Patches (Open RP)

"No, not as I wish." the metal Dragon told Trisys with concern, "If you don't want to go, please don't go. I don't want to make you do things just because I say so."

"You guys on the other hand..." he turned to the Gre'shil, "Yeah, no. No offense, but I don't trust you guys not to try and snack on someone if I'm not around. We're staying one group. Now, um...Kethara, did your mom answer, or should I go look for transportation...?"

((Okay, let me see what I can do about this...))

As Jade explained the where and why to Paxtera, the 'metal egg' that had so conveniently crashed down near the Twin Cities received further visitors. Well, not directly. At least not yet. They came within a few kilometers, their quietly rumbling APC cloaked with the best they could manage, hiding it from visual, thermal, and electromagnetic detection. The gravity manipulation that kept the invisible vehicle aloft less than half a meter off the ground hid behind a veil as well, but it was a new development, and sporadic at best. Still, it seemed to be working well enough against the machines. No HKs in sight.

Slowly, carefully, the APC crested a rocky hill and its operators turned their sights to the object that had come down. With passive means only, they attempted to discern things such as its heat profile, material composition, and naturally whether or not anything moved on or around it. They knew they were being reckless, but they weren't about to be stupid. If they were going to steal a Demon egg, they had no desire to get eaten on the way...

"Alright Jade is it... well anyway what is your plan it seems you have one. Just to get things straight you want to aid these Gre'shil in their hunt then go to the high Mother?" asked Lazardarus as he adjusted his vest.

Something Lazardarus said got the pack agitated and the hissed a few showed their teeth. Taking note of this Laz moved back a few steps "Calm I didn't say anything insulting... settle down."

Scar snorted and hissed at Laz extending his claws then turned to look at Jade. He retracted the claws and calmed himself. "Your pack no help! Gre'shil must hunt... Must kill with only our pack! It is way Gre'shil must prove they can Hunt and work as Pack or return in shame! Better die then returned shamed! If Godlike one kill for us it be useless for our trophy like finding dead thing we need our own kill!"

Laz rubbed his chin then moved closer to Jade "Seems they have some kind of Honor system... Perhaps if we also deliver a Trophy to this High Mother it could aid our cause better?"

Unfortunately, Jade didn't have the presence of mind to note as much. The only thing his thoughts wished for was for her to be careful and come back safely. His subconscious added to that the contemplation that she might be better off if she took the form of a Dragon again, but that didn't make it to anywhere he could catch himself. Whether it made it to her or not was of course another question entirely.

"I understand." the metal Drokar answered Scar with a nod, glanced at Lazardarus thoughtfully, and then looked back to the Gre'shil again, "So if we go there together, then split off, would that work?"

If the reptilians confirmed, he would then ask Paxtera to take them there. They could meet back up with Trisys when she arrived, which considering the Kheldian's travel method would probably be after their own arrival...
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"Looks dormant, Sir." spoke the electronically modulated voice of the observer in the turret above him, the man's seat at about the height of his own head, "At least for now."

He gave a nod, the modulator in his own helmet picking up his exhale and turning it into a strange grunt. He mentally sighed. How had it all gone so wrong? He still remembered the sun setting on the first day he'd spent in the Desert. Back then, they'd been so horrified at the prospect of this place being dead...only to find out that it being alive was so much worse.

Well, now they were going to do something about it!

"Get us over there." he told the driver with a warble, and the floating vehicle set itself into motion once more, gliding stealthily down the hill. He looked to the men and women in the back of the APC, sitting on the benches to either side of the personnel compartment, armored and geared just like him. If it hadn't been for his insignia of rank, it would've been nearly impossible to tell them apart.

Not for much longer.

The invisible APC made its way over to and past the perimeter of the 'city' artillery, all inside holding their breath as they waited for the guns to start firing. But they didn't. The cloak worked. The enemy couldn't see them. They were safe...sort of.

Hovering beside and up against the 'egg', the vehicle then attempted to lift the object from the ground by extension of the field that kept it aloft...

The Egg lifted easily and readily from the Earth. Not a single speck of dirt fell from it as it rose. There was no hint of grime upon its surface whatsoever, and if the APC had the proper readouts, it would detect that the egg took considerably less force to lift than it should have considering its composition.

