[So! The 4 women got to take their lunch in the waiting room that Taki has paced the length of many many many many times. With possibly more manys that we won't get into, because that'll just make Taki more angry.] (Grrr.) [Thank you, Taki. And the food was, unsurprisingly, meat-focused. Not raw meat, either. Some fruit and vegetables too, but not the majority. Arisa can have some rabbit food, at least. And after, Julie stretches and indicates that they can go, and begins to head out of the room! Will Taki be too angry to care? Did Arisa's ears have a malfunction? I doubt it. Let's find out.] * Taki stands up and leaves what flatware the fire people use behind as somebody else's problem."Let's go then." * Arisa nods slightly and cleans herself up. "Let's." She gathers up her stuff, then watches Julie before rushing after her. "Hey, wait up!" * Taki walks out the door and if the others have run too far ahead she simply teleports to keep up with them. [Julie heads down the hallway, saying, "I have to get my boots..." she looks over her shoulder with a weak smile. "Yu'ho'lrak isn't particularly built for Op'hak comfort."] (GOD. ) (I WANT FUCKING /me. Ahem.) (Sub Julie. AGAIN.) (GOD NEEDS BOOTS!) (Why don't you just bring another connecetion in here for her and Sheila?) (Because I'd go nuts with logs.) (Also, it restricts my bracketing speed.) [Sheila gets up and follows too, bouncing along. "This is going to be great... seeing the source of the great river for myself!"] * Taki no comments. [Julie leads to her room, decorated, unsurprisingly, in the same general fashion of the other rooms around here, although she does have what looks to be a really big bed. Made of the not-horiffically-hard-black-rock. She walks over to a cubbyhole in the wall and pulls out a pair of tall black boots, sits down, and begins putting them on. "Beauty aside, Sheila, the water is just too cold up there for me."] * Arisa hesitantly enters Julie's room, checking both ways before entering. "Is it still that way even after the destruction of the crystal?" * Taki eyes Julies boots and then looks down at the clothes she was provided. "Just how cold is it there? As ironic as my freezing to death would be, I still don't have my answer." [She nods. "The water level was down a bit, when I went six years ago... but it's still just as cold as ever." A faint chuckle and she looks to Taki. "It's not ice, just cold. You... hopefully won't have to swim."] I see. I don't mind the cold so much myself. It's been a while since I've had a proper bath though. (A whole half day!) (That's not quite what she means!) (Bathing in river streams and such.) (Ha.) (... has she _seen_ the river?) (Hmm?) [Sheila says, with a puffed up chest, "I can swim great. I told you about the time I swam across the river, didn't I?" Julie finishes lacing up and looks to Arisa funny for a moment, as if she doesn't quite understand where Arisa's logical disconnect is coming from.] (That's okay. Most people don't know where Arisa's logical disconnect comes from.) (I doubt she does either.) * Taki doesn't answer Sheila, so she'll never know if she told or not! * Arisa looks over at Julie for a moment and smiles. "It's actually the best under the falls. If it weren't for you being made of fire, I'd suggest you try it." [Julie blinks, then shakes her head and goes, as she starts walking, "I don't think being crushed under the water would be good for--" Sheila interrupts cheerily with, "The river was REALLY chaotic that day!"] * Arisa waves her hand idly. "Oh, I wasn't suggesting taking a bath in it. That'd just be silly." Quite. [Sheila pouts that she's ignored as you head back down the stairs to the main room. The Jumo crystal didn't roll off, fortunateely.] * Arisa walks along. "Let's hurry." [Julie nodss lightly, heading to the circle formed on the ground of the room and starting the swishy motions that start to change its form for teleportation purposes.] * Taki follows people down stairs to the circle room, and hey, axe, she's still got one. [Taki like axe. Axe smash.] [Sheila bounces from foot to foot as she waits.] [Julie finishes a final sweep and nods to herself. "Okay, we're... ready to go." She lets out a small sigh-like breath.] * Taki shoulders the axe and walks into the circle. [Sheila does too, exclaim/squealing, "This is going to be so cool! I bet Maggie's never done anything like this."] * Arisa nods and heads to the circle, scythe strapped to her back. [Julie clasps her hands and makes the word and FWOOM. The fire tunnel picks you all up with its warpy flameness.] [Sheila doesn't seem terrified, at least and we've done this before... you come out in a large open space. The air is thin, and there is what seems like a moat around you that might have used to be a small lake surrounding the platform... there's a land bridge across to another area where you can see tunnels. Sea caves, really, but incredibly smooth. Some