[Official NPC]

When Faris' water walls fall, the tide of the battle turns back in the Malaki's favour, but the advantages gained while trapped in their own little battlefields keep the vanguard's members from falling. After a harrowing battle, the bulls have been whittled down to just four.

Though accustomed to fighting for every breath they take, the Malaki have not met all that much resistance on this side of the portal, so their loss is astounding. The Warlord, injured and furious, sends the surviving brave back to their homeland to let others of their tribe know of the bounty to be found here, then commands the last of his war party to fight to the death.

When the battle is over, shockingly only one member of the vanguard is dead (Anatoli, having shoved the cartographer out of the way of a spear and gotten skewered himself instead), though several more are severely injured. At least the Malaki have finally fallen — all but the brave who grudgingly fled the scene.

Between the combined tracking and telepathic skills of the vanguard and Faris' story of "something shiny" out of place in the same direction the brave ran, the group make their way north-west to find a shimmering portal. With little time to assess their options or wait for back-up, they send one last message to the League and storm through.

The world that confronts them is every bit as hard as Jericho described: A red wasteland where jagged peaks spear the washed-out sky and the heat of the sun coats the rusty earth with a layer of diffused light, the Malaki's homeland is unforgiving and cruel.

The brave's tracks lead east, but are impossible to see from the air. Already clumsy on the ground, the arctic ankas are soon wilting in the heat, so the essentials (like water) are unloaded and the birds are sent back to the relative safety of the forest. These preparations take only a few minutes, but already the brave's hoofprints are being swept away by the gritty gusts of wind, so haste is paramount. Even so, water has to be rationed severely and the sun saps the strength from the party, forcing them to rest frequently.

Two days after entering the portal, the group realises they can no longer see it. Worse, their tracks have faded almost completely away behind them and the sun is so bright and diffused across the sky that using it for directional navigation is impossible.

Note: Don't forget to worldbuild as you plot! You can now also create/join side threads to explore events leading up to the battle with the Malaki.

Vanguard Members

PCs will be added to this list as they join. If NPCs (italics) do not already have profiles linked, you can make them up as you go and their listed vitals will be updated per chapter. Struck-out names means they are dead or have left the party.

Aella Karakinos — Unaffiliated Ayad, blacksmith's apprentice
Aiden Roy — Therian
Aifric Ramsey — Therian Cartographer
Alain Gaston-Moreaux — Red Warden
Anatoli Vitalis — Rutilus, Espurian Guard
Faris ibn Alsyad — Purifier rep attached to LoP
Ionia Essytia — Skotadi representative, League of Adventurers
Kiel Taskel — Rutilus, League of Protectors
Maaike Sullivan — Therian scout, LoP-attached mercenary
Mortimer Jericho — Peteulanus, supplies & logistics
Nimisha — Sidhe forest guide for unmapped areas
Captain Olympias Lysistrata — Apali, Varagoi, no-nonsense, stereotyper
Raphael — Djinn bodyguard and hunter attached to Ionia
Ninian Aedh — Therian enforcer attached to Jericho
Rusty Faelan — Therian enforcer attached to Jericho
Shane — Shadowkin attached to Kiel

Current Objectives

• Find the Malaki brave before he can get word to his clan.
  
• Find a way back to the portal and home.

Chronology

This chapter will end out of character at midnight (GMT) on the 28th of July. In-character, the events of this chapter will last one to two weeks.

[Faris]

Faris' skin was still crawling, even after a good two days of coming into this place. It was radically different from the Chandric Forest and closely resembled a desert, except worse. Deserts despite their initial appearance, were at the very least alive. With scorpions of varying sizes and cactus all about. He knew that there would be respite in the form of oasis somewhere in even the harshest deserts. Here though, it was a true "wasteland". The place was quiet, in a ghastly way. He could positively feel energy seeping out of himself, and the others as well. The weakest of their party, the ankas had been sent back long ago and they were now moving on foot. Progress was slow, and uncertain. The lack of landmarks were not helping; in his opinion the occasional ominious-looking tree lurking in the distance did not count.

"Where do we go from here, O' Great Leader?"

