Bogus Journey (Closed now)

[Anonymous]

Mikhail payed polite interest as Syrae described the creature. It was rather cute, like watching a child. The man seemed about on the same intellectual level as one, which was fine by Mikhail. He wanted him there to kill things. Wither or not he could tie his own shoes didn't matter much.

"If sounds like you are a warrior of great skill. I was lucky you chose to join us." His one good eye watched the dust devil, wary. He was going to be quite pissed if another sandstorm appeared, but it didn't seem like it was going to grow larger.

He chose to ignore Cade's question, mostly because he just didn't feel much like answering. The course he took seemed somewhat random, the alchemist changing directions suddenly. "Camp is a ways off dear boy. We have hours of daylight left and I plan on using it."

It was tricky work, slipping into the area the woman was in. It was only sort of connected to their realm. Most found it by accident and few made it back out. Things were going well so far, hopefully they would avoid the few monsters in the desert that would try and take on 3 grown men. On the other side, things would get bad and get bad quickly.

"Well Cade, we seem to be doing much better this time, don't we?" He probably shouldn't tempt fate, but, really they seemed do be doing well. He even got several steps after stating that fact before the sand started sliding out from under him, pulling him down with a sharp cry, arms flailing as he tried to grab onto something.

A hole was forming, sand sliding into it as a chitinous head began to appear, jaws snapping toward the scrawny alchemist.

[Xphy]

A godsend! That is what the flyer was for Dyshani. Between getting to the desert city and finding a place to stay the elf had spent a good majority of her money. So when she saw the request for a group of adventures to accompany some guy on his quest she was ecstatic. And the man was offering a fair amount for their trouble too. 20 Gold could have gone a long way for her.

It was almost as though someone was smiling upon her, or at least they were until the day she was actually supposed to meet up with the employer. She had completely overslept, and by the time she had gotten dressed and made her way down to the city gates there wasn't anyone standing. It was just like her to find a decent paying job, only to screw it up before it even started.

Fortunately for her she was able to find someone near the gate who told her about an armed group that had set out shortly before she had arrived and that if she hurried she would be able to catch up with them. So she set out after them full of hope that the group that the man had told her about was the one she was supposed to meet up with.

Just as he had said she hadn't been moving for too long before she caught sight of a small group of men. However just as she was about to call out for them to slow down she heard one of them cry out, and from where she had stood it looked the ground had completely collapsed beneath the man. She highly doubted that someone would have taken the time to dig a hole in the desert so it could have only been one thing; a creature of some kind had to have tried to surface, and possibly was attacking them.

She couldn't really see from where she was, but there weren't a lot of reasons a hole would be in a place like this.

In the end she decided it probably wasn't the best idea to distract them when they could have been helping the fellow out. So instead she detached her bow from her back and prepped an arrow in its string. She also moved closer to hopefully get a better look at what was going on just in case it really was a hostile creature that was digging its way out of the sand.

Even if the group wasn't the one she was looking for she wasn't about to just leave them alone when they might have needed some help.

[Anonymous]

Esh paused for a second and looked around her, resting a hand on her forehead to shield her green eyes from the sun. She spotted a cluster of shallow impressions in the sand. The tracks lay on the lee side of the dune and were protected enough from the wind to survive for her to find them. It was just as well. She was determined to catch up to this client, although with the weird, twisty route they were taking, it wasn't easy.

It wasn't even her fault she was late, which was the most infuriating part. The posting had been pointed out to her by the owner of the guide company. He'd wanted somebody in his employ to take it, to boost the company's reputation, but since it had called specifically for mercenaries and adventurers nobody else wanted to touch it. So it was up to her, and she was eager to make herself useful.

She'd shown up to headquarters intending to just sign in and head back out again. No such luck, however. The new dispatch guy was a little obsessed with safety and, in Esh's opinion, a bit of a twat. She did well putting up with twenty minutes' talk on the Dangers of Dehydration before letting loose a torrent of swearing and forcibly signing herself in. Only a few years ago, she would have just punched him in the face about two words into the first sanctimonious, droning sentence. And now she was late.