lead up, some down... and the light isn't particularly strong, coming through the ceiling like slivers of light that manage to illuminate the room at an even low level.] [Julie looks around, saying, "The water level's slipped a bit more, inside..."] * Arisa steps out and looks around, feeling the air. * Taki glances around and then starts walking twords the land bridge. [It's thin, like this really were up in the mountains somewhere. You can actually hear the wind outside... it sounds strong, at least. Julie begins walking too, across the land bridge. Sheila walks too, looking around. "Where's all the water..."] * Arisa walks towards the land bridge too. "Gone, obviously." [The land bridge leads to the aforementioned caves, which Julie picks one of with no hesitation. Sheila nods a little at Arisa's, uh, obvious analysis.] * Taki continues following Julie, but is it to the surface? The former resting place of the crystal? The head of the river? The library? Only Mecha can tell. [The tunnel leads up into an actual well lighted area, as real windows in the walls exist... looking out on what is a very smooth, organic looking city, against the backdrop of a giant lake, even though it looks like the water level might be down by 10 or 15 feet. The wind also whips by violently, in the direction you're going once you pass the window. Yow.] [It does have an element of 'rocky mountain' beauty to it, as you would expect, but the water level loss sorta dampens it. And the silence except for the wind.] * Arisa walks into the city, turning her head from left to right. "It sounds like a graveyard..." * Taki stops for a moment to look at the city and its lake, then she shakes her head and continues walking. [Julie says, almost too quiet to be heard over the wind, "It is a graveyard."] [Sheila shivers a little.] [And the tunnel comes up into another large room with more caves springing off it. However, the most interesting thing about this room is that water is flowing down through a drain in the middle, from the upward caves, along small lines clearly intended for water to flow down. Julie mms, and then heads up another tunnel.] * Taki looks up at the water as she walks through the room and follows Julie. * Arisa walks along with Julie, taking in all the surroundings. "How much of this is supposed to happen?" [More windy windows look out upon the lake and the structures outside as they walk upward... the trail of wateer flows down by them.] [Julie glances down, "The water mechanism is still functioning... but the wind is a lot worse. I have to blame it on the loss of the other crystal."] Water mechanism? What is it supposed to do? * Taki looks at the water flowing down. "Make water." [She smiles faintly and points down at the water... then as they emerge into another room, the wind hits them full force and Julie holds up her arm to shield her face, and point at the center of the room, in which there's a large pool of water that is being fed into via other streams, most notably through one large hallway with two of the mini-rivers coming out of it. "It's how the buildings each have water throught themslves... otherwise they'd all be built below water." Beat. "Some of them are anyway."] * Taki puts a hand against the door frame to keep herself from getting blown about. "Of course." * Arisa guards against the wind and shakes her head. "You're losing me. Why have such a mechanism?" [She stops walking and looks back at Arisa. "They... like water?"] [She looks to the pool. "Liked water," she corrects, sadly.] It seems an abnormal length to go through. I did not notice you lighting bonfires in the middle of your room. You, uh, *don't* light bonfires in the middle of your room, do you? [Sheila 's hair whips around behind her as she shields herself too. Julie responds, "Well, it's almost always warm in Op'ra'kal, so we don't need it."] [She chuckles a little. "Young ones like the extra warmth, though, and places for fire are common." [She looks down at the pool again, then shakes her head. "The old throne room is up here."] Which way? * Arisa looks up at Julie. [Julie turns towards the bigger tunnel with the two water paths, and walks that way. The wind's just as bad that way, so she's still walking agianst it with effort.] * Arisa walks too, bringing her arm across in front of her face. