Hell, she’d thought @Cain Darlite had been suspiciously quiet. With all the chatter and discussion about scrounging for food and bear-wrestling (she’d like to see that) Destiny figured the long-haired man just hadn’t had much to add. The fact that @Ashiore Evretto cooked was a damn relief—Des had already spent too long in this game swallowing something half-raw just because she didn’t have time to roast it properly over a fire. As for veggies… well, let’s just say Destiny had the Hunting mastery, not the Gathering one. “Sounds good!” she gave the undead druid a thumbs-up, already looking forward to their lunch break. Of course, that was assuming they actually did rustle up any edible plants or game—as the journey went on, it became clear that little life (plant or animal) existed on the windswept slopes. The ox steered effortlessly around the few stunted trees which clung to life here. Destiny liked ‘em. They were tough. They were survivors. @Seigi answered how the three of them had gotten to know one another and Destiny snorted, wiping the side of her mouth. “Mm! Guess that’s one way to put it. I tagged along with the Lion’s Pride on one of their missions, got roped into it by a friend of mine. We were stuck in the same wagon.” The black-haired woman jerked a thumb at the carriage behind them and glanced over her shoulder. Wonder if she’s as cooped-up and uncomfortable as we were. Not as cold, she bet. Well—maybe Des would ask if the maiden wanted to get out and stretch her legs once they stopped for lunch. Right now, it was a nice, easy ride—couldn’t be too carsick yet, right? Well, maybe she’d spoken too soon. Cain broke his silence at last and music filled the air, catchy and beat-driven. Since she was in a good mood and not cooped up like cattle in a moving igloo with ten other people, Destiny bobbed her head and hummed along under her breath as she picked up on the tune. Couldn’t make out the words—just lalala and all that, she figured—but when Seigi appeared and prompted her she turned her grin on the redhead and began to whistle along between her teeth. It was a high, reedy sound, but clear and perfectly in pitch. …Was she crazy, or was the tempo picking up? The jingling of the bells on the carriage had gotten more frenzied as the ox plowed along. Destiny found herself puffing a little bit to keep up with the animal, having to break off whistling just to breathe. Not so fast! She turned to look at Cain and caught a little bit of his expression. Aw, he’s playin’ with us. Arright! Challenge accepted. The ranger’s harsh, dissonant tones joined the mix. Her whistling skill was honestly much preferred, but they asked for it. “Dan-dan, hmm hmm~ goin’ too fast, dan-dan somethin’ somethin’, Cain-you’re kil-lin’ me-here~”
Despite Ashiore’s non-compliance, the trio of singers, one annoyingly loud, one terribly off pitch, and one who made a simple little ditty into a goddamn opera, had a fun little time as they marched through the barren landscape. With an energetic song and an ox that had nigh infinite stamina, the entourage made good distance while the music stretched onto in an endless loop. The sky was clear, the sun was blue, the company was good, and the quest was simple. After the icy, eldritch bullshit of the Reclamation and the depressing, edgy bullshit of the Aristocracy’s job, this was the sort of simple breather that Cain thought he deserved, and once Destiny’s improvisations started losing steam, the Flagbearer’s grin widened, and he paced around with arms spread out like a champion gladiator, before launching into the rap segment of the song, his voice bouncing from a sexy, low growl to a cute, chipmunk rendition, skipping ahead of the group before walking backwards. Apparently, his boast was a mistake, because a couple minutes later, the muse bumped into some and flipped over, head smacking into a log. Thunk. A mortal would have no doubt been incapacitated by such a devastating noggin strike, but as an immortal adventurer that had his tongue bitten off and his legs pulverized in the past, a head bump simply drew a laugh out of Cain as he picked himself up, turning his attention to the obstacle that had presented itself to the bodyguards of the shrine maiden and the sacred beast. Around them, the trees had been cut down, felled upon the road and left as artificial obstacles. The freshness of the stumps indicated a recent cut, but if one were to think of it as an ‘ambush’, the lack of any sort of attack clearly made the maneuver wanting. Around seven to eight medium sized trees were scattered in roughtly the same area, creating a mound that could not be traversed over by the dainty carriage, while the sacred beast itself had stopped in its tracks. There was the possibility of just taking a small detour onto the wild grass and circumventing the problem altogether, but the ox’s lifetime