The Chosen [IC / Not Accepting / PG-16]

[Skaia 578]

As the plan to go and speak with the minotaurs had been decided on, Ryia looked to see Keres's hand nudging her own. Looking at the girl, then to the minotaurs then back to the rest of the group, Ryia said, "I'll um, I'll go with them too. I'd uh, probably stick out if I didn't. Anyway." With that out of the way, the group had split up and began making their way over to the two guards. As they were halted by them, Ryia froze up suddenly coming across the exact same complication she had when she had recommended that they talk first. She didn't have the first clue as to what to say to get a group of aggressive bull men to speak honestly about whatever suspicious activity they were plotting. Nor did she think she was likely to be listened by them either. However, thankfully Reinaan had stepped up and began conversation first. The girl simply went along with what he was saying, but couldn't help but let out an, "eh?" as the draken mentioned a strength of contest between the two. Though she knew he was strong, she felt less confident in the test of strength seeing him and his opponent standing right next to each other. 

Regardless, it seemed that the Minotaur was willing to go along with the terms as well as face off against Reinaan. Standing behind the Draken, the girl gulped as the battle started. The Fire Chosen had managed to get an early surge of strength which likely took the Minotaur by surprise, pushing him back. However, after that surge, the Minotaur managed to gain his foot and take full advantage of his size and weight, pushing back against Reinaan. As the Draken boy was shoved back, the girl merely cheered out a, "uh, c-come on Reinaan. You uh, you can do it." It was at that moment the girl remembered that she was supposed to be the judge for if Reinaan was pushed too far back and declare the minotaur's victory. Did that mean that she was supposed to root for his victory too? As she had came here with Reinaan, she figured that she probably wasn't, but just in case so as not to offend the bull-men, the girl said, "and uh...you too...Minotaur...." The girl fumbled through the whole thing, now frowning and wondering if she had only really managed to offend everyone more than actually be polite. The only thing she really knew so far was that cheering was difficult. 

[Hollow 21]

Lindow peered back and Damien for a moment before nodding. He felt the paranoia from earlier bubbling in his stomach once again. “Let’s give them a second…” He said whilst ducking down and observing the other group’s attempt at distracting the minotaur. He couldn’t hear them from this distance of course, but after a few a minute or so it seemed that Reinaan of all people had managed to rope the guards into some kind of game. 

“Looks like the boy has finally found his audience.” The witch hunter remarked dryly before motioning Damien to follow. “Let’s play the wind. See if we can spot anything if we circle around. If not, perhaps we can see about getting inside whilst they’re distracted..." Though this wasn't his first time infiltrating enemy territory, for some reason the man felt nervous as began his brawl towards the other side of the tower. Steading his breathing, he was careful to keep any eye on the other group with each step.  
 

[LordCowCow 839]

Keres watched as the odd strength contest began. She wasn't too pleased at the three of them being placed as far apart as they were but she could at least see what the Draken was going for.

At least she thought she did. It could be that he really did just want to test his strength. She thought that he was giving her some kind of hint but it was hard to tell. She wasn't good at reading Draken facial expressions. Still she stayed in her position and watched the two push at each other. She especially watched the minotaur. Having not met many before it was interesting to see just how similar to bulls they were. Their legs were even different than most. She started to wonder what the females must look like when she was distracted by Ryia.

Was she supposed to be saying something motivational? Ryia herself seemed confused about it as well as she said encouragement to both sides. "Uh. Keep pushing." she said awkwardly.

While Reinaan had initially pushed the minotaur back the size of the bull-man alone made it difficult to get any farther and the minotaur began to push Reinaan back. Though it looked as though the minotaur's hoof was struggling to find purchase and he almost fell down.

Evidently embarrassed by it the minotaur let out a loud snort and began to grip Reinaan's hands tighter. Threatening to crush them as he moved himself back into proper position.

Keres was about to do something. Call it out. Or stop him somehow. In some way help Reinaan. But the other minotaur was nearby. He looked down at her with a smirk and started to speak in his language. Smacking his chest and laughing. She wasn't sure what he was trying to say but she was highly uncomfortable and wasn't sure she'd be able to do anything with him leering down at her like that.

---

“Let’s play the wind. See if we can spot anything if we circle around. If not, perhaps we can see about getting inside whilst they’re distracted..."

