limit.

Sagat (95) has posed:
It's most likely plain just from a glance that Sagat is not from around here; the light brown skin of the towering Muay Thai fighter is likely to stand out a LOT next to Etria's generally paler population. Then there's his height, which may or may not be that unusual, and the way he's dressed, which almost certainly *is*. Specifically, he's in his fighting outfit - already having wrapped his wrists and ankles in anticipation of having to fight things (or people).

He strides up to Raquna, looking down at her from a few feet away (so she won't have to crane her neck too badly to look up at his face, or at least that's the idea). "Are you the one who sought help with a rescue party?" he asks, his voice a rather restrained rumble.

At least he's paying enough attention to social graces to offer his hand. "I'm Sagat, one of those who replied," he states - not actually *quite* waiting for the armored redhead to answer before he introduces himself.

Inga has posed:
Next, arrives a petite woman with long white hair in a braid down her back, wearing a long blue dress belted at the waist and hung with various things; a leather pouch, a small knife, finger bones, a few glass beads...various charms of a likely magical nature. She leans on an oak staff carved all over with runes, likely also of a magical nature. Though, it is obviously also used to aid her walking, which she appears to have some trouble with.

The wisewoman takes in the sight of Raquna and then Sagat, lips pursing momentarily. "Greetings, I am also here to help with the rescue party," she replies. "I am Inga Freyjasdottir," she says, extending her free hand toward them.

She hopes she will be useful, and not in the way. She's already eyeing the stairs ruefully.

Raquna Sheldon (989) has posed:
Sagat's certainly a hard one to miss even at a distance, and Raquna's already looking him over by the time he approaches. Probably a close-ranged fighter, more speed than one would expect from someone his size... She looks back up once he speaks, grinning slightly and taking his hand in her own with a firm handshake. "That's right. I have to hand it to you, you people are /really/ fast."

     She may just be the sort of person that's easily impressed. Turning to Inga, Raquna looks her over as well and takes her hand next with a somewhat gentler grip to go with that handshake. A frailer looking sort, probably a long-ranged magic user if the staff is any indication. "Good thing, too. My own team's off doing their own thing, so... Sagat, Inga." Releasing Inga's hand, brings her free hand to her waist in a light bow to the two. "Raquna Sheldon. It's good to meet you both."

     And with that, she turns and starts down the stairs leading into the Labyrinth proper! The first thing they might notice as they emerge from the too-long staircase is that there's a lot of foliage in the Labyrinth's First Stratum. Trees, even, along with birds, a skyline, moonlight...

     Is this place really underground? "Welcome to the Labyrinth. We can't stay here too long since the people we're looking for are... Should be on this floor." Raquna takes the lead with her shield and sword ready, taking the group through winding grassy paths. "There's been reports of giant insects and wolves roaming the higher floors of the Labyrinth. Thing is, they normally don't come up this high, so they're a danger to the newer explorers. And to make things worse..."

     A dramatic pause for effect and to collect her own thoughts. "The team that got sent out to deal with them yesterday hasn't reported back yet."

Sagat (95) has posed:
"By 'giant insects,'" Sagat inquires as he follows Raquna, "how big are we talking? As long as my height, larger, smaller?" He's past the seven-foot mark, so anything *that* big is, indeed, probably worth worrying about.

Of course, it doesn't need to get into arm's (or leg's) length for Sagat to hurt it. The Labyrinth's appearance distracts him from that question for a couple of moments, though; he's staying alert as he looks around, but he's also taking in the decor. "... Interesting. Depending on how vicious the monsters you mentioned are, it might be a good location for training."

Inga has posed:
Inga is certainly the frail looking mage, but she has some surprises up her sleeve. Surprises that make her less of a liability she hopes. Inga shakes her hand, nodding. "A pleasure to meet you both," she replies.

Without further adieu, Raquna leads them into the labyrinth. Inga takes her time on the stairs, gripping her staff. She'd rather not start this whole adventure off with a broken leg. Not a good start to anything, really. "What is this place?" Inga asks, looking around, her brown drawn together in confusion.