mission had been to follow only a single path throughout, and for the moment, it stood, as if waiting for its subjects to clear the way. The first ‘trial’, hmm? Pretty lame, but pretty simple. Cain let out a low whistle, before uncorking a water flask to wet his mouth. “Well,” he said, one hand flipping his voluminous hair, “It appears that nature itself conspires against us, no doubt seeing us as naught but unworthy sinners trespassing upon holy ground. But a mere half dozen felled trees shall not deter us for long, and if this is the first trial that we must face as a team, I must confess, it isn’t very impressive at all. With Seigi’s god like might, Ashiore’s dominance of the wilds, and Destiny’s tree splitting arrows, we shall easily turn these trees into fuel for our nightly bonfires.” A detour may be less energy consuming, but in the eyes of the muse, there was only one path. “Straight through!” @Seigi @Ashiore Evretto @Destiny Divebird
When everyone else around her began singing along, she started feeling a bit of pressure. Still not entirely enough to overcome her embarrassment, but she did mumble along with some of the lines that she recognized. It was nowhere near to matching the boisterous energy of the other three, but at least now she didn't feel like a wimp for not participating at all. It did make for an interesting atmosphere, at least. The calm, quiet environment broken by sometimes off-key, off-tempo, and wild singing. Briefly, she wondered what the maiden was thinking from inside the ornate carriage. Could she hear what was happening outside? Well, it probably couldn't lower her opinion of them any further, if she subscribed to what looked to be the traditional viewpoint of the people of Liega. The ox didn't seem disturbed, at least. It just kept stomping along the path, the expression on its face mildly exasperated. Haha. She knew that look well, the 'I'm a superior beast surrounded by dumb people' look. The solid 'thud' that @Cain Darlite's head made against a felled tree interrupted the jovial atmosphere, though. When he fell over, Ashiore started moving up to him in concern. "Are you all right?" she asked. When it looked like there wasn't any serious injury, Ashiore took a step back to assess the situation. The ox had stopped right in its tracks and was starting expectantly at the group of them, tail twitching intermittently. Looked like it was expecting them to clear a path right through the fallen trees. "That sounds like a plan," she said, listening to Cain's suggestion. She looked at the blockage once more, frowning. "The trees are already dead, so I can't really manipulate them directly. But I can try to pull the ones on the sides out of the way." She looked towards @Seigi and @Destiny Divebird. "So I guess I should work on those, while you can break apart the ones in the middle of the path?" Plan of action decided on, Ashiore fished around her pouch to pull out her athame. Thank goodness she'd already memorized this incantation, having used it many, many times before. "Vitēs Morantur!" Tanglefoot Vines emerged from among the tall grass by the roadside, circling around the trunk of the closest tree. Gritting her teeth in concentration, Ashiore directed the vines to pull on the tree, slowly sliding it out from the pile and dragging it so that it wouldn't block their way any further.
"Dan Da- Hmm? Hey wa-" It was too late, @Cain Darlite already bonked his head the very same moment Seigi tried to warn him! While under normal circumstances, some good friends would have given out a chuckle, Seigi was way too precious for that and instead rushed forward the same way @Ashiore Evretto did. Cain, however, seemed fine. It'd be kind of anti-climatic, huh? The same way as falling down the stairs and breaking your neck after having saved the world countless times and slain dragons, demon-lords and whatnot. "So... no Ambush?" Seigi now asked in slight confusion. She wasn't a Treexpert, yet, to conclude that the cut had been just recent. Which would have made this entire roadblock even MORE SUSPICIOUS. "Mhm..." Mixed feelings, truly. If they had an easy ride it was a nice change of pace but, at the same time, it'd be boring too. "Someone keep a look on the little princess?" Maybe the ambush people were waiting for them to exert themselves! Well, whatever, the course of action was pretty obvious. "Head through the Wall! Screw whoever did this!" Just as the others had laid out. The orange-haired girl wasn't too sure about simply punching the trunks into smithereens, as the big fat ox and the carriage had to pass, but nonetheless, she could always just lift a trunk up and throw them to the side. At the very least this motion must have been enough for @Destiny Divebird to realize just how serious she had been with wrestling some bear. Ah, Brute Force could truly be quite the beauty.