Faris had kept quiet for most of the journey, but it seemed that at last irritation and unease had won over common sense. There was little respect in his words; Faris had little love for feathered humanoids in general, and what little there was being eroded away with each passing minute they remained out here under the unrelenting sun. They were lost, no doubt about it. While waiting for the Apali Captain to reply, Faris bent down to bury one hand beneath the sandy yet smooth soil of the wastelands, and attempt to find a source of water. His eyes widened after a moment of searching, and it took some self-restraint not to pull out his hand and declare his findings. Faris had not been expecting anything out of this search having already done it a mere hour or so ago (one could never be sure, with this kind of timeless sun). But there it was, something tickling the edge of his senses. Well. This is a first; has the heat gotten so bad that I'm now susceptible to elemental mirages?

[Kiel]

Kiel had followed Shane through the portal, like, crowing about how they'd totally owned the Malaki, man, and, like, how they'd totally own whatever they encountered on the other side 'cause they were totally awesome and, like, “Holy Xanth, it's hot out here!” He'd had to shield his eyes with his hand despite his hat shielding him from th worst of the glare, and then, like, he'd frozen when he realised Shane was no where to be seen. He'd darted back the way he'd come when he'd realised what had happened, already, like, letting his backpack slide off his shoulder so he could rummage inside it for his flask. Sure enough, he'd found the 'kin sizzling and mewling, like, in so much pain 'cause he was an idiot and hadn't thought about what would happen if it was daylight on the other side. As Jericho passed by with his cronies, Kiel snarled at the dude, like, “You could have warned me!” The cold-faced Pet' just kept on walking.

Shane was tucked safe and sound in his the huge pocket on his left leg now, like, all healed thanks to the Black Rose. She'd morphed into her squat, fluffball monkey form 'cause there was no way under Hel she was leaving him alone. Well, but he guessed they weren't under Hel any more.

“I'm hot,” he whined. “I'm thirsty.” He was probably in better shape than the rest just 'cause he had such a deep well of boundless energy but, like, he was finding that it really wasn't boundless, after all. Like, he was born and raised on Dardanos, you know, he could handle the heat but, like, this was just, like, “Duuuuuude.”

Stumbling to a halt when he realised Faris had stopped, Kiel blinked. “Hey, man, you can't sit down here, okay? Like, I know it's hot and the grit in this wind is kinda nasty and, like, I'm pretty sure I saw one of those trees moving, man, but, like, did you notice that these grooves in the ground look kinda, I dunno, not accidental and stuff?” He tipped his hat back to scratch his head, his hair an unruly, sweaty mass. “Like, but if you sit down here you'll never get up and I don't think I can carry you, okay, so like, we gotta keep going. Like, okay?”

[Aella]

The red waste was aptly named. For one, everything was red: the dirt was red, the rocks were red, the trees were red, even the sky followed suit - tinged in an eternal dusk. Aella, too, was red, though not by any machination of this strange land - her armor was naturally the color. Fitting in with it all, Aella almost felt comfortable; much more so than her surrounding companions, each suffering various degrees of discomfort or exhaustion.

The weather was sweltering, however. It reminded her of being in the forge, something (she noted) she rarely did wearing armor.

It was only natural for her to sweat and curse and gripe, joining the expedition in its chorus of misery. She had initially tried to use her elemental powers for comfort (too sheepish to try it on anyone else), but for all her efforts it likened to donning a thick woolen coat. She discarded the idea just as quickly as she had the layer of heat.

To quash idle complaints she kept her eyes busy, basking in the new landscape and the strange plants and animals therein. Just last day the group encountered a terrible quake. A few of the Anyeli had taken off in flight, and more than a few of the group (herself included) had been forced to grab hold of the closest rooted object - lest they fall upon the hot, baked soil. Aella had feared the ground would split asunder and take the party with it, but her fears were assuaged when the tremors promptly ceased. Still, she invariably felt uneasy, her overactive imagination jumping to every possible explanation. A large percentage of those imaginings dealt with big, scary creatures.

Her whimsy was well-founded, though. The day before that they had encountered a massive beetle, its black carapace iridescent and blinding in the day's light. It had been in repose amidst a jagged outcropping of rocks and if not for its color and strange reflectiveness they might have overlooked it altogether.

