ChaoZ: A Royal pain in the elves.

Jex watched as the two mages collided, in awe at grace and elegance of Az as she weaved in attack after attack, circle after circle. He stood still, watching the dark elf unleash her power. He wondered how much he could really learn from the two. If only he could learn the magic of darkness. He snapped back when Az ran out of mana. It was bound to happen, the dark elf clearly had a larger resource tank.

"Imbuere. Lucis."

Jex whispered. He jumped in front of Az and stood between the elf and the alchemist. He wound up the staff, now holding it near the end and swung forward, hoping to strike back the dark orb at the elf, his staff imbued with light magic.

Rol remained on the ground for sometime after Fluffy got off of him, the bounty hunter was removed the Manticore saliva drenched mask from his face. "Thanks Fluffy." He said sarcastically, the Manticore of course was already out of the steel room and likely anywhere.

"Ugh, he's a big half lion thingy, he'll be fine." Rol got up and started towards where he heard the explosions that were not caused by himself. "Maybe Fluffy'll eat the Lady. I'd be okay with that." Sighing, Rol continued towards the source of the other explosions with an explosive in hand.

Jex's deflection worked but the aim was off and the dark ball hit the wall instead. Blasting a hole in it. The walls crumbled down further. This temple was too old and small for this scale of magical fights.

The Dark elf held out her hand to the side and her sword flew back into her hand. She gathered more dark energy in her other hand. She went back into a battle pose before charging straight at Jex.

Az grabbed the mana potion and drank every drop. The mana potion started to replenish Az's mana. She wiped a bit of her lips. "That hit the spot." The mana surged through her body but it would take a bit to come into full effect.

Ziome stood by and was ready to provide support. Riaden on the other hand didn't seem to be doing anything but silently watching the battle unfold.
The Prince was doing much the same as Riaden but he was less calm. He cowered in the corner.
----

Fluffy turned out to be waiting for Rol. He growled in a non threatening manner and led the way for the bounty hunter. The manticore's nose knowing exactly where to go.
The temple was full of twists and turns. If the group hadn't taken the secret passage from before they might have gotten lost in here. It took a while before Rol and the manticore reached the stairs.

Another explosion could be heard. It was less loud but definetly closer by. Fluffy didn't flinch this time and headed up the stairs, regurarly looking back to make sure Rol was following.

"Whoa, Fluffy, I'm gonna have to get you multiple pounds of bacon. Nice." Rol followed the Manticore, once again using shadows to scratch behind the manticore's ears. 

"These stairs look familiar." The bounty hunter continued to follow.

Jex frowned and clenched his teeth. His turn now.

He spun the staff in front of him, flaunting his melee prowess. However, he failed to think of the current staff's stability, still unused to it's weight and size. Although it was relatively similar to the Staff of Velion, the tiniest difference could make the difference between his life or her's. He waved the staff forward in an attempt to deflect the dark elf's first attack. He allowed his momentum to carry him low and rolled on the ground, sweeping with his arm, using the bladeless polearm as an extension. He would then slam the far end of the staff on the ground, using it as a leverage to shoot up the other end towards the elf's chin.

Whilst this all happened, he had weaved his magic into the staff, he whispered,

"Sagitta Magica! Series Lucis!"

A bolt of light would fire from the front of his staff as he stops the front swing, holding the bowstaff like a gun.

The dark elfs sword clashed with Jex's staff. The dark elf pulled back before thrusting with her other hand shooting the dark energy. But Jex's roll made it miss, instead it almost hit Riaden. At least it seemed to. But Riaden easily dodged it with his superior speed.
Still he didn't enter the fight. Instead keeping his eyes on the situation.

The dark elf jumped backwards and dodged Jex's sweep. She then let herself fall backwards, the bolt of light missing her by a hairs lenght as she dropped down a portal she created. Another portal opened up above Jex and the dark elf spun around slashing her sword at his back.
A fireball bounced off the wall and hit the dark elf in mid air. Sending her flying against the wall before she could hit Jex. Az jumped back into the fight and stood next to Jex. "Thanks for holding her off."

The Dark elf was back on her feet in no time but her smug smile had vanished. "More powerfull than I expected. Play time is over now." Her eyes glowed purple and the dark energy spread across her body.

But right then Rol and fluffy showed up from behind them. "What?! You escaped?"
The dark energy retreated and her eyes turned to normal. She turned to the prince, grabed his hand and pulled him up. "You need to kill these people!"
The dark elf didn't respond to him. Fluffy growled and leapt at them. But the dark elf opened a portal and escaped with the prince.


