Character Frontier

[Southern Desert ~ Old Mine] (Connie, Joseph, Amy, Aubrey, Maya)

Connie had difficulty responding, still flustered from her discovery.

"I didn't think… I didn't- I mean I doubted we'd actually find anything," she stammered quietly, only partially aware that she was speaking aloud.

"Oh! Man, man, shit, sorry." She said semi-intelligibly, finally realizing that her light was blinding the guy. She raised it upward, letting the beam flood the ceiling instead.

Joseph had trailed behind the others, unable to speak for the lump in his throat, the heaviness in his gut, and his slowly sinking heart. He just stared solemnly from behind, feeling half a world away.

Connie glanced at the others with a look of grave concern when the man—Aubrey—mentioned being abducted by three men. Shook her head at his questions. "Couldn't say. I don't know of any Hartmith or New London. And old London is kind of... very far away."

She paused, taking a deep breath of musty mine air, "I'm Connie, these two are Amy and Maya, and the, uh, lizard back there is Joseph. But seriously, we should save the chit chat; we can't stay here." She looked to her companions, "Maya, Amy, how many people can your plane hold, and how close is it? I'm not talking seats here, I'm talking how heavy can it get and still fly?"

edited 27th Sep '16 5:56:13 PM by Ryuhza

[Southern Desert (Old Mine)]

"Old London...?" Amy said, "That's miles away. T-the least we can do is get you to town. I think the drama over there is over." She then looked at Connie, "It should fit all of us in, don't worry! Unless you have something thats millions of pounds on you, you shouldn't panic!"

We gotta get to town. Maya signed, We gotta find those men Joesph was talking about and warn them about Omar. That, and I would like to have some words for our "friend"... She began to slowly pull out a knife, That bastard is not gonna kidnap any one else on my watch.

"Maya!" Amy said, "That's dangerous!"

Well, what else are we gonna do? If we just let him go, who knows what's he gonna do next? He could just take Joesph again for all we know! Maybe another kid!

"Uh...w-we'll think of something. Right now, we gotta get out of here!" she looked back down at Aubrey, "Can you walk?"

edited 27th Sep '16 5:07:02 PM by Masterofchaos

Southern Desert ~ Old Mine ~ small room

Aubrey recalled that there was a time - and not so long ago - that coarse language, especially from a woman, would have shocked him and even prompted him to comment but it seemed "normal" to him now. Modern idiom and modern women. Teresa, Kristina, Margaret and Pearl - and many others, it seemed - all spoke like that. He took the apology for what it was and appreciated the light being directed away from his eyes.

While his eyes recovered and adjusted, the woman - Connie, undoubtedly a contraction of Constance - continued speaking. He could understand her not having heard of Hartmouth, but how could anyone not have heard of New London? It was the Capital, for crying out loud. How far had his abductors brought him? "Well, of course old London's very far away - that's where I came from, originally."

Constance introduced the others -a woman called Amelia who went by "Amy" and a woman called Maya, which sounded foreign - and felt the need to mention their pet lizard.

Aubrey's vision cleared enough to see the woman holding the electric torch and the other two women and... He gasped in shock to see that the "lizard" was standing on its hind legs, easily the height of an adult human, and dressed in clothes. What sort of creature was this? How had it - he, if the name was any indication - got here? Was this some strange species from the distant future that had been caught in the rift? Was he even from Earth at all?

He was so stunned by the sight that he nearly missed what Constance said next.

Can't stay here. Well, that was a certainty. Who knew when his abductors would return to replenish his food and water or empty his chamber pot? It was impossible to tell if they had a regular schedule - and how long had elapsed since the last time, if they did.

The mention of a plane puzzled him for a second but the reference to flying clarified it. Aubrey had heard of aeroplanes and was stunned by the thought that they might have one. While it was certainly possible to construct one, fueling it would be problematic - without fossil fuels, you'd have to manufacture and refine a large amount of alcohol or use the Fischer-Tropsch Process to manufacture a large amount of synthetic fuel. Possible, but expensive and time-consuming.

"You..." he tore his eyes from the unbelieveable sight of Joseph and turned back to Constance. "You are right, we can't stay here. My abductors may return at any time and they may have guns. I'm eager to be out of here and get back home to Pearl, she must be out of her mind with worry."

Just then, one of the other women spoke, saying that they could get him to town - whichever one that might be - and said not to panic. The other woman moved her hands in a manner that Aubrey recognised as some form of sign language but could not understand. She began to draw a knife.

The second woman said "Maya! That's dangerous!" At least he now knew which of the others was Maya and which was Amelia.

Maya signed something else that Aubrey couldn't understand, Amelia replied and then asked him if he could walk.

"Yes. Yes, I can walk." He looked thoughtful. "I really hate to ask, but I've been kept in privation. Do any of you have a cigarette, by any chance?"

[Southern Desert ~ Old Mine] (Connie, Joseph, Amy, Aubrey, Maya)

Connie shared a brief doubtful look with Amy and Maya before returning her sights to Aubrey. "I... really doubt it. I mean, I guess I can't really speak for the other three, but I haven't got any myself. I'd probably be smoking 'em right about now if I did."

She glanced back at Joseph, who still hadn't said a word since the door opening and looked pretty spaced-out to boot. "I don't suppose you-" she paused, cocking her head slightly. "Hey, Joseph... are you okay? Okay okay?"