It had been the size of Hesperos, and of a similar color too. Yet, the creature was just as wide as it was tall, and easily dwarfed every member of the group. And its pincers! They were as large as her, suspended half-open as the thing slept. A foul-odoured chemical had accumulated in a pool beneath its mandible, smoldering dull orange. The same substance dripped from its jaw in heavy gobs. Apparently, Aella thought, beetles here were like candies: filled with honey and orange tart.

Though she doubted what she had seen tasted anything similar. Or that it was even remotely healthy. Or, at least, that it was less healthy than sweets.

Her stomach rumbled, but her body was no worse for wear than any other. In fact, it seemed she had a fair tolerance for this sort of punishment; that, or something had granted her enhanced vitality.

She flexed her wrists (which were bruised and sore days ago, and now their normal bronze) and gingerly touched her flank (amazed that it no longer hurt; she had been certain she broke a bone before, but now she had doubts). Whatever it was did little to assuage her hunger, which like Shane to Kiel was always present, one way or another.

Her eyes turned upon the Zanaryan she had discovered as the culprit behind dreaded water labyrinth; he had bent down to press his palm flat against the barren ground. He caught Kiel's attention too, ever inquisitive as he was, so her golden eyes watched both. What had they found?

The wind howled, but it was all a foreign language to her.

Piper's Boutique || Jessica Clark

[Faris]

Feeling the weight of many gazes upon him, Faris reluctantly removed his hand from the ground grabbing a fistful of soil as he did so. The oddly smooth grains rapidly slipped from between his fingers despite a tightly clenched fist, and Faris was uncomfortably reminded of how life and time were analogous to sand and soil. We definitely need a bit of water here... It was odd too; this degree of smoothness required crashing waves, or unrelenting wind. The former was decidedly absent, while the latter… Not strong enough, nowhere near. The other possibilities were none too pleasant though, so he unclenched his fist and let go of the matter.

Straightening, Faris gave Kiel a sideways glance accompanied by a raised eyebrow. If they knew what was good for them they would not leave him behind. He was the only trained Purifier present, and was major factor in keeping the party alive. The unmistakable feeling of water was still tingling in his mind however, and Faris turned his attention to address the whole group.

"I've found a water source - before anyone starts cheering, let it be known that I never said it was potable. I could Purify the water source...But watering holes tend to attract all sorts of things. And it's not exactly a stone's throw away either."

Faris gestured in the general direction of the source he had found, not trusting his own sense of direction to even harzard a guess as to whether they were heading North, South, East or West. It was likely that the poles here were different from Elysia's. Or Zanarya's.

[Jericho]

Jericho had a headache. It was low-grade, but a constant thrum in his forehead caused by the intense heat and the bright light that glared even through his sunglasses. It was also because he hadn't stopped scanning for sentient minds since he got here. The Therians were doing their tracking thing, too, but the wind swept away most of the evidence they would have used and they were unfamiliar with the scents and signs, anyway. It had been agreed that he and Alain stood a better chance of finding the Malaki youth, so they had opted to take turns.

Aggravatingly, he only ever caught snatches of thought from the brave right on the very edges of his awareness. As they neared, the thing disappeared, no doubt using passages between the red mountains that only long-time residents of the wasteland could find. It also felt sometimes as if the brave was at a higher or lower elevation, and Jericho was beginning to realise that spotting the damnable creature would be harder than he'd thought. The red landscape was riddled with canyons and outcroppings that were virtually invisible until you were standing right in front of them, which not only made navigating hazardous, but it also probably explained why the Malaki had been so agile on those hooves. They were like mountain goats. Vicious, jumping goats.

“Hey, boss?” Jericho slowed to a stop, paused a second to blink his way back into his own mind, then turned to raise an eyebrow at Rusty. “They stopped.” The hairy oaf jerked a big thumb over his shoulder. Jericho twisted his head to look, his eyebrows drawing together. To conserve energy, he stayed put to listen, but Faris was basically telling them to change direction.

“Well, I haven't detected any sign of the Malaki for a few hours,” he grumbled, struggling to find the energy to raise his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “We've only been assuming the beast went this way.” At least twice, it had doubled back as if aware it was being followed, but with no other indication of its route, they had decided to continue on the same path. “May as well follow Faris' water first. Stands to reason the Malaki needs water, too.”

Putting action to words, he turned and tottered in the direction the Zanaryan had indicated. He was not ignoring the Marid's warning, but damned if he had the energy to worry what they'd find besides cool, clear, blissful water. He was really regretting even the light-weight mythril armour he'd bought especially for the trip, but more than that, what under Hel had he been thinking when he joined this rabble in the first place?