"Have you any objects that belonged to any of the people in this group? I could use a tracking spell," she asks Raquna. It would be nice to have the guidance of a spell. Especially if there are wolves and giant insects. Giant insects? That is difficult to imagine. Wolves she is fairly sure she can deal with. But bugs? "The spell would take but a moment," she adds. Magic like that takes a bit of time, but Inga has gotten better at doing things quickly.

Sagat asks just how big these insects are in comparison to his own height, drawing her attention to him. She looks up. And UP. She blinks. She didn't know men could BE that tall!

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice is a bit behind, the dollmaker along with Shanghai and Hourai fly alongside one of the guards that leads her downstairs and towards the rest of the party. "Ah, sorry, sorry for being late. My two girls were being a bit stubborn." she sighs a bit and moves to land behind Raquna, Sagat and Inga. "Dollmaker Alice Margatroid. Good to meet you." Shanghai and Hourai bow in mid air. "I'm afraid I haven't gotten the full thing going on for being late, so.. a minor bit of catchup?"

William Pauwel has posed:
What belongs in a mysterious labyrinth if not BRAVE EXPLORERS?

Probably not ones off on their own. Definitely not ones off on their own with nothing but what appears to be a... motorcycle. But there one is, right there, at the crossroads up ahead.

    Will Pauwel mutters grumpily as his bike putters out from a nearby passageway. He rubs at his head through his hat, dislodging what appear to be soft, blue, powder-like scales from the little dip at its very tip-top. "Stupid moths," he mutters, letting his bike idle on as he unfolds a... suprisingly well put-together map. The Mistral drives straight ahead even without his direction, giving him plenty of time to sketch in a few new lines. "...Stupid powder attacks. At least there hasn't been a deer yet--"

Will appears to be lost in his own little world. He keeps right on muttering as he goes by, not even noticing the rest of the group... unless somebody stops him, that is!

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    As the others descend into the labyrinth, the sounds of battle can be heard ahead. Is someone in trouble? Are monsters fighting each other? Who knows! At least, until they go to investigate. However, by the time that anyone would arrive, it would be over.
    Elritch fog is dissipating from the small area where a battle had clearly occured. Several large, imposing beast-men, with heads of bulls and other creatures the size of Sagat, even, had been slain. Among them were several more normal humans that had wielded long-hafted halberds against their larger foes. The only one still standing was a blonde-haired elf that neatly dispatched the last of the beastmen with a flick of her wrist, sword biting through its body and finishing the downed creature off.
    The elf lets out a sigh once done and flicks her sword to clean it before returning it to its sheathe at her side. "Now... where am I?" She inquires of no one in particular.

Raquna Sheldon (989) has posed:
"Probably a little bigger than you? You are pretty tall, though..." Raquna glances back to look Sagat over again, eyeballing his height while trying to get it squared together with what she can recall from the reports. "Haven't ran into one of those bugs myself yet, but... Sounds about right. Let's hope we don't run into them ourselves, huh?"

     If only things could be that easy. "If you want to train against these... You could get registered with one of the guilds. Good way to find work."

     As she leads the group around, Raquna appears to be trying to check every turn and even dead ends to make sure they don't leave any paths unexplored.

     "The Labyrinth? It's a big mystery, really. Nobody knows why it's here, who built it, how all this got here... That's why Radha Hall pays us so much to look around down here, actually." She replies to Inga, halting for another moment as the group comes up to a splattering of blood in the grass. There's bits of cloth here and there, blood leading further into the thickets, and a broken sword embedded in the side of a tree.

     "... We have that now. Er. Tracking spell...?" Raquna's expression has darkened somewhat, although it's tempered by her curiousity at the spell offered by the mage.