Joe's eyes refocused on Connie and he seemed to snap back to the present tense. "Yeah," he held his hands up and waved off any concerns, "it's just- mm... yeah. Don't worry about it."

"Have you got any cigarettes?"

Joseph blinked. "...What?"

Connie turned back to the prisoner, "He hasn't got any. And about those abductors of yours, we know one is headed to town—or, hell, he's probably in town at this point—and he's going to be coming back soon, but we don't know about the other two. They could be anywhere. Shit, maybe they're watching this place." She frowned, touching a hand to her cheek and tapping the side of her forehead thoughtfully. Slowly her eyes turned towards Amy and Maya. "I wonder if we'd stand a better chance looking for another way out. If Omar doesn't want us to leave, it'd make sense to have one of his cronies watching this place. The moment they see us trying to leave, they'll know the gig is up and we've got no clue what they're capable of. Like Aubrey says, they might have guns."

She remembered briefly seeing Davey back at the Bed and Breakfast, armed to the teeth. She wished that he was there with them, ready to untangle the messy knot that their situation had become. She was trying to keep her head on straight, to sort out some kind of a plan, but it just didn't seem to compare to what Davey would manage if he was there. Then the thought came to mind that if she didn't manage to escape somehow, then neither Davey nor Rip would know where she was or what had happened to her. It was like her own family—her old family, she almost thought—left waiting and fearing without even the faintest clue to point them in the right direction.

She couldn't let that happen.

[Southern Desert (Cave)]

Amy tilted her head. "Smoking is bad! Why on earth would we have some cigarettes on us?"

Amy, this is NOT the time for anti-smoking lectures. Maya signed, We have to get out of here.

Listening to Connie's words, Amy rubbed her chin. "Well, the only other way I can think of is...the way we came in. Unless the path of rocks leads to a way out, but I don't know if any of us can move all of them in time!"

Also, don't you think, if the other people are here, they would've snipped us by now? Or, at the very least, slammed that door behind us and locked us in here?

"...True. Look, we gotta take some kind of risk; we'll go out the way we came in. If we see anyone, just leave it to me and Maya!"

edited 28th Sep '16 12:57:32 PM by Masterofchaos

[Southern Desert ~ Old Mine] (Connie, Joseph, Amy, Aubrey, Maya)

Connie sighed, doing her best to contain her exasperation as she looked at Amy. "Guns, Amy. Guns. They can drop you in the blink of an eye from 500 feet. And I'll tell you what, they didn't storm Normandy armed with nothing but a couple of knives."

She pointed back at the tunnel, "There's still a path to the right that we haven't checked out. Maybe it will lead us to the regular entrance to the mine. We'd be able to avoid those guys altogether."

Joseph, meanwhile, was leaning against one of the tunnel walls, staring at the wall opposite with folded arms. It seemed he had returned to his distant, disconnected place.

Southern Desert ~ Old Mine ~ small room

To Aubrey's surprise, the lizard-man not only could understand English, he spoke it as well. Joseph seemed rather distracted by his own thoughts and no doubt he had his reasons for that, if the state of his clothing was anything to go by. Whatever those reasons were and how he came to be here were mysteries best left to be explored later - when everyone was safe.

No cigarettes. Hardly surprising, really. Still, no doubt there would be cigarettes in this town they mentioned - where he could use whatever means of communication they had to contact Pearl and let her know he was safe. Then call the authorities regarding his abduction. Even the smallest town or village should have some means of summoning help; if they were beyond the reach of the telephone and telegraph networks, there would at least be radio.

There was some discussion about someone called Omar - who, apparently, was some sort of villain and possibly responsible for the abduction - and about the safest way to proceed without being spotted by Omar or any of his cronies. Constance made a reference to storming "Normandy". The only Normandy Aubrey knew of was in France and the turn of phrase was similar to that used by George to describe a crucial battle in what was alarmingly called "World War Two". That certainly fitted in with her casual use of obscenity - at least late twentieth century, possibly twenty-first.

Constance seemed to think that there may well be another way out of the place, which was apparently some sort of mine, that would enable them to avoid detection.

"I think, then, that we should check that path to the right before risking anything else." He would have felt a lot better if he had had his Webley - even though he knew the range to be appallingly short compared with other weapons. Just the weight of it in his pocket would have been reassuring.

He moved forward towards Constance, his hand still clamped to his midriff. "Shall we go now?"

edited 28th Sep '16 3:51:16 PM by Wolf1066

[Southern Desert (Cave)]

Once again, Connie had a point. All that she and Maya had were knives and a baseball bat. There's no way that they could handle people with guns at that rate. Thankfully, she pointed out another, alternate path that they could take without being seen.

Amy pointed ahead. "Lead the way, Connie!"

Maya noticed Joesph. She grabbed his arm, then snapped her fingers in his face. Hey, have your mid life crisis later, buddy. We gotta get the fuck out of here.

She also kept a close eye on Aubrey, making sure he didn't stray to far behind from the group.