Oh, yeah. Money. Think of the money.

[Maaike]

Maaike felt utterly useless. She'd managed to come away from the fight with a few bruises, nothing serious enough to need healing (she'd rather stockpile their potions in case the Malaki found its tribe or clan or whatever the heck the merchant-telepath had said and they needed to fight their way free again, because she somehow doubted they would escape as cleanly on the Malaki's home turf as they had on their own) but enough to slow her down and make her wince every few steps. That wasn't what made her feel useless, though. She didn't have the energy to morph because of this damned hot wind, and her human tracking skills, though plenty useful back home, were no good to her when the brave's tracks were swept away almost as soon as he made them.

Given that they had lost the portal so quickly, she daren't scout too far ahead of the main group, either. Since that was why she was with them in the first place, it kind of made her presence here moot. She'd basically risked her life, risked making Sammy an orphan, for nothing.

On the brighter side, at least the "invading army" was defeated. As long as they could find the brave and somehow block or barricade the portal to stop others like them from coming through to take and kill whatever they pleased, she could trust that her family were safe. If the worst came, she would have to somehow find her way back to Elysia to send them a message, warning the clan to hide in the Novlaira caves. Not that they'd listen.

Before she realised it, the group had altered course and there was talk of water. Not a moment too soon because she hadn't thought to bring a canteen, trusting her wolf to find fresh water on its own if need be. That was before they followed the Malaki through the portal and discovered an utter wasteland, of course. Thankfully, Jericho had been persuaded to give her one of his (under duress when it was pointed out that he had two while others who had offered had only one to share), or she wouldn't have needed to worry about being useless after all.

At least they knew the red mountains were not completely devoid of water, though. When they came across the giant beetle, there had been some discussion about life in the region; nothing could survive without water altogether, and they had seen a few sparse trees here and there, as well. Unlike the desert, which Maaike herself had never visited but apparently a few of the party had, there weren't even any oases, so it was assumed the plant-life must get their water some other way — possibly from deep underground where humanoids had no chance of reaching. Maybe if they had a Dryad or two... or if Faris was strong enough to rip it out of the very ground... or if the quake they'd felt earlier had cracked open the earth and they'd gotten lucky...

“Stay here,” Maaike said when they got close enough to the source that splitting up wouldn't be dangerous. She had chosen a spot on the leeward side of a small peak with a near-perfect circle carved out of the middle. The jagged edges curved up together to create shelter and shade from the elements. It would make a nice little camp site, especially as what passed for twilight was creeping closer. (They had noticed that day turned to night almost with the flick of a switch, rather than gradually getting darker through the evening.) “A couple of us will go ahead with Faris to check out this source of water. We'll leave a couple of fighters, just in case of... of...” Of what? Giant beetles? “Whatever. Okay? The rest of you should get some rest.”

[Kiel]

“I dunno if that's a good idea, Maaike, you know? Like, what if we get lost or something?”

Captain Lysistrata smoothed back unruly blonde curls. Like most of the rest of them, she was sweating despite the heat here being crazy dry, so her hair had frizzed up. Like, not that Kiel would ever tell her that 'cause, you know, like, Anyeli had this thing about being unfriendly. “Much as I dislike the idea of splitting up, the Therian has a point.” She hadn't bothered to learn their names which was just, like, kinda mean. “Azat Faris is right about watering holes being too damn popular with predators and prey alike.” They hadn't seen much in the way of wildlife; the place was pretty dead, aside from that giant beetle thing and a few leafless trees Kiel would swear he'd seen, like, moving.

Aifric, the cartographer, was crazy happy to be left behind. Like, he didn't even act like he was going to volunteer for water duty. “You guys should take the empty canteens to refill. We can pour the dribs and drabbles into one or two full flasks so you can refill more of them.”

“But, like, if we have to carry a bunch of canteens, even empties, like, that means our hands are gonna be full. We won't be able to fight without, like, losing the flasks, you know? Like, shouldn't we scout the watering hole out first? Like, that's even assuming it's on the surface 'cause, like, Faris was being all hands in the dirt earlier, okay? Like, no offense, man.” He sketched a grin at the Zanaryan, his hat clutched in his right hand so he could muss his own sweaty, sticky hair with the other while he had the opportunity, shaded as they were by the spot Maaike's chosen for their 'camp'. “I think it'd be easier if we all went, like, carriers and guards, you know?”

