The Search For Mana

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur didn't look back with the others as he had been trying to cover distance while the distortion was still active. But now as he was able to tell he was getting closer, his eyes seemed to show the expression of a kid getting a favorite treat or toy. "In the center of that mass of vines and petals, two missions come to an end... but now that I think of it, I do not know the identity of who hired me for this journey." he muttered to himself, still trying to maintain a lead on the rest of the others. "He never spoke, he had his face and body hidden from me, but he gave me the sheet of paper when he hired me. Even for all I know, it could be my father-in-law. If it is him, does he finally feel remorse for having his own daughter killed?"

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos couldn't let Vosur get ahead, so he let go of his instincts and just let himself roll down the stairs, gaining speed as he continued to roll. Lazaryos bounced off the floor and right into the barbs and vines. "Ah! Mother-!" He roared as he did his best to tear through the thick barbs and vines. Goddammit. Looks like it's going to be a while for any of us. Another disadvantage to us Mages.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember was not happy going down the stairs. There was no way she could get down them any faster. She watched as Lazaryos let himself roll down the stairs to get down faster to get ahead of Vosur. "No way I'm doing that..." She thought to herself. But when she got closer to the bottom of the stairs, she leaped outward to get over the steps. She ended up landing on her feet with her knees bent but her momentum kept her going and she flipped over herself and rolled a couple times before coming to a halt just before the vines. "That was close..." She thought to herself as she looked at the barbs and vines right in front of her from where she sat on her butt with her legs spread out in front of her. As she got up, she was really wishing that she still had the sword with her to cut through the vines but it was obvious that that was why everyone had to either let out all of their majicka and/or leave behind their weapons to get through. Grabbing a hold of some vines, she began tugging at them to rip them away and tried to avoid the barbs as best she could.

[Srgntcuddles]

After what seemed like forever he saw the others come into view. He made his way down the stairs to where there were they were messing with vines. Something he would excel at since he couldn't feel anything. He ripped away at the vines, even though he was getting cut a lot. He seemed to be getting nowhere fast, though he was speedily making his way through it. The pain tolerance was a definite plus to this obstacle.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur kept up the run, even though Lazaryos passed him up by rolling down the stairs, seeing him get caught up in the vines and barbs. He only slowed down just a little to get a good view of the "obstacle course" made from the vines, grinning rather widely as he shifted a little off-course in the run before he sped-up and took a leap into the thicket. His feet landed on a hard, rocky material before he quickly dropped down onto his stomach to low-crawl under the vegetation towards the goal, not being hindered by the plants as much as most of the others, but still only able to go about as quickly as them due to his odd posture. "Man, glad to have a small body in this case..." he said to himself, his tail almost wagging as he crawled up through the foliage.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos finally gave up and tore straight through the vines and barbs, parts of his robe and fur being torn, and blood dripping from every open wound. Lazaryos finally managed to push through and found himself standing at the base of the large flower. Shit, now where the hell is that drop of Mana? This flower is bloody huge, but a single drop is going to be impossible to find.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember saw Vosur trying to crawl beneath the vines and barbs. Not wanting him to get ahead, she grabbed a hold of his wagging tail and pulled him backwards. Seeing Lazaryos get through, she decided to follow the path he had made through the vines and barbs. Even doing that, she still got a ton of cuts all over her body and tears in her clothes. Once she was through, she was surprised at how big the flower was. "You'd think with it being that size that it'd give more than one drop..." She thought as she proceeded to look around for the drop.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono had gotten back up and resumed running when everyone reached the bushes, and by the time everyone got through he had reached the bushes and was now pushing aside branches with the tops of his arms and hands. He didn't need to worry about his legs or tail since the tail was just as covered, and his legs were still wearing armor. Another reason to hate my clan: our clan symbol will end up costing me the Mana droplet...

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante eventually made it through the vines, examining himself to see he was cut up to no tomorrow. "Maybe I should have tried to avoid damage..." he pondered. His thoughts were interrupted by the giant flower before him. "Wow..." he merely said, quite surprised. "You would think something so large could yield like...A mana pool rather than a single droplet. Or maybe said droplet is the size of a house?" he continued, as he looked up the flower. The thought of starting to climb it crossed his mind but he was hesitant.

[Vosur Aekira]

Letting out a dog-like yelp as Ember grabbed his tail to pull him backwards, Vosur growled in her general direction as he picked up the speed by changing his posture in the crawling to get through the brush faster. He caught a few lower-hanging barbs along the way, some scratching down deep on his back to almost mimic the marks on the front of his shirt as his growling only became louder as he fought the pain and abuse that his arms and legs were receiving along the way from the rocky path he took. When he finally came out of the thicket, the back of his shirt was torn up as he got to his feet, wasting no time as he tried to ascend the large plant. He was sore and exhausted, his stability was somewhat thrown-off from Ember's tail-pull, but that did not stop him from trying to get up the plant to the goal that they had been trying to get to this entire time.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos began to climb the plant as well, digging his claws into the walls of the plant. Blood dripped constantly from his wounds, making him shake with every step and stretch of the climb. Goddammit. They were serious on protecting this large mass of power. Relinquishing your source of power, and then weakening you by cutting you up and forcing you to bleed out.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember didn't hesitate and followed suit, beginning to climb up the plant as well. The cuts on her body were causing her pain and she knew that she was bleeding a lot but she ignored it as best she could, trying to focus on the task at hand. "Why am I even doing this? I don't know what I want to do if I get the Mana so I'm not even sure why I'm fighting so hard for it. Vosur's reasons are much better than mine. It's not like he wants world domination or anything." She thought to herself as she climbed. "No, no. Shut up. Don't think that. The Mana is yours for the taking and you're not going to let the reasons of others get in your way." She shook her head, getting the "kind" thoughts out, but her eyes moved to Lazaryos. "Wow...he's bleeding a lot...I can't look at that." She tore her eyes away even though she didn't understand why she was having such a hard time seeing another person bleed at this point when she had never cared before.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono had cleared the vines by the time Lazaryos and Ember started climbing, and only had a few nicks on his face and under his right hand. He jogged over to the plant, and slowly climbed up as he tried to conserve his energy in case someone tried to knock him off. He knew Vosur would probably be the closest within the first few seconds, but the other three mages would probably knock him down or slow him down in some way. I'm surprised normals didn't get the mana more often, or maybe the Mana had designed the maze and thorn bushes for the cloth-robe mages, but couldn't get anything like foot-wide slits that would limit anyone with large size or armor.

[Srgntcuddles]

After a short break Dante clambered on up the flower. He was sure to get a little rest, so he wouldn't lose his grip higher up. Slow and steady wins the race he thought, if he was rested and didn't fall and they did, he would be the victor, should the Mana actually be up there. "It will likely come to a straight out brawl once we are all up there. I think I will be stand the greatest chance...I don't need a weapon to fight with. I'm not sure how well Vosur or Chrono can fight hand to hand though...Best not underestimate them. Though...I think I will rest on the sidelines while they duke it out...Avoid fighting until I absolutely have to."

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur was growling the entire way, every now-and-then getting louder as he would climb up the plant with a launch to grab an out of reach hand-hold along the way. He was more concentrated on getting to it first to lay claim to it, pushing his body to the limit in getting there. Once in the process of the climbing, he lost his foot hold and quickly scrabbled back to resume climbing. In the tempo of his movements, his white tail would swish from side to side with each hand-grip and foot-grip he took, trying to use it as a counterbalance to prevent slipping again. "Revenge... duty... what is it that really drives you to go for the source of unlimited power, my boy?" he muttered under his breath as his growls of exhaustion seemed to become even louder.