It is too bad that thoughts subconscious to Jade would be doubly unavailable to Trisys. Having the form of the resplendent Dragon would have been empowering, even glorious.

Still the clear wish for her to be careful and come back safely was beneficial. First the desire for her return was an assurance to Trisys that she was a benefit. Being unwanted and discarded was an ever-present dread. Second the instructions to be safe and careful would mean her actions would be curbed by cautiousness rather than recklessness. A good thing in regions as dangerous as Lazardarus had cautioned.

Thus Trisys galloped hard, reveling in the unbridled motion. Her invisibility was nearly complete save a faint shimmering as her presence briefly purified the air. High where there was less likelihood of random encounters Trisys practically flew. The landscape below became its namesake "Patches", with few details discernable.

Even from that altitude, though, the Twin Cities were hard to miss. Nor the mile-long furrow ending in an egg-shape looking... something. It might be the egg of one of the beasts she was seeking. However an egg would not be what Master needed for hunting. Finding that information took priority.

Once that primary objective was complete, Trisys would have the freedom (under her interpretation of Jade's wishes) to investigate anything else interesting, including the egg and the cities. Trisys would do so until Master had finished meeting the High Mother, Master wished her return, or she ran out of things to explore. Whichever came first.

True, Trisys could not know directly when Master would be away from the Gre'shil and their natural aggression that was debilitating to her. On the other hand she could know his position relative to herself. Jade would be elsewhere from where she had departed for a period of time. That new destination was expected to be with the High Mother. It was easy to presume when Jade next moved significantly that his meeting was concluded.

Trisys corrected her angle towards the supervolcano region coming into view.

To describe her reaction as surprised would be a slight understatement.

Empowered by the (misperceived) wish of Master, Trisys's speed far outstripping her normal limits. And what a flight it had been! She had purpose. Purpose was everything.

Then that purpose was shattered.

The monstrous beasts had been as easy to spot as the egg-thing and twin cities. A promising spot was picked a short distance away. Just prior to landing forms were begun to be given to the voices. Except instead of three phantoms on the ground there was abruptly a much larger crowd spawned around the satyr.

Trisys let out an alarmed sound somewhere between a bray and a whinny. Never having been exposed to even a peripheral of time travel before, she was confused, disoriented, and even a little hurt. Trisys didn't realize she was lashing out and possibly making connecting blows in her attempts to backpedal out of their midst.

A corner of her mind did recognize who they were. Paxtera, Kethara, Ildela, Lazardarus, or the Gre'shil could have been doppelgangers. But Jade was unmistakably her Master. His presence invalidated her purpose. In all her listening, Trisys had not put together enough clues to expect their arrival. Not knowing of Paxtera's ability to time teleport only compounded the confusion.

Trisys continued her retreat. Eyes filled with jumbled questions flickered from one to another, doubly so to Master. Another step and she bumped into something. Something large and breathing. In a moment of clarity, Trisys realized she had backed up against one of the beasts.

To complicate matters, the phantoms were following only seconds away in their need to remain in close proximity to Trisys or prematurely lose cohesion. If the beast was the slightest bit aggressive in response to the invasion of its personal space, the invincible phantoms would gleefully use the excuse to begin unleashing elemental-based attacks.

"Whoa, hey!" Jade called out to Trisys with concern, stretching his hands toward her in an assuaging fashion while his own footsteps began to follow hers, "Calm down, it's..."

Then he saw the thing.

Calling it a behemoth would've been an understatement. Not that it was terribly large, although being the size of a small Mack truck wasn't exactly small either. No, the appearance came from its anatomy. It looked like someone had taken a rhinoceros, an elephant, an armadillo, and a hedgehog, started mashing them together, then stopped halfway through and called it a day.

The main body sat atop a set of four squat, column-like legs, plated from the eyeless head to its short, fat tail in tough, gray-black segments of organic armor. Its toothless maw instead held an upper and lower ridge, respectively fashioned like a serrated form of a hammer and an anvil,and from the gritty fragments of rock embedded therein, it wasn't hard to guess what this thing usually ate. Judging from its rank breath however, it wasn't picky about being carnivorous, and from the dried blood upon the long spines that extended from the back of its head, its shoulders, and the tip of its tail, it didn't look like this being had much trouble making living things prey.