The captain sneered. “If we all go, there's a much higher risk of people getting hurt or being boxed in — especially if these Malaki things are camped near the watering hole, too. They could be lying in wait for us, or we could even just stumble across them or some other predator by accident. We got lucky last time but we're on their turf now, and if you lot don't shape up and learn to take orders then we'll be in dire straits if we run into a group that large again.”

“Wah! Like, dude, man, that's kinda mean. Like, that wasn't just dumb luck, okay? We totally rocked, man.”

She ignored him, rubbed her forehead with a finger. “I'd be happier our COMs worked so we could communicate when we split up, but mine's been useless since we came through the portal.”

“Oh, well, like...” Kiel hummed and bounced on his toes. He felt some of his energy coming back now they were out of the glare of the sun — and that meant Shane could come out of his pocket, too. “Like, I'll leave Shane here, you know? She can be all, like, grumbly in my tumbly if you guys are attacked, or something, or, like, rawr and stuff at you if we are. Like, that's cool, like, right? So, like, who's going with and who's staying?” Maybe it was the courier in him or something, 'cause, like, it never occurred to him that he hadn't been volunteered for the job, you know?

[Jericho]

Jericho honestly could care less who took charge and what they did with their command. The good captain, however, was incapable of following anyone else's suggestions without having the last word herself, so what should have been a simple case of deciding who went with Maaike and who stayed behind to rest turned into an argument — albeit a somewhat lethargic one — over whether or not they should go in the first place.

Deciphering Kiel's speech was difficult, as usual. “Whatever. I'm staying here.” He wanted — needed — water as much as anyone else, but he had no intention of venting yet more energy if he could get someone else to do it for him. To that end, he waved a hand vaguely in Ninian's direction. Jericho had virtually doubled over as soon as they stopped to plant his hands on his knees, the mythril in his armour chinking softly as he struggled for breath. “You go with them.” The slender Therian would probably be more use in a fight. Rusty, though certainly burly enough to serve as an excellent meat shield, wasn't the best strategist in the world. With their strength and speed sapped by the heat, Jericho suspected that intelligence would be what won the day.

“Should I go too, boss? I can carry more of the canteens.”

“And who's going to guard me if you're both gone, idiot?” Rusty pouted, the expression of a kicked puppy. Perhaps the heat had sapped more than his energy because Jericho winced: He had actually felt a flinch of remorse. “Your shadowkin can take the watch while we have ourselves a nap, then.” He curled his top lip at the creature as she hopped out of Kiel's pocket and took her actual form. He once had some respect for shadowkins, but the legend of them was completely different than the reality, as it turned out. Or was it only that this one had the poor luck of being bonded to a gluttonous moron? “When you get back, we can switch so you get some rest, and then we can plod on. The sooner we find those ugly things, the better.”

[Faris]

Faris listened to the discussions of the group with only half-hearted attention, once again crouched on the ground with his palm on the ground to bring himself closer to the source he had found. Or as Kiel had put it, 'all hands in the dirt'. Faris had graciously refrained from rolling his eyes however, since an argument had been imminent. Luckily the disagreement between the Dracovari and Anyeli did not escalate, and everyone else more or less volunteered (or were volunteered by others) to go or stay.

The lack of choice for himself was obvious, but not something Faris felt inclined to protest against. Being near his element was an extremely soothing prospect. Even the underground nature of his source, as indicated by its subdued presence whenever his hands broke contact with the ground, was not a deterrent.

"Those who're coming along with me; leave behind anything you will not absolutely need especially bulky objects. I suspect there'll be quite a bit of crawling below ground to do. And while we're on that note..." Faris looked at the exchange of canteens, and gave a small shake of his head. "Nevermind." He had wanted to say that slimmer and smaller-sized members would be more suited to joining him, but it seemed that the few burlier members of the vanguard and the feather-winged Captain, were already planning on staying behind.

[Maaike]

OOC// Blanket GM of Faris.

Growing impatient over the argument of who went and who stayed, Maaike went about collecting the empties. Her movements were efficient and she breathed through her teeth to filter out the crap in the air.