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-3) and gets -1, a CRITICAL SUCCESS!!! "I hate these guys. Give 'em one for me." (... I think I made that...) (Congratulations! Teleport at will.) * Taki vanishes from where she was standing and reappears in the entrance to the tunnel that Julie seemed to be walking twords, assuming she doesn't get blown over, she turns around to watch the others make their crossing. [The wind is coming from up the tunnel, too! Everyone knows it's windy.] * Taki wobbles briefly in there and uses the axe to support herself. She also move to the edge of the passageway to wait. [Theh wind is a bit beter there. Julie finally gets to Taki and says with a tone of annoyance, through gritted teeth, "Sure, don't deal with the wind. See if I care." She continues pushing on. It is, at least, a little easier in the tunnel.] * Arisa shakes her head, braving the wind. "Well, I know if I had the ability to avoid it, I would do so as well. But you could have at least offered, Miss Shimiru, to take us with you." * Taki shrugs. "But you had already gone on ahead." Then she starts walking deeper into the cavern. [The water paths get wider as they go up, and up... eventually into a large room with plenty of windows, explaining the windiness. A pedestal, behind a large pair of chairs set into the very stone, is where the water is flowing from. The pedestal is also definiteely large enough to hold a Jumo crystal. There are also waterfalls running down the sides of the wallls.. or, rather, they try to before the wind picks them up and scatters them.] [The room is, thusly, a lot like getting hit by a very very light, cold, water spray or mist in the wind.] * Arisa looks around and sighs. "So this is where it all happened, eh? * Taki shivers slightly and rubs her arms. [Julie walks for the chairs, probably for the shielding. "I've always assumed so... I wasn't at the crystal when it happened." She fights her way there and immediately flames up one of her hands. "By Or'ma'kal, that was unpleasant."] [Sheila follows up, getting wet and a bit shivery too, but she just says, "Wow... I bet this was really pretty, back before..." she looks to Julie, then to one of the waterfalls. * Taki forces he way over to the windows that the strongest winds are coming through and rubs her arms again. [This window, the highest place in the area, obviously, looks out on the lake. It's possible to see the edge of the lake from here, and even beyond, down onto the arid plains. And it's fucking windy.] [Julie waves her hand back at the pedastal. "That's where the crystal used to be, before my father." Bitter? Yes. She sighs and runs a hand along the chair's smooth arm.] * Arisa looks around the area where the crystal used to be. (*pokes Mecha in the /msg) [Water is flowing from underneath, as previousy described. It's silvered, big, and stable.] (What's big silvered and stable?) (The pedastal area where the crystal used to be.) * Taki closes he eyes and some of the water flowing down the streams seems to surge twords her, and it's suddenly much dryer around her as... 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 4. * Arisa frowns a little and turns to Julie. "Did the crystal just disintegrate? Where are the shards?" (Awesome!) [The water diverts and then starts to flow up the gap in the window, where it solidifies into a translucent pane.] * Taki opens her eyes. "That was harder than I expected." [The wind doesn't tear the ice window to bits. Sheila and Julie stare, before Julie comments, "Wh--I've never seen any shards."] If it is a true crystal, there would be shards when it shatters. I would suspect some remains. Is there *nothing* left? [Julie stands up slowly and says, with a faint smile, "You're the one looking. You tell me." She walks up towards it, carefully.] [Sheila walks around, and up to the window. "That's very wow, Takishimiru!" * Arisa mutters. "But you're the one that knows what this silly crystal looks like." She then goes about searching the area for shards. * Taki ignores Sheila and walks back to the closest of the streams and dips one of her fingers into it. (Roll a vision (not awareness) check! Ha ha! Dice dice dice! Ahem.) (Her?) (Arisa, yes.) [It's cold! Gasp.] (So any benefits from vision doesn't work?) (You have awareness, not vision.) ((This isn't low-light.)) (I know. But HA doesn't count?) (Right.) 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Arisa (2d8) and gets a natural 14 for a result of 14. (Ow.) (Stinker.) (Dice no likey the elves.) (Obviously picked up ND's prejudice.) (She's only half though. Thus should only get half prejudice.) (Snicker. Well, you didn't critfail.) (Besides, Arisa's far from a fruity elf.) * Taki puts her entire hand in and then tries to make a cylinder of ice. [Sheila puts her hand up against the window with a bit of awe. And Julie just looks at Arisa's search, flamed on at her hand.] 