Hence the tracking.

Cresting the next dune, she spotted a trio of figures about three hundred yards away, although she didn't notice the other woman a little way away that was also watching them. That was probably them. If it wasn't, she wouldn't be able to catch her real client now and so she'd just invite herself along anyway. However, she was a little worried by just where they were walking. From her vantage point, she could see the pattern of slight, round indentations that signalled a sandworm nest. While they were rare, every guide was warned about the signs; after all, a dead and digested client was no client at all.

She skidded down the other side of the dune towards them, sand flying up around her yellow boots. At the bottom she didn't even stop, launching full pelt into a run. "Hey! Heeeeey!" she yelled. "The worms, ya stupid fuckin' bastards! Get movin' and watch out for the..."

She was about halfway to them when she saw one of the men fall. She slowed slightly, but didn't stop running towards them. She wasn't going to lose a job to a lousy stinking worm!

[Tally]

Cade was damn grateful for the white scarf covering his face and hiding his smile.  He didn't want to encourage Syrae, even if the tales of his exploits were entertaining.  He had a feeling they would stop being entertaining after a few continuous hours of them. Cade listened politely but mostly tuned the both of them out until he heard his name from Mikhail.  But before he could even get a word out in response, a voice rang out over the dunes.

A mere heartbeat later, Mikhail went down.

Cade lunged forward and made a grab for the alchemist's arm.  They couldn't let Mikhail die, he was the one paying them for this damn monster hunt!  Cade hauled back, trying to pull them both away from the sinking circle of sand, but his legs sank into the dune up to the knee.

Beyond them—alarmingly close—the questing jaws of some beast began working their way out of the ground.  Cade froze for an instant.  A sandworm? Or some other desert creature?  He hoped Syrae's skills were as good as he boasted.

Cade got his feet under him and jerked Mikhail toward him.  He gripped the hilt of his sword, as wary of the surrounding sands as of the beast right before him. Who knew how many there may be.

[Rhindeer]

That would teach Syrae to open his big fat mouth, because no sooner did he finish regaling Cade with the story of Him versus Sandworm, and no sooner did he hear someone shout about worms than Mikhail went down.

And a set of jaws emerged.

Syrae's heart leaped into his throat.

"Sandworm!" he shouted, lunging and grabbing Mikhail's other arm to help Cade pull him out the way of the beast's jaws, stumbling as his legs sank into the sand. The ground right before them was sinking rapidly into the hole created by the worm's emerging body, and that was how they got people most of the time--no real effort on their part, they just opened their mouth and their prey sank right into it. As soon as they were clear of the sinkhole, he released Mikhail and brandished his spear with both hands, eyes fixed on the creature. "Now stay still! They're blind 'n' deaf but they hunt with vibrations. We might still be okay."

Which Syrae sincerely hoped. A baby sandworm--like he'd killed but decided to exaggerate--was one thing, but this? Judging by its cavernous mouth size alone, this was no larva like the one he and Jaiha had taken down.

This was an adult. And larvae were tough enough to kill with those thick skins and surprisingly fast movements, moving through the sand like a fish moved through water, but an adult? Very few people had done it.

Standing still as he could, he saw the jaws snap several times, taking in mouthfuls of sand, and then, slowly, they receded back into the ground. Syrae let out a slow sigh of relief. Thank the gods for fat, lazy buggers. He lowered his spear. "...And lotsa them are opportunists. If we just wait a coupla minutes we--"

And that was when he noticed the woman running their way.

Oh no.

"Hey, wait! Stop!"

Too late.

The sand exploded right in front of her as a sandworm larva the size of a horse emerged, mandibles blindly snapping the air in front of it, and before long two more larvae wriggled to the surface behind he and his party. The adults were hard to kill, massive, and dangerous, but they usually ambushed from below, rarely fully surfacing; the larvae were quicker and often pursued prey above ground.