First roadblock of the day was… well, a pretty damn literal roadblock. “Who’s a sinner?” Destiny asked jokingly, leaning with one shoulder against the side of the still wagon. She figured @Cain Darlite was kidding. The ranger did a cursory second glance and her grin seemed to spoil as it dawned on her, the corners of her mouth turning down. A hand reached up to rub the back of her neck. “Aw… that’s not why I was the only one who got slicked down and given an interview with the holy man, right?” What the hell kinda sin had they all done? Maybe she was just too new in this place to have racked up the kind of moral debt that the others in the escort had. Perks? Now that Destiny felt the full weight of her pure, anointed, virginally pure soul (did she say pure?) it was pretty clear that she had to be the one to go check on the “little princess,” as Seigi put it. She gave her companions a little wave behind her head as she pushed off from the side of the wagon, making her way back to where their passenger had first entered the carriage. “Call me if you need my tree-spittin’… tree-splittin’… hell, if you need my arrows. For the trees. Y’know, I’m just gonna go check on our gal, all right?” Goddammit. Anyway, it had looked like @Seigi and @Ashiore Evretto had this one in the bag from what she could see. “Hey in there, Shrine Maiden ma’am—” Miss? Des couldn’t hear herself saying ‘miss,’ she might as well say milady. She knocked anyway on the outside of the wood. Hopefully she actually was inside, this time. Sure been a waste this whole time if she hasn’t been. After peering around just to make sure she hadn’t gotten out when Des wasn’t looking (why was she thinking of her like a housecat that wasn’t allowed to go outside?) she rattled off the situation. “—It's Destiny. We got a little holdup, but we’re clearin’ it right up, don’t worry. You still doin’ all right in there?” She hoped this gal talked. Or at least threw her a thumbs-up. Her eyes drifted to the side to watch a log go flying off the side of the mountain, apparently hurled by the redheaded teen. Jesus Christ. That's some muscle. The smell of freshly-cut timber was sharp and invigorating. Des let her eyes close for a second, savoring the break from travel. “Mm. You want to step out for some fresh air? I’ll be right here, you’ll still be safe.” The question felt like it came out of nowhere, but looking around at the scenery—stark as much of it was—Destiny felt it slip easily from her lips. It felt natural. She sighed, letting her eyes drift lazily back to the sides of the road where Ashiore’s animated vines were busy pulling felled logs out of the path. “It’s a real nice day.”