Though, something within her gut felt like something was off about all this. She decided not to say anything, because she already looked like a jackass before.

edited 29th Sep '16 12:43:14 PM by Masterofchaos

[Southern Desert ~ Old Mine] (Connie, Joseph, Amy, Aubrey, Maya)

Joseph looked up with a start, staring dazed and wearily at Maya's snapping fingers. His eyes narrowed into a slightly annoyed glare. He felt he was wrestling with a lot at the moment. He felt he deserved to have some time to sort it out. From the moment the door had opened, when they found the prisoner, the faint glimmer Joseph had been pinning his hopes on was turned on its head.

It wasn't just the feeling of being betrayed by Omar, or by his own sensibility for trusting Omar for so long; for believing that the man was, in the end, trying to help him. It wasn't just the anger he felt towards himself for abandoning the two men who had been nothing but generous with what they had. It wasn't just the punch in the gut of realizing that—after nearly a day of planning and buildup, and after close to two weeks of passing through life like a vivid dream—he was still not going home. It was all of these things together with a horrible feeling that he had somehow slighted the very universe itself in such a serious way that it was taking increasingly drastic measures to destroy him. Changing the very fabric of his being, removing him from his rightful place in time and space, and now placing him into these situations where strange men were trying to imprison and possibly outright kill him.

Perhaps what made everything seem all the more unfair was that in all the time that had passed since his life had gone off the rails, he still had no real clue of what he'd done wrong. What he'd done so wrong.

"Joseph."

He looked up again, only faintly realizing that he'd fallen back into the depths of his own mind. It was Connie, touching his shoulder and shining her flashlight at the underside of his big head.

"Whatever it is, it's only gonna end up getting worse if we stay here. Maya is right; there's a better time and place for this."

He knew she meant well, but her phrasing—particularly the use of the words "time" and "place", stung a bit. Still, he didn't need a third person to tell him to get moving. "Yeah, I... uh, I'm with you." He offered what he hoped was an affirming smile.

"Good," Connie nodded and smiled in return, giving his shoulder a solid pat as she took the lead. "Everyone, stay very close. If you hear anything—I shouldn't have to say it, but—speak up. There's five of us, if we run into trouble... well, there's five of us. We should use that to our advantage. Strength in numbers, you know the drill. Lets get out of here."

Brushing the loose hair out of her face, she took a deep breath and headed back the way they came. She moved purposefully, but paused every-so-often to listen for any sign that Omar or the goons that abducted Aubrey were nearby. All she heard was the sound of those behind her and the faint rustles and rumbles of the dilapidated mine, as though it was all crumbling slowly into dust.

She hooked a right at the fork, laying all of her bets on the path they had yet to take. It continued on as a somewhat narrow tunnel for a ways, with little but the wooden supports—all in different states of deterioration—to show that they were actually moving anywhere. The path seemed to slope downward slightly as well, filling Connie with the appropriately sinking feeling that they were only heading further in. After a while, the ground—as illuminated by her flashlight—looked odd and slightly shimmery. She took a few more cautious steps and...

plink

The soft splash confirmed her dreaded suspicion.

"Joy of joys," she muttered, "it's flooded." Before going any further, she turned back to the others and spoke a little more loudly. "Watch your feet guys, there's, uh... yeah, there's water. It's shallow, but keep aware."

Truthfully enough, it was shallow at the very start, but for all Connie knew, the pathway would keep descending bit by bit until the whole tunnel was underwater.

Edited by Ryuhza on Jul 26th 2020 at 4:57:26 AM

Southern Desert ~ Old Mine ~ small room

Aubrey followed with his hand clamped to his stomach and limping slightly, favouring his left leg. His spirits picked up immensely when he passed through the door of the room in which he had been imprisoned. He was his own man again, no longer at the mercy of his unknown abductors.

For the second time in his life, he had absolutely no idea where he was or how to get home and found himself in the company of strangers upon whom he must rely for help - but this time, even though he was unarmed and not even fully dressed, he felt confident. Part of this feeling of well-being was the knowledge that whatever lay ahead was preferable to being locked in a small dark room with the smell of his own waste but part was that he had already done this before and survived.

Constance's rallying speech about safety in numbers got him wondering what they could actually do if they encountered people armed with guns. "Safety in numbers" had certainly worked on the previous occasion - but the main threat then had been wild bears and they tended to run from large, noisy groups of humans.

As he walked, he softly hummed the chorus of Rachel Platten's Fight Song, wanting to sing loud and strong but mindful that there may be unseen threats ahead. In his head, he shouted the empowering lyrics at the top of his voice.

They took the right fork, heading downhill slightly. It was definitely some sort of mine; a narrow tunnel cut into the rock with occasional wooden supports, many of which looked like they were incapable of doing any real supporting. He fervently hoped that the tunnel was leading to an exit rather than deeper into the mine.

Presently, Constance alerted everyone to the fact that there was shallow water ahead. Aubrey stopped briefly to slip off his shoes - a tricky task with just one hand and having to balance on his weak leg, but he managed it - and carried on in his stockinged feet, clutching his shoes in his free hand. As the icy water closed over his feet, he reminded himself that he had undergone far greater discomfort in order to survive.

edited 30th Sep '16 5:24:59 AM by Wolf1066

[Cave] You know what...fuck it I'm gonna be lazy.

The moment she felt the water, Amy's face twisted up.

"Ewww..." she whined.

Hold on. Maya said, stepping ahead, Wait here. I'm gonna see if there's anything blocking the path.