And apparently they were standing right over a nest.

Syrae's jaw dropped. Was this some kind of divine punishment for bragging?! Either way, the larvae were blocking off their escape--it was either face them or walk past that sinkhole. Licking dry lips, Syrae turned to face the one closest to them. "Well...nice...I can, uh, give y'all a demonstration..." he said with false cheer before taking off across the sand and blinking out of sight, reappearing a short distance away atop the larva's back. It always made him feel woozy when he teleported, even short, quick distances, but that didn't stop him from driving his spear through tough skin and deep into the creature's back.

Then he just had to hold on for dear life as it started to thrash.

[Anonymous]

Mikhail's world shrunk down to those jaws coming out of the sand at him. He felt his blood freeze, eyes widening with fear. And he kept sliding closer, no matter how much he struggled, it didn't seem to help. Then he felt someone grabbing onto him and his hands clawed at Cade's arm.

Between Cade and Syare, Mikhail managed to scramble out of the sand, panting heavily. And refused to let go of Cade's arm. The second his feet found enough solid ground, he threw himself against the mercenary, latching onto him tightly, "KILL IT!"

Worrying about sand and hoping it would go away was not very high on his list of priorities. "KILL IT DEAD AND KILL IT NOW!" His image was utterly ruined as he clung to Cade. The fact that his having become a human lamprey might hinder Cade killing the monster was also not factoring into his thoughts.

He hardly had the time to have it sink in that he was no longer inching towards death when the ground shook, huge sandworm larvae bursting out of the soft sand. Before he could stop himself, Mikhail's lips pulled back and he hissed in rage and fear, still clinging to Cade. This was bad. Very, very bad.

[Xphy]

A sigh of relief passed Dyshani's lips as she watched the two men pull the third from the hole. From where she stood they seemed to have gotten him out before he could be hurt by whatever had attacked them. If this group was the one she was searching for the last thing she needed was for one of them to die, especially so early.

Once she was sure the three of them were alright the elf turned her attention to the woman who was running toward them. She didn't know why the woman was out alone in a place like this, probably the same reason she was, but apparently she had attracted some trouble of her own. A large worm that could easily rival an adult horse in size had popped up out of the sand in front of her, and two more surfaced behind the men.

That wasn't good...

Apparently the one that had attacked the men wasn't alone earlier, and whether they were standing above their home or they'd simply been moving through she had no clue. The only worms the elf had any experience with rarely ever grew long than the palm of her hand. Then again at this point she really didn't care why the worms were there. She just knew they posed a danger and had to be dealt with.

Raising her bow out in front of her Dyshani took aim at the worm attacking the girl and launched her arrow, striking it in the back. As soon as the arrow had been released she reached another from her quiver and fired at the worm again. Hopefully she could buy the woman some time to either attack the creature or get away from it.

[Anonymous]

Esh slowed down again to a lazy jog when she saw that all the men seemed to be safe. She was almost close enough, maybe she'd introduce herself in a minu... Stop? Why? She would when she reached them, wasn't it obviou... Aaawwww, shit! She shrieked and flung herself to the left when a big ugly thing appeared in front of her in a shower of sand.

Oh, this was stupid. This was really, really fucking stupid. On her scale of bad ideas this was... Somewhere in the middle, actually. She'd been told what to do in situations like this and it was not to get into them, but she was never one to take good advice.

She rolled once then rose into a fighting stance by the creature's side. She bobbed up and down as it turned to face her. "I ain't scared o' y-" Her taunt, lessened somewhat already by her shaking voice, morphed into another shriek as the worm lunged towards her and she hopped back well in time to evade it. That was funny, she could have sworn it was moving faster before. It was probably just her fightin' brain kicking in. She glanced down at her fists and then up again at the mass of teeth and mandibles and general spiky shit that made up the thing's face, and muttered, "This ain't gonna work."