Damien smirked at Lindow. "Well, how dramatic. Sure, let's." The pair took a longer way around to slip behind some buildings on the way from their starting position and the tower. Lindow would see that Damien stepped lightly. As though used to traveling across unstable terrain without making sound. As they circled around they could see the minotaurs with their group in the distance. "Looks like the kids are keeping them company." Damien muttered. He had his eye on the one that looked to be a leader. But even he was watching the going-ons. Though he seemed to be growing impatient as he barked at them to hurry it up.

"Now or never, I'd say." Damien whispered as he started across towards the entrance of the tower. A door which was already partially opened.

Damien slipped inside without much of a problem and Lindow would too unless something went wrong on the way there.

The inside was rather bright, given that there was a large hole in the tower, and the sun showed all the dust and debris readily. Inside of it looked to be the remnants of some kind of workshop. Along the walls were torn tapestries and there were shelves filled with vials and glasses. If they once contained something other than dust it was impossible to tell now.

There didn't seem to be much of note besides that. Except that they weren't alone inside the tower.

A human girl was pacing back and forth and staring at an empty spot on the floor.

Tapping her finger to her chin she passed by the same spot a few times before nodding. "I thought so." She then moved forward and knelt down. Raising a hand, which began to glow, she murmured some words and a a flash of light followed. Once it faded there was a large treasure chest sitting at the spot she had been staring at. "Perfect. Now then, let's just take care of this the old fashioned way." She then produced what looked like a set of lockpicks and, tongue poking out of the side of her mouth, she started to get to work at the lock.

Spoiler

Note: They may be ears in the picture but that's just hair here; she's human.

 

[Doggo 218]

As the test of strength continued, Reinaan was less than thrilled to feel the pain in his hands as the Minotaur attempted to crush them. If his opponent wanted to play at that game he could return it in spades. While he had been careful to avoid it to this point, Reinaan began closing his grip as much as he good and drove his claws into the back of the Minotaur's hands, drawing blood in the process. The Minotaur clearly didn't appreciate this and the Draken soon found himself getting pushed back even faster than he had been. No matter how he tried to dig into place and stop the advance there was just too much of a gap in strength. Still, he didn't count himself out just yet.

"Oh, so it's only fine if you do it huh?" the managed to grunt out as wisps of flame licked at his lips. He had hoped that calling the beast man out on his less than sportsmanlike conduct might give him an opening but there was no such luck. The minotaur only snorted and continued his advance. It was at this point that Ziiyol appeared at Reinaan's side, immensely curious as to what her partner was currently engaged in doing. Given the minotaurs hadn't reacted to her presence, Reinaan could only assume she hadn't appeared to them.

"Oh my. He looks like he could pick you up and throw you." Ziiyol commented first with a bit of a laugh. Reinaan groaned while looking at her. This really wasn't the time for her to be distracting him. "I do love how you challenge the norm Reiny. Even a fully grown Draken might hesitate to grapple with one of these creatures." she observed. Of course she had to point out he hadn't finished growing. That was only adding to the boy's frustration as he continued to lose ground. He glared at his spirit again as she began twirling about in the air. "My, so determined. Even though Flux already told you we can't sense the gate nearby. You really want to win this..." she said, clearly deep in thought. Reinaan couldn't well speak to her or the Minotaurs would know he was up to something. "I could help you, if that's what you want. It's not exactly your own power but you are the Chosen of Fire so you're entitled to it for the sake of our mission. But if I do help you here I might want something in return..." she trailed off playfully. Reinaan lost the frustration with her to let her know to just do it, whatever she wanted. "Very well. I'll inform you after Reiny!" Ziiyol cheered as she dissipated into her partner.

With his spirit absorbed into him, Reinaan received a rush of power, physical included. The minotaur's progress halted as sparks danced around the boy's scales. And soon instead Reinaan was the one pushing the Minotaur back. With a cocky air the Draken got the minotaur back to the mid point they had started at. And yet he kept going. At least three of the ten feet past the mid point to Keres were crossed before the boy's progress slowed again. The minotaur seemed to be getting increasingly angry and with his anger was finding new strength. It wouldn't be long before the two stopped in place again. Reinaan glanced behind him to Ryia and ahead of him to Keres. Did he still need another push to win? Just how strong were minotaurs anyway?

