Atomos: The Cerobi Steppe Part 3

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The Bandits prove to be no easy fight. Several of them step back to quickly regroup and draw swords, proving at least somewhat organized. One of them comments, "I was hoping we were playing dice." The one Alba hit attempts to break away from here while another one steps in to help seperate the two. The one breaking away pulling out a potion. The others are all drawing melee weapons to start circling around those who got up close. In all there are about six bandits.

Zhgir holds up his hands. "We are not playing dice?" He asks, hanging upside down from an convenient branch, two of his other hands holding his polearm. "Hey, one with the bottle goes first!" He then quips as he notices the glint of a potion - and with his deft fingers, flicks the cube shaped bone at the potion, perhaps trying to knock it away from the bandit's hands, or perhaps merely trying to play a game.

The Potion gets knocked out of the bandits hand and falls to the ground a couple of feet away.

Talen grunts as the bandits start to organize, and the fire in his hand sputters, his voice changing slightly as he begins a different spell. A small, starlike matrix begins to form instead. [Spell Burst] "I shall watch your flanks as best I can, my Hunter." The flicked cube draws a grin from Zhgir. "Nice shot, add it to your collection if you can!"

Alba's daggers flash and flicker as she darts from one target to another, her voice a cackle, just audible above the din of battle. Harrying tactics, it seems, she's using at the moment; attacking to wound, lightly or heavily matters not, and moving on to the next.

"Fools," Tristania hisses, seething as she backs away from the bandits. She gestures at them with her knobkerrie like she really means it, taking another step back before pushing the weapon back through her belt. "They are fools. And they will die like fools." She pulls a crude doll of burlap and straw from her belt, along with a small collection of bone needles; and at the bandit she had attacked moments before she gazes, as she stabs the doll straight through the stomach with one of the carven spikes. [Poison]

The bandits are quickly working to circle around Alba and Tristania, their blades starting to slice out at the two. Zhgir is mostly ignored as he is hanging from a branch and throwing what appears to be dice right now. Talen is to far away for them in the moment in the darkness. The bandit who lost his potion breaks out into a run and works on trying to get away.

Zhgir continues to stare at the chaos with his wide round eyes, holding onto the dice. "... Zhgir?" He lets out, then swings off the branch and moves to pick up the potion, before chasing after the bandit. "Hey! Zhgir thinks you dropped this!" He helpfully flails at the bandit, while trying to catch up to the figure and take him down. With webs; if he needs to. It's so awful to lose things.

Talen grumbles audibly as the bandits begin to surround them, and he thrusts his hand out while voicing another spell, and several gouts of fire arc towards the bandits, even the one running away. "Fire in the hole!", he calls out in warning to Alba and Tristania.

On her second circuit of the outer edges of the group, Alba skids to a halt opposite Tristania. "Hehhh," she breathes, "if fools they are, and like fools they die, fitting it is, perhaps, that they fight like fools." As she speaks, the carvings on her mask seem to... skitter, and crawl, rearranging themselves into a spiky, swirling-star pattern remeniscent of the 'face' of a Malboro. Drawing in a deep breath, she lunges forward, loosing a foul, terrible gust of poisonous back wind; the sort that Rydia, specifically, may find familiar.

Tristania arches a brow behind her own mask, gazing back at the similarly concealed Viera. She merely steps back, lowering her hands as she watches the terrible black vapors washing over the bandits. "Appropriate," she states, signalling her approval. Her gaze goes to Zhgir, and the one fool that he chases; her lips quirck upwards, and she stabs a different needle into her doll as she stares at the spider's quarry. [Slow]

The bandits get hit by fire, poison, and then slow all pretty much at once in their perspective. They all stagger backwards and start to drop down dying well, slowly. The one that Zhgir is chasing will fall over dead just as the spider catches up with a arrow in his back. Gau is sitting nearby on a hill watching it all, "Humpf." All he offers as he stands up, "Letting one potentially get away is foolish." A glance to Zhgir, "At least you are smart to chase. Now put out your fire and get ready to move, the main camp is headed this way." The man turning to start walking.

Zhgir stares at the corpse, and the reappearance of the mysterious stranger from before. He then turns around to face the rest of his party, and raises two of his hands. "Zhgir is smart!" He exclaims, before making sure to [Scavenge] the body for anything of not-importance.

Talen watches Gau as he turns and starts walking way, and his gaze shifts to Alba, peering at her, no doubt wondering what her response will be. "I suppose that's probably best, I guess. At least, getting away from here before the others show up."

Alba draws herself to her full height, ears lowering slightly as Gau takes a walk. "Hn," she snorts, and turns toward camp. "Blind wetlander believes it was *allowed* to escape? He knows not Zhgir." Which, at least in the minds of Talen and Zhgir, have to be the closest Alba has ever managed to come, to admitting that Zhgir is more competent and reliable than he seems. "Come, let us break camp."