Normally.

Right now, the thing was wheezing pitifully and leaking syrup-like crimson blood from a large number of scrapes, cuts, gouges, and bite and claw marks, especially from the neck - and on the back of that in turn clung the thing that had apparently caused the former.

At first glance, it bore faint resemblance to a Gre'shil, especially being almost completely covered in the thick blood of the beast. At second glance however, the differences were immediately apparent: plantigrade feet, five digits both there and its hands, their claws nimble extensions of their parent limbs, and a deep-green hide that hadn't a trace of a scale. Upon closer observation, the being's build looked lighter as well, slimmer and lankier as if meant for swimming or squeezing into small spaces. The smooth, leathery hide further supported this appearance, as did the lithe, yet forcefully rippling muscles below.

The only thing the creature wore was a small, crystalline pendant that dangled from a thin, fragile-looking string about its neck, though if that was supposed to be a sign of intelligence, it was duly counteracted by the grunting, snarling viciousness with which the reptilian jerked upon the much larger beast's neck again and again, lower jaw dug into the flesh of the being's neck beside and below the spine and thus forming a clamp filled to the brim with razor-sharp teeth in conjunction with the upper jaw. By first impression, it was just as likely to be a collar of some kind, given to a hunting animal in the fashion a human would bestow one on his or her dog.

Paxtera likely knew better, but Jade for one certainly didn't. He just watched with wide eyes and an open mouth as the large beast came down under the bestial assault, rushing toward Trisys with all the speed he could muster to snatch er up and out of the impact zone that his system had virtually painted in white onto the ground in his crimson HUD.

Grabbing the satyr-like being and pulling her close, the metal Dragon then swiftly backpedaled, letting his balance go and falling backwards until he'd reached a nearly seventy-degree angle from the vertical. Only then did the prepped system sequence fire his boosters, blasting both of them away - but only for a moment. Jade hadn't the time to actually establish a flight pattern, and thus shut down the engines less than a second later to land in the rocky, ashen 'soil' of the basalt-and-slate-dominated volcanic terrain flat on his back (or rather his wings), skidding for a few meters before he came to a stop.

And as he looked up at the orange-red, black-cloud-covered sky, the tremor of the beast's flank hitting the ground ran unnoticed through the metal of his body. If it hadn't been for the sensor reading, he wouldn't have even known it was there. But that didn't matter right now. He knew what was there. That was the important part.

"Hey." he looked 'down' toward his chest at Trisys, "You okay?"

The scaleless, blood-soaked reptilian meanwhile had as its first reaction only a confused blink, the realization of what had just happened only slowly setting in, though it made visible progress in its amber eyes. Eventually, it clamped-down jaws un clamped, and a long, singular tongue swept from left to right to lick the majority of the viscous blood from its lips and teeth.

"Oh..." came from its mouth in a tone one might've expected from a young adult human female, along with a rather awkward, self-conscious look as her eyes swept the group, "Um...sorry. I...didn't see you there. Was this your breakfast...?"
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It took a while, but eventually the cloaked APC made its way out of the artillery range and back into the more 'neutral' stretches of the Desert. Still, it didn't disengage its cloak for quite a while - not until it made it into good proximity of the coast of some inland sea. There some green still grew, and among the jungle-like plants, embedded into the side of a marine cliff, lay their destination.

"Weapons factory in sight, Sir." the driver told him and received a satisfied nod as he continued, "M-Team says the bomb's all prepped and ready to go. All that's left's to strap it on."

He looked out the froward viewport with a grim sense of emptiness. He couldn't bring himself to truly care. It wouldn't bring them back. All the thought gave him was a meek flicker of revenge. The fire it had once been had been gone for some time. But the tiny bit that remained would at last be sated by destruction.

One way or another...

The reaction of Gre'shil from the Transport was much the same as Trisys. PANIC... Some seem ready to bolt three had dropped to the ground in that belly to the ground pose of submission at least till the scent of blood hit there nostrils and almost at once the 7 Gre'shil turn and shifted into attack pouncing pose facing the beast.

