[Celestial Arms] Ancient Temple Exploration/ Part 5 [Party]

[Varis]

After Varis had successfully brought the Restored Cuneiform, thanks to Sayha and her contact named Saeko who restored the Cuneiform to its original self; to the Sage only to reveal a piece of the puzzle that Varis is piecing together little by little. Either by his own scenario mind games that his mind tends to create, or with the actual facts that has occurred so far. Or sometimes even use both at the same time to see what possible outcomes comes from which one that comes to mind. Then the Sage whom Varis had spoken to requested Varis to go to the temple of Ultima Thule, located in the Isle of Thule. Which he happened to agree to it where he would begin his departure for the treacherous temple due to the storms with the helpful aid of Sayha whom Varis has yet to know what her true intentions are for aiding him. Quite frankly he really doesn't care for what her motive is something that isn't a concern of his.

"So what exactly are we supposed to find in this old place anyways? I know we were supposed to see what we could find, but that Sage never did say anything in particular. For all that sage knows I could bring a pottery shard and just that was all I could find around here." Varis spoke up to Sayha as they had made their way over to the entrance of the temple. Which he has been rather quiet for the most part aside from where they were supposed to be going, so for him speaking now would pretty much be the first time he's really spoken since they left Londinium. While he was messing with the toothpick between his teeth with his tongue, he kind of reaches up to take the pick out for a bit before putting it back in between his teeth.

Word Count: 315

[Deleted]

After Varis received the next portion of the quest, the two of them had made their way to the Isle of Thune. It looked just how Sayha had left it when she was their last; of course it really wasn’t that long ago so it was of no surprise. The two of them walked through what was once the town there, Sayha guessed, and then they proceeded to the entrance of the temple. Varis, along the way, had asked her what they were to be looking for.

“In the center of the temple is a fountain,” Sayha replied. At that moment, she realized that it wasn’t safe to keep too many things hidden from Varis. “In the fountain will be a small relic called the <Pebble of Philosophy>. Once you retrieve the Pebble, a monster known as Brachyura will appear from the fountain water and attack us to get the Pebble back.”

“You asked me once before why I don’t trust the Sages,” Sayha continued, “Let’s just say it’s from past experience helping them. When we first met, I told you I had agreed to help them but didn’t complete the quest. Well, I haven’t seen them since I started the last portion of the quest… I haven’t and neither has my guild leader, Hiro. We both went and completed the second portion of the quest together, and we both realized that there’s more to what’s going on than what the Sages are willing to tell us. I figured the best course of action for the time being was to keep a close eye on the Sages and to help those who would need help doing the quest since I know what happens next.”

“I know that it’s a lot to process right now, and I’m wouldn’t be surprised if you thought I was crazy,” Sayha looked into the temple door, “Once you go through this doorway, there’s no going back. If you want to back out now, this is your one and only chance.”

Words: 335 | Total Words: 335
Varis
Coding by Sayha of LH

[Varis]

Varis had nodded his head a bit when she first replied, and in truth he was going to leave it at that and continue on looking for the fountain. But then Sayha continued on saying that he needs to find a small relic called the <<Pebble of Philosophy>> at the fountain. Not to mention of what would happen if he takes the relic would cause the guardian he assumed that she named as Brachyura. All of which he took note to heart for he would have to keep an open mind about that. For all he knows she could've missed a detail about something in this area, though he does kind of doubt that she would miss something unless it was absolutely trivial as can be.

Varis would actually be looking around at his surroundings a bit as she had finally answered Varis's question which he had asked back at Londinium though he dismissed the question himself to turn that fragment to the Sage. He listened to her reasons of why she doesn't trust the sages to the point where she hasn't turned in her quest yet he too was wondering of why neither she nor her guildmaster Hiro could find. Not to mention they apparently discovered something that the Sages weren't willing to tell them in the beginning. Which he would happen to relate for the Sage he was talking to only spoke of what it was Varis needed to find and where to get it, but the Sage never did explained what its purpose was. On top of that Varis had noted the fact that the Sage was hesitant on speaking like it was trying to find the right words to say and what not to say. Though Varis was quiet the entire time that Sayha was explaining, he was listening to her words and practically taking every note of it to heart for her information could come in handy one of these days. Whether its for the quest or for something else. "Well, i'll tell you what. The next time I see the Sage i'll go speak and try to get anything out of them that might be useful while you do what you've been doing. But at any rate I think the sense of doubt wouldn't do us any good especially if we're going to fight something. That doesn't mean that i'm dismissing what you've said, it just means that my main focus would be on the battle and my party which currently only has you in it since no one has really joined up on a party with me until recently."

Word Count: 436

Total Word Count: 751

[Deleted]

Varis listened to her as she did her explanation. He seemed to be taking it in stride, but at the same time she had a feeling he didn’t completely believe her. That wasn’t surprising at all. Also, Varis was looking around, taking in his surroundings. That was good. He would probably need to remember the details later.

After a few moments, Varis said that he would speak to the Sage to try to get anything useful so that Sayha could go back to just studying them. He went on to say that they should focus more on getting in the mindset to fight. She couldn’t fault his logic and nodded to him. She was already ready; it was Varis she was concerned about.

Shrugging it off, she motioned to Varis for him to follow her. She turned back to the entrance and made her way though. After going through a few corridors, the walked into the main room where the fountain was in the center. She slowly made her way to the fountain and looked in. The water was just how she remembered it, and it looked just as deep. Down there, she saw a shimmering, knowing exactly what it was. She didn’t have the net that she used to fish the Pebble out of the water so the two of them would probably have to come up with another method to get it out.

