Into the Cave

Here's where we can play out everything that happens now. Archelaus arriving, Caz waking up again, then everyone leaving and entering the Cave. ^.^ Here we are!

Archealus appeared into existence at the foot of the cave at the snap of Verax's fingers.

Slightly disoriented by the change in air pressure, gravity, lighting, and the psychological impact of being transported through space and time by someone who broke out of an insane asylum pounded Arch pretty hard.

Archelaus began to fall over, toppling over onto his hands and knees at the disorientation, almost forgetting to protect the smallish egg located in his right hand.

What a strange thing... Archelaus wondered. That a being so mighty and strong would have its young develop in such a small egg... The egg was the size of a robin's, even though it seemed to be made out of some ultra-hard opaque crystal substance.

Archelaus looked up at his surroundings... which happened to be the other dimensional leaders gathered around him in slight concern. Arch would have some explaining to do eventually...

But first. Aurora.

"There is no time to waste, my brethren, sisters, let us enter this Cave of the Shattered Suns. I know how to open the lock. Indeed, it was I who set the lock."
Admist surprised faces, Archelaus calmly stood up, and with a speed belaying his great size ghosted to the giant ceramic lick which covered the face---

Time to go to school!

OOC: Caz is still asleep; someone might want to wake him after Archie finishes.

((Okay- I'm lame for not posting, but I don't quite understand everything, so forgive me if I get things wrong. So here's what Ma'at's been doing!))
Ma'at wanders. His world, so recently made whole and new, had been turned upside down. He wasn't sure where he was going, what he was doing, or even who he was anymore. His essence had slipped away, leaving this cold, gloomy shell. Even after he and Caz had teleported onto the ship, he had ignored the conversation and pondered- pondered what? How this was even possible? His Neiede- this other half, his god damn soul- didn't love him. Ma'at's eyes filled with tears he violently repressed. He would resist it, resist the urge to run to Caz and take him in his arms and- But no... Caz didn't want him. The Kazequi said he barely knew Ma'at, but for Ma'at the opposite was true. He felt a deep emotional pull, a calling.

And he followed it, through the maze-like passages of the ship. The weak, desperate feeling in the pit of his stomach lessened as he walked on, and he knew where the pull was taking him. But he followed it anyways. He followed it to a large, window oval-shaped window, out of which he could see a red landscape and a campsite. His stomach lurched, Caz. He glanced around, looking for a way to get down. A shiny teleporter sat to his right, gleaming and begging for use. Ma'at walked over to it, pushed the button marked "SURFACE" and was whisked onto a rust-red landscape.

[Okay, so this is just before Archelaus gathers everyone. It's just a thing for Cat's char, to keep him active.]

-Zyria is sitting outside the tent, still looking at the stars, when a man appears by the main campfire. He looks as though he's lost, looking for something or someone, so Zyria goes over to help.-

"Uhm...hello? Hi, are you looking for something? I can maybe help, unless it's a soldier you're looking for...?"

"I, um..." Ma'at looks at the Plutonian, tongue-tied. "I was looking for... Drel-Caz?" his voice shakes slightly, tension filled. "I think he's down here..." What should he say? What if she didn't let him through? Could he tell her he was Caz's Neiede? Or did Caz want to keep that a secret. 'Probably,' Ma'at thought bitterly, 'He doesn't want anything to do with me. And why should he?'

"Oh, you're looking for Caz? Well, of course I know where he is. But, sorry, he's asleep; after I finally got some food into him, I sent him to bed. He was really damaged from the occurrence between him, Verax, his ship's AI, and Arch. I'm hoping it's just the basic necessities that he needs." -Zyria looks back to her tent, a sad look in her eye. But then she remembers what she realized in her mind, and shakes her head slightly, to clear her thoughts.-

[Maybe, Cat, Ma'at can be confused at first? Just maybe a line or two of him thinking and saying, "Huh? Why would you do all that for him? etc etc etc" then Zyria can continue, and talk more about things that would give their relationship away to Ma'at. Just a suggestion]

Commander Robless stood up and shook hands with the Alteriian, nodding at him. "I'm afraid we cannot move until Caz recovers." He was about to ask Archelaus to help Caz recovered, but hesitated after looking at his condition. Robless knew it was pointless to hide his thoughts from an Alteriian with such powerful skills. "If you could help him, I would much appreciate it. But please, consider your well-being before proceeding with anything too dangerous." Robless leaned in closer and barely spoke. "And don't mention much about Caz's Neiede, it might upset Zyria." He stood up tall and saluted before returning to the others.