     Hearing Alice approaching, the redhead draws the sword out of the three and offers it to Inga before nodding lightly towards Alice and the... Dolls. Raquna takes a deep breath before putting on a pleasant grin. "Ah, don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're here to help. There's been some big insects and wolves wandering around this floor that shouldn't be, the team that got sent to look into them went missing, and..."

     She gestures at the sword and blood. "... We might have some clues now. We just need to follow-" She trails off when William and his strange vehicle arrives, then hurries up to catch up with him. "... Them. Uh. Hey! Did you see any other people coming through here?"

     Of course, trying to chase after William leads Raquna to spotting something even stranger: A battle that's dying down, a mysterious fog, and a mass of corpses surrounding a swordswoman wearing... Not much at all. Raquna stares at her blankly, seemingly at a complete loss of words at what she's even seeing now.

     This probably doesn't happen often.

Sagat (95) has posed:
"I'll make my decision after we're done with this rescue," Sagat states. "It may be there are more productive options open than this."

... and given the quantity (and quality) of dead bodies surrounding Tyravean, plus the remaining carnage from what might have been the party Raquna wanted help locating, he seems to be re-evaluating his first assessment. If nothing else, there are certainly less *deadly* options for training.

Sagat turns his attention to the broken sword for now, attempting to pull the blade loose - partly to evaluate how hard the wood is and how tightly that sword is wedged into it, partly to see what he can ascertain about how the sword broke. He may not be able to tell much on the latter front, but how deep it went into the tree (and how hard the wood is) will at least tell him something about what kind of force was propelling it ...

Inga has posed:
Inga turns, looking toward Alice. Alice and her...dolls. She blinks slowly. "Greetings," she says, eyeing the dolls again. Curious. Very interesting. Slightly creepy, but interesting.

Ahead, there is someone on of those...one person open car things. What were they called? Motorcycles? Inga mostly though of them as "those bloody loud things" which was a very large catagory of things. He's grumbling over a map. Inga looks to Raquna, raising a brow. "Is he one of the lost ones?" she asks. That would be nice and simple. Which really ought to give Inga her answer to that question. It is never so simple.

Inga looks back to Raquna, kneeling down to take a bit of the bloodied grass and the torn fabric. "Very well, I will need a few moments," she tells the group, letting Raquna greet the newcomers while she sets up the spell.

A small cloth is brought out of her pouch, folded around several objects. Soon, a candle is burning and Inga is maxing some sort of mixture in a mini iron cauldron.

Inga does glance up toward Tyravean, blinking. "Surely this is a jest," she says quietly. Who goes into battle wearing so little clothing!? Sighing, Inga goes back to her spell. "I will make something to lead us...but since I hav this, I will see what else I can discover," she says, taking the sword in her hands, looking down. A few deep breaths and the pupils of her eyes widen to swallow the irises, her dark gaze distant as she tries to read the risidual strands of fate that could be attaching to the sword or bit of blood and torn clothing, searching for the vision that would tell her what had occured here.

Inga breathes out through her nose, her eyes returning to normal a few moments later. She can't help but shudder. "Very...large bug. Several of them, and wolves as well. There were five people...the one owns that sword lives still but the others...I am not sure. It is still in flux," she informs them, grabbing her staff to pull herself back to her feet. Smoke now streams from the little cauldron, curling and questing forward to lead them. "If we follow the smoke it should lead us to at least the man I saw in my vision," she explains.

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    Tyravean looks at the newcomers to her little battlefield with a raised eyebrow. They didn't seem hostile, and were mostly human as near as she could tell, so that was a plus. The elf had come into contact with non-humans that were not out to kill her recently, and had changed her view to giving a breadth of leniency to anyone coming near her that did not seem normal. She extended that to these folks. "So, who are you?" Tyravean inquires with a sweeping gesture of her hand. "And where are we?"

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice looks between the group, a bit on guard. The dolls look between each other and give a slight nod before Shanghai speaks up, "Hello." she cheerfully makes as the two dolls materialize their weapons... a shield and lance for one and a sword for the other. "We will be glad to help you here." she states, "We've got experience in fighting things from here. We even fought a librarian here!" Shanghai looks a bit proud of herself from this fact as Alice and Hourai give a sigh.