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-1) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 8. [Arisa doesn't find any crystal shards...] * Arisa frowns some more. "I need some help here." * Taki pulls her empty hand back out of the water and blinks at it, then she shakes her head. "That's odd." [Sheila and Julie look over at Arisa, Sheila, at least, says, "I can help!" Julie looks... less helpfully inclined.] [Sheila, however, gets distracted by the pretty giant pool of water that is underwhere the crystal used to be and scoops a hand through it before withdrawing quickly. "Aiie! Cold."] [Juiie glances to Taki and her waterplay, gives a glance to Shiela, then goes back towards the chair and sits back in it, with her warm hand.] * Arisa looks over at them and sighs, rubbing her head. "Look. If there's nothing left, we have nothing to go off of. Looking at the remains of a crystal might at least give us some clue." * Taki cups her hands and tries to lift some of the water out. "Oh, there's something still here." [Sheila shakes her hand off and tries to look around, helping Arisa. "Well, there's lot of water!"] * Arisa looks over at Taki for the first time. "Eh?" * Taki spreads her fingers and lets the water flow back out, then she stands. "The water doesn't seem to want to do what I want it to." And that's unusual I suppose. * Arisa goes up towards Taki and kneels next to her, looking at and in the water. It's not quite the same as fighting over it with Ha... with somebody, but it's not normal. [The water is clear and pure and other nice adjectives. Julie frowns, maybe in thought. "Strange... but I guess I don't know much about ice users." She looks back to where the crystal used to be for a moment.] [Sheila is getting more wet in her search, but this IS Sheila, so she just does it. Maybe she should get a Nike deal.) * Taki shakes the water off her hands and walks over to Julie and her souce of heat. So you're saying something else is controlling the water? Maybe. [Julie is still looking back a the pedestal as she shakes her head. "I don't see anything... but water is not my talent." A chuckle as she turns back and gets an eyfull of Taki. "Obviously."] * Arisa looks at Taki for a moment, then Julie. "What *could* potentially control the water here?" * Taki rubs her hands to warm them back up. [Julie shrugs. "I don't know... there is no crystal. Around our Jumo crystal, there is some oddity with techniques of the Op'Kahn. Sometimes easier, sometimes more difficult, but that's just generally due to the ebb and flow of the power..."] So is it possible that more of the crystal's essence survived than we think? [Julie ponders. "Maybe..." a small smile. "Maybe. It's nothing we could have seen without a water or ice user, though."] * Taki shrugs and walks over to the pool of water and looks in. As will be the wind crystal without a wind user. Though I've not the same control of Taki... [There's nothing visible! A giant pool of water, with some sort of hole-like source at the bottom. It's clear water. And the mechanism in the hole is completely not visible.] Where does it come from? [Sheila stands up next to Taki. "Whoo... nothing on the ground..."] [Julie shrugs. "I dunno, Taki." She stands up again. "I assume it's from deep below."] I suppose there's no way to see the source either. [She gestures idly with her flaming hand. "Well, I guess we could try to FIND it, down there wherever it is, but I've never seen it."] * Taki peers down into the pool. "If there's anything left, it'd be where your father didn't go." * Arisa frowns. "I just hope we do not have to dive..." (How big does the opening look from up here? Or can we not tell?) (Oh, it's a small opening. Maybe as big as your wrist.) [Julie sighs, then nods slightly. "Fine. Let's head back down, then?"] * Arisa nods and is already heading that way! Trust in your instincts. * Taki turns to look at Julie. "I want a map." [Julie starts to follow Arisa, then stops to look at Taki strangely. "A map? Of what?"] * Arisa doesn't hesitate for the stoppers, in a world all her own. Wander lust! * Taki gestures at the floor. "This whole place." [Julie continues to look at her strangely. "Why... would I have a map?"] * Taki shrugs. "Because it would make things easier." [Sheila leaves the Taki/Julie conversation to run down and follow Arisa, who makes it the pool room with massive whippy winds... and the direction de jour is down, to the left.] [Julie chuckles darkly and and says, "A lot of things I don't have would make this easier," as she starts walking.] Of course. * Taki makes a breif stop to pick up the axe and then follows the others out. * Arisa surveys the area while everyone else is pussyfooting around (Survey as in continue?) (Oh. Thought she made it already. Continue until there.) (Ah, okay.) [Sheila runs up after Arisa, bumping her slightly in the windyness from behind. "Oof! Sorry." They reach another room with water flowing downward and... more downward tunnels, where Arisa is directed second from the left.] Down is good. * Arisa follows her instincts, as always. Does she know where she's going? Who cares? She seems to. [And they head down... a large banquet-seeming room... another intersection... and then they eventually reach their first actual body of solid water in another intersection. It looks like the tunnels continue underwater, as well as another up.] * Arisa heads back up! [Sheila pouts. "Ah... wet end. Guess we went the wrong way?"] (Same tunnel or the diffeerent tunnel?) (Back up the