As vines writhed out of the surrounding grasslands, a distinct snapping sound could be heard, metal click-clacking. Undeterred by intrusion of steel traps, the vines continued on with their hauling, a half dozen steel-jaw and wire traps clinging onto their floral forms. Some were rusty, while others shown with a strange light, but all of the traps that had been triggered by Ashiore’s nature magic were clearly suited for large game, the jaws large enough that any smaller critter wouldn’t even have the weight necessary to trigger them. At the sight of such devious machinery, Cain narrowed his eyes, taking a half-step. Seigi’s own heroic efforts were unimpeded by such malicious machinations, but it was still concerning, even if no one was hurt, even if they had the healing magic to deal with such issues. His expression twisted for a moment. Wouldn’t that be hilarious, if the universe deigned for him to take the place of the ‘protector’, while others sought to play the role of the ‘assassins’. With the logs displaced via magic and might, the sacred cow snorted once, acknowledging the efforts of the party, before trudging on once more. A rhythmic pace of rattling bells was set, and once everyone got moving again, Cain was quick to approach Ashiore and Seigi, his dark eyes flickering up above to the sky. Not a single cloud, but a black bird flew high above. Misfortunate. “That definitely wasn’t just a hunter dropping a surplus of traps in a random area which coincidentally worked out with an ambush planned by people who got bored of waiting for a passing merchant caravan and just gave up on it, right?” Cain ground his teeth together, chewing on more connections that he couldn’t really make. “Seemed hella excessive either way. Guess we might have to work for our paycheck after all…but we aren’t getting paid either…” … “Hm, this could be a problem. Seigi, Ashiore, thoughts?” ~~~ Destiny’s words went unreplied. Indeed, between the snapping of metal jaws and the rumbling of Seigi-tossed logs, one would have been hard-pressed to hear any subtle whispers from what may have been a very soft spoken shrine maiden. Though the carriage held no windows, the slender silhouette of the maiden could still be seen, perfectly upright, a sitting posture that belied a level of discipline members of modern society was incapable of. Meditation? Willful deafness? The ranger’s words continued to hang in the air, as the sacred cow began to plod on, the rattling of the bells sounding in sync with each step. Maybe it was just good old xenophobia once more, an unwillingness to interact with beings as unnatural as adventurers, with their strange ‘memes’ and their incredibly varied outfits that never changed no matter what the season. Such thoughts clammered through Destiny’s head as the silence persisted, drip dropping into an ever-increasing sensation of exasperation at the attitude of the villagers of Liega, until finally, sh- The silhouette swayed, and fell. An audible thump could be heard, flesh against a hard surface, not a single sound made despite the unbraced collapse. Overheard, the cry of a blackbird resounded, an onyx silhouette coasting towards the graying horizon. @Seigi @Ashiore Evretto @Destiny Divebird
Aw, hell. “Jesus—" She did a double-take and swore, slipping in her sudden effort to twist the doorknob and throw the screen door open, privacy be damned. What she actually did was sprain her damn wrist on a locked door. “Hey! Open up—” Christ, who was she talking to, the shrine maiden? The idiot had locked herself in! What, she think they were gonna bust in there and drag her out to join the song? “Seigi! Holy hell, get over here, we got a maiden down! I need your help!” She was hollering loud enough to scare off a bear. The carriage began rolling as the ox perceived its path to be clear and Destiny stumbled, almost falling. “Lady—” What happened to ma’am? Talk about someone who got rude when they panicked, “—You got about five seconds to say you’re okay before we bust down that door, y’hear?” Seigi had been hurling trees seconds ago. A two-bit lock and hinge on a decorative wagon weren’t gonna last much longer than that. What was the problem? What could cause a shrine maiden to faint out of the blue? Christ, at least I hope she’s just fainted. Destiny wasn’t much of a pessimist unless it involved her own health and well-being (she had a ten-foot target for Murphy’s Law painted between her shoulders when it came to that) but in this moment with a crumpled and unmoving silhouette behind the screen, her mind ran back to the strangeness