“Let's go.” She gestured for Faris to lead the way. The Zanaryan, whose pungent smell made breathing in the gritty air all the harder, had been too quiet. It seemed like he was thinking, but as much as Maaike would like to assume he was just searching for his source, it felt more sinister than that. Like he knew something they didn't, or suspected something... Or maybe she was just paranoid. It was hard not to be in any situation since the betrayal Aiden had suffered, and part of the reason they had signed up for this scout run in the first place was to get out of the sight of the guards and Thanatos' spies. Knowing the Malaki brave could reach his clan at any minute and that they could spill into Elysia in much greater numbers worried her that much more.

They walked, verging on stumbling, for maybe fifteen minutes (it was hard to tell and felt much, much longer) before reaching an outcropping of red, crumbling rock. Flattening herself on her belly and crawling up the incline, Maaike looked out over a squat valley Faris had indicated was the source of his water. “I don't see any... Wait.”

At first, it seemed like the flat ground was as bare and dry as the rest of this Xanth-forsaken wasteland. Lines criss-crossed the valley floor as if big rocks had been pushed across it. At first, they seemed haphazard, but then she realised the lines radiated out from a central point and that they were deeper than rock tracks. More like trenches about a foot wide — and the surface of each line rippled, as if they were filled with: “Water! Ooh.”

[Official NPC]

Beside one of the foot-wide water troughs is a small cloud of red mist. From a distance, the vapour blends into the rust-coloured background. At closer inspection, it may even look like a swarm of bloodred midges waiting to feast on water-seekers. However, the mist does not move, and the ground beneath it is stained dark red where some sort of liquid has been sucked deep into the ground. If someone were to stick their hand into the cloud, they would find tiny red droplets coating their skin.

[Aiden]

The ex-Guard felt as tired and dehydrated as the rest of his group, but Aiden was determined to follow wherever Maaike went. He'd done it the moment he'd seen the other therian leap urgently into the shimmering portal, and now he found himself among the volunteers of the vanguard's water-expedition. As Lysistrata had mentioned, the watering hole was potentially surrounded by predators and prey alike, and if they encountered either of those, Aiden would hunt it. Predators could become prey, and prey was food. The potential of food and water encouraged the therian to keep moving even as he huffed, stumbled, and coughed at the combined odor of dust and sulphur.

Upon Maaike's exclamation about water, Aiden's eyes brightened considerably. Hoisting the backpack of empty canteens more securely against his shoulder, he crawled over the rocks to join their group in gazing over the cracked ground. Squinting against the grey duskiness of approaching twilight, Aiden's vision trailed along one of the jagged cracks in the ground. The cracks eventually led to a deeper central spot that shimmered hazily. “We've got some hope afterall,” he grinned as he hopped onto the flat ground. Out of caution from the anyeli captain's warning, he partially borrowed the senses of his Cat as he scanned their surroundings for potential predators. Nothing immediately visible was on the flat ground, but a venomous snake could easily lie in wait along one of the grooved tracks. Stepping over the cracks on the ground, Aiden furrowed his brows as he neared the trenches and suddenly halted. Something smelled off. “Iron?”

[Faris]

Faris circled the red mist before him warily, uncertain as to the thing's true nature. In some ways the presence of mist was not illogical; this was the only place with enough moisture for mist to form, dry as the other parts of the wasteland were. The decidedly small volume of mist was unnerving however, and its colour gave Faris the impression of sentience. That the edges of the mist wavered in concert with the winds of the wasteland did not help to curb his imagination.

Utilizing the reach of his trident, Faris poked at the vapour to reassure himself. The metal prongs pierced through with no resistance, and upon pulling back his weapon Faris noticed that droplets of red were dotting it. The droplets reminded him of morning dewdrops, but with a sinister twist waiting to be revealed. Faris shook the droplets of red off, not wishing to stain his hands or clothes.

"Well it's certainly not just coloured water, and not corrosive either."

Despite his words, Faris moved away from the mist and followed the trail of water to its source. He had confidence in his Purification skills, but it was still better to be safe than sorry. The trench he followed grew steadily deeper, and once Faris felt that he was sufficiently far enough from the ominous mist, started picking up nearby rocks and pebbles. He dropped them them into the trough, which was now close to being one arm's length deep. Some of the rocks were pushed away by the current, but it was not a particularly strong one and majority of them stayed where they were.

