[Official NPC]

Tiana's plan to bear the avian to the ground went awry. Eilain and Avassa managed to grab at the black-wing's waist as Dacao carried her back around to come at them again, but myst dragons were not big or strong enough to carry two people. That was why Tiana had intended to use their downward momentum to bring the woman to the ground. Instead, Avassa had latched on to the fabric around the humanoid's waist but was staggering in the air because of it. Normally, they would rig a sling up between two or more mysts if they needed to carry youngsters and this was why.

“Down!” Tiana clicked her tongue and tensed her ankles so Dacao banked sharply into a dive. At their back, Avassa gave a shriek of pain, arcs of red lightning flashing through her shroud. She staggered through the air, dropping much faster than was healthy, and then released the captive. Tiana yipped her disapproval.

Changing tactics, Tiana had Dacao keep pace with the intruder and spread her arms wide, trusting the dragon not to unseat her, and called out in common Acanthan, “Please be grounded. We must talk.”

[Maaike]

Maaike climbed to her feet and brushed vainly at the mud caking the length of her body. Unknowingly sharing sentiment with the Zanaryan, Faris, she worried that something dangerous was hidden in the harmless-looking dirt but it was sticky like clay and would take a good soak in fresh water to be rid of it.

Giving it up as a bad job, she expelled a breath that fluttered the hair framing her face and the strands that had come loose from her ponytail. She had long since abandoned any thought of looking good out here but it would be nice to at least feel like she looked decent.

As conversation began between Faris and the strangers, Maaike acted as look-out. She trusted the others to take care of introductions but she didn't want to let her guard down. The fact that only one of the dragons had landed while the other circled overhead made her tense, especially when she realised the one flying had her crossbow trained on them. The friendly smiles from the one on the ground were welcoming enough but Maaike felt very much like a city-dweller who had strayed too far into Nymph territory and was being politely asked to leave even as the Furies prepared to expel her by force. Not the greatest feeling in the world after traipsing across the red wasteland hunting a creature these people were probably harbouring.

A glimpse of something drew her attention to the left and she wandered that way a little to find a small cloud of red mist like the one they had seen by the water trap. This time, there was evidence of a creature having been at the centre of whatever caused the droplets of blood: Bones, blood-stained and still with a little gore attached, but not much flesh to speak of. There were no bite marks or anything to suggest the animal - or person - had been eaten. If anything, she would think it had just plain dissolved, and that made her give the geyser vents even wider a berth than she had before.

Reaching out to feel at the droplets like she had before, Maaike called her Therian companion over for a confab. “Hey, Aiden, what do you make of this?”

[Aiden]

He was very sure that his entire back had been caked with mud. His hair felt wet too, but that's okay because whatever mud he picked up would feel right at home with the wind-blown dust from before. With a tired groan, Aiden waited for Maaike to get up before standing as well. All tiredness disappeared immediately from his face when he saw the brightly-colored dragon from the skies.

Arms tensing, he would have taken an animal form had the dragonrider not jumped down and approached them with a universal grin. Her features were very much like a nymph's, but where most nymphs were soft and willowy, this woman had the lean muscle-tone of someone who exercised and hunted regularly. She'd turned her back to the brightly-colored beast, which meant that she had great trust in her control over it. Deciding that the dragon was okay for now, he turned his head toward the skies as Jericho scanned the situation and Faris acted as the group's envoy.

The other dragon flew in a wide, controlled circle around their group. With unnaturally yellow-green eyes, Aiden glanced at the thick talons with tips sharpened into arching points. Like its brethren on the ground, the dragon emitted vapours from its skin but in greater bulk. They were doomed if the mist was poisonous. Would Faris sense it? Upon the misty dragon was a similarly bright woman with a nocked crossbow in her hand. Her target shifted from each member of the vanguard as the dragon circled, and Aiden's eyes narrowed as he saw the arrow point at him and Maaike. As the hoverer shifted targets, Aiden broke his gaze to stride toward Maaike.

His chest immediately constricted with worry as he saw a familiar red mist dotting the area where the (only) other therian had gone. There were no trenches though, only puddles and holes.

“I'm thinking that could be poisonous,” he nodded at her red-stained hand, though there was no real concern in his voice. This time, both of them could smell what the red stuff was. Lots of blood mixed with the odor of decaying flesh. Aiden felt anxious. One wrong move would earn their group a few extra arrows, but whatever killed the acanthan was just as dangerous. “He's dissolved, but Kiel found bodies under the ground. Not...you know...” he waved at the sour-smelly clump on the floor. “The dissolving agent had to have been out here with him, but I don't see any...” his gaze shifted worriedly toward the fog-generating holes in the ground. “Only thing out here is steam.”

[Ionia]

She thought she'd never have to fight a dragon...