Gre'shil brains were not the best at rational thinking however being geared for Hunting it was faster then a humans to analyze the surroundings. They noted the Thickness of the armor, the placements of the wounds, where the animal was bleeding from the most, and the Gre'shil like being attacking the beast.

They then relaxed the animal was dying and was someone else prey. All this ran over the Gre'shil mind as Jade went into action and landed just as the beast fell.

"Oh..." came from its mouth in a tone one might've expected from a young adult human female, along with a rather awkward, self-conscious look as her eyes swept the group, "Um...sorry. I...didn't see you there. Was this your breakfast...?"

Scar took a few steps forward the female creature looked like a Gre'shil but didn't look like a Gre'shil it was very puzzling. He reached up and scratched his nose with his three fingered hand. "We no claim kill. You mighty hunter taking down Thick skin by self." He moved tilting in a bow motion his nose and forehead to the ground. "We seek not to take your rightful kill."

Lazardarus didn't take to the form of travel well as he had a dazed look on his face much like if he been on a very wild roller coaster that didn't agree with him. He grew up in a magical realm so was used to odd magical effects so he didn't panic by the transportation. After taking a deep breath he recovered enough to respond to Kethara "I was thinking more along the lines of some large predatory beast to impress the .. um... lady High Mother. We haven't been able to study Gre'shil social order before mainly because they killed everyone that tried. If they value Strength and Hunting skills as much as this pack demonstrates. Then a show of our strength in bringing what they would see as a Dangerous prey will be impressive."

He then took note of the Green Gre'shil like form looking at them. "Well this either got interesting or were in trouble." Being used to Gre'shil tactics he looked around them for other of this Green Gre'shil like being's pack.
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Elsewhere the APC wasn't spotted by the Machines but was detected by something hiding in a mound of dirt. Eight massive spider legs lifted the Volkswagen Beetle size spider body up. It's black Marble like eyes had a wide range of sight going from ultra violate to infra red. The body was mostly black with yellow markings in the form of stripes.

That wasn't what detected the APC however it was the millions of ultra sensitive sensor hairs on the spiders body that pick up scents and vibrations. In other words the spider couldn't see the APC couldn't smell the APC but could FEEL it moving.

Curiosity was what brought the spider to this remote jungle-like area on the edge of the desert landscape. It was also the reason the spider started following the craft from time to time it would lift the two forelegs in the air using them as dividing rods to home in on the movements of the APC.

Kethara quickly developed a confused look as events unfolded in front of her. She raised a hand to aid the smaller creature trying to bring down the massive behemoth, but Ildela's hand on her arm stopped her. "It has it handled, don't worry", she told her sister, not even turning to look at her. Instead, both older sibling and mother displayed near identical raised eyebrows at the sight in front of them, not just because it was an impressive feat but because they recognised that species. Or they thought they did, anyway.

The moment of clarity passed. Blood quickly soaked into her mane, tattered feathers, and backside from the leaking gore. To Trisys everything hazed over in a matching red. Similar to Jade's crimson vision, save Trisys did not have the benefit of a computer to compensate. She fell instantly as though abruptly boneless or a puppet whose strings were cut.

Jade had assuredly rescued the satyr from being crushed by the behemoth. Trisys could not save herself. Could not even recognize that she was once again in Jade's embrace. To her everything was distant. Like being underwater or muffled in wool. Only in the extreme peripheral was Trisys aware of the flash of green on the fallen monster's back, the Gre'shil praising it, Lazardarus's caution of it, and Paxtera asking if it was a Khelari.

"Hey," Jade looked 'down' toward his chest at Trisys, "You okay?" Only because Master asked directly did the question get through.

"Nnooooo..." Trisys moaned in answer, her head lolling.

Her world had gone mad.

Trisys had been wrenched from her previous Master in the Rogue Isles. She had no idea if her token had come too. She had to hope it was findable, however much the evidence contradicted. The borrowed token could not sustain her indefinitely.