[Skaia 578]

Ryia watched as Reinaan and the minotaur continued to push against each other. It was very clear to her that the Minotaur had the upper hand and she was starting to worry for Reinaan. However, the fight didn't seem entirely lost as Reinaan had managed to gain a surge of strength to push back against the beast-man. Of course, Ryia could see that this was due to the aid of the spirit's magic. As a result, her excitement to Reinaan's mounting comeback was a bit dulled. After all, even if this was to help figure out just what the minotaurs were doing, she still couldn't help but feel a bit like they were cheating and that certainly put a damper on the competition. Yet still, she could see that even with Ziyol's help Reinaan was still having trouble. And again, this was important. 

Reluctantly, the girl thought, "Ackrin." 

"Yes." 

"Could uh...could you throw like a stone or two...at the uh, Minotaur's feet. Just uh, two." The girl stressed, not wanting to launch an entire volley at once at him. 

"I can."

There was a pause. "W-will you?" 

"Would you like me to?" 

"...Yes..."

With confirmation, the spirit trotted over past the fights and past Keres. Then, turning to face the back of the Minotaur's legs it conjured two stones low to the ground, then firing them towards the legs of the minotaur.

[Hollow 21]

Though he hadn't expected to find another human when the entered the tower, Lindow didn't visibly react to the sight of the woman. Holding his hand up slightly to signal Damien to halt. He observed as she used magic to reveal some kind of treasure chest that had been hidden amongst the ruins of the building. For a moment he contemplated grabbing her from behind and placing a blade to her throat. She hadn't them noticed them yet, and given the circumstances, it was very likely that she was here with the lovely crowd outside. 

However, after playing at the notion for a few moments, he decided to risk waiting to see if she actually managed to open the chest before making his move. If it came down to it, they would just have to try taking her hostage... they clearly needed her for whatever they were planning, and that made her valuable. It wasn't like one of the brutes outside would be able to fill in if she were compromised after all. Holding his breath, Lindow watched the women carefully as he silently took a step closer, his body ready to spring into action the moment he sensed a disturbance.  

Edited May 16, 2020 by Hollow

[LordCowCow 839]

With an angry snort the minotaur pushed harder than before. The rage building overcoming the boost that Reinaan had given himself and the young draken found himself back on the defensive. Slowly he started to get pushed back towards the middle of the imaginary ring they had formed.

However the bull-man winced suddenly as he felt sharp stinging on the back of his legs.

Next to her Keres noticed the minotaur start to look over towards his companion again. Hurriedly the girl splashed some water across him and cast a brief illusion spell. It wouldn't last long but it would appear to the minotaur that the one pushing Reinaan was winning their bout and that there hadn't been any disturbances. He seemed to lose interest quickly and turned back towards the girl who just looked up at him blankly in response.

The sneak attack had caused the minotaur to buckle a bit though and lose his footing. Which let Reinaan surge forward to push the minotaur farther.

As the bull-man tried to get back his footing and stop himself; a loud noise caught everyone's attention...

---

The girl didn't so much as twitch as the two entered. Clearly entirely focused on the task ahead of her she didn't hear nor see any sort of disturbance. "Come on, don't be so shy, open on up and show me what you're hiding." She said as she worked at the lock. It clicked and her face lit up.

Then she started to lift the box and another click, more like a clunk, could be heard. The girl's face fall and Lindow could hear an "Oops." come out before the box suddenly exploded.

The force of the blast could be felt by the two men, though they seemed entirely unharmed. When the dust settled they could see why. The girl was standing up with both hands outstretched and, surrounding her, was a transparent barrier of light that had stopped the blast. At least in that direction.

Though they all would notice that the wall on the other side now had a large crack along it and the tower itself seemed to be shaking slightly. "Well, what a rude trap that was!" The girl huffed. "I suppose this one was a dud as well; now then, I'd better get out of here."

Spoiler

Reinaan is winning the competition when suddenly...that group will have heard the explosion. As would the minotaurs.

Also, for Hollow, the girl is starting to turn so she'll see Lindow in your post if he doesn't go before she turns. That being said doesn't mean that her seeing Lindow is necessarily a bad thing just figured I'd let you know of the timing.