<OOC>

I wrote up some ideas in class today for the cave.

-I believe Raulch requested to get into the cave right after us...I'll let him explain those details; I'm not entirely sure what he meant.

-Sorry for extending this out a bit, but don't you think a mysterious, ancient cave with plenty of chambers would be great for character development?

-For my characters, maybe Robless will face off Dragjh A'lecto in the cave at some point. Cassus might discover his own Kazesqui powers (for being part Kazesqui)

-Any ideas, suggestions? Of course, we could simply move on by ourselves, but it's nice to just catch up and plan our steps.

</OOC>

"Yeah... basic needs." Ma'at was only half-paying attention. The pull was still strong, practically dragging him towards the tent only a few feet away. He shook his head, it was no use being obsessed. "So, what- are you his friend or commanding officer...?" he trailed off, questioningly. The Plutonian looked like she could be in charge, but Ma'at doubted Caz was the following-orders type.

-Zyria looks at Ma'at and chuckles a little.-

"Oh, no, I'm not his commanding officer. He's second in command to Eris-Tam, ruler of the 16th and 17th Dimension. I'm Zyria, Plutonian Princess, ruler of the 15th Dimension." -Zyria laughs again.- "Sorry, it's a force of habit to say my title after introducing myself."

"Anyway, no, I'm not his boss. Hehe, that would be sort of awkward." -Now Zyria is full-out giggling. She stops, though, and looks up at the stars, blushing slightly.- "Well, we're friends. At least, we would be. If we weren't just...a little...more than that."

[CAT, have him say something like, "MORE? In...in what way?" Or "More, how?" Zyria can mention Caz promising to stay with Zyria and not find his Neiede. :3 That might set Ma'at off a little...lol ]

--- The ceramic and psycho-kinetic power which surrounded the barrier fell away as Archelaus simply walked through it, or more accurately, broke through it with his fists, as the barrier fell away from his mind.

"This was not the easiest step, my friends." Archelaus began, stading atop a promising looking boulder in front of the entrance. "This was merely a barrier of my own creation to keep wanderers and adventurers from finding this place... this place of corruption and death. The place where death goes to die."
Archelaus lifted his hands to the sky again, picturesque. An Alteriian Arch-Druid standing in front of the gates of earthly hell, light glowing from his fists and shimmering from his eyes. The Symbolic act of defying the corruption of the everyday.

Archelaus' voice glowered, smoldering gently, if not darkly, sounding like the voice of a firebrand preacher.
"I know comrades, that we have been through enough trauma to break any ordinary person. That we have sustained through trials that would have broken any one else, but us. That we have persevered through death and nightmare, through tooth and claw, through desert and emptiness..."

Suddenly, Arch's voice lost its dangerous tone and sparkled brightly, as if he was suppressing a laugh.
"As they sometimes say..." His voice took up a thick guttural accent. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Arch turned toward the cave entrance, and boldly set forth.

[Oh, yeah, and Robless, that could be good. Ma'at, Caz, and Zyria would probably face something relating to each other, I would think. Maybe Zyria can find out Ma'at is Caz's Neiede, and Caz can see both Ma'at and Zyria (including Zyria's reaction to the new info), and battle with what he's dealing with now. All suggestions, really. Tam, if you want Zyria finding out a different way, just say so.

Or you know, we could do something completely different, if we want to go for some action. Maybe Ma'at and Caz fight? And Zyria finds out by finding them fighting?