Still backing up, she fumbled around in her pack behind her and pulled out a torchstick. This was rapidly climbing the bad idea hierarchy, but she didn't know what else to do. As the worm went for her again, she moved to the side and brought the stick around in a decisive two-handed swing. The noise it made when it connected was beautiful. "Yessss! Take it!" she bellowed.

She jumped away again and readied herself for the next attack. She'd knocked out a few teeth, but there were plenty more where they came from and she couldn't surprise it again. Oh fuck, oh fuck, she was going to die.

[Tally]

"I can't kill anything with you clinging to me!"  Cade couldn't even get his sword out for fear of cutting Mikhail's head off!  The sand heaved all around them and flew into the air, getting into his eyes and ruining his vision.  He couldn't force Mikhail off of him, no matter how he pried and shoved.  The scrawny man was surprisingly strong.

Through the flying sand and his own stinging eyes, he saw Syrae atop one of the sandworms.  He stumbled backwards with Mikhail as the thing started to thrash, but they didn't get very far before the ground shifted underneath them again.  Since he couldn't swing a sword with Mikhail latched onto him, Cade unsheathed the long dagger at his belt slashed it across the mouth of the first larvae that lunged at him. It flinched back and another took its place, stretching forward with questing mandibles until Cade drove it back with another stroke of the blade.

Too close that one, and they were too many.  And he and Mikhail were moving too slowly, struggling through the shifting sand.  The things would surround them.

"Elhurios, get off me or we'll both die!!"

[Rhindeer]

This was bad, this was so, so bad!

Syrae clung to his spear as the larva heaved and thrashed and whipped him about, seeking to toss him--and it was doing a good job of it. He dig his heels into the thing's tough, leathery sides and tried to drive the spear deeper but couldn't with the thing flailing like that, though fortunately it was deep enough to keep him hanging on. Vaguely, between getting tossed like a rag doll, he could make out the others and it didn't look good even though the girls were putting up a good fight and--was that Mikhail and Cade? Shiiit, they were so screwed! The worms were too close!

They too tough, too many, and they were going to surround them.

And then they'd be worm dung.

"Fall back, everyone! Get oughta here!" he yelled, and it was then that the unthinkable happened--the worm thrashed one last time and his spear shook loose.

And him with it.

Syrae went tumbling over the sand and finally came to a stop face down, and before he could even get to his feet and spit out sand, the sandworm he'd injured was after him, and it was pissed. With a gasp, he rolled to avoid it taking an arm or a leg or a...torso...and it slammed down on the sand right next to him, making the ground shake and dust clouds rise. Scrambling to his feet, Syrae lunged for his spear and scooped it up just in time for the sandworm to throw itself at him again, mandibles wide and all those wicked teeth gleaming.

He thrust with his spear and grimaced as it sank into the creature's gullet, and the thing roared and thrashed in pain and anger, jaws snapping around the spear's shaft and splintering it though not yet breaking it. Shiiiiit! Gritting his teeth, he put all his weight into it as he lunged forward and drove it in deeper. That time when its jaws closed, they did snap the shaft in two.

"We gotta get out of here! There's too many!" he shouted over the commotion, sweat dripping down his back, mouth tasting like sand, and genuine fear leaking into his words despite all the bragging he'd done earlier. "Find an opening and RUN!"

[Anonymous]

At first, Mikhail refused to even consider letting Cade go. Cade was safety! Cade was going to kill all the sandworms before they had a chance to hurt Mikhail.

Yet, for whatever reason, Cade seemed to be letting him down. Hissing again when the sandworm lunged, Mikhail finally released his grip on the mercenary. Scrambling away on hands and knees, Mikhail put distance between himself and the worm, leaving Cade alone to handle it.

Too many. Run. Pah. They would be over run in minutes. The larva were fast and could move much better in this heat and sand then they could. What was the point in hiring all these men if they couldn't even handle a few worms?

Standing, Mikhail's long fingers felt along his chest, where the vials of rich blood were attached to him. No, no, no, no, no, yes! That was the one he wanted. Fire and Earth, mixed for this adventure. His hands trembled as he slid the needle into the vial. Replacing the vial, Mikhail took a deep breath, then jammed the needled into his thigh.