 

[Skaia 578]

Ryia had felt a similarly complicated feeling as she had not moments ago when Reinaaan had begun winning out. Because he was winning yet again, though yet again it was due to the aid of magic. Ryia supposed that the feeling of using to magic aid in this contest should probably make her feel worse, as this time it was her own magic aiding, but still the enthusiasm she felt watching her side start to win helped trump said feelings. Just as cheering had been, competitions too were complicated matters. Before their showdown could be decided, though a explosion resounded and had interrupted the contest of strength. 

Ryia immediately snapped to look in the direction of the tower, seeing it shake a bit as it was clear the explosion had come from that direction. Without looking to the others, Ryia began to rush in the direction of the tower, the two other minotaur as well stopping everything and running in that direction as well. They had been faster to getting to it then her, and as she tried to look inside, the girl simply shouted out, "i-is everything alright in there?" One of the minotaur had turned towards her and simply grunted aggressively. Ryia didn't really know what to make of that, but she figured that things were not in fact alright. Still, she couldn't exactly force her way in and so she waited to see what more the minotaur could tell her.

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan was frustrated with the whole situation. He just wanted to win and yet he couldn't do it on his own. And even with Ziiyol he still couldn't do it. But thankfully, the other two Chosen had intervened stealthily enough to not draw attention and the boy was now really gaining some ground. At this point, he'd talked such a big game and lied through his teeth. His pride needed the win more than it needed it to be done fairly. With the minotaur's footing in a bad shape the boy rallied his strength for another great push to end it all when the attention of everyone on the scene was taken away all at once. A large booming noise from inside the tower as Ryia and the two free minotaurs rushed to the door to inspect what had happened. But that wasn't all. Reinaan's opponent had relinquished his grip on the boy and rushed to the side of his fellow minotaurs, leaving the contest unfinished and the Draken feeling deflated and conflicted. Adding to this, he released Ziiyol from his body, the brief combination draining some of his stamina.

"Did we win?" Ziiyol asked as she reappeared, giggling near uncontrollably. Reinaan just stared at the tower and how close he now stood the line he had to push his opponent to.

"No... no we didn't." he said in a defeated tone. After a moment he slapped his hands to his face as if trying to make himself focus and made his way to the front of the tower.

"That sounded like it had to be magical. We'll help you if we can." Reinaan offered to the Minotaurs, uncertain if they'd want to humor them anymore. But they hadn't directly outraged them yet and Reinaan wanted to keep things that way. He wasn't asking for information since he hadn't won the contest and doubted they would want to let them inside. He only hoped it wasn't Lindow and Damien getting into trouble.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Doggo

[Hollow 21]

The explosion triggered by the booby trap was quite loud. Too loud to afford them more than a minute before the minotaur outside came storming in. Springing  forward from the entrance, Lindow quickly closed the distance between himself and the girl without a sound. Though instead of subduing her like he originally planned, he found himself tightly gripping her shoulder. 

“What do you think you’re doing?!”  He barked with the gruff authoritative tone reserved for his men in the field. There would be no chance of diplomacy if the men outside stumbled into a hostage situation… 

“UnHAND me you brute." Was her response. Followed by a swift smack to the face that surprisingly compelled him to let go despite the fact that it didn’t actually hurt. "I'm leaving this broken-down old tower and I'd suggest you do the same."

Keeping his hand hovering in the air near the strange woman, Lindow narrowed his eye and growled. "We would, but it seems you've parked three reasons not to outside... what are you searching for out here? His tone was stern now, but her demeanor made it hard to consider her a threat. "We're not here for a fight, but if you're planning to introduce the tribe to the Demon realm, then I'm afraid it's over for you."

"All I'm doing is what they hired me to do." She snapped back. "I do not threaten easily. Especially not because of some brutish thug like yourself."

"We're no ordinary thugs, and that wasn't a threat." He sighed, relaxing his posture. "We have reason to believe that the tribe is looking for something that's best not be messed with. If you can just confirm that it's nothing of concern, that would be lovely- because then me and my people could leave." 

 The tower rumbled and she rolled her eyes. "I don't care if you leave or stay to get buried if this place falls but I'm not sticking around." With that, she began making for the entrance.