of this all. The ritual. The cleansing. Hell, what if she is sensitive to some kinda abstract thing? To “impurity”? There was no time for theorizing, though, or Destiny could go on for days. Maybe it’d gotten too hot inside the little wagon with no AC, despite the graying skyline. Maybe she’d been fasting for days in preparation for this journey and had collapsed from hunger. They weren’t gonna find out a damn thing when all they had was a silhouette to go off of! If she could even keep up with the moving carriage. “Can someone stop that thing?” The ranger slipped again, stumbling after the wagon with one hand still wrapped around the door handle. A flash of black wings caught her attention and Destiny looked up, squinting. Peggy? Had the unlucky blackbird she’d shot (and patched up in apology) followed her all the way out here? The Yladian pursed her lips and whistled a quick pattern of three notes, trying to get the one-legged fool to come here. Like most birds do when they’re whistled at, however, there was no response. Typical. @Seigi @Ashiore Evretto @Cain Darlite
The sharp metallic clicks as her vines went about their way hauling the felled trees out of the path were a surprise. Not a pleasant one, but at least it was only leaves and vines that had gotten caught in the traps, and not @Seigi, who was industriously pulling aside logs. When the path looked mostly clear, Ashiore dropped the spell and let the vines disappear. She approached a few of the traps, looking closely at them though she didn't try to stick her nose in too closely. A fair number of them looked very old, rusted over around the teeth. Repurposed from somewhere else, maybe a legitimate hunter's trap? And some others still were... glowing. Was there some kind of spell on them, a magical layer to this attack? That was disconcerting. When @Cain Darlite asked her thoughts on the matter, she frowned and began biting on her lower lip as she pondered the situation. "I don't think we have much of a choice but to keep going this way," she said slowly, glancing over to the ox that was steadily marching up the path, unperturbed by the apparent trap that they circumvented. "If we divert the ox, it might not know another path to where we should be headed." Yes, she did not like this one bit. "We may need to have someone up ahead as a scout. This may not be the only trap lying ahead," she said. She mulled over the idea for a bit. "I, uh, may be able to try something," she began. "Turning into animals. Something like a hawk, or a fox, something that can check out the path ahead of us. It's a bit draining and I haven't really experimented much with it yet... but it's an option, if you think it'll be helpful." Ashiore turned ahead to @Destiny Divebird to ask about her opinion on the situation, but the sudden flurry of activity distracted her. She couldn't see much from her current position, left somewhat behind the ox. But there was no mistaking the panic in Destiny's voice as she announced that- that the maiden inside was down? Lips pressed together in concern, Ashiore began jogging to catch up.
"Uh..." Seigi looked at the mess they had just made, or rather, unmade. Suddenly, there had been traps! Like, a lot of them! "Maybe..." Maybe? It had been more-or-less Seigi's first thought, or rather second after the bandit deal, after seeing those traps! "There's some big game around? Like, a huge monster! Dinosaur! Dragon, or something to slay! Maybe—" Maybe! "—we find huge bones, too?!" Were pretty much Seigi's thoughts as @Cain Darlite asked her about this... stuff. Yup. Either way, if not for @Ashiore Evretto's plant-o-mancy, maybe Seigi would have hurt herself! Death Afflication through a trap!? Yeahno. "Thanks, Zombie Girl!" Seigi gave the living corpse a thumbs up before, suddenly, @Destiny Divebird called the Justice Girl over! The bird didn't get all too much attention from Seigi. "Damn Ox! Sit!" Instead, she punched one of the standing trees in front of the ox: Making it fall onto the path. With that done, and hopefully stopping the animal once again, Seigi jogged over to Destiny before taking a look through the translucent wall: WIth the girl already on the ground, Seigi couldn't exactly see much but did what she got asked for. Not being THAT stupid to punch the door broken, instead, Seigi opened the thing in a normal fashion. Seigi barely even noticed the resistance of the locked door as a small noise of mechanism breaking gave away hint enough that Seigi broke the thing. The door, at least, was open now? Revealing...? OOC: Sorry it took so long.