Commands had been given Trisys outside her range of abilities. Even when she was able to complete an assigned task with the pizzas, it went unused instead of appreciated. The result was Trisys felt unused and burdensome. That same task had not even afforded her the chance to touch her MotherEarth. The closest Trisys got was the concrete that clothed MotherEarth in the parts of Paragon accessed; as unable to communicate as trying to whisper through a dead phone line.

The voices, however, never ceased bewailing in Trisys's mind. A few at a time could be embodied in phantoms. Gladly they traded speaking to their conduit, Trisys, for the sensations of sight, smell, and touch. They were greedy, though, and milled in discontent for having once again nothing more to do while Trisys and Master lay inactive nearby.

Malice or hate, the second most debilitating thing for Trisys, had repeatedly bombarded her from battles or hunts or misconceptions. And now freshly spilled blood covered her hide. The former emotions were like shackles. Blood touching her was suffocating. It only took a few drops to subdue Trisys completely. This torture, well, it was enough to cause a normal human to faint into unconsciousness. Except that relief was denied to the EarthChild. That escape in these circumstances was overridden to be aware of further commands from Master that Trisys might need to fulfill.

All this and more before first nightfall had occurred for the newly-bonded. Not the worst day she had lived, though close.

It was normal for Trisys. Under no definition was it 'Okay'.

Was this low point avoidable? Likely. If Trisys had been more cautious, anticipating trouble any second perhaps surprise would not have disarmed her. The flight and free-reign of her purpose had given Trisys unwarranted confidence. If Jade had made a short command like 'I wish Trisys to know plans have changed to us joining her presently' there would also have been minimal surprise. Though that was not to be expected since no prior Master had been that courteous. If she had even retreated upward instead of backwards, Trisys could have avoided the present disaster.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Oh wait. Trisys was an equine enabler of wishes, and beggars had become kings riding on her powers.

Yet it was not Trisys's place to question Master. So she hoarsely asked the same question to the universe, gazing heavenward for some celestial sign as if searching would part the cloud-covered sky: "Why?" Why had Paragon, her homesoil, her homesoul, been stolen away and become part of this strange land? Why was her existence one of pain, fear, and dependence for value from others? Why was she created weak, unparalleled to the requirements of her Master?

Things were worse than that. Master had risked himself, possible hurt, to cover her lapse. To top it all, Trisys had failed Master's wish. Trisys had not been careful, nor returned to him safe. The failure was as serious as a breached legal contract. Trisys could have her bond revoked by Master without him having to worry about consequences of karma.

"Hey, hey, c'mon..." Jade spoke softly to Trisys as he sat up, attempting to stabilize her head by supporting it from the back with one hand while the other wrapped gently about her back to do the same there, the metal Dragon attempting to cradle her protectively like one might a child, "It'll be okay. It's not your fault. It's mine. I should've told you we were coming. It'll be okay. Everything'll be okay..."

"I am." the red-and-green reptilian gave a somewhat puzzled nod to Paxtera, "How do you know that? No one around here even talks to us. Did you visit the homeworld? I thought it was gone?"

"Wait..." her eyes wandered to the Gre'shil, "You're the guys from the south, right? How'd you get here?"

She returned to addressing the group at large, "How did any of you get here? And manage to sneak up on me? That's not supposed to happen. You guys are good. Real good. Ohhh no...please don't tell me this predatory beast you guys want is one of us."

Lazardarus may well have been surprised to not find any more Khelari in the vicinity. It did indeed seem she was the only one here. He did however spot a number of tree-like, crystalline structures spread out (rather widely) over the local area. With milky cores and transparent, refractive outer layers, the crystal trees looked more like modern art gone wrong than lifeforms, but the latter they were - and as the Khelari female voiced her concern, the elven man may well have felt something akin to their 'attention' turning toward the group...

"Oh no my um.. lady unlike some lifeforms." Laz eyes the Gre'shil "we have no desire to harm sentient life. I'm Lazadarus and if I may ask what is your name?"

Then he noticed Trisys "Hold on a moment Madam" he went over to Trisys and not sure what was going on started singing a general heal song spell. The song spell radiated out causing any that were in range to heal. Then he switched to another song that seemed to have the effect of granting energy to anyone. (Healing Aura, Healing Aura)

The Gre'shil looked among each other and one hissed at Laz hearing his comment. Scar looked at the Khelari "Yes we Gre'shil God like ones brought us here. We were in lands of Thunder and lighting and now here... God like ones do what God like ones do."