"I have a bad feeling about that woman." Az said.
"Guess we'll have to take the long route out. Riaden, please tell me you have an escape plan?..Riaden? Where the hel is he?"
"I saw him suddenly flash towards the portal when the dark elf went through."
"The asshole left us?" Az's aura flared up around her for a small moment. "That guy is getting on my last nerve."
"I think he didn't want to let them escape."
"Obviously. But he pisses me off anyway."

The walls around them crumbled and started falling apart. "Umm, I think we should hurry out of here."

Jex rolled off to the size, in anticipation of the damage that would come out from the portal nearby. He stayed close to the ground, ready to strike once more. And then Rol came. The elf and prince made their escape. He had felt the surge of energy in the room and knew Riaden had left. To follow, for sure. He stood up and dusted himself off. However, he wondered why the elf chose to retreat upon Rol's entrance.

He jumped when he heard the rumbling and realized the girl was right. They had to find a way out, though he was disoriented from the fight.

"Any ideas?"

"Shit. Why'd she leave?" Rol asked, disappointed that Fluffy couldn't get his eats.

The bounty hunter sighed then looked towards his allies. "Riaden's gonna get himself killed or some shit."

Rol nodded at Ziome indication that the group should leave. "I concur, lesgo."

"She probably left because she was outnumbered. The prince didn't seem like he'd be much help and we were kind of kicking her ass already." Az shrugged it off.


"Riaden didn't give a fuck about us so I won't give a fuck about him too. If he ends up getting killed that's his own problem. And immediatly solves the spoiler dilemma."
"I thought you said the spoilers were full of nonsense." Ziome said nervously.

"They are..most of the time.. I mean what the hell is a soylent green?"


"As for a way out.. I don't know. The dark elf put up a wall in our path. Maybe we could try that hole in the wall. But finding our way out would take a while.."
Fluffy started sniffing Rol's pants pocket suddenly.
Fluffy managed to somehow get a vegetable thing out of it.


"The re'turnip!" Ziome immediatly recognized it.
"If we eat that it'll immediatly transport us back to where we woke up this morning. That would work." Az got the vegetable thing from fluffy and cut it into a few pieces. Keeping the biggest piece just in case they needed more later and handing out a piece to everyone else. Fluffy ate his first and poofed. Az and Ziome followed.

"I dunno. She seemed pretty chill for being outnumbered. Plus she was about unless her secret mojo. Maybe she was just low on juice." Rol cracked his neck. "Plus, if you're right and being outnumbered was her malfunction a dead Riaden makes this that much more difficult. Also, would Ken be like pissed if we came back with a dead Riaden or rather without an alive one?"  


The bounty hunter place his explosive back in his pouch before yelling "SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE." Sometime after Az asked the question, just before she returned with the vegetable. He then took his part of the re-turnip and ate it, poofing.

Jex stared at the returnip. He glanced up as one by one, his guild members were poofing out. Oh what a bad habit he had developed. He pocketed the remaining bite and decided to look around for a bit more. Maybe there was drops or loot to be had somewhere in this place. Without fear of finding no way out due to the returnip, he could explore further into the dungeon. Why exactly were those two here in the first place, he questioned. He hopped on his staff and zoomed, trying to take as much of the dungeon as possible. 

He knew he only had a little bit of time before this place would collapse but he tried to make the most of it. He put his hand in his pocket, grasping the item.

"Confortare Pupilli."

He whispered. A thin strand of magic separated from his chest and zoomed forward. It was a warding magic he had learned during his time exploring the Third's caves and Wonders, accompanied by a boy who claimed to be the son of Lust, the Deadly Sin. The magic searched for inconspicuous items and would seek other magics that were foreign to the area. He took a deep breath, allowing the magic to flood his senses.

"If Riaden survives he'll find his way back easily. If he dies, well nothing we can do about that. We have no way of finding the asshole. He should have thought of that before he went off without warning us. Kiro knows what Riaden is like, he'll understand that we couldn't find him. He's the one that left us behind not the other way around." Az seemed to calm down a bit. Riaden's jerkish behavior was getting her to reach her boiling point, literally in her case.


"Yes, that's what the spoilers say. But what does it even mean? It's nonsense." Az being completely unaware of the fourth wall had no idea what it refered to. As far as anyone without a fourthwall sense knew most of the spoilers spoilers were nonsense.