    Alice speaks up, looking at the group... then at Tyravean. "Seems someone beat us to the action here..."

William Pauwel has posed:
What is this!? People to break him from his reverie! Will's head seems to twitch up at the sound of somebody else's voice. He slams on the Mistral's brakes-- right before he goes running headlong into a thatch of trees. "Huh?" He says, looking up from his map. He blinks over towards Raquna once he figures out what direction she's talking at him from. "Oh! Howdy! Wasn't expectin' anyone else to come out this way. Y'all get roped into mappin' this floor, too?"

That explains what he was doing, at least.

    There's a beat as he considers Raquna's question, and then he shrugs. "I've seen plenty come and go. Y'all'll need to be a bit more specific. What kinda people're y'all lookin' for?" Another pause. Will cranes his head and peers at Tyr through the mists-- but he abruptly looks away once he realizes HOW LITTLE SHE IS ACTUALLY WEARING OH GOSH. "Er. Uh. Ahem. N-no, I ain't lost! I was just... Makin' my map."

He holds up his map.

It's actually almost complete, it looks like! He just hasn't found the stairs.

Raquna Sheldon (989) has posed:
"Y... Yeah, this.. Uh." Raquna really isn't sure how to react to any of that. She just keeps staring at Tyravean for a short while longer before finally drawing her attention back to Inga and shaking her head. "No, he's... I've never seen any explorers on bicycles before. Well... Not in the Labyrinth, anyway. This is the Labyrinth, miss."

     Today's just getting weirder and weirder. "I'm Raquna Sheldon. We're looking for a team of explorers that came by here, so..." She takes a moment to recompose herself, then offers Tyravean the same polite and confident grin she had given the others earlier. "You want to come with us? It'll be easier to explain once we finish our work here and leave. Maybe even get you and Sagat here to join up with one of the guilds if you're up for more work."

     With those offers given, Raquna watches Inga as she gets to work, looking just a mite worried as she begins working her magic on the spell. There's a curious lean here and there, but the Protector does her job as... A protector, standing guard and watching for aggressive local fauna while looking over the newcomers a little more. Raquna is still looking a little wary of Tyravean because of all those corpses, and William also appears to be throwing her off a bit because of the odd motorized bicycle thing he's got with him.

     "Must be an artifact..." She comments to herself, then jumps a bit when he speaks. "So.. You /are/ an explorer, too? We're looking for a team that came to investigate the appearance of dangerous monsters on this floor. They've gone missing." She sounds just a little more exasperated saying it this time. Even Raquna has a limit to how often she can say that! "... I'll show you the stairs later."

     Raquna looks over when one of Alice's dolls speaks taking another deep breath before smiling at Shanghai. "That so? Well, we should be good and ready if we run into... All those bugs and wolves. Just stay behind me if you need to."

     "The smoke, huh? Alright... Let's move, people!" With little else to go on, Raquna starts moving again, following the smoke and keeping her eyes open for more clues. She'll even lead the group through a few shortcuts hidden in the bushes! It's not looking good for the lost explorers, however, as the path seems to be getting bloodier and bloodier. More torn scraps, a discarded shield, even a few broken vials scattered in the grass. And when they finally reach the place where the smoke is leading to...

     They find themselves in a clearing by a pond. Also, there's blood EVERYWHERE. On the plus side, the team of explorers has been found. Alive, even, if laying in their own blood and barely conscious counts. It's not all well and good, however, since between the rescue team and the explorers are two giant mantis-like insects with steel-gray shells and purple shells, their claws dyed in blood and looking as if they've been taking steroid injections. To make matters worse, there's two wolves lurking near the edges of the clearing, looking like they're waiting for an opportunity to strike instead of making the first move themselves.