way she came?) (No, different tunnel.) * Taki eyes the water and then Arisa. "Whatever." * Taki goes up. * Arisa calls back over her shoulder. "No one said you have to follow if you doubt me." [Sheila and Julie follow up, Sheila commenting, "Guess not!" Julie is just being silent. Maybe broody.] I have nothing better to do with my time than follow you around. Not enough inanimate objects to break? I see. * Taki doesn't respond to that. [Arisa leads them up to another room, and this one looks like most intersections but with one difference... one of the walls has a sloping water rivulet in it at an angle. Which makes sense, because it also has a strange screwlike structure in it, constantly pulling water up. An Archimedes Screw, as it were.] [Although maybe only Taki would know to call it that.) (I doubt it. She'd know what it did, but I doubt she'd remember the name.) * Arisa doesn't. Who's Archimedes? And what is he doing with screws? (Heh.) * Arisa looks arond this room. Is this the place? (Your sense guesses so!) * Arisa then looks at the screw structure. "It's beautiful." She grins at Taki. "See? Have I ever led you wrong?" I met you yesterday. (Ha.) And in that time, have I led you wrong? [Julie looks at the screw and mms. ... Sheila just goes, "Wow, that's really smart of the water people."] ( I'm here, but that might not be your fault.) I wouldn't know. [Julie says, "Well, nowhere obviously wrong." A small smile. "Well, at least that explains how it keeps working."] * Arisa huffs a little and crosses her arms. "Hmm?" * Taki walks around Arisa to get a better view of the screw. [It has wide blades, at an off-angle to the middle of the screw, which clerly catch the water and carry it upwards through the ceiling and to... somewhere. Probably the fount or something like it.] [Julie looks over to Huffy McHalf-elf. "Hmm what?"] How does it keep working? * Taki puts her free hand near the screw and closes her eyes. [She looks at it. "It... turns a lot? I don't know how they made something like this out of this stone..."] 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-2) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 4. Well...you are being very helpful just bringing us here. * Arisa looks about. "I wonder if the wind crystal is the same way." * Taki opens her eyes again as a small icecube forms and starts to make its way up. "Whatever it was, it's not here." [Julie mms, then says, "What way?"] Shattered without a trace. * Arisa then looks at Taki. "No? Then perhaps it *is* the essense of the crystal." ["Oh." Beat. "Probably... I don't see why water would be special like that."] Maybe. [She nods slightly, then, "But what that means for us..."] It means that if the essense survived, perhaps there is still hope of containing that essence. [She glances to Arisa then just says, "I guess... but I have no idea how. Nobody would..."] [Sheila watches the ice cube go all the way up, then says, "It's still good news!"] So it would seem. That is why I hoped for some of the crystal. Remember what happened last I tried to touch a crystal... [Sheila ohs and nods. "Riiiiight."] Now if we could only find it. That seems to be the problem, yes. Is there a way to detect it? [Sheila complains, "But it's not up top anywhere! I don't think we'll find any old crystal. That was a long time ago."] [Julie shakes her head slightly. "Not that I know of. You could ask Va'bul's arm."] * Arisa sighs and rubs her head. "Again. It seems like we just run around in circles. Is there not one thing we can do on their own?" (their=our, oy I'm getting tired. x.x) [Julie chuckles and smiles to herself. "Well, you do well at somethings." Beat. "Like fighting."] (You and me both!) * Taki looks up at her axe. "I suppose I could hunt it down with a game of cold and colder." * Arisa blinks at Julie and stammers a bit, then starts. "I'm n-not..." She finishes lamely. It seems like there should be more there but she never adds it. ( Well, I was going to say 'I'm sure you can do well at sex', but I think you'd explode. ...) (Nah. Then that'd eliminate the whole "subtlety" thing they've got going.) (Snicker.) ( Kill.) (At least TAki is simple.) [Sheila says, helpfully, "Well, if we have to ask, we should ask!"] * Arisa turns to Taki and stands up a little stiffer than usual. "Miss Taki! I *insist* that you use whatever it takes to find a shard! Any little bit may help!" You can hardly see the freckles anymore, she's so red. * Taki shrugs. "Perhaps I'll have found something by the time you get there." 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-3) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 6. * Taki vanishes. * Arisa makes her way back the hard way. Is she stomping? Maybe. Anyway, her movements do seem stiffer than usual. [Sheila blinks, and Julie follows. She seems self-amused, but that fades.] ( I'm sleeping alone tonight, aren't I? ;_;) (Snicker.) (That's not a change!)