Az and Ziome had poofed (lets pretend Fluffy hadn't and neither had Rol, I'm too lazy to edit.). When Jex zoomed away Fluffy tilted his head before chasing him through the collapsing temple.
Bricks and dust was falling everywhere and holes were appearing all around. The magic strand went through one of the holes in the floor down to the bottom floor. It seemed to be heading towards the steel room where Rol was in earlier. But then it went futher. A rock fell and almost hit fluffy but he was agile enough to dodge it.

The magic strand led Jex and fluffy (possibly Rol too?) to a smaller room behind the steel one. With another set of stairs in the middle. Jex was led down the stairs.
The next room was dark but there was a large amount of mana residue lingering there.
Whatever was here was taken however.
Fluffy could see better in the dark room and saw a scroll lying on the ground. He picked it up nd showed it to Jex (and Rol?). On the scroll was a text in the ancient language of angels. And below it a small map showing the location of what appeared to be four temples. Although it was hard to be sure the scroll was old and worn out.
And ofcourse it was dark in the room, which didn't help.
The staircase behind them collapsed. Making it even darker. And trapping them inside.
Luckily they still had the bits of re'turnip.

Rol blinked a few times, and looked around. He realized he was still in the ruins. Looking into his hands he saw the piece of the re-turnip that he could have swore he just eaten. "What? WHAAT? It's like.. Some outside force is manipulating what's occurring here, just like the time I shot Luch. CONSPIRACIES I TELL YOU. Man, I going crazy or something." 

Rol finished his rant and noticed both Jex and Fluffy weren't in the room with him. So rather than assuming they poofed, he looked for them. Somehow finding them in the room they magically located moments before the staircase collapsed. "Uh? What the..." The bounty hunter looked at the scroll. ''Those must be the temples the Lady and the Prince were talking about. Nice. Let's go." Once again, Rol ate his re-turnip piece and poofed, hopefully.

Jex followed the magic, allowing it to guide him through the cracks and pathways of the dark ruins. He had closed his eyes for so long he was no longer sure which way was back to square one. He could smell the dust and murk creep into his nostrils, feeling as if he was about to sneeze. When suddenly, the magic stopped. He sped up and found himself in a room. Fluffy had come up to him to show him the scroll.

He looked at it intently, taking note of the detail and archaic writing. He nodded as Rol disappeared. He could feel the ruins about to collapse. Extending his hand, he gestured for the map from Fluffy. And the moment Fluffy would come in contact with him, he would bite down on the returnip, sending both of them to wherever it may.

Le poofles.



Rol and Jex wake up again in their beds in the little Inn they spent the night in. Az and Ziome were already outside waiting for them. Fluffy came walking out of the stables.


"What took you two so long?"

Jex kept his hand clasped tightly around the maps.

"I found something."

He stated, implying his answer. In the sunlight, it was much easier to take note of the finer details of the parchment. He wondered how old the artifact was. Stretching it out in front of him, careful not to put too much stress on to it, he laid it out in front of Az, showing her the temples and the writing.

"Do you get anything off it?"

Az looked at the scroll and raised an eyebrow. "Ancient angelic..I recognize the symbols but I can't read it. Not many people do unfortunatly. But the map seems to indicate temples. Each seems to be near one of the bigger cities in the elven kingdom. The temple we just came from is on here. The two other temples seem to be in the other corners of the kingdom. One in the west and one in the east... But the fourth one.. I guess it makes sense. The Angelic symbols mean this scroll is old as fuck. So it's not surprising this map is a bit innacurate. The border of Hi-rhule is around here now." Az drew a line on the map, indicating the border. The last temple was outside the border.


"That part of the kingdom was abandonded after the first Undead invasion thousands of years ago. Which means this last temple is right in the middle of Hel. It isn't much but at least we know where the prince is headed. Well he could be headed to either of these two temples. But either way we need to get to these temples before they do. I'm afraid we're gonna have to split up. Two of us head to the west temple and the other two to the east one. We don't know what they're looking for but we don't have time to worry about that. I'm sure we'll figure it out once we get there. Once we get whatever it is we need we head to the fourth temple and meet up there. If we're lucky Riaden is keeping them busy long enough for us to get a head start."

"Traffic. Traffic is what took us so long. Yes." The bounty hunter exclaimed. Finger raised. He proceed to sit of the ground and listen to the spiel Az had. 