[Maaike]

Maaike shook her head, lifting her nose to sniff delicately at the air. In her human form, it was more difficult to differentiate scents, especially as so many here were new to her, but that one... That one was all too familiar, and a chill zinged up her spine. “It's more like copper.” She shook her head. “It's blood.” She couldn't tell where it was coming from, though.

She turned full circle to survey the water troughs and the surrounding area from the base of the shallow basin, then toed at the edge of the nearest trough. “I guess it would be more unusual not to find a corpse here.” They had concurred that watering holes were a draw for basically all life in the vicinity, after all. “But then where's the body? Even if the flesh was chewed off, there'd be bones or...”

Stepping cautiously toward the red mist, she swept a hand through the droplets and then sniffed at the result. “It's definitely blood.” She frowned at the stain on the ground, dropping to her haunches to prod at the compacted dirt around the edges of the mist. “Something definitely bled out here. But this mist...” She was still frowning as she straightened up. It almost seemed like the body had disintegrated or dissolved, and all that remained was this red vapour.

“Well, so long as the water itself is clean. Let's go.”

[Aiden]

As the mist condensed over Faris's trident, Aiden's next thought was of the creature that had been wounded, or killed, to create such a mist. That was no fruit punch. The closer they got to the trenches and the rest mist, the stronger the smell of metal. Blood. Though he walked closer to the trench, Aiden stayed clear from the vapor of blood.

“You might want to wash that off,” he said to Maaike as he saw her run her fingers through the mist. It was blood, but the blood in Acantha could be different than in Elysia. “Could be poisonous.” Or be infective, like vampire blood. The body might have been carried away. They'd already seen a giant beetle, so a giant bird would not have been completely strange. However, even if the body had been taken, that didn't explain the blood vapor. Shaking his head with a frown, Aiden decided to ignore the issue for now. The heat was beating on his shoulders and he just wanted to get this over with and return to their camp to rest.

Slipping the backpack of empty canteens off of his shoulder, Aiden knelt at the edge of an area where the water was deep enough that they would be able to gather it quickly. Even then, the water level was barely a foot high compared to the trough that was over three feet deep. Uncapping one of the canteens, he braced a hand on the edge of the trench as he reached with the other arm to scoop up water.

((Augh I smell a trap! Let me know if you would like me to alter the descriptions. ))

[Kiel]

Kiel was almost too hot and bothered to, like, care about anything. Like, he'd sweated buckets and lost, like, a billion pounds just since they split from the others, and, like, he was pretty sure that put him at, like, negative weight here by about 999,999,999,900. Even his hat was torturing him, man.

He didn't have the energy to "Wah!" when he reached the bank of the trough. Instead, he threw himself face down in the dirt with one hand trailing in the water and the other, like, off in lala land someplace. “Errghhh. I'm dying, man. Like... sers.” At least he still had the sense to wait for Faris to sign off on the water, though. Like, he was so tempted to just, like, throw his head in there and gulp like there was no tomorrow, but this wasn't the best place to give himself diarrhea, okay? Like, first off, there was no toilet paper and, like, second off — no toilet paper.

When he heard splashing, Kiel lifted his head just enough to see Aiden refilling the canteens. That was good enough for him, you know? Using his fingers like claws, he dragged himself closer to his trough in as dramatic a fashion as possible and then just kinda dunked his whole face in the water.

Xanth, I love you. Like, for sers, man. This tastes so good. Who knew water would cheer him up faster than a pack of chocolate bars?

His thirst temproarily quenched, Kiel figured it was about time he get up and be all, like, awesome and stuff. Planting his hands against the not-quite-muddy, not-quite-solid bottom of the trench with the water coming right up to his elbows, Kiel braced to push himself up — and this time, totally “Wah!”d when the ground caved out from under him and he was sucked head first underground. He had to snap his mouth shut quick-sharp, though, 'cause, like, a billion tons of water followed him in before the trough closed up tight right over his head.

“Uh. Guys? Like... Wah?” It was pitch-dark. He was squeezed into a tiny space. Something sharp was digging into his hip so he, like, squirmed around and poked at it, groped at it. It kinda felt porous and was shaped kinda like a rib. He totally dropped it. “Ewwww.” And then it totally dawned on him that, like, there wasn't a whole heck of a lot of air down here, and he frantically clawed at the dirt over his head.