Tristania calmly withdraws the needles from her doll, and tucks the lot back where they were before hte fight started. She hhnnhs softly, a sound closely immitating the one Alba made moments earlier. "I suppose we shall find out if this Gau is trustworthy," she mutters. The dryad wanders back to the camp, and crosses her arms. "Rydia! We are going."

Moiraine walks back over to the party, twisting the haft of her hammer, the metal components whirling back into each other, packing back down until by the time the blouse and dress sporting moogle reaches the party it is once more a cane. "This was most... convinient for you Master Gau... a bandit attack just were you can show up to offer us your help...." she tilts her head, pom-pom swaying, "I hope you are truew to your word master Gau."

Gau glances to Alba, "Sandlander, escape or not, he was about to use a call horn. I know not Zhgir, but I know them. Your arrogance will get you killed here." The man's voice direct and a softer more friendly smile offered to Moiraine, "As for the convience, if you believe in the worst of people you will always find it. Make what connections you will, but your being lost was not my fault. You can follow, or you can stay, if you do follow keep up." The man still walking not bothering to stop the entire time. Rydia offers a yawn and a pout, "But I waaaanaa sleep." She offers in a pouty voice, but gets up and pokes Snuggles, who is a much deeper sleeper until the Malboro wakes up.

Zhgir turns to stare towards Alba, watching her walk past him. It takes him a moment further, as he slips his illgotten goods, a horn and yet another potion, into his everpresent satchels. Sidling closer towards Talen, he whispers to the summoner, "The queen feeling light in the head?" As for Gau, he just offers helpfully to the conversation, "Zhgir trusts this obviously smart man smartly."

Talen raises an eyebrow at Zhgir's question, and he shakes his head. "She does not trust him because there are too many coincidences. There are those who prey upon people heading on pilgrimages or hunting parties. Gau approached us in a way that has raised Alba's suspicions. If he is truely a decent person, she'll eventually settle down. But she will watch him."

Alba does not comment further, only beginning to throw dirt onto their fire, and gather up what little of the camp they'd set out. The meat, rolled up in a separate bundle to sling over her shoulder. "It matters not; move we must, for if there is not the great camp of bandits coming to us, it may be that they will be led. It angers me greatly, but if we are to go on, we must follow the Gau."

Tristania grunts softly at her sister. "It doesn't matter. We are moving. Survival first, you should understand this." She pauses, and visibly glowers. "And we are in the company of people we do not trust. You should *Wear a Mask*. I have a spare. I will not complain if you take it off later, just... for now. It is important."

Moiraine leaves Tristania to deal with Rydia and her Malboro friend and walks over to join Alba and walks alongside her, the moogle's cane proving to be an effective walking tool as she moves in quiet contemplation after Gau.

Gau leads the way through the wilderness and up several cliffs until you are on top of a large hill. Glancing back you will see the valley starting to light up with fires everywhere are bandit search paries are looking for you. Gau glances back, "The Crimson Ears, foolish, but deadly. I am heading to the Steppe, you can follow, keep up." Turning to continue on his way. Rydia glares daggers at Trsitania then sighs and accepts the mask, only to toss it over one of the cliffs with a whoops and a unapologetic sorry.

Zhgir holds up the dice between his outstretched fingers. "Can we then finally play the game? Zhgir is eager to fatten his keyload." He grins widely from ear to ear (which in his case, veers towards the literal). Beyond that, he simply waits for an opportunity to climb into something, this whole lack of proper hiding places in the landscape is very unnatural for him.

Talen lets out a bit of a giggle watching Rydia 'accidentally' lose her mask, and he stifles the rest with a hand. He moves to walk at Alba's side. "It seems my quests do much to anger you, my Hunter." His ears do a little bit of a dance before angling back on his head. "Had I any choice in the events I would not have it this way." The male Viera looks back to Zhgir, "Erm, you probably won't find many bandits with many keys, I would guess." His gaze then settles on Moiraine. "I am still surprised to see the High Priestess galavanting around on a pilgrimage. Especially one such as ours."

"It is not the fault of my Shaman," Alba mutters, her voice a sullen growl. "The sands blow as they will, and all that may be done is to take care that they do not scour us away in the passing." Blowing out a breath beneath her mask, she watches Tristania try and impose her will on her sister, and shakes her head. "As am I, wife of my Captain. I had not thought that the cities would grow so dull."

Tristania grinds her teeth, and scrambles down the embankment to retrieve the mask. "As you wish," she states, quite calmly as she reclaims her ground, and dusts herself off. "if we encounter a Judge, or any of similar ilk, then once they have seen your face I shall simply have to slaughter them, Rydia. You leave me no choice." The Dryad quirks her lips upwards in a pleasant smile and picks up her pace, passing her sister and watching to see where Gau leads the group.