Oh wait, would that not work? If Ma'at refuses to hurt Caz? But, if he knew his NEIEDE was denying Ma'at just because of some girl, would he? That's quite the betrayal to a Neiede. And it wouldn't mean he'd be out to kill, just to fight, and convince Caz he should give up on trying to refuse their connection.

Just me typing out loud, trying to get some ideas around.]

((They could fight. That would put an interesting spin on things. Ooh, Caz could go into like a rage state and get it into his head to kill Ma'at so he can be with Zyria- and kill him in the caves so no one can prove that he did it. Zyria would walk in on it, probably be shocked at what Caz is doing and stop him. He'll still be in kind of a crazy state of mind, so as Zyria is trying to calm him down he tells her that Ma'at is his Neiede? Then she can *either* make things worse (freak out, etc.) or try to understand that Caz was going to kill HIS NEIEDE just for HER. Also Caz is still asleep now :3 I can wake him up to interrupt the conversation so she doesn't put the pieces together until the end, in the caves.))

An officer came running into the area where Zyria, Ma'at, and Caz were, giving everyone a quick glace before saluting. "Sorry to interrupt, but Commander Robless and the others are getting ready to move. The troops have orders to hold down the camp, you'll be on your own. Good luck." On that, he turned back and returned to the command tent and began the supervision of camp defenses.

--

Robless could sense the darkness coming from this cave, and pulled out his lightblade almost instantly. Cassus gave a half-questioning, half-amazed stare at the sword. "That's a Khvir blade, sir..." Robless blinked a few times before the name clicked, and then shook his head and ran up to Archelaus. "We need to wait a moment. I sent a messenger to go fetch the others, they'll be here shortly."

[Ackk, Ma'at was going to find out Caz is denying his Neiede bond for Zyria, we didn't need an interruption. Bleehhh. Okay, Ma'at can put two and two together (Caz refusing to feel anything for Ma'at and the fact that he and Zyria are dating) on the way to the cave, I suppose.

You hear that, Cat? Have Ma'at realize all that on the way to the cave. So we've got the reasons for fighting, now, right? Caz thinks it's the best for him and Zyria, and Ma'at will fight out of anger from the betrayal and to convince Caz they need to be together. Okay. Since we can't have Caz and Ma'at together, Zyria will go wake Caz up, and I'll send Ma'at away.]


-Zyria straightens when the officer runs up. He tells them how they'll be on their own, and Zyria nods.- "Thank you, officer. We will prepare." With that, he leaves.-

-Zyria hunches back down, out of the uncomfortable regal position, and turns back to Ma'at.- "All right. It's time to go, apparently. I'll need to go wake Caz up." -Zyria takes a step back to her tent, and realizes Ma'at isn't following. He has a sort of....bewildered look on his face.-

"Uhm, didn't you need to talk to Caz?" -Ma'at looks to Zyria and shakes his head violently.- "Oh, uh, no. It's fine. Thank you, though." -Zyria nods to him as a "you're welcome," and walks back to her tent.-

((Damn this is long))
Eyes open, Klyde looked around and attempted to step out. Nothing but an invisible wall stopped him, and then he realized it was glass. What the...a tomb? But...I was-- Then he remembered it all. The bandits, passing out. Had someone rescued him? He owed them his gratitude if that was the case, but for now he must get out of here. He didn't want to make any noise so he concentrated on letting power flow through his right arm causing the glass to dissipate. Upon his arm, a layer of black serrated armor materialized, demonic in appearance, but just as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared, leaving no trace that it was ever there. Gripping his silenced 9mm, Klyde stepped out ever so quietly, gun facing forward.

What am I doing? This is stupid...obviously anyone that wanted to hurt me would have done so by now, or at least not have left me unattended. He ventured through the ship which was pretty big, and hearing footsteps, he ducked into a closet. Voices surrounded him, followed by the footsteps of two people.

A woman's voice became clear. "I don't know, what if it's not here? Quite frankly, all this travel is making me nauseous. "

The man's voice spoke. "I know another way to make you nauseous." He chuckled.