Nothing happened for a second, then it hit. Power burned though his veins, making him feel alive like nothing else could. He could feel his skin harden into rock in places and his hair was now flickering flames on his head. Mikhail no longer looked human, but some strange and disturbing cross between human and elemental.

He couldn't help but laugh at the sheer pleasure of it. He hardly even noticed the worms or the danger around him. He could have taken on a god like this! All this power! His strange eye, now a pure bright white color glanced around. So easy now. These worms were nothing to him.

Holding out a hand, Mikhail laughed again and the larva on the surface started to thrash wildly, making strange, high pitched screaming sounds before they finally lay still, their internal organs cooked from the inside.

Ignoring the stench of burned flesh that filled the air, Mikhail stared down at the sand. He could still feel them under the sands. Feel them moving. And he still had power, though it was fading. That last trick had used a lot. Dropping to his knees, Mikhail shoved his hands into the burning sands, not seeming to be affected by them.

The sands rippled wildly, making it hard to keep footing before going still, red blood oozing to the surface in a few places. Mikhail made a pleased, almost sexual sound in the back of his throat. So good. So much power!

Power that was rapidly fading. He had used a lot of blood very quickly and he was starting to come down. The rock on his skin started flaking off, falling to the sands below him, his hair and eyes returning for normal as the blood faded from his system.

Clutching his belly, Mikhail started to cough. It was all gone now and the effects were hitting hard and fast. Blood was leaking out of his nose and the corner of his eye.  Too much. That had been way too much blood. He shouldn't have done that. But it had been so easy and felt so good.

Struggling for air between his coughing, Mikhail uncurled from his tight ball enough to puke blood everywhere.

[Xphy]

Dyshani had just finished preparing another of her arrows when one of the men called out something about retreating, and honestly she had to agree with his sentiments. Fending off these sand worms was going to be a lot more trouble than it was worth. They were simply outnumbered, and the creatures were able to move quite fast in the sand.

There was a problem though. Where could they run to? They were in the middle of the desert with nowhere to go. And even if they did the chances of them making it weren't very good with the sand beneath their feet and the sun beating down on them from overhead. But she supposed they still could've tried. It was a lot better than just waiting to die and be eaten.

She had taken aim at the worm attacking the Essyrni woman again, however just as she released the arrow her attention was drawn toward a sudden spike in magic; an enormous one at that. The arrow had flown both high and wide of her target as she turned to see where the magic had come from only to be greeted with a sight of a fire elemental of all things. She didn't know where the thing had come from, but she did notice that the scrawny looking man was now nowhere to be seen. Either he had been dragged away by one of the attacking worms, or...or that was him?

She really didn't know, but all she could do is watch as he raised his hand and all of the worms began to trash about wildly, seemingly in pain as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. This man...thing was powerful... Once his little display was over his body returned back to normal and he began coughing up what looked like blood.

That was bad...

He was probably bleeding internally, and they had to get him some help as soon as possible. As quickly as her legs could carry her she made her way over to where the man was curled up on the ground, dropping her bow in the sand. "Excuse me, but could you help me?" she asked the mercenary wielding the dagger, kneeling down in the sand next to Mikhail. "I know some healing magic, but we need to straighten out his body before I can do anything."

Truthfully Dyshani didn't know how well she could treat him with her magic. She was by no means an expert healer after all. But unless there was another, more experienced healer or even a necromancer among them she really had no other choice but to try.

[Anonymous]

Esh heard the call to run just as she smashed her stick into the worm's head a second time, dislodging another handful of serrated teeth. The improvised weapon was now bending sadly in the middle, and had maybe one more hit left in it. She really didn't have many options at this point, so it didn't take long for her to weigh them up. It was probably the most sensible thing to do, but she just couldn't back down from a fight, no matter how badly it was going. In the circles she ran in, the only person less welcome than a coward was a snitch. But then again, if everybody else was running too then she wouldn't be losing any more face than the rest of them, and it wasn't like the worms were capable of judging her for it. Making the decision to value her safety just this once, she rammed the lump of wood into the thing's mouth for a fleeting distraction and dashed away.

