The Search For Mana

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos thought about Chrono's words, "Hmmm... so you're the clan's head's son, eh? Boy, talk about the runaway child. However, I'm not surprised your father tried to find the Tear as well. For one to possess multiple Cursed Items would be someone to truly be reckoned with. I don't know what kind of effects it would have on someone for that to happen, but I'd be cautious of anyone who has the gajones to try to obtain a second Cursed Item." The next couple days were a bit on edge, what with the heat and tempers building within Alistair, Chrono and Lazaryos. By the week's end, the sparkle of the Grand River became visible, along with the edge of the first tree patch and its nest full of active worms. "Anyone got any bright ideas?"

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

"Just that he wants to kill us all but that he has to wait until he doesn't need us as shields anymore..." She answered the newcomer's question even though it had been directed at Alistair. No, she couldn't read Alistair's mind, or anyone's for that matter, but he was easy to read when it came to his "feelings" towards the group just like she didn't hide her "feelings" about him. She stayed silent the next couple of days and the sound of Lazaryos voice seemed strange after a while of not hearing it. "Not getting killed, for starters." She responded. Other than that, she had no ideas.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

"Offer the scythe boy up as bait?" Chrono said nonchalantly as he still held Lazaryos. "Also, aren't you going to wiggle out, or has your body fused itself to my jagged armor now?" Chrono snapped as he still hasn't seen the mage leave his right shoulder for several days now. He then looked at the trees again and another thought struck his head. "Um, exactly how strong do those trees have to be in order to carry those things?"

[Srgntcuddles]

Alistair looked at the new guy as he asked him the question, he didn't say anything. That's when Gargoyle Girl opened her trap. It made him want to kill her even more, but he said nothing. "I want you...All dead...Which is the only reason I'm...Remaining near you...There is no mystery to what's on my mind...No mystery at all." As he spoke, he seemed a little off, as if he were hiding something. The next few days he didn't speak. When they got to the nest of worms and Chrono made his remark Alistair wanted to just shove him into them. "It's a river...These things couldn't have nested everywhere..." Alistair walked off along the bank until there was a clearing. When he got to it, he pulled down his hood and cupped some water in his hand to drink.

[Vosur Aekira]

He kept with the group for the walk,  Alistair's answer not having bothered him during the whole trip since he answered rather truthfully to his demeanor. When they got to the river and could see the worms' nests, he looked up and down the banks. "The desert worms were trap-setting hunters, I'd say that these river worms may not be too different. If you try to topple one of these trees over to cross, they'll use it to get over here." He knelt down at the edge, pulling a waterskin from out of a small backpack he was wearing and started filling it up, seeing an arm-length, at least for him anyways, fish swim to his submerged hand. His eyes seem to focus solely on the fish for a moment before he quickly thrust his hand in and yanked the fish out of the water and making it land on the ground nearby. "If anyone else doesn't have an idea, I've got one." he spoke with a devious grin as he goes to try to retrieve the fish after putting away the now-full waterskin in his backpack. It took him a moment of following after the flopping fish to catch up with it and grab it again, which it struggled against his grip the entire time. "How about we catch something to eat before we do anything else first?"

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos wriggled out of Chrono's grip, "I've been fine since the first night, you just choose to pick me up every time break is over. Anyways, it's best if we wait until later to get food. We still have a little bit left, but we've been out of water for 2 days. Especially since we're near their largest nest in the desert. If the necromancer wants to try to resurrect himself, that's his business. It took almost all of my Majicka to-" Lazaryos' words were cut short as there was a large rustling in the sand behind them. Lazaryos turned and pointed his staff, but saw quite a number of tails sticking out of the sand, heading for them. "We got scorpions!"

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember had filled up her canteen as well and was still kneeling by the water when Lazaryos yelled. She quickly rose to her feet and spun around, staff at the ready as she wondered what exoskeletons sounds like when they were cooked. She charged up her staff as she looked at the approaching tails. A large boomerang of flame rose above her staff and she threw it in a curve at the scorpians' tails, hoping she could rid at least one, if not all of them, of their tails.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono unsheathed his left sword, calmly waiting for the scorpion to strike at him. He instantly cut the right claw off when he side-stepped its attempt tried to grab him, then side-stepped the stinger before lopping it off and jamming it into the carapace with his free arm. He was going to turn around to continue killing his share of scorpions when a pair of pincers caught his mid-section. He flipped the sword to where the buisness end pointed behind him, then jammed it where the claw hand connected to the rest of the limb. He then snapped the claw off his waist before parrying the stinger. "You think we can have the scorpions draw the worm's attention?" he yelled before doing a parry-cut on the same oversized stinger.