He glanced towards the unstable structure above them. She was right, this wasn't a smart place to be standing at all. "Clearly bullheadedness is rampant around here... I'm telling you all this to avoid a full scale battle breaking out." The Thunder Chosen persisted a final time before the minotaur appeared in the doorway. 

 "I'm just trying to get paid here." She remarked with finality before addressing the figures at the entrance.  . "You lot sure took your time." 

Backing up slightly, Lindow moved his left hand to one of the swords on his hip whilst bringing his right up to show he meant no harm. All that was left to do was watch to see what would happen.
 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Hollow

[LordCowCow 839]

The lead among the minotaur eyed Ryia and Reinaan. Both who seemed to be concerned with what was going on inside. "Stay back." He grunted. "We'll deal with this. I told you. This is our spot. You go find another spot to search."

Keres wasn't sure what the minotaur thought they were here for but she also didn't think it would be a good idea to be upfront about what their goal was. If they were lucky they could get away with pretending to be treasure hunters or something of that ilk.

She tried glancing around the three hairy bodies to see if the other two were still inside but she couldn't see past them. Especially as she had hung back to avoid from getting within arm's reach of the burly beast-men.

The girl was surprised at hearing the feminine voice speaking up. A voice that brought back memories of certain types of girls when she was learning in the tower. It sounded as though these minotaur had some companion that had been inside the tower. Which would explain why none of them had actually gone inside, now that she thought about it.

The girl who came out of the tower, causing the three minotaur to back up, saw Ryia and Reinaan and raised an eyebrow. "So there's more of you? Whatever is bringing so many out here at this time. Pretty suspicious a 'coincidence' isn't it?"

The lead minotaur grunted towards the other two and one of them moved closer to the entrance, and Lindow and Damien.

Both of whom were trying to keep their hands away from their weapons even as the minotaur started to grunt and speak to them in a language Lindow didn't understand. Though apparently Damien did. "Uhh, I think he wants to know why we're here. He thinks we're trying to...steal something from them. Look, I don't know what you thought was here but there's nothing in there okay?"

The minotaur snorted and shook his weapon at the two of them. "Calm down there, no need for talk of mothers."

Meanwhile the other of the two, the one Reinaan had been contesting, glowered at Reinaan and Ryia. He was grunting and gesturing at Lindow and Damien before pointing an accusatory finger Reinaan.

Both pairs, and Keres, would be able to hear the conversation between the leader of the three and the unknown girl.

"You said it'd be here." He said, sounding angry.

"I said it MIGHT be here. MIGHT. You wanted ruins I showed you ruins. Don't blame me for it being empty."

"This was supposed to be last place. If not here, where?" He said, stepping towards her.

"You back off you glorified farm animal." The girl sputtered and a flash of light appeared between the two. Causing the minotaur to back away a few steps. "You take it up with your chief. This is what he hired me for. I'm doing what I was told and I will not have you bellowing at me for it." Despite the size difference the girl seemed unafraid of the minotaur. Hands on her hips as she looked up at him with a scolding expression.

"What now then?" The minotaur grumbled. "There must be more."

The girl seemed to hesitate for the first time. "Well, perhaps. It's possible." She didn't say more despite the minotaur pressing her about it. All three of the bull-men seemed to be growing more agitated.

Meanwhile Keres was watching the girl. Something clicked in her mind and she widened her eyes for a brief moment before going back to her normal expression.

Spoiler

Tension is high so basically now you get to figure out how to either lower tension or deal with this some other way.

 

[Skaia 578]

Ryia was surprised at the sight of a human girl being among these minotaurs, and even more so that she seemed to be doing business with them. She didn't have much to say to their being here being suspicious. She as well didn't have much to say to the accusations of the minotaurs, both the one that Damien had translated for them as well as the one that seemed to be very angry with Reinaan. All the same, it was clear that things were going south and Ryia wasn't quite sure how to get away from this predicament, both because she had no idea what was going on with this new human as well as not able to actually speak with most of the minotaur. So, she tried to do the only thing she could think of. Looking at the human girl and the minotaurs, she asked, "um, excuse me. But uh, what's uh, going on?"

The minotaur in front of her grunted. The common-speaking one ignored her but the girl responded. "Nothing to worry about. I was just showing them around to the various ruins around here. It's one of my many specialties."

