Aldi Sea - Crescent Lake
Separated from the rest of the contient by vast mountains, Crescent Lake is the home of the Sages, the wise men whose words guide the free world. Named for the lake that rests in the center of the vast forest, Crescent Lake is formed in the shape of the moon, fed by the rivers that run down from the mountains beyond. Powerful monsters live here, and worse, the vast Gurgu Volcano, home of the Crystal of Fire, rises in the distance, plagued by even more powerful creatures.
Contents:
Fa'Diel - Home
Obvious exits:
<W>est leads to Aldi Sea - Elfland.
Red Mage arrives from Aldi Sea - Elfland.
Red Mage has arrived.
The pebbles crunch beneath booted feet, the soft lapping of the lake's waters on the shore going unheeded. Elsa stands still, her head raised, hand resting against her brow to shield from the sun's light as she looks upon the massive smoking form of the Gurgu Volcano. She remains silent for a long moment, surveying the land to see how one reaches the other side. Finally she speaks. "He's nuts..."
Red Mage sighs, as he walks across the shore, catching up with Elsa. "Hold on!" He limps a bit, walking with a Staff to lean on. Step, click... step, click... "I thought that this went inactive a while back," he says, waving a hand at the volcano.
Elsa von Spielburg turns and smiles faintly, apologetically. "Sorry, Red... And yeah, I think it IS inactive, but...gosh, I dunno, this isn't my zone," she shrugs.
Nothing ever goes inactive in Videoland! Or at least, that's what everyone is lead to believe, anyway. There's no immediate sign of Ashton yet. Though there seems to be a few broken barrels littered on the shoreline. With you know who involved, that could mean anything at all. Some of the rubble is almost left in a trail towards the Volcano itself, towards the path to the summit.
Red Mage smiles, and pulls a pixel form a bag, tossing it into the water. The large green dot turns into a CANOE, for the both of them to ride on. "Hop in, and I'll get us over to the other side."
Elsa von Spielburg gives the canoe a dubious look. "Uh...is it safe...? It won't capsize, will it? Or flood?"
Red Mage shakes his head. "Not for as long as I've been using it." He hops in himself, holding out a hand for Elsa to get in with. The canoe doesn't even budge in the water.
Cody arrives from Aldi Sea - Elfland.
Cody has arrived.
Elsa von Spielburg looks a bit uncertain, but grasps Red Mage's hand nevertheless and steps into the canoe awkwardly before she sits down on one of the wooden plank seats. "If you're sure it's safe... Oh, one moment..." She pauses for a second, head bowed...then looks up at him. "We've got another helper coming along soon!"
Red Mage blinks. "That's cool. This thing will seat four. So... That should be enough. Any more, and I'll have to find a SHIP to get back."
And on cue, a warp slips open about 50 meters or so away from the two, dropping out the eternal brawler, Cody. SUrprisingly, he slips out feet first this time...but unfortunately, his luck ends there, dropping right down on a rather pointed rock and nearly stabbing his foot on it. Holding the foot with his punctured sneak, he rubs it and mutters. "Least I didn't land on my head this time...damn warp things..." Looking about, he finally spots the canoe and starts jogging toward it, waving down Elsa and RM.
Elsa von Spielburg chuckles. "Thanks, Red...I have no idea what's in that volcano...so I'm glad you came along." She turns to see Cody and waves him onward. "Glad you could make it! HA! Now we'll be unbeatable with all three of us," she rubs her hands eagerly.
Red Mage smiles, and waves Cody over to the CANOE.
And just at that moment theres the sound of a <KA-FOOM> from the mountain side of Gurgu Volcano. It's known Ashton doesn't really know any sort of magic directly, especially not explosive, but that surely didn't sound very good. Especially, you know, with the active volcano.