[Srgntcuddles]

Alistair finished drinking and turned around to see a scorpion half his size staring him down. He nonchalantly pulled up his hood and in one fluid motion drew his scythe and chopped off a pincer. The scorpion came at him with it's stinger this time which was swiftly removed. Finally a swift stab in it's head finished the job. Just in time for Alistair to face off with three more. "This is getting troublesome..." One came at him and he began to dispatch it in a fashion just like the first one.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur had finally caught the fish before one of the scorpions almost stabbed his hand with the tail-stinger, ending up in getting the fish instead of his hand. "You ruined a good fish." he growled at it, catching the stinger and cutting it off with his sword in an unnaturally fast unsheathe-and-strike single motion. The tail-tip was embedded in the fish that Vosur had planned for his own dinner, having to abandon the food for the oncoming battle. The wounded scorpion retreated as two more replaced it, the two immediately trying to use their pincers as distractions as they shook their tails in preparation to strike with him with them, getting around Vosur while they jabbed with their pincers. He blocked the strikes with both his sheath and his sword, shifting to one side as the two lunged out with their tails and stabbed into each other. Not knowing if they were immune to their own poisons, Vosur quickly cut the tails off at the first joint, the poison-glands and tips falling off of the wounded scorpions as they fled. "How many more of these big bugs are there!?" he yelled out, quickly having to do a backflip to prevent being stabbed by an ambushing scorpion.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos pelted a few more with lightning bullets to just push them back. "Big!? These are merely hatchlings! They must-" Lazaryos was cut short as worms emerged from the ground below them, alongside far larger scorpions in which their pincers were as large as Lazaryos. Some of the worms had baby scorpions the same size the ones attacking the group piercing out their bodies, while the other worms chomped on the scorpions, tearing them in half as they dove into the ground and rose back up again. Lazaryos spotted an opening in the crowd where they could possibly escape, but it led back into more desert. Well, at least it isn't the way we came. Lazryos shot a carriage-sized bolt in that direction and cleared the way. "Quickly! Let's go!" Lazaryos made a break for it, but the surrounding arachnoids closed up back around them again.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember threw fireballs at the scorpions that had closed up the opening that Lazaryos had made after her she was done with her fire boomerang attack. She just wanted to get out of this place and continue on with their journey to the Mana. She would much rather battle others with weapons and spells then huge creatures any day. As a scorpion came close to her, she blocked in pincer with her staff then stabbed her blunt staff through its head before it could try to strike with its stinger.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono got in front of Lazaryos and while letting out a near feral roar, moved his way around a scorpion in front and grabbed its tail. With a grunt and groan he swung the "hatchling" scorpion around with enough force to at least push away the bulk of what was in the way. "Stop standing there mage and start zapping!!" He yelled back before drawing his blade and doing his best to make at least a single-file path out of the same 'opening' Lazaryos was trying to burst apart. It seemed he was actually doing better than before, but when a rather simple stab came at him, it was only his reflex and muscle memory that kept him from getting a serious wound rather than a half-inch gash under the armor. What kind of armor can't protect against carapace?! he thought while tossing what little grace and agility he had to push away the scorpions and steer past the worms.

[Srgntcuddles]

Alistair grew more annoyed when the worms showed up, but they managed to take care of his current scorpion problem. Then larger scorpions showed up. He was very annoyed that there were so many creatures and not any people he could kill. It was a nuisance to have to fight with at such a disadvantage, a necromancer unable to summon things with his own power or his scythe's. As the worms started combating the scorpions, the larger ones anyway, Alistair used the distraction to run through them. It was quite an endeavor just to get some water, but it was worth it in the end.

[Vosur Aekira]

Seeing the scorpions that he caused to sting each other stop moving altogether, Vosur got an idea as he was escaping through the scorpions. He stopped himself when a larger scorpion blocked his way, immediately trying to grab him with the pincers and sting him at the same time. The wolf-tailed man ducked down right before the pincers clamped down, only catching a strand of hair from his head, his timing being just right to make this scorpion sting itself in one of its pincers before Vosur jumped back upward through the gap in between its pincers and its face, doing an uppercut-slash with his sword to the scorpion's face and to the tail-tip. When it lets go of its pincers and backs away from the area, now blinded by Vosur's slash and hindered by its own venom, it staggers away from the fight only to get attacked by a worm. The wolf-tailed man quickly sheathes his sword and belts it as he grabs the tail tip before the large scorpion flees, quickly yanking out the poison gland and pulling out a single card from the pouch with two cards missing, now having 57 cards left in that pouch. As he was running, he tried coating the edges of the card with the poison, being careful as much as he could while running.