Klyde felt something lean against the door; he got slightly frightened that they would find him. The pressure disappeared and he relaxed slightly. Then the woman's voice said, "Stop it not now, what if someone sees us? We aren't alone, after all, and there are cameras." They continued rambling for a bit and then left, continuing the way they were headed.

Wow, that was interesting. He peered out the door and then decided to make his escape, sneaking down some corridors without being detected. A window came into view. It seemed to be pressure controlled but had a manual emergency release with a warning label next to it.

WARNING: DO NOT OPEN WHILE IN SPACE. AIRLOCK WILL ENGAGE. VIOLATORS WILL SUFFER SEVERE CONSEQUENCES.

Well, I'm not in space, am I? So with that, he opened the man-sized airlock, exposing himself to a ripple of wind. "WHOA!!" Sand, sand and dust appeared in front of him along with lights dotting the night. A camp? Hmm, I guess I can risk it. He looked down to make sure the jump wouldn't kill him, and then toppled over into the sand, leaving a mark on the sand.

After walking for minutes, he came to the outskirts. The main entrance was heavily guarded, but maybe there was a way around. It was dangerous and hard but he made it to a side entrance. After laying face down for ten minutes, the guard watching the entrance left.

Spitting sand from his mouth, he crawled forward a bit, looking in each direction to make sure no one else approached and after seven more painful minutes, he reached the fenced barrier. With an audible chink, his claws popped out of his fingers and he shredded a small opening in the fence. He was in.

People. People everywhere, rustling about. He couldn't do this, no matter how stealthy he was, he could not sneak across this small city. So, doing what any experienced infiltrator would do, he managed to sneak into the staff quarters.

Three people were in the fairly small tent. One of them was asleep; Klyde could hear his snoring. He did not want to risk it, but he peeked his head through. Yes, exactly what I needed... The other two were facing the back of the tent, away from the entrance. It gave Klyde just enough room to reach the nearest bunk and retrieve the spare uniform.

After two painful minutes he was fully uniformed and still hadn't been seen by the others. He turned and made his way to the exit of the tent.

A giant of a man stood in front of him as Klyde pushed through the flap of the tent. Damn, damn, damn! This is it, it's all over.

But the man simply yelled at him, "Techie, what the hell are you doing out here? Engineers were to report to the tent to prep for the expedition." Expedition? Techie? Damn it I must have taken an engineer's uniform. Well shit, I have to go with it now. "Yes, sir! Sorry sir, I got distracted and woke up late. Can you direct me to the engineer's tent?" There's got to be someone there that can tell me what's going on...

"One more time and I'll shove my boot up your ass!" And with that, the man walked into the tent. Upon seeing the sleeping soldier, he dumped the poor guy out of his bed and reprimanded him for oversleeping. He then proceeded to the exit of the tent and stopped, looking briefly at Klyde. "I don't wait for people..."

"Oh yes...yes, sir, I'm coming!" Klyde frantically scrambled to the man's side and they began walking towards their destination.

They walked in silence, walking past a tent. Inside, a table with papers strewn about sat next to a bank of computers. A few people talked quietly while working, ignoring them.

Maybe now is my chance... Unfortunately, they did not stop there as the officer dragged Kylde off to another tent, centrally-located. It was filled with computers of different sizes and busy technicians working frantically.

There was a woman yelling orders to the technicians under her command. "Alright, alright! Hurry up, once the expedition enters that cave, we can't help them. Get it together now! If there are any anomalies make sure to mark them down." Turning to a group of personnel wearing white uniforms, she attempted to shout over the bustle of the command tent. "Get them some med-kits!"

An expedition? Damn, what the hell is going on here? Maybe the woman in charge will know something. Who knows, maybe I can get on this expedition.

Klyde approached the woman that appeared to be in charge. "Uhh..." He glanced at her dog tags. "Captain Emruld, I know this is a crazy request, but...could you get me on this expedition? Please, ma'am, I've got to see this. It's my last tour of duty and I'd like to get some real action..."