Sagat (95) has posed:
Two giant bugs, standing vertically, with massive scythes for arms, and two similarly dangerous-looking wolves. Sagat looks at the Reaping Shades briefly, then the wolves. And comes to a swift de<span class=" bold_bg_y fg_n ++ ision.

"chy">TIGER UPPERCUT!!</span>"

This decision is enacted in the form of trying to charge at one of the mantis-things and take its head off with a single, rocketing uppercut, hopefully before it can react to his rush and the attack which follows. Still, if its head DOESN'T get ripped off its neck, Sagat is going to be just a little vulnerable on the way down.

William Pauwel has posed:
"Sure am!" Will gives Raquna a smile. "Though I'm more used to explorin' things that're a little less... green, alive and above-ground, you know?"

    She explains why she's there. Will's expression falters appropriately. "Oh! Oh." Will frowns. Someone's gone missing in this awful place? He hopes that they weren't TORN APART BY AWFUL DEER. That would just be the worst possible thing. "That's no good. I hope they didn't run afoul of any of the critters around here. I've managed to get by just gunnin' the Mistral's engine, but..." he mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. "Alright, y'all can show me where the stairs are later so I can fill in the rest of this here map, and I'll come along and give y'all some fire-support!"

Also a convenient getaway via his trusty steel steed.

    With the deal set, Will sets off for further adventure! There's enough room for at least one more person to saddle up on the Mistral behind him, too, in case anyone needs a ride. The bike is surprisingly smooth and well-tuned; it's obvious that someone who loves machines very much has put a lot of hard work into making sure it runs well.

    But as they proceed on, Will seems gradually more and more uncertain. It's probably the blood. Soon enough, they come into the clearing... And the bodies on the ground.

And the monsters surrounding them.

    "You varmints--" Will growls, unholstering what appears to be an utterly unfairly sized handcannon from its place at his hip. He slams a long cable into the bottom of the grip, causing its barrel to slide open with the sudden crack of a discharging electrical arc. "Y'all stay away from them! Shoo!"

He points his gun at the wolves.

    When he depresses the trigger, what emerges is a veritable torrent of white-hot plasma that fills the air with the acrid scent of fresh ozone. It kind of hurts the eyes to look at. Maybe that's why he's got tinted goggles on?

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    Tyravean looks over the bug-things after she had elected to follow the group in relative silence. "Hmm... no daemon I've ever seen..." She comments before slowly drawing her sword. "Looks like they made sho-" Then Sagat goes running off like a berserker.
    Tyravean knows that such things can lead to death, so she swiftly finishes drawing her weapon and charges in after him, intent on backing him up.
    While he engages the one and tries to knock its head off, Tyr parries a blow from a scything arm of the second, ensuring it stays off of him. As soon as the parry is finished she ducks underneath a return swing from the other arm and then fires a blast of light from her palm which smacks into the thing's chest, causing it to recoil a bit. Tyreavean lashes out towards the creature's legs, slicing through them with relative ease which causes it to topple forward in a more vulnerable state that it can be finished off in.

Inga has posed:
As they have a ways to go and Inga is undoubtedly on the slow side, she would accept a ride from William and the motorcycle, if a bit hesitantly. Once on, she holds on as if her life depends on it, clinging like a barnicle to a hull. The smoke continues to lead the way until the people have been found, disapating as Inga stuffs the little cauldron back into her pouch. She'll need both hands now, as there appears to be some nasty monsters between them in the people....and they look rough. Very rough. "I can heal them if you keep me alive long enough to do so," she informs Raquna and the others. She awkwardly dismounts the bike, flushing with embarrassment. "Ah, thank you for your assistance," she says to William, then promptly gets out of his way.

"I'll try to keep the wolves from us. I know a charm for that," she said, reaching again into the pouch that holds far more than it should. After a few moments of digging around, Inga pulls out a bundle of herbs. With a word it lights, and Inga quickly blows out the dried bundle until it smokes. "Seems I have a theme today," she notes with a shrug.

