The Search For Mana

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos shuddered at the thought of the pit ants. "I've heard it's worse than a thousand deaths. Back a thousand years ago, when this land was still habitable, executions were held only two different ways. Either by slow hanging, or by pit ants. Many criminals beg for the hangings, despite how cruelly they were done. Back then, you weren't dropped from a plat form, you were lowered slowly from the castle wall, with hands and feet bound, no weights, all by the neck. And then you were left their until you died, which usually took hours, rather than today's usual few seconds to a full minute. To be dropped into the pit was worse than that. Once in the trap, one would get pulled into continually compressing sand, unable to move. The ant then bites chunks off of your body. It takes a full day for the ant to consume a person. The worst part is, is that the ant's saliva contains something that raises your adrenaline level, making it impossible for the person to faint or succumb to shock. It was the most feared execution of all history... or at least within the last 3,000 years. History records just don't really go further than that, that anyone's found."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember glared at Alistair when he asked his questions. She knew exactly why he was asking such questions, that he wanted to know if they would find one and how painful the death would be because he wanted to get rid of her that way. She liked that Vosur spoke up and warned him though. Her eyes moved to Vosur as her expression changed and she smirked. Even though Lazaryos went on to talk about how horrible the death would be, her expression didn't turn to one of fear, just a straight face. She noticed that Chrono had stopped walking ahead of them. "What's he looking at?" She said as she looked ahead of him to try to see what he did.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono had always wondered what happened the first time they tried to kill him, all he could remember was everything going white, then all of his siblings were beaten, their weapons shattered and scattered along the ground. He then made a run for his Uncle's house, which was where his flashback ended. He turned away from the sand pit and continued going forward, acting like nothing happened.

[Srgntcuddles]

Alistair caught Ember's glare, her normal attempts at mind reading again. But it's not like his mind had to be read. He's already expressed his feelings towards the group; he wanted them dead. It was just that simple. But Ember more than the rest, they seemed to be on their own special "wavelength". It still sickened him...But as usual he would have to wait. But Lazaryos' story made it a little less painful, if they did find one of them...He would definitely try to shove Ember in.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur stopped for a moment, pulling his sword and sheath off of his belt and tapping a divot in the sand with the tip of his sword-and-sheath set. In an instant, the sand in a half-meter radius of where he touched sunk inward, a pair of pincers peeking out before Vosur unsheathed his sword and stabbed right into the center of them in a single motion. "Worms, sand ants... at least scorpions have their use." he muttered out before he pulled the sword up and swiped the air ritualistically before he resheathed the blade.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos scoffed as he watched Chrono wander off towards a pit and then snap out of it and walk back to the group. He turned to Ember, "If you ask me, I think this hatchling was dropped a few too many times as a baby. But then again, it might be because his family's done everything in their power to make sure he was killed while he was growing up. Either way, this kid's a treasure short of a hoard."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember couldn't help but chuckle at what Lazaryos said. She continued to walk in their northern direction even though she wouldn't have minded taking a dip in the river right about then even with the guys around. She sighed as she walked along, keeping an eye out for the sand pits. She remained aware of her surroundings just in case any more creatures and so that Alistair couldn't catch her off-guard.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono caught a hint of the what Lazaryos said, mostly because there wasn't much talking going on anyway. He gradually made his way next to Lazaryos and only made a side glance to make sure he wasn't busy oogling Ember. "Before we get to the mountain, have you read any methods of stopping flashbacks, its becoming a problem now..." he muttered while resting his left forearm on the hilt of his sword.

[Srgntcuddles]

Alistair didn't like how when the first sand pit appeared the damned new guy killed it. He was a weird one though, at first he seemed to hate the others as much as Alistair did, but now...Seems like he want's to kill him instead. He just kept watching out for his chance to do away with that Ember...He would have to act quickly as to do it before the others could kill it. Maybe Ember herself would stumble onto one, and while she dispatched it with a fireball or something he would waltz up and push. Then watch as she is devoured alive. Alistair couldn't help but to grin at the thought.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur stopped again and pulled his sword off of his belt, unsheathing it and holding the sheath in his right hand, the blade extended out in front of him just above the ground. Every now and then, he'd see a pair of pincers peek up a few inches, then quickly retract down. He backs up one step and goes around that area, belting his sheath and digging for the pouch with the venom gland, while still 'sweeping' the area with his sword as he walked. "Here's a quick little riddle for everyone: Even though that scorpions and sand ants both live in desert climates, why do you only see one or the other as the top of the food chain in one area?" he spoke before he stopped and started to reapply venom to his sword.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos snorted as he held in his laughter, "There's no real cure for your emotional troubles." Lazaryos chuckled silently to himself at the new guy's question, "The scorpions travel everywhere and can survive anywhere, so they have no dominion. The pit ants live out in the dry areas of the desert to catch anything that runs away from the worms. Speak of the devil, they survive only at or within a couple miles of a flourishing water source. The worms require continual moisture to stay alive." Ahead of the group, there was a small oasis that didn't have any activity. "Alright, we should be able to rest there, the water source isn't very large, so we probably won't have any excursions for tonight."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember saw the stupid grin on Alistair's face and, as usual, she had a very good idea of why it was there. "I can't wait to wipe that stupid look off his face..." She thought to herself. When she looked ahead of the group to see the water source that Lazaryos was talking about, she was slightly relieved to see the small oasis. "Oh good, now maybe I can get a soaking in." She felt a little cleaner at the thought of it.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono, taking it upon himself as the toughest and the first to charge into battle, ran over to the oasis while avoiding, and did a quick scan of the water before sticking his goo-ed up blade in. He then left it there for a few moments, before pulling back out and getting some sand to attach to the grime so it wouldn't stick to his armor. I really havn't gotten much in the way of itchy scales, so I don't need a bath he reasoned as he held the blade to the sun to see if he missed any chunks.

[Srgntcuddles]

When they got to the oasis without a chance to shove Ember into a sand pit his plan changed. Maybe she would get close enough to the water to hold her under it. It would be perfect, she being a fire mage would significantly reduce her magic abilities in water. Lazaryos wouldn't dare use his magic as he would hit Ember as well. Chrono is still at less than half fighting efficiency and the new guy...He would probably be the only threat. He sat down away from the group, eying ember maliciously. His grin still held on his face, which was the only part of his face you could see under the shade of his hood. But his grin soon faded as he felt something uneasy in the air, something watching him...

[Vosur Aekira]

He kept up in the sweeping of the sword against the ground until they got to the oasis, making sure that there weren't any more pits before he got to the water's edge and pulled out a cloth and the waterskin he managed to fill up before they had an attack from the scorpions. He poured the water into his sheath and started to swish it around, trying to clean out any remains from when they were fighting the scorpions and the worms, then pouring it out before he used the rest of his waterskin on the blade with a cloth he had to clean the blade before sheathing it and refilling his waterskin. When he was finished, he scooped up some of the water into his own hands and drank a bit before noticing the palm trees, smiling to himself and taking climbing up one of them with ease to grab a few coconuts. "Not going to have much opportunities like this." he said to himself as he comes back down with the prizes in hand and setting most of them on the ground while he took one of his non-coated cards out to use much like a knife to pop open a hole and drink the milk from one of the coconuts while he sat down.