Ho? As Ashiore brought up her new abilities, Cain cocked a brow. The ability to shapeshift into an animal, was it? It was certainly a creative ability, one that would doubtlessly be advantageous for a scout. Run ahead as a squirrel, spot an enemy in hiding, then shift back into a human to access the UI and send over a quick message? A tactic, definitely, and the midnight haired muse quickly began to think of more enjoyable methods of using the ability. Double ox for double speed? Giant eagle so they could pull off aerial assaults? Go insect mode, climb into someone’s nose, and then shift back into a human to do a gory fatality? Such endless possibilities, compared to Seigi’s less inspired imagination. A dinosaur or a dragon coming out of nowhere was cute, but in that case… Well, she was young, and Cain had seen odder things happen in Terrasphere. Stifling a laugh, he patted the energetic martial artist girl on the head. “We’ll only find huge bones if we go digging,” he remarked, “And I’m sure that’s going to be much less interesting than you expect, Seigi. If a T Rex jumps out of nowhere though, I’ll be counting on you to p-” Before his hypotheticals could go too far, however, a cry from Destiny caused Cain to turn, rushing over even as the Sunset Sage’s punch blocked the road once more, a young tree torn out of its roots to act as an obstacle for the ox. The proud beast snorted in disdain as the adventurers gathered around the carriage, some alarmed, some merely curious. But even if it did choose to stop, the holy beast would remember it. Remember that small girl ordering it around, cursing it. Molten chocolate eyes narrowed, its hooves digging at the ground impatiently. Cain’s eyes flickered towards the beast of burden for a moment, before he turned his attention to the door. There was a snap as Seigi casually broke the lock off, and she swung it open, revealing the sprawled form of shrine maiden. Compared to when she had been dressed in the yurt, the clothes she wore now were much more practical, if not still suffused with strong perfumes. Long black hair, like obsidian and nightscape, sprawled down her back, blossoming branches woven into them. Her skin was as pale as death, still shining with the ritual oils that must have been lathered upon her before her journey. Far from being an image of purity and innocence, her countenance was more of that of solemn death, as still as an embalmed death. Without a moment’s pause, the unholy resurrection spell’s words were unfurling from Cain’s tongue, masterful music emanating from the mage in azure ripples. It won’t fail again. He had no idea what happened, but there was no fucking way he was going to have ANOTHER person die while his Revive was still off cooldown. “Zzz…muh?” … “Goddamnit.” The azure light dissipated immediately, the muse opting to slap himself on the head instead as a telling snore left the maiden’s small mouth. An exasperated snigger rumbled out from the divine, snide ox, the maiden sniffing, before opening her eyes. Her body may have had the countenance and gravity of the dead, but her eyes were an iridescent green that spoke of spring and verdancy, dulled only momentarily by drowsiness before the light sparked in them once more. Pulling herself up from her unsightly position, she rubbed the small bruise forming on her forehead, before slowly turning from one adventurer to the other. What did she see? “Huh. Outsiders really are different.” She cocked her head to the side, before a pale hand pushed sleek strands away from her face. “Are we having lunch now?” Her button nose wrinkled slightly, and she yawned, not bothering to cover up her mouth. Even her breath was a pleasant scent, strawberries and mint mixed together. …yeah, Cain was going to let someone else answer this. After all, he wasn’t the one that recommended they bust open the door. @Seigi @Ashiore Evretto @Destiny Divebird
She’d been expecting Seigi to tear through the wagon like an arrow through a wet kleenex, but the orange-haired girl surprised her. That was… subtle. Little click, easy. This is why I stick to my arrows. The wave of perfume when the door opened was enough to jerk her head back before the ranger stuck it out again, peeking comically over the top of Seigi’s head like children stacked in a doorway. “Son of a..." Wardrobe change or not, that was sure as hell the gal they’d been protecting. Destiny felt her ears swivel as the first bars of Cain’s music filled the air with urgency, with gravity. This was no dan-dan song, this was real magic— She was asleep?! “No, no, we ain’t havin’ lunch, we’re gonna talk about why you fell on the ground and didn’t answer when I yelled! Gave me a damn heart attack.” Destiny let out her breath, putting her hands behind her head in an attempt to relax her tense shoulders. Seeing that silhouette collapse had put her in all kind of knots faster than she thought possible. Was this whole journey gonna be like this? Anyway. Looked like the gal was all right, even if she did have a bump on her head like she’d gotten smacked with a cartoon hammer. Damn narcoleptic shrine maidens. Those Liegans at least give her a pillow in there to snooze on? Figures they hadn’t, since she’d opted for the floor instead. “Heavy sleeper? ...Sorry, y’all.” Feeling like the elf who cried wolf, Destiny glanced around at her companions, hitching her mouth to the side. “I told her five seconds, she was out stone cold.” She held up her hands defensively, the tall woman’s skin still shiny with a different brand of the same oils anointing their green-eyed passenger. @Ashiore Evretto @Cain Darlite @Seigi