She treaded on ahead carefully. With every step she shook, the water was rising, until it was up to her neck. She then held her breath and dove downwards.

For a few minutes, she didn't resurface, worrying Amy. Then, soon, she came up, gasping for air. She then walked back to her group.

The path out is clear, but you guys gotta hold your breath. She signed, From what I've seen, it shouldn't be too far before we get out of here.

"Yay!" Amy said, "Freedom is just ahead!"

Maya then slowly removed her now soaking wet jacket, revealing that not only was she wearing a tube top, but she was quite muscular, especially around her abs. Ya'll ready?

Amy turned to Connie, "Are you a good swimmer? Or do you need our help?"

[Hotel (Room 204]

John stared at the ceiling rather absentmindedly, gently scratching between Pancakes ears. While he was no longer in his state of shock, he was filled with worry. Worry about how he and James were gonna get home with those creatures in the desert, unless all of them were magically wiped out.

He also felt a sense of guilt—guilt that he allowed himself leave his body like that and make his fiance worry. Guilt that he, a gunnmen, got afraid of easily killable creatures. How could he let himself just do something like that? It never happened before, and he hoped it didn't happen again.

James suddenly coming over and kissing him brought him back to reality.

"Hey," James said, sitting next to him on the bed, "You feel better?"

"...Sort of." John said, sighing, "I am so, so sorry for earlier. I just...I can't believe I became so vulnerable. I feel so bad that I made you and Rin and Danny go through all that and-"

"Hey, hey...it wasn't your fault. I was just as horrified as you were. What's important that it's over now, and that we're safe."

John put a hand on his cheek, smiling, "That's the man I fell in love with, always looking at the bright side."

James chuckled, and kissed his hand. "I was thinking of heading back downstairs for some food. Wanna come with?"

"Of course." John got off the bed, put Pancake on his shoulder, and stretched, "I don't think staying up here for the rest of the day is healthy."

They're back oh YEAH.

edited 30th Sep '16 4:05:15 PM by Masterofchaos

[Mountain Trail: Wagon (Teri, Wolfe, Gwion, Nemaforte, Iraal, Scents, Oswald)]

Scents took a moment to silently study Zuri, hoping her armor's sensors would find some sign of life. But nothing appeared. Her ears dropped just as low as they had been raised high a moment ago, and she traced a quick triangle in the air with one hand.

Poor dumb kid.

Teri calling her attention to the projected readout that had suddenly appeared on Lament distracted her (or maybe more like she let it distract her), and she quickly moved over. Her fur was bristling at Zuri's last words, but she wasn't sure what to really think about them. They might have been real, or just some kind of dying delirium. She spared a couple of fangs (hidden inside her helmet, of course) for Nemaforte, who clearly, in addition to her other issues, didn't seem to know medical priorities at all.

And then she read the readout.

Iraal yanked off her sun hat and threw it to the ground roughly. This was not what was supposed to be happening. I just wanted to look at it. Not even do any real research. But things... this expedition...

She gave up fighting it back and screamed - a long, drawn-out, feral sound that had far more anger in it than anything else. It wasn't, in fact, too far removed from the kind of formless clan Sotin battle-cry her ancestors might have shouted centuries ago (the reason why her software didn't even bother to object). Then she stopped almost as suddenly as she had begun, bent down, and picked up the hat.

Scents cocked her head and spoke up. "Uh, Doc? Half of our equipment inside Lament just lit up like a Hurrus pyre. You need to - "

Before she had finished, Iraal had already practically ran over to the robot. She read the readout, blinked in disbelief briefly, and then focused on the situation. She didn't usually encounter this sort of thing, but only a fool didn't know what to do around xenoarchaeological dangers.

"Correct," she said in reply to the driver and... Wolfe? "We are getting out of here now. Whatever is waking up in that valley is something we need to be far away from." A look at Nemaforte. "That includes you, zer." Putting the hat back on her head, she glanced at Oswald. "Get him on his feet... gently. And put Zuri's body on the wagon. We will try to return it to whoever she has."

Scents, moving quickly, effortlessly hoisted the corpse onto one armored shoulder. She thought about trying to rouse the near-comatose minotaur, but what she was carrying right now made that a bad idea, so she left it to the humans.

[Bed & Breakfast] (Main Hall) (Cynthia, Rin)

"Magic?" It was Rin's turn to look confused, though it was only for a moment. "Never mind..." she continued, shaking her head. "Anyway, technically my hair is turquoise. I've always thought it was closer to green than blue, personally," she said, then tossed the piece she'd been holding back onto the towel. "That aside, though, if it affects only 'magic' then I should be fine, not to mention that it looks like it relies on contact with the skin to function." She looked over at Cynthia. "Will you be alright now? Do you have somewhere to go?"

[Southern Desert ~ Old Mine (Submerged)] (Connie, Joseph, Amy, Aubrey, Maya)

Joseph, despite himself, found his interest piqued at the mention of water. He couldn't deny that he liked being in it, and it's presence always seemed to bring relief, marking fond memories even within the stranger and more chaotic portions of his life. Sure it was cold, maybe dirty mine water, but that was almost beside the point. He just relished the thought of submerging completely and blacking out everything that had happened, was happening and was about to happen, even if only for a few seconds.