'Well.' Tafari thought as ran across the sea that spilled into Siren's Call. 'That's interesting. Looks like the Arachnos base didn't get dragged along with the rest of the city. Figures.'

Shortly, Tafari reached the shoreline outside of Paragon City, and was racing North, and inwardly he was thinking. 'I can't just run around looking for a helpful sign to point me in the right direction. So I need to find some poor schmucks who have been here for a while. People ripped away from whatever ****** world they lived on, who have been stuck here long enough to know the surrounding lands and such. People who might have a hint about how to find the control room...'

"Oh, good." the Khelari gave Lazardarus a toothy smile, perching atop her kill in preparation for the slide down, "The last guys who tried that tasted terrible. Even cooking didn't fix it."

She dropped to the rocky ground with nonchalance, regarding the Gre'shil pack (and especially Scar) with a playfully malicious smirk, "Then again...some of you do look pretty tasty."

She let the tip of her long, whiplike tail brush gently against his leg as she walked by, almost suggestively, though both that glimmer in her eyes as well as the smirk faded at a closer look at Trisys, "Uh-oh. She...doesn't look good..."
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Now without its cloak, the APC's progress came a good bit more swiftly, and it didn't take long until the main gates of the weapons factory came into sight. If neither the 'egg' nor the spider proacted soon, the former would be taken in by the heavy steel gates, the latter locked outside by the very same...

Trisys's condition was, as the Khelari noted, not good. Her normal earth brown tone was paled to a milk chocolate. Soon it would color to khaki, then chalk.

If Trisys had been fully aware of her surroundings, she would have offered humble thanks for the reassurances, beautiful music, and energies expended for her benefit.

Unfortunately her awareness was shrinking in direct proportion to her pain. Lazardarus's song did slow the injuries but even his tremendous gift could not reverse the effect. She could not even feel Jade's arms positioning her nearly weightless form. It was a paradox to the satyr that Master could be to blame for her failure, yet she as the servant could not contradict him. The point was moot as Trisys no longer possessed the strength to reply.

The problem was the weakness Trisys had in the presence of spilt blood. There were verying degrees due to how fresh the blood was shed from its host plus its proximity. A nearby kill could immobilize her. A ring of blood would trap her inside more effectively than a cage of steel. The direct touch of a few drops of blood subdued completely.

And the backside of Trisys was slimed with the behemoth’s blood. Possibly more of her, depending on how much was smeared around by Jade's ministrations.

Thanks to Lazardarus her hide did not boil or take physical damage. But the non-physical damage still progressed. Wherever blood was present was to Trisys as if caltrops dug in.

Most dangerous of all to her: Trisys could not help herself.

Another notch of awareness was lost, and the phantoms lost cohesion. The chorus of voices swelled inside Trisys's mind, further drowning out perceptions of reality. Trisys twitched, slowly tensing into a fetal position.

Lazardarus was clearly upset that he couldn't help. He knelt down and started looking for clear wounds. "perhaps she was wounded when she bumped against that beast..." He wiped some of the blood off her shoulder and noted a discoloration.

He looked up at Jade "Look at this it's some kind of allergic reaction..." Removing his water container he wet down a cloth and then wiped more of the blood off Trisys. "I don't know if that's the cause of her condition or not but lets try to get her cleaned up it be easier to see bruises or puncher marks if she got stung by some poisonous insect."

What ever anyone said was completely lost on Scar as he watched the Khelari. A female Gre'shil shoved Scar "You Pack leader No get distracted by tail! We no finished right of passage No think about females!" She looked at the Khelari and hissed a bit clearly thinking that she was a hussy.
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The spider still followed the APC and it spotted the heavy gate. The choices were simple do nothing and perhaps risk loosing the trail of the strange thing that wasn't there or hope the gate wouldn't close. Waiting was a spiders nature it could simply wait outside the gate till it would open again if it closed or...

The spider chose it's second option and those eight legs went into high speed and it rushed forward. It didn't bother with the APC but rushed past heading to the Gate instead.