Moiraine smiles at Talen, "I may be High Priestess but I still can learn much from a trip like this." She gestures toward the valley behind then continues the trek upwards, "And sometimes it makes more sense to send me then one of my Neophytes, I have skills others do not." she flicks her wings and glances at Alba and Talen, "It has nothing to do with being bored but I am here because my Lord has told me this is a good place for me to be."

Rydia sticks her tongue out at Tristania, "How many hundreds of years ago was that? Dont wanna live in fear!" Crossing her arms as she rides on Snuggles keeping up with the group. Gua glances back, but he offers no comments to the group. The man does not stop for hours until he comes to a rocky path and then he stop. "Here you, head that way." He offers pointing north, "Stay alive." Before he turns south to start walking off.

Zhgir stares up towards the rocky path, and then the retreating back of the stranger. "Zhgir thinks he likes the nice person." He offers to the group, before he then begins to head along, the arachnoid not pausing for conversation.

Talen grins to Zhgir and offers a shrug. "Oh, you can like him, just be careful is all I am suggesting." He looks to Alba then and nods, "Well, the only fault of mine is convincing you to come with me. Which I accept full responsibility for." Tristania's casual suggestion at murdering Judges has him raising his eyebrows. To Alba he says, "That is no mean feat to say it so casually." The male Viera smiles to Moiraine then, nodding. "Oh, it is not to say your skills are not needed or that you could not learn. I am just surprised someone so prominent is allowed to leave practically unattended. I would have thought there'd be a half dozen attendants and guards hurrying after you."

"Shaman," Alba snorts, "she has married a Sky Pirate. Well you know what this means. As well I know what it means, to walk the Shaman's path with him." One last, narrow-eyed glare is thrown at Gau's retreating back, then she turns north. "So, and so. Now we shall see how worthy of trust this one is."

Tristania lifts her hands in the air, an act of exasperation. "Sister. I do not live in fear. I have *never* lived in fear. I simply follow the traditions and do what is *sensible*." She shakes her head, and is apparently content to let the matter drop there, at least for now. "We should spread out," she suggests, looking back to the rest of the group. "If it is an ambush it would be well if all of us were not caught in it."

Moiraine chuckles softly and shakes her head, "My guards where not happy to let me go on my own. But when Lord Mog commands we obey kupo and he comamnded and so here I walk... besides I left Leetle at home with the children. He needed some bonding time with the kupo-fluffs." she glances at Tristania and ods, "Sensible words," and breaks to the left, walking level with Alba still but now with some distance between them.

Gau fades off into the distance never breaking away from the path. Rydia sticks her tongue out at Tristania, "A tradition built on fear." Offering another pout before she bounces off to the side of the road and disappears for a bit. The areas on both side of the path appear to be clear and lacking any hostile people of any kind. Just over the next ridge is a vast sear of grass. On a hill in the center of this sea of grass is a marble grey temple with four huge towers.

Zhgir for his part, disappears into the grass. A deft eye could see that some of the grass starts to move by itself in a singular direction, up until a pile of it suddenly raises out of nowhere. "Steve thinks temple is this way." Someone who is definitely not an arachnid offers, pointing towards the temple.

Talen's face gets a thoughtful look and he nods at what Alba suggests. And Moiraine gets a grin. "I hope he is having fun." He looks off into the distance at the temple in the distance, and he looks back to Alba. "We shall see indeed how worthy a guide he is."

'Steve's' guidance prompts a snort from Alba, but for a moment she just stands on the edge of the ridge, taking in the sight of the vast, moonlit grassland. Drawing in a deep breath, she resumes her journey, glancing toward Tristania now and again, a speculative set to her ears.

The dryad resumes her walk, and glances over towards 'Steve', before turning her gaze to the marble temple. "Interesting," she mutters, speaking to nobody in particular. Her hand rests on her knobkerrie, and she briefly returns the look from Alba. Tristania checks her spacing from her other companions, and merely continues. "Rydia, be careful," she urges, speaking to the air in lieu of her sister's face. "It is dangerous here. Please do not make it difficult for me to protect you if need be."

Moiraine looks up and kupo-pos softly and tilts her head, "Well that looks like the right temple kupo... it's still quite a walk away though kupo-po... four towers, marble, certainly looks like the Library."

Rydia hopes out of the grass and walks over to Talen, holding out a set of marbles, blue, green, yellow, orange, and violet. She then skips off, "Get to see Uncle Rammy soon!" Giggling as she does so. A storm is starting to gather and the winds are slowly picking up. A couple of acolytes greet the party at the gates, "Greetings Pilgram and guardians, welcome to the Temple of the Sage. Best be getting inside, a storm is coming in."

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