“Well, here’s the fountain,” Sayha turned to Varis. At that moment, she pulled her own <Pebble of Philosophy> out of her pocket to show him, “This is the item that you’re going to be getting. There’s another in the fountain, but we’re going to have to come up with our own way of getting it out. I used a net before, but I no longer have that net with me.” After she showed him, she put the Pebble back into her pocket.

Words: 317 | Total Words: 652
Varis
Coding by Sayha of LH

[Varis]

Varis was looking around when they entered the main chamber where the fountain awaits in the midst of the chamber. Trying to make certain there wasn't any monsters hiding behind corners or anything like that as he had his hand on his hand on his katana while he was thoroughly searching the entire chamber to make sure there wasn't anything hidden such as treasure or even monsters. Luckily there wasn't anything to be found so Varis walked back to Sayha with his hand taken off his katana before she began explaining what exactly the relic looks like by taking out hers for him to see. Seeing as how they need some kind of tool in order to get the relic out of the water, which would require a net or something of that nature. He placed his hand under his chin as he softly hummed to himself for a few seconds. "Hmm... I see..." Then Varis turned his attention to his coat that he has on and his shirt on top of that. However first of all he would draw out his katana and dip the blade into the water after he had taken his coat off so that the water could go up to his shoulder comfortably a bit. Once he got the idea of what he is dealing with, he draws his katana out from the water and sets it aside next to the fountain. "I don't know if this would work, but its worth a shot at least. Is that Brachyura in there yet or does it spawn the moment I remove the pebble?" He asked as he was removing his belt that held the scabbard of his katana before he took his katana back in his hand. What he was about to do is going to seem crazy, but it seems like he's about to take a dip in the water.

Word Count: 315

Total Word Count: 1,066

[Deleted]

Sayha watched Varis curiously. It appeared he was trying to figure out the depth of the fountain, and he was taking off his belt, sheath, and katana.

“For me,” Sayha started, “I used a net to pull up the Pebble. The guardian didn’t appear until after I held it in my hand when the Pebble activated itself. The guardian was drawn to the activation of the Pebble rather than the Pebble itself. What you see at the bottom is not Brachyura but the Pebble.”

“Once you touch the Pebble,” Sayha continued, “Is when the fight begins. I don’t know how deep the fountain is, and it might be too deep for you to swim down there. Once you get it, you should probably bring it to the surface if you can and avoid touching it if at all possible. It will be easier to fight the guardian above ground than in the water. We can kite up here whereas we may have breathing trouble down there. Also, I’ll go down there with you if you want.”

If Sayha were to go down there in the water, she would keep all of her equipment on. Unlike Varis, Sayha had two katanas and not a very good way to swim down carrying both. If she had just one it wouldn’t have been a problem.

“Be careful, Varis,” Sayha said, “If you do see Brachyura down there before you touch the Pebble, come up and get me first so we can maybe get a head start fighting it. It’s not an easy boss to fight. Kiting will be our best bet unless you know how to tank well.”

Sayha was thinking about telling him about what happened to her during the fights, but she chose not to say anything. It was an experience he would need to see for himself.

((OOC: Go ahead and get the Pebble in your next post and start Stage 6. You can tag me in the stage 6 thread using @ shadowsaiph without the space so I can get to it right away))

Words: 307 | Total Words: 959
Tags
Coding by Sayha of LH

[Varis]

"I see... that's good to know at least, but if its too deep for me to swim back up in time then I would more likely touch it just so that this Brachyura would come and I can hitch a ride up. So be ready if it suddenly busts out of the water in that kind of situation." Though it was probably useless to say as such since she has more experience with fighting this creature than he does altogether. Then again he is the weakest one around here, and probably throughout Elder's Tale for the most part. But he figured that he might as well go ahead to warn her of what he was planning on doing before he initiates his plan for he might sustain some damage from drowning but hopefully that would be about it.

Without further ado, he dives into the fountain with his katana in his hand while keeping his eyes open so that he would have vision in the growing abyss that threatens to swallow him whole. Everything was practically quiet to his ears save for the muffled sounds of movement echoing from his strokes. Each time he stroke he descends deeper and deeper into the fountain until it feels like he's about to get crushed for being underwater being too deep. Varis would flip his body while performing the final stroke with his arms so that he could plant his feet on the stone floor. Though his movements were a bit slowed due to the pressure surrounding his limbs, he bent to his knees before he took the pebble into his hand as suddenly a lot of foreign memories surged through his mind. As soon as he touched the pebble, something was materializing in the water that was creating a lot of bubbles which kind of limited his vision a bit. He kicked off from the stone floor to get up to the surface while beginning to stroke his arms to ascend further. Daring his luck, he looked down just in time as a claw of a crab surged up towards Varis who quickly stroked his arms not to ascend but to perform a back flip underwater where he plants his feet on the upper part of the claw that was away from the pincer part before he kicked off again to ascend higher. Eventually he broke surface before he pulled himself up from the fountain just before something burst from water as another claw of a crab swung down to clamp its pincers onto Varis. However Varis suddenly got faster as one frame he was there about to get pinched by a large claw and with a blur following his presence he leapt back roughly at 14 feet away from the claw with his katana in hand and the pebble clenched tightly in his other hand.

Word Count: 474

Total Word Count: 1,540

@shadowsaiph