[Last time on Seekers...] [The crew managed to squeak past the undead pirate captain, causing him to be dead... um... again. Or something similar. His body lay in a heap on the cold rocky ground of the canyon and the moon is high. The fact that you can actually see it in this canyon probably means it's within an hour of midnight.] [Shan found an amulet and there's a shrine beyond, but for the most part, the danger would seem to have past.] [Soooo....session start!] [Shan looks like she's feeling suddenly dizzy and falters.] Whoa, boss. * Nasira tries to catch Shan and nearly falls over herself. [She seems to have passed out. Must be pushing herself too hard.] * Naiya glances back at Shan and Nasira, and frowns, murmuring something to herself. "It seems as if all did not fare as well as it seemed for Shan during the fight..." * Naiya heads back over to the now-unconcious Shan, and glances at Nasira. "Will she be all right?" * Naiya sets Shan into a more comfortable prone position, since Nasira is about to fall over herself. * Nasira helps Shan be lowered gently to the ground. She frowns. ... it's no good to leave her here. *she glances at the broken skeleton captain.* I will carry her. *she crouches down to do so.* ... at least I shall attempt to do so. [There's a clattering from up above. A couple rocks come loose and fall down the canyon side.] * Nasira glances up that way. Her hand immediately goes to her now thoroughly bloody saif. [Way way too bloody.] * Enzo tumbles down, skidding in a skiddy way, and staggers to a standing stop full of alliteration. * Naiya backs Nasira up with a drawn, loaded pistol aimed in roughly the same direction. She relaxes once she sees Enzo. Hi! * Nasira smiles. "Hey Kid. How was the view?" * Naiya smiles widely, and laughs. "You have an amazing talent for getting lost, Enzo. And thankfully, for getting yourself found." * Naiya hides the pistol back away, and resumes her efforts to get Shan and herself into a carrying position. * Enzo gives Naiya what would be a glare if he cared. "I'm not lost if *you* don't know where I am, only if *I* don't." I thought I saw someone else lurking around and went off to see what they were up to. But... well, no luck. Too bad. Don't need any more of those out here. * Nasira gestures to the ex-pirate zombie on the ground. [Naiya tries to pick Shan up. Shan's light enough but...the strain on her wounded ankle kills her. She can't take the pain and while she doesn't manage to drop Shan, she does feel more pain from her ankle.] [Probably sprained it more.] * Naiya hisses, and sets Shan back down. Gently. ...uh-oh. * Nasira shakes her head. Er. Looks like you're having some trouble. You missed a hell of a fight, Kid. I can take Shan, I guess... Looks like it. * Enzo eyes Nasira's bloody bloodiness of blood. "Did she take care of you before...uh, whatever happened to her?" Yeah, got stuck with needles good and proper. * Naiya flosp to the ground, and looks up at Enzo. "Would you? Neither of us are in any condition... and... it won't do to leave her here, or us to stay where we are." Well, good. [Nasira does look incredibly bruised, battered and... it's a wonder she's still up.] (I'm still up because I'm insane and can't black out like a sensible person.) (Yes, but it doesn't do to say that for GM drama.) ( Well, you could shorten it to "Because I'm Nasira. *kickass music*") (Therefore Shan's the only sensible one here.) (Except she's not here! She's passed out from connection failure. Whee!) * Nasira doesn't flop onto the ground. It's a wonder she's still up, but she is up. * Naiya takes a breath, then gets back to her feet, carefully. (No, I'm saying she's sensible because she blacked out. XD) * Naiya glances at Nasira, Shan, and Enzo again, an odd, musing expression on her face, then turns away and starts walking onwards, slowly. * Enzo glances around at everyone, then settles on Nasira. "Uh, want to take a second so I can see if I can do any healing stuff for you?" * Nasira lets Naiya walk off, turning to Enzo. She blinks and looks a little puzzled. "Uh, sure." * Enzo lets Shan down and wanders over, taking out the cyclone knife. "I promise it probably won't make you any bloodier than you already are. I think." * Enzo holds the knife while standing in front of Nasira, and concentrates. [Enzo's knife takes on a glowing, almost misty appearance. The mist