Cody nears the CANOE, still making sure to step lightly on the foot with the broken sole. "Hey, am I late or..." Then the Ka-FOOM comes, stopping Cody in mid-sentence. "Er...guess not?" Shrugging, he quickly steps in, sitting down near Elsa and checking his handwraps quickly. "So we off then?"
Elsa von Spielburg nods once. "We're off," she says, eyeing the explosion worriedly.
Red Mage nods, and begins paddling the canoe over to Gurgu. A rather cheery tune lights the air as he does so.
Cody blinks at the tune, looking about as it floats about them. "A bit upbeat for what we're about to do..."
Red Mage growls, and looks at the CANOE. "Stupid thing always does this..." He kicks the side, making the music skipp a beat or two.
Elsa von Spielburg can't help but grin just a little, and digs into the waters with the oars to speed their flight to the other shore. "It's kind of uplifting..."
Cody shrugs. "I guess. Then again, you don't exactly expect a happy sea chanty to start up when you're sailin' toward a ragin' volcano. Still...guess it's better th'n somethin' that gives the sense of 'doom and portent!'." He makes a semi-mocking hand gesture at the quoted part, as well as putting on a generic vampire accent as he speaks.
Red Mage grumbles about putting a CD player in the canoe, and keeps paddling.
Elsa von Spielburg grins at the two men in turn, obviously enjoying their company. The CANOE bumps to a halt, and Elsa sighs with obvious relief before clambering out onto safe, firm, dry ground. "Right! Let's go get him!"
Red Mage waits for Cody to get out, as he stows the oars in the CANOE.
Cody jumps out, following the other two adventurers, looking up at the destination before them. "Huh, maybe I shoud've brought my hiking boots and pack, huh?" he quips.
Red Mage shakes his head. "Shouldn't need them, Cody. There's a trail up to the mountain's peak. But there are monsters all the way up, sadly." The CANOE turns back into a giant Green pixel, which RM puts into his belt pouch.
Elsa von Spielburg shrugs out of her flannel shirt to tie it around her waist, feeling the waves of heat roiling in. "We'll take care of 'em, no sweat. Besides, Ashton must've gone through here recently...maybe he's already cut a path for us."
As you make your way up the mountain trail, you'll notice many parts where it looks like lava has jutted out from under the surface of the path, except that it has effectively been frozen solid again. Quite a bit of steam hovors in the air around these parts. The path would be clear of monsters if they didn't pop out randomly, but they're relatively weak. Further up, someone can be seen fighting on a narrow trail with some baddies. And this person has three heads, so there's not many others who it can be.
Cody shrugs. "Eh, monsters. Long as it ain't somethin' like a giant fire breathin' fanged rabbit or something strange like that, I think we'll be fine." Heading up the trail with the others, he notices the ice about the lava. "Yep, SOMEONE's been about here at the least."
Red Mage quickly moves up the mountain. And how you ask, with a bad leg? The Mage thinks ahead for these things folks. A small aura of energy collects at his feet, lifting him off the ground. "Away we go!" He begins flaoting his way up, skimming a few inches over the rocks.
Elsa von Spielburg grins ferally as she finally spots Ashton. "That'd be him!" she states unnecessarily before sprinting forward to dive into the fight. "Hey there!" she calls out in greeting, though her attention is turned towards the monsters (whatever they are). "So this is where you've been all this time..."
Cody watches Elsa race off, and yells out. "Hey, Miss Elsa, wait...up..." Sighing, he runs after her, straightening up his wraps to deck any monster than might get in his way.
Red Mage giggles a bit, moving up next to one of the monsters.... And waits his turn.
Elsa's cries distract Ashton slightly. "Huh?" He blinks as he turns around, as the humanoid Bull he was fighting takes that chance to knock Ashton off his balance on the narrow ledge. He grabs on with one hand, though it looks like he won't make it. "U...rurun..." he barely manages to say, as the blue dragon head breathes it's icy breath at the air below Ashton, just as his hand loses it's grip. He falls, and lands on an icy slide that was formed by the icy magic, and he slides down to the lower path where Elsa and the others were below, and he tumbles and rolls, flat on his face. Getting to his feet he rubs the back of his head "Ow... er... hi. What're you guys doing here?" He asks, curious. Meanwhile, the Bull realizes he has a floating Red Mage next to him.
