Life Stone

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

When Suzumi said that she was done, Kiana then stopped being as mindful of her since she was paying attention again. Arriving at the gondola with the group, Kiana listened to the conversation. She raised her eyebrows when one of the twins called out Sage. When she heard about the arranged marriage, her lips twitched as she suppressed an oncoming frown. "An arranged marriage? Such a pity..." She thought to herself as she watched Sage be led away by her arranged husband-to-be. "I don't blame her for running, I did. Different circumstances though, I guess..." After the second of watching Sage and thinking, she got onto the gondola with the rest of the group.

[tangletail]

Leo blinked, and quickly turned around after hearing someone call out. His hand now resting on the pummel of his dagger. He continued to listen to the situation, just waiting to see if it would turn hostile or not. When the proxy threat was made, Leo's hand had slid further past the pummel, allowing the handle of the dagger to now slip between his middle and ring finger. He could easily feel for the poor girl. Marriage was just a nail in your foot, it kept you in one area, and in a peaceful life. But for it to be arranged, was more so a crucifixion. For her to be with someone she had no say in, must be a horrible experience.

When what ever was going seemed to be toning it's self down with Sage leaving by being dragged away. He was actually surprised that Korius hadn't bothered to intervene, yet he felt perfectly fine with doing what he saw was right. His gaze then turned back to the 'fiance'. High pitched, young, and whiny. When the the two left, the cat shook his head before stepping onto the gondola and let his hand drop away from his dagger. “I feel sorry for her,” Leo sighed openly, “That guy was not very alluring.”

[Suzumibachii]

With her gems now focused and properly placed in her gloves Suzumi's senses started to return to normal, making her way with the group to the gondola she simply stood there without a word as the brothers explained the situation to Korius, partly expecting him to deny their request to give the cleric over, but he did not resist after hearing the explanations. Suzumi shrugged a little before pulling her hood a little more over her head. "Poor girl..." Her mouth curling into a sneer as she tried to keep her voice low  "Politics most likely"
Stepping onto the gondola she turned her head just enough to cast a hidden glare at Kallow before sitting down.

[Vosur Aekira]

When Korius found the gondola operators, she almost gave a huff in an exasperated manner due to them having looked for the individuals because of his instruction but instead to have him find them first.  She shrugged it off after a while and followed his lead with the others. She stopped at the edge of the gondola, having her bow in her hand, when they were stopped by the twins, but mostly to get it off of her back for a while. Hearing the mention of the arranged marriage made her bite her tongue, almost to the point where she was about to make it bleed if she bit harder, her irises being red as she looked on and kept silent... after all, she did not like this objectifying of women and seeing her leave because of this was not easing the blue-haired fox kin's mind right now as she stepped into the gondola with the others. The only thing that was preventing her from attacking to protect Sage from such a fate was the fact that they needed to go through this area without the extra trouble of getting into a fight with the locals if she were to even think on getting the Life Stone.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Kallow opened up the side of the gondola with a wave off his hand, and motioned for the party to board. Korius got on first, followed by the rest of the group. After everyone was on, the tall lizard raised his right hand to close up the opening and kept an open palm facing the mountain face while he lowered his left palm to face the floor. The gondola seemed to dislodge from the mountain and pillars came out of the mountainside to stabilize the gondola as it slowly went down the line. Korius looked around, walking to one of the side "windows" that allowed him to see out. He wanted to talk to Kallow, but the mage seemed to be concentrating exceptionally hard. The old wolf drank in the scenery, not having seen a plain this large in ages. The lack of any kind of greenery over 1/2 a meter and the sparseness of it all was great, and it allowed one to see all the wild life, both good and bad. In the distance, there was even a couple large Long Gui in the distance trying to look for food.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

After walking onto the gondola with the group, Kiana turned and watched Kallow work for a moment or two. Sometimes she wished she had the talents of a mage just because it seemed so interesting and it was like they couldn't run out of ammo. She loved her bow and arrows though and she would never give them up. After her moment of watching Kallow, she turned and leaned against the side of the gondola, looking out at the prairie. "Now this is a place I could live..." She thought to herself, her tail subtly swaying contently behind her. "So much better than home. Much more space."

[Suzumibachii]

Suzumi simply sat down somewhere were she could keep an eye on Kallow her gaze-although hidden under the hood of her cloak- fixated on the mage. She was observing and trying to figure out just how strong he must have been to be able to cast a spell like that on his own. Looking out one of the windows she seemed to stare off into the distance of the open plains her eyes not used to something that large and open, somehow it put her on edge...the lack of cover.

[Vosur Aekira]

Karina was still silent, not wanting to cause any trouble, but she was still angry from the events of the start of the gondola ride. She tried to keep her focus away from the operator, mostly looking out to their destination. She saw the creatures on the ground and started to make her focus towards them. "At least I can see there is a decent hunt, if we can get one good kill once we get there." she spoke out-loud, despite her meaning to think it instead.

[tangletail]

Leo had been sitting on the ground near the window. His eyes surveying the landscape from above, taking in every bit of detail he could. From roads, to camps, and even the creatures that were all to unfamiliar to him. Most notably the larger creature that had been hunting, “Yeesh... if large creatures like that thing roam here... I'd hate to see a dreaded legend be true.”