emitted from the knife falls on Nasira's wounds and some of them start to close. Now she simply looks like pain washed over instead of death warmed over. Still bruised but less bloody.] * Enzo closes up the knife and turns to pick up The Shan. * Enzo fails to pick up the Shan! * Nasira shakes her head, then shakes out her somewhat healed limbs. "Here." She lifts Shan, if possible. * Enzo helps! [Together, they manage to get Shan up. Nasira's ankle's are hurting if she turns it wrong but she can probably cope. * Nasira can cope because she jumps off cliffs for fun. "We'll come back later. We've gotta get the boss somewhere she can rest." Yeah. I'm pretty sure government officials aren't supposed to sleep in canyons. (*is tempted to have you make an etiquette roll just to find out whether that's true or not.* XD) (It's Enzo.) (Enzo. Plus etiquette.) (That'd be like a +15 mod on the roll. ^^;) Do you think the little girl will let us stay in her house or will she throw garlic at us? * Nasira shrugs. "If she throws garlic at us, we can save it for seasoning later." Oh, good point. Garlic lends a lot of flavor to things. It sure does. Gotta use what we have, right? * Nasira starts carrying Shan back to town. Yup! * Enzo follows! Or rather parallels, since he's helping! * Enzo yells back politely. "Hey Naiya! We're going back to the town to find a place to put Shan and stuff!" * Enzo adds, a little less politely. "We're not lost! Just making sure you know!" * Naiya doesn't respond. Maybe she didn't hear him. Maybe it just fell on deaf ears- she did look rather determined when she set out. * Enzo seems not to care whether or not she'd reply, turning his attention back to helping Nasira with Shan. [Shan stumbles out of Enzo's grasp, holding her head.] Whoa! Hi there, Shan. * Nasira helps Shan back to her feet. "You okay?" * Shan just manages to nod a little. She starts making her way down the path. * Enzo switches his grip from carry to steady. * Enzo glances at Nasira with an "eh?" sorta glance. "Where you going, Shan?" * Nasira looks almost confused. She heads after her. "Boss?" [Shan just shakes her head and keeps going.] Uh... sure you can make it? [Shan doesn't turn back around. She keeps going. She does nod after Enzo's question though.] ... Sure, boss. * Nasira looks to Enzo and shrugs. * Enzo looks to Nasira and shrugs. So. Keep going, then? * Nasira starts walking in the direction Naiya headed. "Yeah. She should be okay. I think we took out nearly all the zombies." Okay then! * Enzo follows. [Enzo and Nasira follow the path that Naiya built. It winds through the canyon a ways. At the end, they find Naiya standing in awe of what looks like a formerly majestic sight, now in ruin. (con)] [Dug into the cliff face seems to be the remains of an entrance. Pillars line the structure, now broken in two, three, or several pieces. Laying strewn among the wreckage is a symbol that looks like a larger version of the one carved on the amulet Shan was carrying off the pirate captain. (con)] [As you approach the former entrance, parts of the canyon wall seems to have collapsed in. Patterns and runes etch into the cliff walls, but most seem to have weathered in the tests of time to the point of illegibility (even if one of you present could read it). In the center, with a large piece of pillar smashed against it and breaking it in two, is what looks like a large sundial on a pedestal.] [The actual archway looks as if it's completely blocked.] * Enzo blinks. "... whoa." * Nasira looks around. She lets out a low whistle. * Naiya snaps out of it as she hears the others approach. She turns back, obviously in good cheer. She brushes a hand through her hair, then waves at them. "You did make it!" She laughs, and outstretches one hand to the ruins as a whole. "Isn't it great?" * Nasira points out the sundial. "That won't do much good at night." ...uh. What sort of "great" d'you mean, exactly? (It won't do much good broken either :P) (Yup!) There's so much... history, and promise here! The old world and the ancient magics, treasures and stories... and maybe a little bit of hope. * Naiya 's gaze flicks to the ground for a moment. "But, for the present, maybe just some answers as to what has happened here." * Enzo surveys the landscape. "Looks more to me like lots of little bits." I'll bet you there's big bits inside. Well, yes. If you can get