She half expected to find herself getting eaten anyway now that she'd turned her back on the enemy. She was certain it could move faster then her. What she didn't expect at all was a blast of heat, a horrible screeching noise and a smell just slightly worse than the tanner's hut she used to hide out in when she didn't want to be followed, all coming from behind her. Not sure whether she wanted to know, she turned just in time to be caught off balance when the ground jerked out from underneath her.

Dumped on her arse in something she refused to look at that was nonetheless seeping through her shorts, Esh stared at the dead, crispy worms in abject confusion. "The fuck was that?!"

A few more cathartic swears later, she pushed herself to her feet and made a game attempt at brushing off the red sticky clumps of sand clinging to her backside. She'd been so preoccupied with cursing at the inexplicable wormy carnage, she hadn't noticed the huddled figure in the middle of it all until she actually stood up. Making her way over to the rest of the group, she sucked air in between her teeth before offering her expert medical opinion. "Shiiiiiit. 'E's a tiny bit fucked, isn't 'e?"

That vital information given, there wasn't really much she could add. He certainly couldn't just walk it off, and it looked like the kind of thing alcohol would worsen, so her usual go-to methods of injury treatment were out. Besides, the elf-lookin' chick said she had it covered. Better to stand back and let the professionals do what they do, that was what Esh always thought. She just had to try not to get too antsy, which wasn't easy for someone as easily frustrated as her, especially so when she was still full of fight. There had to be some way of getting rid of her nervous energy before it exploded into irrational rage, but she was still working on finding it.

"Sooo... Apart from that guy, everybody cool, yeh?" she asked, attempting to sound casual. Bouncing slightly on her heels, arms folded tight across her chest, looking around really fucking intently... She didn't exactly look nonchalant.

[Tally]

Between shifting worm bodies, Cade caught the sight of Syrae falling to the ground and the worm descending upon him, but the outcome of that encounter he did not see.  His gradual retreat toward a better vantage and the surrounding worms had cut Syrae from his line of sight again, but he hoped the man was still breathing.

Elhurios must have gotten his wits back, because he released Cade and fled, freeing Cade's sword arm at last.  He drew his sword immediately, and struck a blow upon two of the worms that had turned to chase after Mikhail, drawing their attention back to him.

Somehow, over the commotion around him and the roar of adrenaline within himself, he heard Syrae's voice, calling for retreat.  Cade lunged forward, toward the voice, cutting a path through the larva toward Syrae so they could carve a way out and protect Elhurious.

But just as he caught sight of Syrae again, the worms abruptly abandoned the attack.  They twisted and writhed, and he had to leap back to avoid them falling on him.  Cade whipped around.  It wasn't just the ones around him, but all of them.  Then his eyes landed on...something.  It looked like Elhurios in a way and yet looked very much different.  A vague disgust curled in the pit of his stomach.  Magic.

The worms atop the sands were all dead, leaving behind an awful stench, but Elhurios wasn't done.  Cade stood rooted to the spot as his employer plunged his hands into the sand.  A moment later, the ground beneath them began to boil, heaving, and Cade's heart lurched as he realized just how many worms must have been down there, right beneath his feet the entire time.  He couldn't keep his balance and fell forward, arms sinking into the sand nearly up the elbow as all became quiet and still.  His arms beneath the sand felt...odd.  The sand felt damp.  

A red stain edged up his white sleeve where it disappeared into the sand.

Cade jerked his hands free and regained his feet.  He had little time to consider the blood soaking his sleeves just then, for one of the women called him over to assist with Elhurios.  Cade couldn't stop the way he grimaced at sight of his employer doubled over, coughing up blood, and was again glad for the mask covering his face.  It hid his revulsion.