"Splitting up? Well now I know one of us is gonna die." Rol said in  matter-of-fact way.

"Nobody is gonna die, this isn't a cheesy horror movie. ..wait what is a cheesy horror movie?." Az confused herself by breaking the fourth wall. Were movies even a thing in Val? How does Az know tropes?


"Anyway, we don't have much of a choice here. The smart thing to do would be to go to the citadel and warn the Queen and Kiro. Wait Scott can do that! Where is he though? I think we left him behind somewhere but I can't remember where exactly..
But even then we still need to split up. Forget about the spoilers, me and Ziome will go east and you two go to the west temple.
After we find Scott."

Jex looked at Az, questioningly. He respected the witch but her sense of logic seemed to be faltering, especially with the plan she had proposed.


"Don't you think it'd be much better to just go straight for the last temple?"

He suggested.

"I mean, we can probably guess that they're going to the furthest temple last. I mean, bad guys right. They're so predictable."

Jex grasped his staff, allowing magic to flow through it. He prepared since, regardless of which temple they were going to, it was gonna be a long road.

"Well you are correct but..plot."
"And risk them getting their hands on whatever is in those other two temples? If we can get Scott to tell Kiro what's happening then Kiro can come pick us up as soon as he fixes the ornithopter. And then he flies us straight to the last temple.
But first we should at least check out those two other temples. If we can get our hands on one of whatever it is they're looking for and then get our hands on the last thing in the last temple then we'll have half of the things they need.
A much better position to be in than only having one thing from the last temple. And if we're lucky we'll have Three of the things. Which would be even better.
I don't feel comfortable betting everything on one temple. One in the middle of undead territory even."

She sighed."Then again I don't feel comfortable about any of this. We don't know what they're planning. Our quest is to get the king back. But we haven't even seen a trace of him. Instead we're doing what? Chasing the prince around the kingdom? Riaden is supposed to be leading us but he's fucking gone. And those fucking spoilers need to get out of my head!"
Az yelled and flames burst out of her hands.
It seemed those spoilers upset her more than she admitted before.
"Game of thrones was my favorite show why did you have to spoil it!"
"Why do the people around me always end up dying.." She whispered to herself.
Fluffy blinked and tilted it's head.
"Mistress.."
"I'm fine.." She waved her hand.
"Let's at least find Scott. He should be around here somewhere."

Jex nodded. Although he didn't completely agree with her she made some good points. However, it was less about knowing where the Prince would go and more about the guildmates' safety. Clearly the spoilers had bothered Az and she wanted to get this mission over with as soon as possible but it was slowly turning more and more complicated. His gut could feel that something bad was about to happen. He sighed and tried to calm down. No use complaining now, neither should he try to convince Az to stick together.

"Alright."


Jex agreed. He put out his palm and allowed a ball of light materialize an inch from his hand. It left his hand and floated close by Ziome's arm.


"It should go in your arm. If anything bad happens, I'll be able to tell."

"Woah Az, you need to cool down. You're heated up." 

The bounty hunter burst into laughter at his own joke and essentially made himself useless until the rp requires his service further notice.

"IN her arm? Don't do it Ziome, he's just trying to get inside of you."


"Oh, okay." Ziome nodded and accepted the light ball thing and got pregnant.
"Don't worry I'll protect my apprentice."


(I forgot where we left Scott so..)
They find Scott, still deactivated. They change his batteries and tell him to go to Kiro and warn him. He protested a bit but then Az threatened to melt his nanobots. The robot quickly flew off towards the citadel.


"Okay, that's one.. Ziome get on your broom. We have a long way to go and I'd rather not do it on foot." Az pulled Kai from her back again and dropped him. He hovered slightly above the ground ans she stepped on it as if it was a skateboard.


"I've got the map memorized so you guys keep the real thing. Try to find out anything you can. About any of this, where the king and riaden are, what the prince is planning and anything really., we'll try to do the same. Also, .. be careful. Ziome Give them a few potions and a piece of the returnip."
Ziome Handed Jex two health potions and a mana potion and half of what was left of the returnip. She then got on her broom and flew after Az.
Ziome looked back and waved at them before disappearing into the distance.

Fluffy tilted its head at the two witches. He then looked back at Rol and Jex.

Rol yawned, finally done his laughing fit and he pet the manticore.

"Lesgo, it's a neverending story.. Adventure time.. I dunno." The bounty hunter's delirious string of words confused him even. 

"Well, you have the map Jex. Lead the way."