Elsa von Spielburg says, "Just checking up on the 'three-headed man' as the Cornerians call you," Elsa grins, and feigns a strike at the bull to distract him from Red Mage. "And what are YOU doing here?"
Red Mage cackles, and casts FIR3 on the Bull. And most of his companions. And the local foliage. Did I mention he's cackling, too? Yeah.
Cody stops in his tracks right behind Elsa as Ashton slides down on his impromptu emergency slide. "Whoa, man, you ok?" Then he hears the sound of fire above him and looks at the Bull. "What the..." Smirking, he simply picks up the biggest rock he can get with one hand and quicly chucks it with precision right toward the Bull-man's nose.
Ashton Anchors blinks "Well... it's kind of a long story, and... yeouch!" He almost gets blasted by Red's careless chanting of FIR3. Quickly, he grabs Elsa by the hand and gets her out of harms way as well. HE quickly runs back up the path to where he was "Yeah, it's a long story, and I'll explain it as we keep going to the summit. It's important we hurry though..." He calls out to Red Mage "Um, Red Mage, could you stop casting such powerful fire spells and stick to ice? Too much fire magic being thrown around might make this much worse..."
Red Mage nods, and switches hands. A good old ICE3 instead, to chill things out. "Get Ashton clear, Elsa! There's SOMETHING BIG COMING THIS WAY!" He growls, and sets himself harder into the stance he's in, readying himself to fire on what may be coming.
Elsa von Spielburg looks startled after being pulled back, but clears her throat and smooths back her hair as though nothing out of the ordinary just occurred. "All right...but don't forget to explain everything!" She moves in front of Ashton as though to herd him away from the danger zone. "You too, Cody, come on back," she reaches towards him, beckoning with a few motions of her hand.
Cody is just about ready to jump up and plant a big foot into the Bull's stomach, but stops. "What? What th...ok, ok, be there." Unlike the others, he apparently is unaware of what exactly is coming. Then again, maybe it's because he's a little unknowledgable about the whole thing of 'magic'.
The volcano is shaking, seems something is erupting out. Not your typical eruption though, something physical... and living...
"Tch... too late..." Ashton sighs, quickly saying to Elsa "Well... long story short... remember that amulet you bought me? According to a witch named Matoya, it must have been pillaged from this volcano, from the horde of a Red Dragon. And.. well, know how some dragons are about hordes..." He ignores the rather obvious indignation that Gyoro and Ururun have over this "Fact is, Matoya told me I had to com here, and throw the stone back into the crater, or the Red Dragon would get... irritated. And attack Cresent Lake...."
And aggressive it looks too, the Red Dragon's shadow looms on everyone as it flies out of the crater. Seems it wishes to attack the party of four, first.
Ashton clutches the stone in his hand, he still wears the pendent though, so somehow he must have removed the stone from it, and kept it intact "We're going to have to beat this thing first..."
Cody blinks, watching the Red Dragon rise up, looking on in awe and surprise. "Whoa....and me without an ice maker..." Shaking off the initial reaction, he buckles down into a fighting stance, flipping out his knife and lifting up his fists. "Well, if it's a fight that's goin' down, then lets get down!"
Red Mage glares, smiling at the Dragon. "No problem!" He chuckles, and turns to Elsa, casting a spell. He chants for a moment, then points at the girl, a blue aura surrounding her Zweihander.
Elsa has Ice Blade2!
Elsa von Spielburg twists her mouth into a disappointed frown. "Gah...sorry, Ashton, I didn't mean to get you into any sorts of trouble..." She hunkers down a little lower to stand defensively, not willing to make the first attack since the dragon isn't really to blame.