"Ruins?" Ryia looked at the tower, noting it's very crumbling and unsteady appearance.  Looking back to the girl again she asked, "what uh, what kind of ruins are around here?"

The girl laughed and shook her head. "Oh ye of little knowledge. There were whole cities long ago that have been abandoned or destroyed." She started walking around the minotaur but he stopped her with a raised hand and a grunt.

The girl gave a nervous laugh, both at the girl's comment and the dismissive minotaur. "Yeah, I'm not - not particularly knowledgeable on history. Or well, a lot of things." Thinking back to the formations she saw earlier, the girl said, "but do uh, do places around here frequently fall prey...to monsters, that is."

"No less than any other place I'd imagine." She said with a shrug. "Who are you people, anyway? You don't look like treasure hunters." She glanced around and saw Keres. Her gaze lingered a bit before passing her by.

Giving another nervous laugh Ryia answered, "we're...adventurers. We're not really looking for treasure, really - but well, we still uh, look for ruins. Sort of." Seeming to realize she was forgetting something the girl said, "right, um, I'm Ryia. Nice - nice to meet you."

The girl placed one hand on her chest and extended the other, "and I am Madelyn, master of magic and expert on many subjects. Well, adventurer, what sort of ruins are you looking for, because..."

The minotaur grunted again and said "Speak no more of this."

The girl backed off a bit saying, "uh, right. Well, a pleasure to meet you still, Madelyn." 

[Hollow 21]

Lindow tried is best to follow the multiple conversations that had broken out whilst still keep his eyes on the minotaur at the doorway. It seemed like he had made the right decision by not acting aggressively out the gate, and now they also had an opportunity to learn some new information if they played their cards right. 

“Maybe slip in that this building is gonna fall on the lot of us any minute now…” He urged Damien quietly before tuning back into the exchange between Ryia and Madeylyn. From what he could tell, it wasn’t completely out of the question that this woman might have information that would lead them to the Demon Gate. The only problem was that the minotaur didn’t seem like they had any interest in letting the group borrow her…

“She might be our only chance at a lead.” He spoke again through his teeth, low enough for Damien to hear. For now he could only hope that the other three chosen wouldn’t let this opportunity slip, and be ready to use force if came down to it.
 

[Doggo 218]

Between the apparent irritation of the minotaurs and the accusatory point he had received from his opponent earlier, Reinaan backed up somewhat nervously from the building. This would be a less than ideal situation to get attacked up he felt. If each of the beastmen were as strong as the one he'd been wrestling a fight with three at once seemed less than safe. Of course, the feeling soon shifted to confusion as a human woman walked out of the doorway, with Damien and Lindow coming into view soon after. The woman and the minotaurs argued for a bit, apparently she'd been trying to help them find something but the results seemed less than ideal. Ryia soon began speaking with the woman who eventually introduced herself as Madelyn. Apparently she specialized in ruins and there were abandoned cities in the area, this building being but a part of the available spoils. If the minotaurs were hiring a woman like this to take them to various ruins, was it possible they didn't actually have the Gate yet? Regardless, it seemed wise to get more information out of the woman before she left with the minotaurs but they didn't seem very keen on letting her talk more about the subject.

"We were just looking for something super magical and mysterious..." Reinaan started. Despite the minotaur's silencing Madelyn he had to hope he could goad them into agreeing to what he wanted again so long as the appeal was good enough. For that matter he had to hope the woman took enough pride in her expertise for this to get them anything. "But it's really out there, I guess you probably wouldn't know." the draken said, trying to hold back just how cheeky he wanted to be with this despite lacking the ground for such an attitude about things. Someone would have to remind him he was only about to win his competition because of three different magical interventions.

[LordCowCow 839]

"Yeah well that's all well and good but what d'you want me to do about it?" Damien asked Lindow.

Almost on cue the minotaur nearest them, who hadn't overheard or if he had hadn't understood, got closer to them. Towering over Lindow and speaking in his native tongue. While gesturing at the broken tower and back at them and then at their weapons. It seemed he thought they had something to do with the explosion and was demanding something from them.

"This could go really bad really fast." Damien warned Lindow as he turned his body casually so that his blade was out of view of the minotaur.