Like, dude. How in Xanth's name had he fallen through a non-existent hole?

[Maaike]

Maaike stiffened. “Good point.” She had been focused on what the strange mist was, not what it might do to her. Her top lip curled back and she sneered at the red coating her hand as she stepped to the edge of the trough and bent to wash her hands. She turned her sneer on Kiel first. The idiot was just making himself feel so much worse by dramatising everything. Did he think they didn't all feel exactly the same? “Che.” He was useless. She almost wished the ground would open up and swallow him to put her out of his misery.

And then it did.

Maaike gawped at the spot where he'd been just a second ago. She lifted dripping hands to rub her eyes. “Is anyone else starting to hallucinate?” This water couldn't have come at a more opportune time. Seriously.

Except when she looked again, the gobby Rutilus still wasn't there, and the water was still thrashing around the spot like the ground really had opened up and swallowed him. Maaike glanced at the others, first with confusion and then with dawning horror. “Fiery dung!” Much as she wanted to seal his lips shut, he was one of their best fighters and they needed him. She darted across and plunged a hand into the water to feel out the impacted ground. “What under Hel just happened?”

[Faris]

Faris had been dutifully filling his own canteens when he felt another large disturbance in the flow of water, downstream of where he was.He looked up to shoot a glare of disapproval towards Kiel. After all, if there was trouble afoot, the loud Dracovari was more likely than not to be at the foot of it. Except this time around, Kiel was not there. Frowning, Faris looked around; the other members of their group were nowhere near where the disturbance had come from.

“What under Hel just happened?”

He gave a similarly puzzled shrug in reply, setting aside an unhelpful remark about Hel and other worlds and portals to keep his canteens and join Maaike instead in looking for the missing Elysian. He did not feel the ground, instead using the stream of water as his fingers. It did not take long for him to find aberrations. The trenches and troughs in which the water flowed did not share an even depth. They had sparse underground pits like the surface of a grassland infested with moles and rabbits. According of the little trickles of water seeping through cracks in the earth and rock, a new hole had formed recently. One which was slowly but surely being filled up with water and soil.

"Over here!"

Faris stood bent over the trough, trying to open up a hole in the ground. It was difficult though, having to move against the water. Soil and dirt was filling up the dent he made on the bottom of the trough as soon as he created it, pulled by the movement of the stream. Sensing that his efforts were futile, Faris gave up on digging a hole and focused his attention to redirecting the flowing current elsewhere, creating a new shallow trench in the process.

[Aiden]

Leaning over the edge of the trench, Aiden managed to fill two canteens before starting on the third. It was his own, so after filling it he sat back and chugged most of it. The liquid flowed in abundance, and he let it trickle over his chin and down his neck. By the time he dunked his canteen for a refille, the therian was grinning with delight. Finally things were getting better. The water had been immediately refreshing and almost energizing. Such a basic necessity, and he'd always taken it for granted while living beside the Cora...

Hearing a sudden curse from Maaike, Aiden set aside the canteens and glanced where she'd run. “Hind's teeth--” they were short one Kiel!

“Over here!”

Seeing Faris stride toward a trough, Aiden stared at the spot where Kiel had apparently been swallowed by ground. The ground was mostly-flat with the exception of some loose dirt over a small, inch-high mound. Aiden didn't doubt the zanaryan though. The man had once sensed a hydra deep in the waters of the Cora. “Dammit!” Concerned for Kiel, he jumped into the trench and started digging with his bare hands. At the same time, water sloshed violently as Faris diverted it. Were the badlands so treacherous that it could swallow people whole? The soil was chunky with the mixture of gravel and dirt, so he forced claws to erupt from his fingertips as he dug. The shift was so sudden that it broke skin, but he was too occupied to notice it. He thought he'd never say the words: “Kiel, make some noise would you?!”

Suddenly, his claws hit something so tough that it wouldn't budge even when he scraped at it. Sliding bloody fingers over the bumpy surface, he saw that it wasn't loose like gravel, but it was spongier than a rock. He raised a fist to pound on it, and scrabbled back as the ground shifted beneath him. “Crap!”