Connie scoffed, smiling, "Yeah, fat chance surviving the summer in Phoenix without knowing how to swim. No floaties for me, thanks."

She didn't bother taking her shoes or anything else off. Nothing would get that much heavier when wet, and if the exit was as close as Maya had suggested, then the cold wouldn't be a problem for long.

Bearing a brow knitted in steely determination, she waded a little deeper into the water, rubbed her hands together, then dove all the way in.

Joseph was next in line, with his arms out and fingers trembling, partially from his own excitement, and largely from the chilly air. He tried to keep the dumb grin off of his face as he moved into the water, turning his head one last time to look at the others. He found himself momentarily distracted by Maya's newly-exposed physique, before recollecting his thoughts and saying, "See you all on the other side. Adieu and all that."

And with that, he turned back to face the water, took a deep breath, and plunged in, vanishing bit by bit until the very tip of his tail had disappeared beneath the water.

The enveloping cold hit him like a massive, icy hand, squeezing from all sides. He found it difficult to keep his eyes open, as though he was going to lose the warmth held in by his eyelids. But at the same time, he needed to make sure he wasn't going to swim into some low-hanging rock or wooden beam, and he needed to hold onto some kind of connection with where he was and who he was with, lest he resurface in another time and place altogether. To that end, he fixed his bleary-eyed attention on a light shining ahead of him. Connie's flashlight, he was sure, and as he swam further away from the others it became his only source of light in that dark underwater passage.

He began feeling the first sensation of stifling, airless pain not long after, and the light in the distance just kept moving. There was no end in sight. Soon his fears began to shift ever-so slightly. The darkly-shadowed shapes of the wooden supports and who knew what else began to further encroach on his path ahead. A quiet panic planted it's seeds in his mind, drawing from the lack of oxygen, the lack of sound, and the lack of light.

The panic bloomed and gripped his chest. The light ahead was gone. He couldn't see a thing. He began to swim in a feverish tizzy, praying silently to whoever was behind the wheel that he was at least swimming in the right direction. The onset of dread and regret seemed to weigh him down and pull him back, forcing him to accept his own doom. Drowned in a flooded mine while trying to escape from a treacherous maniac after being stranded by fate in some old western desert. Vanished to the world that really knew him. To old friends, to his remaining family. It almost seemed fitt-

The light reappeared, shining down from above no more than two meters away. It burned away his gloomy thoughts and instilled in him one last pocket of energy to reach the end.

He broke the surface, opened his mouth wide enough to fit a watermelon, and pulled in as much air as his lungs could take.

Connie stepped back slightly, caught off-guard by the sight of Joseph popping out of the water with his jaws wide open, like some kind of gator at feeding time. The cold was already enough to make her shiver; she didn't fancy any more surprises. Once it seemed like he'd recovered enough air to focus on other things, Connie reached down and offered him a hand.

The tunnel had resurfaced into a much larger area, featuring a somewhat steep upward incline to the right. More railing and some loose stair formations followed the incline up a long way, eventually leading to a distant glimmer of light, marking the surface. Connie stood at the edge of where the incline met the water, still dripping wet herself, shining her flashlight with a shaky hand back down into the water to help guide the others.

She helped Joseph climb up onto dry—if not warm—land, opening her mouth to ask, "Refreshing?"

However, before any words could be exchanged, he was on her with a sudden, shivering hug. At first Connie felt a little indignant, but she reasoned that her clothes couldn't get all that much wetter. And from the fearful look in his eyes, his shuddering breaths, and all that had been bothering him before, it seemed heartless to deny him a few moments of human contact. Even weird lizard people needed it sometimes, she supposed. So she reached her free hand around and patted him on the back.

"Thank you-" he breathed between shivers, "th-thank you."

"All right Joe, we've got to keep an eye open for the others; they'll be coming up any minute."

"Y-yeah, yeah, right." he nodded, releasing her.

"Hey," she touched his shoulder again, and looked him in the eyes, "keep your head up. We're all going to get out of this safely. That means you too."

He bore a toothy, chattering smile, then folded his arms for warmth and looked back into the water, waiting for the others to join them.

Southern Desert ~ Old Mine ~ small room

Aubrey watched as the mute girl vanished under the water with no small amount of concern which grew with each passing moment she was gone and was quite relieved when she returned. She made some hand signals that he couldn't understand but Amelia's response was reassuring - it seemed that there was a way out on the other side of the water.

The prospect of having to swim submerged through a dark tunnel without so much as one of those electric torches to guide him was daunting but it seemed to be the only way out. He reasoned that it couldn't be far, going by how long it had taken Maya to do the trip both ways and determine that there was a way out on the other side, and the tunnel was narrow, which would make it easier to follow.

First Constance, then the lizard-man Joseph, vanished into the water and Aubrey had no desire to be the last one remaining on this side without light. He fumbled one of his shoes on, his foot slipping into it easily with no laces, and then lifted the insole of the other shoe and retrieved a small wad from a hollowed out area in the heel. He transfered the wad to the hand held against his stomach and made a tight fist around it, trying to seal it as much as possible.

He slipped his other shoe on and advanced into the water past where Amelia and Maya were standing, took a few deep breaths, exhaled then slid beneath the surface.

It was hard going, kicking with his feet and trying to feel his way along the wall with his free hand as the tunnel got steadily darker. He felt his left shoe slip off his foot and knew he had no chance of finding it.