The Red Dragon does indeed strike first, using it's trademark fiery fiery breath on the group of adventurers. Though it does seem to visibly twitch at the sight of an ice blade. Ururun's blast of icy breath doesn't make it feel any more comfortable either, as it soars up high in the air to avoid it.
Ashton quickly ducks out of the way of the fire breath, and turns to Elsa again "Hey, don't apologize. This past week made me feel like I was adventuring again. I only wish..." He's itnerupted as some rocks fall, as he pushes Elsa back into the cliff-face so she avoids them too, a bit embarressed he says "Well.... I just wish I asked you to come along. Travelling is more fun with a companion." Not saying anything else for the moment, he turns back around to face the dragon as it descends again "Alright big guy, I got your precious stone right here, now just go back to sleep quietly and you can have it back!" A nudge to his shoulder and Ururun blasted out another ice attack at it.
Cody meanwhile gets caught in the blast partially, his arm catching on fire. "GEEZMANEESUS!" Quickly, he throws out his knife toward the Red Dragon's mouth, freeing up his hands, and pats down his arm as the jumpsuit quickly starts to burn away. He gets it out, but not before his skin turns noticibly red and burnt. Not much, but like a sun burn, it still hurts, in an annoying sort of way.
Red Mage cracks his neck, and continues his mission in the party, to distribute buffs all over the place. Pulling out a holy symbol, the mage/cleric begins praying. Soon, a massive spell circle unfolds over everyone, placeing a Bless spell over the party.
Elsa von Spielburg chuckles a little, though she's still keeping a wary eye on the dragon. "Well, next time just ask. I could use the training!" She glances at Cody with concern. "You all right, ducks?" Seeing that she's now got the best weapon other than the magic of Red and Ururun's ice breath...well, anyhow, an effective weapon...she moves forward to take her turn. With a mental apology directed towards the dragon, she grimaces and takes a hopping ballestra forward, cleaving at the dragon with a quick slash.
Cody's knife does little to distract the Dragon, though Elsa's strike is obviously effective. It soars into the air again to regroup and strike from above once more.
Ashton chuckles and catches up to Elsa "I'll remember it! Though I don't think you need too much training, you managed to make your way here by only clues from townspeople. And you're doing well against this dragon, so don't worry about your skills!" Ururun quiety chants an ancient spell which causes an ice storm to form overhead. The Red Dragon quickly flies back down out of the clouds, which were magically forming very uncomfortable ice crystals. <Ururun:That should keep it from retreating into the clouds for cover, now we need to hit it hard enough to send it back into the volcano..> Ashton nods sharpley "Right!" Running up the side of the mountain he seems to vanish in a storm of leaves which appear out nowhere and encircle him. The leaves then surround the face of the descending dragon, as Ashton appears out of nowhere and gives it a hard attack, or rather, Ururun gives it a quick blast of ice magic, as Ashton lands on the mountainside again. "Leaf Slash revised!" He states as he lands.
Red Mage cackles, and moves forward again, this time, chantign another spell... One of dark prupose and intentions. To vaporise, or at least loosen the molecules, of the dragon. He points a finger at the dragon, and a thin ray of energy flies out. "DISINTEGRATE!"
Cody growls, swinging his arm about to try and help cool off the burning pain in his arm. "Fine...ya wanna play it that way, beastie? Fine..." Clenching both his fists, he charges at the Dragon, snapping off several punches and kicks at it's face before letting his right hand glow blue, gathering up some energy in it, and quickly throwing it upward, sending the energy out with a yell of "TORNADO SWEEP!", before dropping down carefully...well, as carefully as you can when a stone ends up slipping into your sneaker and you land right on top of it. "GAH, damn, rocks!"
Elsa von Spielburg angles herself to put the dragon between her and the volcano's entrance. Now that she has a better idea of Ashton's strategy, she figures she might as well go with it. "C'mon...back you go..." she feigns a few thrusts with the sword, attempting to back the creature up into the volcano's crater.