Shadows turning her into some sort of porcupine, Nia kicked and punched at the trunk of the dragon's feet as it descended faster to the ground. Barred from flight, Nia felt helpless, although she could tell that her spikes did some damage. She'd hurt it much more if she had her daggers, but like the rest of Nia's body, the weapons lay trapped under the large talons. Calling back her spikes, Nia gathered all the darkness into a sharp point around her knuckles before punching down at the thinnest looking area. It drew an immediate shriek from the dragon, and she grinned with grim satisfaction as she felt its hold loosen. As she fell away, a zap of electricity coursed from the dragon and connected with the daggers at her belt, her necklace, her armguards...

Letting loose a pained cry, Nia struggled to fight the pain and stay in the air. Her wings twitched uselessly with her initial tries, causing her to veer out of control like a bird in storm. However, they finally flapped open as she grazed her elbow upon a cliff rock. Pushing off of the mountainside, she glowered furiously at the dragonrider who spoke gibberish and approached meters near her side. The stranger's weaponless hands did little to quench Nia's belligerence, but it was enough for the skotadi to dissolve her shadow lance. “Don't know a damn thing you're saying,” she said brusquely. She got the point, however, as the dragon flew lower and its rider waved at Nia with a downward motion. Distrustfully, she waited until the dragon landed before doing the same. As her feet skidded against the ground and her boots dug into soil, Nia turned toward the dragon and backed away from it. She still felt twitchy from the last zap, and if there was a fight, she wanted it to be far enough for her to launch a throwing knife into its eye.

[Jericho]

Oblivious to all else, Jericho narrowed his eyes on the woman — “They call themselves "Mystriders".” — and seeped into her mind. He was struggling to focus now through his fatigue, but her misunderstanding brought a tired chuckle to his lips. “She thinks your first names are "Zanaryan".”

He went quiet after that, and Lysaedra's blue eyes widened prettily as he began to speak directly into her mind. He hedged his explanation of who they were and why they were here, not willing to trust her complacently even after seeing her thoughts and that her primary motivation was sheer curiosity, but he told her they meant no harm to her people and only wished to defend their own home. She in turn told him that the Malaki were enemies of the Mystriders. She was actually far more open than he had expected, readily answering questions even as she continued to smile and study the rest of his group. He was able to learn that she was "a mere Rider" so if he wanted to negotiate for her clan's help he'd need to speak to her Wing Master before they could even go to her village, and that they were in "Peace Valley" because an alarm had gone up about Malaki in the area — but that they hadn't located them yet.

She did, however, give him a mental map of the safest route down the valley so they could meet up with the rest of her squadron, and offered to speak to her Wing Master on their behalf. Hopefully, he could persuade the Mystriders to help them locate and stop the Malaki before he reached the rocky structure. It was hard to translate what Lysaedra thought of that place except that it was... sacred? She did think it odd that it was the brave's destination, though.

“Right, let's go. We have to meet the rest of her squadron, some woman named Tiana. It seems like they're friendly, at least.”

[Official NPC]

Lysaedra's conversation with the man who called himself Jericho was a marvel. She had never been spoken to telepathically before by a humanoid, but the concept was not completely alien given that communication between myst and rider was a combination of empathy, voice and body language. She paid close attention to their 'chat', trying to learn as much as she could about these strangers. When it became clear that they were enemies of the Malaki, her interest piqued. Those brutes had been the scourge of the westlands for as long as the Mystriders could remember, raiding and pillaging, murdering... worse. Anyone capable of defeating a war party with such small numbers was worth a second look in her eyes, and she was sure the Sky Lord would agree.

Deciding it would be best to take them to her village, Lys suggested they meet her Wing Master. They would need Jericho's permission to go any further. More than that, her squadron by now should have grounded the winged woman who, as it turned out, was also a member of Jericho's party. Lys needed to hurry back before they tried to kill each other!

Pivoting to mount Yarai, Lys caught a glimpse of Maaike and Aiden. When she saw the cloud of red mist, she shrieked and darted through the mud to yank the woman's hand away, too late. “This is bad! Oh, oh, this is bad.” Shoving away from the poor girl, Lys whipped around to pin Jericho with a hard stare, pointing at his brown-and-orange-haired companion. “She can't go to my home, not now. She needs help.” Bobbing down to dip her hands on the mud, Lys rubbed them briskly and gingerly dunked them in a clearer puddle that was still overly warm from a recent geyser blast. The temperature burned and she winced, but even touching someone who had come into contact with the red mist was a bad idea.

---

On the ground, Tiana hopped off her dragon and cautiously approached the winged woman with her hands out. She couldn't understand what the black-wing was saying, but the confusion was mutual. Perhaps if she tried Chinyela and then the Malaki dialect, the woman would at least understand. Her own tongue, however, was not one Tiana recognised. “You were heading into Mystrider territory. Did you know this? Who are you? What do you want? I am Wing Master Adras Tiana. I speak for Chinyelu.”