"Wolfsbane," she adds by way of explaination as she begins waving it slowly through the air in the general direction of the wolves, beginning to chant under her breath, meeting those golden predator eyes as she casts her spell to try to keep them back. The group has those nasty bugs to deal with. Being flanked by wolves certainly wouldn't help.

Raquna Sheldon (989) has posed:
"Don't worry, Inga. None of us are going to die today. I'll protect you!" Living up to her designation as a Protector, Raquna charges right into the fray, her shield raised and her sword's hilt banging against the shield to draw the monsters' attention. The Reaping Shades are the first to turn towards her, although the wolves seem to have their eye on her as well despite staying out of the fight for now.

     One of the giant mantises takes the bait, bringing up its massive claw to slam against the Protector's shield with the screech of metal against bone. She holds her ground, however, digging her heels in and barely giving an inch in return to keep it from getting near the mage.

     Inga's magic certainly looks like it's working as the wolves start to glance around, almost as if they've lost interest in getting involved in the fight... Just long enough for William's plasma shots to to rip right through one of them and leave a smoking hole in the creature.

     If the other wolf had any intention of getting into the fight, it certainly doesn't have it any more! It yips and bounds off through the bushes, apparently being the smarter (or just luckier) of the pair.

     The second mantis, meanwhile, has its sights set on approaching Muay Thai fighter. It, too, raises its claw to strike, but Sagat's signature strike is faster and catches it right in its big purple face. Whatever the insect's carapace is made of, it apparently isn't quite strong enough to withstand a pinpoint blow of that nature. Although the head doesn't come off, it does explode rather messily from the impact.

     The first Reaping Shade, rearing back after that first failed attempt at cutting through Raquna, rears back for another below before getting distracted by Tyravean. It gets a blast of magic to the midsection and a sword through its legs for its trouble, dropping just in time to spot a giant shield, a smaller shield, and a tiny lance coming straight for it. Between Tyravean setting it up for Alice's dolls to pelt it with danmaku and Raquna to cram her sword straight into its face? It didn't stand much of a chance, either.

Battle Spoils: Scythe (x2), Wolf Fang

Sagat (95) has posed:
Sagat rubs his knuckles briefly after his single strike apparently killed the mantis-thing. It did sting his knuckles some - which is unusual, given how long he's been training and the phenomenal level of conditioning his fists (and most of the rest of his body) have gone through over the years. "Well, that at least did the trick ..." He looks around to make sure everyone else is all right. He also takes note of the fact that the other monsters are either dead or gone.

"The second wolf won't be bringing backup or anything to find us, will it?" Sagat inquires to Raquna. (She's the local, she would know better than anyone else.) "And whoever's got healing skills should probably tend to the party we came looking for ..."

Kind of a waste to come all this way, fight off some freakishly overpowered enemies, and still flub the most important part - actually RESCUING the people you came looking for.

Inga has posed:
Inga blinks to Raquna, looking sheepish. "Well don't get yourself killed trying to protect me either! But I can heal those people and if I die well...I might be too late," she explains. As if the explaination wasn't /more/ confusing.

Inga keeps her head down, focusing on staying out of the way while the others get to slaying the beasts quite handedly. There isn't even time for her to throw up some wards for them. They don't need it. Before they know it, it's over. "Well," Inga smiles, "that was well done," she says to the group, then moves as quickly as possible toward the men who are down and probably bleeding out. And what does Inga do? She pulls out a knife, slicing into her arm quick and deep. The blood however, rises as a fine mist, which she directs with her knife toward the injured explorers. She treats the worst of the injured first, blood magic lending excelerated healing as the mist forms a sort of barrier around them. She has to do this one by one, and by the time she is finished Inga is looking a shade or two paler and a little wobbly. The wound on her arm is already healing though, all the same, skin reknitting before their eyes. "They will survive," she says faintly. Gods she needs a taco right now.