His chest was beginning to hurt by the time he saw the grey light filtering through the water ahead - no doubt Constance's torch - and he spurred himself forward, losing his other shoe in the process.

It wasn't long before the light brightened and he could see the rippling surface above him. He surfaced and gasped a hasty lungful of air before striking out towards the two standing on the shore then emerged from the water, clothes plastered to his body and dripping water, hand on his stomach still clenched in a tight fist.

He limped towards the others, looking around at what the light from the torch revealed of their surroundings. Even more welcome than the light of Constance's torch was the distant light that hinted at the freedom Amelia had mentioned.

He hoped that the wad in his fist had not got too wet during his submersion.

Wilderness Trail - Wagon

Wolfe was rather taken aback at Iraal's rather primal-sounding scream but could understand the sentiment in the circumstances - he felt like doing the same himself.

Iraal checked the strange lettering on the robot's screen and announced that the were leaving.

Matt didn't need to be told twice and immediately got to work turning the wagon and horses about.

While that was being done, Wolfe dug a compact radio transmitter out of his Tactical Bag.

Gwion looked at the laden pack horse tethered to the back of the wagon and wondered if they should put all the supplies back on the wagon. He quickly figured that the supplies were probably fine where they were and the time would be better spent putting distance between them and the mountains.

Desert - Ritual Site

James' ire at Yamiko was interrupted by a signal from the radio in his haversack. Hopefully this is good news. He dug out the radio and frowned as he listened to what Wolfe had to say. "The others are here..." he said, then, "Shit!" He listened some more and then put the radio away.

Kaitlyn, who had shamelessly listened in on Wolfe's side of the conversation stared at James in shock.

James turned to look at Yamiko, Vicky and Lupin. "That was Wolfe. I'm afraid I have bad news - Zuri is dead, something about the 'Dead God' becoming active. They are abandonning the expedition and returning to town and taking Zuri's body with them."

[Town ~ Bed & Breakfast (Main Hall)] (Cynthia, Rin)

Cynthia folded the towel up before putting it back into the bag. As she strapped her gauntlet back on as the young knight headed over to a window. She doesn't seem to know what magic is... but her name is Senjimese... "I should be now. Anyway, I have to go reclaim some things that were taken by the Balamar Empire when they captured the girl from earlier, Minerva." She paused for a moment, "As well as making sure Mr. McGee and Minerva are okay, wherever they went." She pointed towards an abandoned pile of luggage by the entrance of the train station. "First things first, everyone left in a hurry, which means the captured equipment should be over there."

[Cave]

Now it was time for Amy and Maya to join the others. Once everyone else went underwater, Amy looked at Maya, held her hand, and smiled.

"Ready?" she asked.

Maya nodded.

"Go!"

The two of them held their breath and dived in. They made sure they kept a tight grip on each other's hand, so neither one of them could get separated underwater. Just like Maya signed, it wasn't long before they finally reached the other side, though Amy was still unhappy of having to get all her clothes (and her hair) wet.

When they both emerged, Amy smiled brightly and waved with both her hands.

"Tadaaa!" she said, climbing onto the surface, "It's me and Maya! Hello everyone!"

Maya only smirked, before she also climbed the surface. She removed her ponytail and shook her hair.

"What's the next move, Connie?" Amy asked, "I'm sure you'll come up with something! You got us this far."

[Small Valley]

Brin hurriedly explained what happened to Suela, but not much explanation was needed; at this point the Dead God was high enough to be clearly seen, and begin to rumble as space and time bent around it in ways they were nto meant to bend. "Screaming void," Suela muttered as she gulped down an alarming amount of her Yothic tea. Then, deigning to leave her bulky arbalest behind, she told the rest, "you heard the woman, we..."

<Begone from my sight, and be grateful the cosmos is not done with you yet.>

[Portal Webway]

And with that, space and time bent, and Suela and her group found themselves tossed roughly into a rainforest clearing. No, an alien mockery of a rainforest, painted in artificial, lurid shades of red, violet, blue, all glowing, all vivid. And those... trees? No, pillars of coral, shaped into forms one could mistake for trees at a distance. It was unsettling, but not dangerous.

Within the clearing were a number of portals, but two were familiar. The first, Brin turned to with recognition; a city, perhaps in the 1920s technologically, of decidedly Asian architecture. "Republic City." She chuckled. "Suela, you were right."

"Glad to help," Suela said.

Brin turned to the group and said, "all I wanted was to get home. And... I guess something else agreed. Spirits, I don't know what. But..." she sighed. "It's been a pleasure, but I don't want that thing turning off on me." And, after waiting a few moments to respond to any niceties, Brin returned home, the portal closing behind her.

"So," Suela said to anyone else there, "where's that leave us?" She noticed a portal, maybe a few, that led back to the Frontier, and the familiar stonework of a temple near her castle could be seen through yet another.

And those who have left can be assumed to return the same way.

edited 4th Oct '16 9:44:46 PM by KillerClowns

[Southern Desert ~ Old Mine] (Connie, Joseph, Amy, Aubrey, Maya)

Any potential for worrying about whether the others were going to make it or wondering if something had happened on the other end was quickly dissipated when Aubrey broke the surface.