inside. Unfortunately... I am at a loss as to how to get there. Looks like it got turned into either a smuggler's hideout of some sort, or just a popular target for people who wanted to smash things. Which, I mean. There are a *lot* of things to smash there. * Naiya chuckles to herself. "Only a matter of time, though." She turns back to the entrance, and starts looking around some more. ( how recent does the entrance being blocked look? ) Well, one way or the other I guess you might be right. * Nasira eyes the symbol, then starts walking for the temple. * Enzo follows. [Some of the wear seems old. The tests of time haven't been kind to this place. However, much of the pillar damage seems new.] * Naiya muses for a moment, then snaps her fingers. "Virgil! Bring back a piece from here for him when for when we go back to the ship." * Naiya takes a moment to find something suitable, while it's on her mind. * Enzo examines the pillar damage. "Yeah, might do." * Nasira reaches the entrance and puts a hand on the rocks caving it in. "I wonder if I can get through this." You? Probably. * Enzo flashes a grin. [Naiya finds rock, rock, more rock...] [Some are small enough to fit, especially around the sundial.] * Naiya heads for the sundial specifically. That should have enough significance to work. * Nasira grins back at Enzo. She walks to one side, then the other, looking it all over. * Naiya grabs a loose chip of the sundial, then calls out to Nasira, "Good luck, Nasira!" * Naiya then sets about finding another way in, starting to circle the entrance Nassy's about to try to butcher. * Nasira raps her knuckles against the rock. She frowns. "Guess not. I'd end up breaking my saif." * Enzo nods sagely. "Broken saifs are no fun." * Nasira starts walking along and looking for another entrance. "They're a lot less fun than normal ones." So...the zombies came from here? Or the portal leads here? Zombies don't come from nowhere. They come from a grave. Well yeah. I meant more like where they came from right before they attacked the village. More likely, the power that animated them originated from here. There may very well be a graveyard or a collection of bodies here, too, that we have not yet seen. * Naiya hmms. "You mean, was this their camp, or base of operations?" I mean, sure they're zombies, but I'd think it'd be pretty difficult to go back to the old grave at night or whenever, cover up all nice and snug and warm, and then pop out of the ground again later on. Like daisies! Yeah. Basically. * Naiya hmms some more. "If it was, they might have left signs of habitation. We will be able to confirm that whence we get inside." * Naiya keeps looking for a way to get inside, at that! Well, I figure being able to get inside would be a pretty good sign. * Enzo stops puttering about the pillars and ambles over to check things out. [Nasira manages to spot a crack in the rocks that you *might* be able to get into. But it's a tight squeeze at that. Not only that, but it's fairly high up on the pile of ruin.] * Nasira points up. "Who's for more climbing?" * Enzo follows Nasira's finger with his gaze. "Eh?" * Naiya raises an eyebrow, and has a looksee at what Nassy's pointing at. "Do you see something?" ...sure. Why not. If there's something up there, anyway. Yeah, there's a crack up there. Looks kinda small, but it's a shot. Well, okay. * Naiya fixes her shield on her back, and smiles wryly. She pushes the wrists of her zaxon garb back to her elbows. She sounds almost amused. "... I am not ready to give up just yet." * Naiya starts to do... the climbin' thang. [Naiya manages to make it up without incident. Some of the white dust and dirt from the foundation slides away like sand under her feet and there's some settling of the rock, but generally, she makes it look easy.] * Naiya peers at this... crack. [The crack is so small, the inside looks like it's too dark to see in without a light source.] [What little Naiya can make out seems like blueish carved stone. Definitely not a natural formation.] * Naiya stays as secure as she can, digging out one thing from it, sticks - that- in a pocket, then pauses. "By Fiona's blessing may this place be empty, at least here where the path starts." [Naiya tries to maneuver her way through the crack but it's just too small for her to squeeze through. She pulls back before she gets stuck.] [To be continued.]