He would do what he had to for the job, though.  His sword had fallen when he had, and he brushed the sand from it before sliding it back into its sheath. He hadn't a clue what to do to help Elhurios so he did as requested, dropping to his knees to help the woman in getting the man's body uncurled from around itself.

"You know what you're doing?"

[Rhindeer]

"Yeeeah...I'm cool. I think. No, actually, I'm kinda hot," Syrae said, and swiped his sweaty brow with the back of his hand. Gods, that had been close, and Syrae decided that, for the moment, he had gotten his fill of sandworms. Maybe some desert djinn had heard his talk and decided to spite him...

Drawing a deep breath, he planted his boot on the sandworm's jaw and yanked his spear out. The weapon was a mess, the shaft nearly cleaved in two, and Syrae frowned as he surveyed the damage. It was unusable now, so with a sigh he broke it over his knee and discarded most of the shaft. It was a good spearhead, though, so he kept that. He could use it on another spear, whenever he got the chance to get another one.

But at the moment he was less concerned with his weapons (or lack thereof) and more concerned with what the bloody blazes had just happened.

One second, he's wrestling with a sandworm. The next, the thing is thrashing and screaming and boiling from the inside. Syrae wasn't sure who had struck the final blow, whether the worm was already in its death throes when that-thing-that-looked-like-Mikhail got to it or not, but he liked to think he'd killed it. Weird that he should be worrying about who got to claim bragging rights after what he'd witnessed, but for the moment it was the only thing his mind could make sense of. He must have been hallucinating. Somehow. That couldn't have been...could it?

But all the worms were cooked, and blood was seeping up through the sand where the nest had been, and Mikhail was hacking up blood.

That had to be the craziest thing he'd ever seen in his entire life.

"So, uh...whoa. Anyone care to explain what the hell just happened?" he finally asked, sweeping his eyes over each individual in turn. Slowly, he shuffled through the sand to where Cade and one of the girls were trying to help Mikhail--who looked on the verge of death, which would be just fabulous. Couldn't really get paid if your employer was dead.

Well, Syrae supposed you could just ransack the body...

...But that was just morbid.

"Er...anything I can do?" he asked, shifting awkwardly and bouncing his broken spear against his shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Fire.

Burning fiery pain.

Heaving, Mikhail vomited again, though less blood this time. He wished he could pretend it was the elemental blood, but he knew it wasn't. His body was rejecting his own blood, the magical stuff inside him trying to take over.

He was shivering now, feeling as weak and drained as a kitten. The power was just a sweet memory now. Shaking his head at the offers of help, Mikhail took a deep, wheezing breath, lips cracked, "I'm fine. W-water. Please."

Rest. That was all he needed. Time to recover from it all. Taking the water skin that was handed to him, Mikhail drank deeply, not caring the water was warm. He was already feeling better, the pain fading to manageable levels. Still weak though. Holding the water skin to his mouth was a strain, "Well, that was fun. Now, we seem to have new members to our team. I am Mikhail Elhurious." His voice was a little shaky, throat raw from vomiting, "Can we make introductions as we walk? I for one would rather not linger...here."

Glancing around at the dead bodies, Mikhail's nose wrinkled in disgust, "Though...I am afraid to say I am in no shape to walk." Giving Cade and Syrae a shaky smile, Mikhail continued on, "Which one of you lucky boys gets to carry me?"

[Xphy]

As the others began to gather around the fallen man Dyshani did her best to remain focused. She didn't have time to answer them. There was too much to do. She had to make sure he was still breathing and that his blood was able to flow as easily as possible. Then she had to actually find exactly where he was bleeding from and to try to heal it before he lost too much blood.

However before she was able to do anything the man would shake his head and ask for water as though he were fine. But that couldn't be. He had been puking up blood only seconds ago. He couldn't possibly be fine. And yet after drinking some water he seemed to be fine, if not a little tired.

Strange man...