Connie smiled. "Refreshing?" She shined her flashlight to help guide his footing. "Just think, you're one stroke closer to freedom, and- ...uh, no shoes?" She glanced between Aubrey's bare feet and similarly shoeless hands, before meeting his eyes with a questioning look. "I hope you've got tough feet. We've got a bit of a trek ahead of us."

"You can use-" Joseph began, doing his best to keep his shivering under control, "I mean, if you w-wu- want, you can use mine," He gestured down at his own worn out and waterlogged sneakers, then bared his teeth in an odd lizard smile and explained, "I'm pretty u-used to going barefoot."

"No kidding," Connie said, casting a glance at Joseph and sounding wholly unsurprised.

Before anything else could be said, Amy and Maya appeared—quite stunningly—at the same time. Joseph blinked once or twice, then extended his smile and waved needlessly at Amy's needless reintroduction.

"I don't suppose either of you found an extra pair of shoes down there?" Connie asked. "Excalibur, maybe?" She waved the questions off when it was clear that neither of them was carrying anything beyond their usual tack.

She turned and shined her flashlight upward towards the top of the the lengthy sloping path ahead that reached to the surface. "The way out is right up there," she said, praying silently that the light wasn't filtering through a big rockslide or some kind of safety gate, barring their escape, "I think we've got some stairs over here, but I don't know how stable they are. It looks like..." she shone her light across the wooden steps, which were in little better condition than the supports from earlier. Surely enough, many of the steps were missing chunks of various sizes, ranging from trimmed corners to large holes punched in by dislodged rocks. "...what would you call that? Treacherous? A lot of fun? Eh, well, watch your footing."

Southern Desert ~ Old Mine ~ small room

The cheeky way that Constance said "Refreshing?" brought a smile to Aubrey's lips. That facetious attitude to discomfort and danger had once annoyed him beyond belief but he was used to it now and also recognised the value of keeping a sense of humour in the face of adversity.

One stroke closer to freedom. That tantalising light - of a more natural quality than the glow from Constance's torch - in the distance.

He shook his head at her reference to his shoes. "No laces." He looked down at his soaking wet socks, already discoloured from mud and damp soil. He felt the hardness of the wad held in his fist and was thankful that he had thought to retrieve it from his shoe or it, too, would have been lost.

Joseph seemed to be the worse for his soaking but managed to get out an offer of his shoes.

Aubrey gave him a thankful look. "That's a very kind offer, but no thank you. I will be fine." In fact, he felt great. He was out of that tiny dark cell, he had successfully traversed a dangerous path in complete darkness, he could see signs of a way out and he wasn't alone.

Just then, Amelia and Maya broke the surface of the water. Aubrey gave a snort of laughter at Amelia's introduction and didn't vocalise his automatic correction of her grammar. ''I'm very glad, for all our sakes, that it isn't anyone else."

Aubrey looked as Constance played the beam from her torch over the rough wooden steps. Her light-hearted appraisal again reminded him of his previous "adventure" and the attitude of his fellow travellers at the time. An attitude that he, sadly, hadn't shared at the time.

Now, however, he could. After all, he had spent more than a week in the wilderness, surrounded by wolves, bears, snakes and numerous other dangers both real and imagined and had survived. A man-made wooden staircase, no matter how ricketty, couldn't compare to that.

He limped over to the stairs, his left hand still clenched in a fist and pressed hard against his middle, and gave the railing an experimental shake with his free right hand.

"It will pass with a push, as they say," he concluded.

edited 6th Oct '16 2:49:12 AM by Wolf1066

[Town ~ Railway Street (Near Bed and Breakfast)] (Davey)

Everything had gone well, or about as well as it could have given the circumstances. The transport had arrived promptly— very promptly—and although there were a few lingering concerns with regards to Irina's well-being, Samuel seemed confident that everything would be taken care of. The situation involving Todd remained somewhat nebulous, but Samuel seemed confident about that as well. There was no real reason not to trust Samuel's confidence, and without a real objections, the arrangements simply were as they were.

With everything in order, Samuel and Irina had left the unseeming dangers of that desert town, distinctly worse for wear, but not as bad off as they could have been, considering all that had transpired. Fate had spared them that day to a 'well-enough' ending, both living, breathing, and on track to continue to do so barring any unfortunate surprises. Where exactly they were headed was somewhat unclear but, again, barring any surprises, it had to be somewhere safer and more secure than the town. They would surely be better off. Surely.

Yet it was with a heavy heart that David Harkness trudged back to the Bed and Breakfast. A heavy heart, a dispirited gaze, and drying blood coating his shirt and the fur of his arms.

He felt weak. Not physically weak, or weak from overexertion, but weak as a person. Weak in his constitution. Gutless, even just to challenge his own misgivings. He'd come so very close to opening himself up just a little bit (not to discount the effort of the hands prying at his lid). But he had sat on the ball and fumbled his chances. Time was an unforgiving mistress where it reigned, unwilling to bargain or compromise. Irina was gone, and with good reason. Davey hadn't even begun to say all he'd wanted to her, and even if he was offered another chance somewhere down the line, he couldn't honestly believe that he would ever make the best of it. The whole ordeal, from the moment he'd let her help unload their luggage, was another failed experiment; one he was fixated on running again and again only to face the same result each time. What made it all so much worse was how often he was directly responsible for the failures.