Yes, that's the way. Red Mage's spell weakens the Dragon considerbly, as does Cody's attack. As Elsa drives the dragon towards the crater, Ururun fires one last, large chunk of ice at the dragon, which hits it directly on the forehead. He staggars back, then turns around and leaps back into the caves of the crater. As it descends, Ashton quickly throws the stone back at the dragon, and they both dissappear into the Gurgu crater.
<Fanfare Music plays>
Taking a deep breath, Ashton whews. "Man... amazing that a dragon like that could be so greedy, to flip out over losing one artifact." <Gyoro:Tch, greed is a human emotion. Dragons like that obviously must have spent too much time around humans...> "What, like you guys?" Gyoro blinks <Gyoro:.....let's go home> He chuckles and turns to the others "I think that should do it, Cresent Lake should be safe from this thing now..."
Elsa von Spielburg smiles and exhales a sigh of relief, wiping her brow with the back of her arm before sheathing the icy sword. "Everyone all right?" she asks, quickly surveying the others to see if any of them need tending.
Red Mage spins around, twirling his staf around his body in a complex pattern before it stops, against his back, as he holds it with one hand, his hair trailing in the breeze under his hat.
Cody simply shakes his burnt hand a bit, the attack obviously aggrivating the burn a bit. "Yeah, Miss Elsa, I'm fine, just got my arm burnt up a bit, and got another rock stuck in my foot. Considerin' the situation, though, it's probably not much to worry 'bout.
Ashton Anchors nods to everyone, and walks back down the path from the crater to meet up with them "Thanks for helping guys." He smiles, then turns back to Elsa "Um, sorry. Really, I should have told you before. I managed to save the pendent though!" He says, the pendent hanging clearly from his neck, though minus the stone that was inside. "I still want to get you something in return, though it probably won't be from a dragon's horde." He chuckles.
Elsa von Spielburg laughs. "I should hope not!" she shakes her head, glad to see that everyone seems to be all right. "Let's head back to the inn. I'll wrap up that hand for you, Cody, burns are real nasty."
Red Mage sighs, and smiles, coming out of his Float status. He again shoulders the staff, picking his way down the mountainside. "No worries, Ashton!" He chuckles, and pulls a Red Pixel from his Belt, tossing it to the gound. Inside is the AirShip, which unfolds, and readies itself for everyone to get back in.
Cody tries to wave off Elsa's help, moving his arm about in an attempt to prove just how fine he is. "Nah 'sokay, Miss Elsa, It's not that bad, see?" Then the pain hits again. "OW ow...ok, maybe it is...ggghh...well, at least maybe I can start a new fashion trend now" he tries to quip, noticing the sleeve of his jumpsuit completely burnt away up to the shoulder.
Ashton Anchors sighs, and heads toward the airship, fingering the pendent. oO(Wonder what I could do for her...) He shrugs, and boards. He has quite a bit of stuff to worry about for the moment, catching up with Palace stuff he missed while out on this journey, and what ever else comes up along the way.
Elsa von Spielburg fixes Cody with her patented piercing gaze o' death. "You're coming along, and that hand is getting wrapped so help me!" Then she smiles pleasantly, satisfied that they're headed back to the inn (and George), and climbs up the airship.
AIRSHIP MUSIC!
ANNOYING PROPELLER SOUND EFFECT!
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Cody nods and follows in after Elsa. "Yes, mother." He says jokingly, before poking his arm a bit and realizing just how burnt it ended up. "Guess I know what a hamburger feels like on the grill now..."
AIRSHIP CRASHES INTO MOUNTAIN SIDE!
EVERYBODY DIES!
HAPPY END!
Not really. Everyone arrives safely, yaddiyaddiyadda. Ashton leaves shortly after and stuff happens. Crappy pose!
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