After picking her bow up out of the sand she rose back to her feet and fastened on her back again. "My name is Dyshani Alestie of the Niahi Woods. I take it you're the one behind the ads asking for help?" she replied as the man who introduced as Mikhail looked toward the other two men for one of them to carry him. Either of them seemed to be capable of doing it, but she was still a little wary of the man's condition.

"Also are you sure you're alright? I could tend to your wounds if you have any."

[Anonymous]

fix him fix him fix him fix him fuckin' fix him already

Esh kept bouncing and peering over to see just what was going on. It was hard to tell, given that she had no idea what was even supposed to be happening, but she was sure that it was serious. If the expedition got called off before she was officially on it, that would suck. She was actually more anxious that there was a man possibly dying right in front of her, but the other thing was more acceptable to get worked up over, so that was what she focused on.

fix him fix him fix him fix him oh wait no he's fine

Apparently blood-puke was something that could be walked off, who would've thought it? Well, not walked off as such, but close enough to count. The man who seemed to be in charge was all right, and the leftover nervous energy from the fight was wearing off, so Esh stopped bobbing frustratedly up and down, visibly calmer.

She sauntered over to the other woman and nudged her jovially. "Even if 'e ain't the right guy, he's hired us now, yeh? He fuckin' better, 'cos I ain't leavin' 'til I get paid." She turned to the rest of the group and gave a lazy salute. "Name's Esh, 'm a guide."

"Now where azac'ly is we headin'?" she asked, standing on tiptoe to scan the dunes. She couldn't see a lot from here, since they were penned in on all sides by walls of sand, but through her feet she could feel where they were, a few miles north-west of the city. There was an oasis somewhere to the west, too far to pinpoint as the magic signal faded so she guessed they were at least ten miles from that, most probably more, and... Not much else. Ah well, she could find the way.

[Tally]

Cade scrambled backwards to avoid the vomit spewing from Elhurios's mouth and may have actually gotten some on him.  When he was sure he wasn't going to get vomited on again, he plucked the water skin from his belt and held it out to Elhurios—at arm's length.

"Syrae does," he said immediately, retrieving the water skin once Elhurios was done and climbing to his feet.  Unbelievable as it was, the man seemed fine, even appeared to be regaining strength by the second.

Cade was no stranger to gore, but even he found the carnage upon the sands distasteful to look at.  "That wasn't necessary."  He waved a hand at the dead worms.  "We could have taken them."

[Rhindeer]

Well, Mikhail looked all taken care of (or at least, was being taken care of), so Syrae heaved a sigh of relief and, since the sandworms were dead and thus no longer interesting and Mikhail was out of danger and thus also not as interesting and Cade was busy with Mikhail and, well, ditto...he instead turned his sights to the girls, who were rather interesting. It had been pretty chaotic back then, but he hoped they had at least gotten a glimpse of him being all heroic, stabbing sandworms and all. He could have totally taken out more on his own. Yep. Sure could have. He hadn't been nervous in the least.

The one was still tending Mikhail, so he set his sights on the jumpy one who had finally stopping bobbing. Plus, you know, she was a far better sight than a scruffy weird guy vomiting blood all over. If he looked any longer, he was gonna get sick. The smell of blood all over the place was starting to grow overwhelming, and the pretty desert view had been turned to gore and worm-mush.

He opened his mouth to say something, but she was babbling something--and he abruptly realized he could hardly make heads or tails of what she was saying. "Eh?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to puzzle out her accent, and after a few moments he thought he had gotten the gist of it. "Uhh...think ya could talk slower? Anyway, dunno! I'm just here for the money, myself! Name's Syrae, by the--wait, I'm what?"

Syrae whirled when he heard his name and that he was doing something. Carrying Mikhail, that is. His face fell and his mouth dropped open in a 'what, why me?' look, but then he just heaved a sigh and resigned himself. "Fine...let's just get outta here..." he mumbled, trudging through the soggy sand and stooping down by Mikhail, offering him his shoulder for support. "Grab on. And you--" He pointed at Cade, then tossed his broken spear at his feet. "Carry that."