William Pauwel has posed:
    The Solano's barrel smolders slightly, leaking a coruscating haze of lingering plasma. "That'll learn 'em," Will mutters, letting his gun cool before he holsters it again. He's too savvy to fall for the old 'set your britches on fire' trick anymore! Mostly.

He looks around at the others, and once he's sure everyone's alright, turns to watch Inga do... Whatever weird thing she's doing. Maybe he shouldn't watch her do that. Maybe he should just stay on guard and make sure the wolf doesn't bring any of his friends along.

Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

Time to stand guard!

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    Having dispatched the monsters, Tyravean decides its bet not the return her sword to its home quite yet. It appears the place is dangerous enough to warrant being ready. "So, what is our goal here?" Straight to the point, more or less. "I am unfamiliar with this place."

Raquna Sheldon (989) has posed:
Raquna's looking somewhat shocked by the time the dust settles, staring at the rescue team with awe (and confusion in Inga's case). "Yeesh... You really took them out fast, eh? Just one of those would've taken my own team a couple of minutes to take down." She sounds quite impressed, but the Protector does keep her head in the game long enough to turn back to Sagat.

     "Nah, these wolves usually don't fight unless they can catch you in the middle of fighting something stronger. But they've seen you fight, so we should be safe here." She laughs confidently at that, looking from Sagat to the injured explorers and all the bleeding they're doing. It's a little... Worrying. Mostly because of the quantity of blood, but on the plus side? They're still breathing! Better yet, Inga gets to work treating them. They're a little too out of it to notice what she's doing, focusing primarily on staying unconscious instead of dying outright.

     Thanks to Inga's help, of course, it's going well! Raquna does stare at her method of healing, however, although it doesn't seem to keep her attention nearly as long as that odd display with the smoke and the talk of dying earlier.

     Mental note: Ask Rosa if she knows anything about that. For now, however, she stands guard with William, although she doesn't quite catch the sight of two odd shapes drifting beneath the water's surface. She's busy moving over to offer Inga an arm to steady herself, after all!

     Her other arm still has the shield, of course. "Our goal? Ah. Our job was to find the lost explorers. Bring the five of 'em back to Etria alive if they were, report back if they weren't."

     There's only four people in there.

William Pauwel has posed:
Well, looks like the day is saved! Missing group is rescued, people are healing nicely, everything is just all kinds of hunky-dory! Now maybe they can get to the stairs and he can finish his map, and then--

Wait.

Waaaaaait.

    "Uhhh," William's finger waggles as he counts up each of the missing adventurers. One. Two. Three. Four... Four. Not five, but four. "Uhhhhh," he blinks, looking over towards Raquna. He glances back at the injured adventurers, then again to Raquna. Will frowns.

As usual, it falls to him to be the bearer of the worst possible news!

"Uh. Miss," he says, clearing his throat slightly. "You said there were five people missin', but... But I'm only counting five."

...

"So uh. Where's the last one?"

Sagat (95) has posed:
"We're missing one," Sagat observes.

He proceeds to look around for additional blood trails, and in the absence of possible clues like that, he checks the four found adventurers' equipment - making sure all of their weapons are accounted for, and if not, whether any of them have a scabbard which would fit the sword he saw embedded in that tree earlier.

And if THAT doesn't answer the question of 'what might have happened to number five,' he comes out and asks: "Do any of you have a suitable blade and temperament to cut these monsters open and see if any of them ate the fifth?"

.... yeah. He is apparently THAT pragmatic, much like his fighting style.

Inga has posed:
Inga nods to Raquna, showing a brief smile in thanks for the steadying hand. It takes Inga a few moments, but her color is returning as her own rapid healing kicks in. As soon as she can, she can try to dose them all with another round of the healing spell.

It is then brought to their attention that there are only four people. "Indeed...where is the fifth," she muses, looking to Sagat. She raises her eyebrows, then offers her knife with a shrug. "I do not think I have the strength to cut through chitin or whatever it is but be my guest. Get me the heart while you're in there hmm?" she says.