He, putting up barricades before inviting anyone in. He, giving droplets when asked for water. He, so lost in himself he had to drag in others to find his way out.

You'll get 'em next time, he thought as he approached the Bed and Breakfast's front door. It nearly made him laugh out loud.

[Cave]

Noticing the missing steps, Amy curiousity skyrocketed.

"Ooh!" she said, "I wonder what this used to be. A secret castle? An anciet city? So many questions!"

Well, what I'm hoping is that it leads us to freedom. Maya signed, carefully walking up the steps, Come on.

Amy tip toed behind the others, feeling slightly nervous. She hoped that all of them climbing up the steps together wouldn't make the steps lose pressure and collapse under them. Though, maybe that was just Connie's cautiousness starting to get to her. Oh well; it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Hey, Connie," Amy said, "Should we check on Davey and the others when we get back? They don't have any cell phones, ans I'm worried. They didn't follow me or Maya out of town."

I'm sure he's fine. Maya signed.

"Still! I just want to make sure he's ok!" Amy frowned, "I feel so bad for leaving them all there...I should've told them to get in my plane!"

[Southern Desert ~ Old Mine](Connie, Joseph, Amy, Aubrey, Maya)

Joseph made several attempts to say "suit yourself," but couldn't get the first word to come out right against all of his shivering. He finally decided to stop when one particularly ill-fated attempt came out as "shoot", and ended up just nodding instead.

"Pretty sure it's still just a mine," Connie said, folding her arms for about a second before the shock of wet cold on wet cold made her think better of it. "This is probably where they bring mine carts and all that in and out. Or maybe where they set up the big Slip 'N Slide."

She turned her attention to Aubrey as the man tested the sturdiness of the stairs. Connie wasn't familiar with the phrase he used, but from the way he spoke, she took it to mean 'good enough'. "Sounds good enough to me," she replied in kind, approaching the stairs herself, "can't get much worse than a few bad splinters…"

At the mention of splinters, Joseph—who had already begun to mount the stairs—pulled his hand away from the admittedly shaggy-looking railing and kept his tail hovering just a little bit higher above the trailing steps.

Connie began to climb the stairs as well, glancing at Amy as the other girl worried about those left behind. With all that had happened in her sideways adventure since coming across the cave, she had all but forgotten the chaotic episode of the early afternoon. What a day.

"That's the idea," Connie replied, shining her light at the steps ahead of her. "Once we're out of here and when we've gotten into town safely, it'll be," she began listing off on her fingers, "see what's left of the bed and breakfast, find Davey and the others—maybe see if Rip is back—and then, if there's any sort of legitimate sheriff's office, we can see about putting in a word regarding that creep, Omar.

"That reminds me," she looked towards the former prisoner again, "Aubrey, it sounded like you're pretty far from home, right? And I'm guessing those goons took your money, right? If you need a place to stay," she shrugged, "I might be able to hook you up."

It did ultimately depend on whether or not the lodging she had in mind was still standing.

Southern Desert ~ Old Mine ~ small room

Aubrey couldn't help but be bemused by Amelia's fanciful speculations on the nature of the place. To him, the steps were exactly the sort of rough, utilitarian things that he imagined would be found in a mine rather than a palace - and Constance evidently agreed.

Amelia's comment about "cell phones" was interesting, however. Aubrey was familiar with the term - wireless mobile telephones that were apparently common on Earth in the twenty-first century. That, along with her references to planes, her progressive attitude and knowledge that "Old London" was a long way away, was further evidence that she was a fairly recent arrival from twenty-first century Earth.

She seemed to be concerned for the safety of friends left back at the nearby town.

Constance reassured her that they would be safe and filled in more details. Apparently the town had a Bed and Breakfast and Constance was somewhat unfamiliar with the town - enough to wonder if there was a Sheriff's Office. All were evidently recent arrivals - though where Joseph had come from, was anyone's guess.

Constance then turned to Aubrey and kindly offered - if he understood her idiomatic language correctly - to provide him with accommodation should he have no means to pay.

Aubrey gave her a smile as he followed her, Joseph and Maya up the stairs. "That is a very kind offer, Constance, and I may yet have to avail myself of it. I do have some funds that they didn't manage to find." He pointed at the fist that was clenched around the wad he had retrieved from the heel of his shoe. "However, I do not know how long I will have to stay here before I can get home and I'm in need of shoes and more clothes.''

The steps creaked beneath the weight of everyone but they held - they had been engineered to be robust and withstand the rigours of a working mine and, even in their current condition, they were more than adequate to support five people - as long as they avoided the obviously broken places.

Aubrey limped up the steps, carefully trying to place his feet on the smoothest sections of step to avoid treading on any splinters or sharp shards of fallen rock.

[Cave]

Amy tilted her head. "Rip? Who's that? Is that a friend of yours?" She gasped, "Ooh! That means I can make more friends here! We'll be a super friend group! Mega friends!"

Maya looked up at Joesph, and signed, How are you holding up? Sorry for what I said earlier back there; I just didn't want you to be left behind in the creepy cave prison. I'm an asshole who cares, you know?

She frowned. Truth is...I'm really sorry that this happened. I kind of wish we didn't discover this place at all.

The cave exit was just a few more steps up.