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius looked around some more before walking back over to Kallow, "I won't pry into your business, but I am curious to find out what kind of dangers we might encounter, or anything that might be out of the normal." The lizard kept his concentration, but relaxed his body a little before speaking, when he was comfortable, "The plains are quite similar to the Western Dunes and the Northern Clearings when it comes to air. It's fairly thin, but it's great for training and building up stamina. The Long Gui out here aren't as aggressive as those of the North. The Wyvern dragons out here are very rare, but most of them aren't very strong, they have very little to eat. But be careful of the Northeastern Oasis and any that are larger than 20km in diameter. There's a Bahamut Grand Dragon that feeds off all of the feeding animals. If it wasn't for the Bahamut, we'd have more Grand Dragons out here since Wyverns are really just whithered, mutated fire dragons that weren't able to evolve into Flarebrass. You'll recognize them since they look half serpentine with an upper body like a dragon with a warped face. Despite being weak, they're still stronger than an adolescent Fire Dragon." Korius looked across the plains and didn't see anything that flew or seemed to slither, merely wild and furry animals.
"What about the non-dragons? Any to be worried about besides the Long Gui?" Kallow looked up, thinking for a minute without losing his concentration with his magic, "There are a few herds of Lezardo near the various smaller oasis. And there are a lot of long-haired gorgonopsid packs. Some of them are docile, but there are hunting parties as well. Other than that, no other creatures should be bothersome." He finished as the gondola finally reached the bottom. Kallow sighed as he relaxed and then opened the front of the gondola for the party to get off. Korius thanked the lizard and walked off first, letting the others say what they want or just get used to moving again. "Wait! One more thing. Be careful of the weather. It's completely unpredictable, and can change at any moment. You can have clear skies one minute, and in a flash, have a torrential storm with rain and a tornado. It's rare that it'll destroy the landscape, but it's because of the curse that has laid at the bottom of Kiramantle Castle for the last 100 years. I'm sure you already know what others think might be the cause of it all. You carry a strange, magical item with you. It's a magic I've never felt before. People at our level start sensing the the essence of magic. Be careful around high level mages like us or even stronger. They will sense it, and some are not so straight forward and honest."
Korius felt the small shard in his coin satchel, the magical orb or light that surrounded it bulged the side of the satchel as if it was solid, despite it having embedded in his neck a few days prior. "So this thing has unknown powers, huh? Thank you, Kallow. I think you just confirmed something for us."

[Suzumibachii]

Suzumi didnt say a word the entire ride, she was content with listening to the other conversations going on, taking a particular intrest in the exchange between Korius and Kallow. She turned her gaze to his satchel as it seemed to expand a little yet she couldnt sense it properly. She was still just a graduate an artifact like that would be hard for her to detect, and even while looking at it she had no idea what it was, the magic and energy around it didnt make sense to her.

[Vosur Aekira]

"So what is our direction to go once we come to the end of the line, Leader?" Karina asked, keeping her eyes outward from the center of the gondola since the male mage that caused her anger was there. "While we're on the mention of directions... shouldn't we look for a civilized place along the way to invest in a map?" she added as she squinted a bit, seeing something a bit far off in the distance. "Odd... there's something reflective over there." she pointed out with her right hand, the other still holding onto her bladed bow.

[tangletail]

Leo remained where he was seated as he watched the landscape pass by. He decided not to actually speak up, but to simply listen. As for any input that the serval-kin could possibly provide, would not simply be anything feasible in wisdom when compared to the wizard who has been in the area for far longer than he has. But with each important article of information, the thief did take the time to create a mental note, and catalog it for later in his mind.
And when mention of the cursed under-level’s of a castle was made, the cat's eyes darted over the horizon to spot some sign that could produce a landmark of where such a structure was. Maybe the ominous and ever looming circling clouds, or a torn landscape with such a castle in the center.
But the cat finally said something after Karina added in her question, with his eyes looking up to spot what ever she had pointed out. “I'd recommend us to look for some side jobs and bide our time a bit before tackling the big daddy. I'm not a decent combatant just yet, and I am sure some others could use practice.”

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

During the gondola ride, Kiana just listened to the conversation between Korius and Kallow as she observed the landscape down below, looking at each of the small towns in the distance in turn. Kiana looked over in the direction the Karina pointed when she mentioned something reflective, but she couldn't tell what it was. When the gondola reached the ground and Kallow opened the door for the group to depart, Kiana followed Korius off, taking in the additional information Kallow gave them as well.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius looked back at the gondola, where the others were voicing their questions, but before he could respond, Kallow took the initiative, "As you saw from the ride, the closest village is directly north about a day's hike, but if you want to do quests, the closest city is Harlotton, 2 days due east." The old wolf took in the information and processed everything that he was able to learn so far, and what he knew of the party's situation. He had to agree, the party is nowhere near ready for what's in store for them if they ventured further into the Plains. "Then it looks like we're going east. I have to agree with Leo. Our party is not ready for the full wilderness of the Plains. Based on Kallow's bestiary knowledge, you are all going to have to go through some serious preparation and training. Let's go. Our first training is to make this two day hike no more than a day and a half." Korius tossed an extra silver coin to the earth mage, who caught up, bowed, and got back onto the gondola. The opening closed and the pillars that came out of the mountainside slowly lifted the giant vessel upward.