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    Tyravean looks at Sagat for a moment. "I... I see... Well, my sword should do the trick." She moves over towards one of them and shakes her head before she slices the thing open with a quick slash or two. "You can dig in there to see if anything is inside worth having."

Raquna Sheldon (989) has posed:
It's not until William mentions the discrepancy that Raquna turns around to count up their rescuees. "... Yah, tha's... That's four. Then where's the fifth?" Her relaxed expression has given way to a serious one again, and she starts checking the clearing with clues once more. Of course, with all those bloody (or plasma-crisp) corpses around, it seems as though the only clues are pointing towards where the group had come in from. Cutting open the corpses of the Reaping Shade and the wolf don't uncover any partially eaten nor fully eaten people, although there are organs in there.

     Juicy. Of course, all that extra blood is just making Raquna want to wash off in that lake right then and there! The lake that's got a surprising amount of blood in it already, even. Raquna finally takes note of those two odd shapes poking at the surface, and she reaches over with her sword to nudge them up just enough and reveal...

     ... Two corpses! Specifically, a wolf and another person. She grimaces slightly at the sight, but does drag them close enough to the shore to flip the latter over, revealing an emblem on the chest matching that of the surviving explorers.

     "There's our last one. Ah..." She sighs and closes her eyes, muttering a silent prayer for the dead adventurer before turning back to the rest of the group. "Still, mission accomplished. Let's bring these four back, eh?"

     At least the survivors are healing up nicely with further assistance from Inga. Once they awaken, they're too shaken to get any useful answers out of, but they do follow orders easily enough, and it doesn't take too long to lead them back to the stairs leading out of the Labyrinth. Raquna's looking a little more somber than before, but she still manages a grateful smile as she turns back to the group. "Thanks for all your help. We can get your payment at the pub. Maybe get some drinks while we're there?"

Sagat (95) has posed:
"If the pub has decent food," Sagat states while he's rinsing blood out of his wrist wraps and off his hands and arms, "I may stop by and eat there. I don't drink alcohol, though your invitation is appreciated."

He really doesn't drink. Bad things have been known to happen when Sagat lets his discipline lapse, so he doesn't let it lapse if he can possibly help it. Simple and understandable, right?

He doesn't seem pleased that the fifth adventurer to be rescued wound up dead, although he's ... somewhat relieved that the fifth member didn't actually get eaten.

Inga has posed:
Inga sighs, saddened to see the fifth man pulled from the water, drowned with a wolf. That seems an omen to her. She says a quick prayer over his form before return to caring for those that are still living.

"I would not be opposed to drinks," she answers, leaning over to rinse her hands in the water and dry them on her dress. Should have worn her apron.

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    Tyravean looks around a bit. "Hmm... drinks are always good, but I should probably try to find my way home." As soon as she had said it, however, she disappears, sucked up in the same eldritch mist that apparently deposited her there in the first place! Oh my!

William Pauwel has posed:
Will goes dead silent as Raqune plicks the body from the lake. The color drains from his face; he looks... kind of like he might be about to throw up.

So he instead looks at Tyr, and immediately the color comes RIGHT BACK, which leaves him nice and toasty and able to properly look Raquna in the eye again.

"Drinks... Would be good," Will says, holstering his gun again. "...Though uh. If they're too heavy, I could probably take a couple of 'em on the Solano. We can come back for those stairs later, right?"

Raquna Sheldon (989) has posed:
"Not even a little, Sagat? Aw, too bad. Still, Valerie knows how to make some great food, so you'll have plenty to spend your earnings on." Raquna chuckles softly at Sagat, apparently having enough sense not to try and push him to drink too hard. She grins a little bit more when Inga and William take her up on that offer more directly, though. "You'll love it there. So many different types, all at good prices... Even the cheap stuff is great!"

     And then Tyravean just up and disappears after getting swallowed up by mist. She opens her mouth and closes it several times, then shakes her head and just heads right on into the pub.

     So many questions. So many freaking questions.