"What? You think you're the only one that wants in? What makes you so special?!" She looked as if she was about to turn around, but quietly whispered into Klyde's ear. "Listen, nobody else has actually agreed to this, but you seem desperate; maybe I can break a deal with you. If you find anything that looks valuable, bring it to me. I'll give you a spot on the team in return."

"Yes, ma'am, thank you, ma'am!" She nodded and Klyde fumbled a salute. Captain Emruld gave him one last piece of advice. "Head to the deployment area, they'll be there. You can't miss 'em, look for the tall Alteriian." With that, they parted ways. Klyde couldn't contain his excitement as he walked to the ready area.

@Klyde
I'm sorry if this is rude, but there was so much improper grammar in that post I couldn't comprehend what was happening.

(I will go and fix the grammar if it bothers you so.)

[Yeah, dude, it's okay if you don't watch your punctuation and grammar /as much/ on the other groups, since we all know each other, but this forum is a little more....well, not /professional/, really, but I can't think of the right word, other than that. PLEASE, K. Listen to me this time, without me having to fall to my knees and beg (metaphorically). XD Seriously.]

Well quite frankly, we all know that my grammar is terrible. Honestly it is not going to improve for quite some time. Zyria, why don't I just send you my posts so you can 'overlook' them for common errors. Excuse my mistakes :s and just enjoy the reading!


Also I suppose I should post again? Or shall Klyde's encounter with the others be typed by someone else?

[Klyde, please use OOC form when you're OOC. And don't use actual names on here. Rule number 5. Not everyone knows everyone directly. Seriously. Did you look at the rules? -_-

And you can post your paragraphs on the group page on Fb, so /someone/ can edit it, then you can just copy and paste it here on the forum.]

Ma'at stood, eyes wide and unblinking, staring at the tent. His thoughts chased each other in circles- 'What? But- she's... how is this even- Caz and her? But he's my... what?' He couldn't seem to move from this spot, almost as if he was stuck in place by some sort of force that was pulling him in two different directions. He wanted to run, escape, never look back on this moment, but at the same time, something in his gut pulled him closer to the tent.

Finally his brain managed to formulate a coherent thought; 'So that's why he was acting so strangely.' He wasn't sure if the realization lessened or increased the painful sensation gnawing in his stomach. One thing was for sure though, that girl was to blame for this- for everything. His mouth contorted into a slight snarl. Maybe if she was gone...

No! What was he thinking? He couldn't just kill someone for being with Caz... What was wrong with him? Oh... oh hell! He was jealous! Still, if only she wasn't involved... it would make everything so much easier.

Ma'at shook his head. 'I'll just wait for them and maybe I can work everything out with Caz on the way,' he thought. 'But,' he wondered, 'Where are we going?'

((Ma'at has been much too preoccupied to understand what everyone is even doing xD))

Dreston was sitting, utterly still, on top of the ship. He'd been sitting there for hours, eyes closed, and if someone had come up and spoken to him he would not have responded. None of the typical blue light poured from between the cracks of his outer plating and there was no sign that he was even still ali--no, Dreston. Stop thinking like that. You weren't alive to begin with. There was no sign that he was still functional.

That was because, since the moment the sun had set, all of Dreston's ability had been focused on keeping away what wyrms he still had control over, and directing his friends to set up a defensive perimeter around the camp and the ship. No one in the camp would have been able to see it--he had directed them to stay about mile or two away on all sides, protecting the organics from any creatures of the Martian deserts who would do them harm.

No one, apparently, had asked after him and even if they had he would not have been easily found. He had one of his rats wandering the camp, though, and if anything important happened, or if he was needed, it would let him know.


(Wow... you guys have done a lot since I was last on. Sorry, I've been super busy lately. At least it doesn't look like Dreston's been needed...)

((WHO VOTED FOR ERIS-TAM TO DIE? TWO OF YOU! WHO DUN IT? Just messin, but seriously, who voted?))