"But it's really out there, I guess you probably wouldn't know."

Madelyn perked up a bit as Reinaan spoke but almost immediately glanced away. The lead minotaur didn't seem to want to leave it at that though. "What are you saying? Is there another ruin? That this one didn't tell us?"

"I did what I was asked to do. Just go on back to your chief already."

"We will go and you will too. You will answer."

"I most certainly will not." Madelyn said indignantly. "Unless you plan on paying me more right now my job is done. I never promised that what you're looking for was in these ruins just that I'd lead you here. Now go on unless you want to risk the council's ire. I am a graduate of the magic school after all." She declared with a huff and a glower.

The lead minotaur seemed stunned by her refusal but hadn't quite backed down. It seemed he was debating grabbing her himself.

When the girl said that Keres remembered why she was vaguely familiar. Madelyn had indeed been a student around the same time as herself. Though they never actually interacted directly. Madelyn was usually surrounded by friends and she was fairly certain the girl barely even knew she existed. Which was all well and good as Keres, especially then, couldn't afford to be noticed.

Still she had envied Madelyn. Though now she just felt concern that they were going to be drawn into a fight if nothing was done to stop it.

Spoiler

The minotaur by the others isn't saying much right now just giving Reinaan the eye.

Short post I know but if I do too much then I'd need to advance this too fast which wouldn't give much chance to do things different ways.

 

[Skaia 578]

It had seemed that the groups best efforts tensions were still rising. Now it seemed like it had more to do with the job that Madelyn had been hired for and the terms between her and the other minotaurs. Ryia couldn't help but be impressed by how confidently and defiantly the mage stood against the minotaur, though she was also certain that the girl was in a very perilous situation. As the leader of the minotaur seemed ready to get more forceful, Ryia cleared her throat to try and interject. Of course, as she did, the attention would now obviously be on her and she didn't exactly feel confident in her ability to talk down a large beast man twice her size. Though this was the situation she found herself in and her nerves about it were very clear.  "U-um...excuse me, sorry. But um, maybe we could uh...work something out...together? Maybe?"

"Work what out? We don't have stuff for trade."

"Well, see um." The girl looked nervously between the two for a bit before saying, "we uh, also like finding magical ruins. And stuff. Old places and uh, I - I think that Madelyn would be uh, really helpful. For finding them. Uh, yeah."

The minotaur narrowed his eyes. "You're trying to steal what we're searching for." He then said some things in his racial language and the other two minotaur started closing in closer to him.

"Oh, no, no, no." Ryia waved her hands as if to show she meant no ill will. "We would never - I um, I don't even know what you're searching for. No um, I was just trying to suggest we uh, we search for it together. And I guess uh, pay for Madelyn's fee for the next ruins." She didn't dare to look at the others as she said this, feeling quite guilty about just solely coming to the conclusion to use the group's money like this. But she couldn't really think of any other way to dissolve the tension. 

"I keep telling you." Madelyn said, staring at Ryia, "there isn't a next ruins. Spirits above why can none of you get that. I hoped for better from you."

Ryia stared blankly at Madelyn for a moment, a noticeable pause in the conversation. It should've been apparent to Ryia already that the girl didn't seem to have any perception of the danger she was in, either because she was actually that strong that no such danger existed or she was simply that unaware. Ryia felt like it would be bad to assume the first though the second seemed pretty insulting in its own way. All the same, the girl tried to back pedal to continue diffusing the situation. "Okay, okay, well um, not ruins. Other - other magical places. Where there's uh, likely to be other...magic  things." 

The minotaur looked among themselves and spoke a bit. "We could bring you to chief. Tied up. Without your weapons." The lead minotaur said.

Ryia said, "oh well, um, that - huh?" The girl stopped herself from saying anything more as she fully processed what the minotaur had said. While she felt like she had made some progress the latter of half of the deal certainly sounded very unappealing to her. As such, the girl simply let out an, "uhhhh," as she looked to the others for assistance. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Skaia

[Doggo 218]

If Reinaan had been hoping the minotaurs and Madelyn would just play into his hand, he was at this point feeling pretty disappointed. Mentioning there being anything else seemed to make the minotaurs convince themselves Madelyn had been holding out on them but she very clearly wanted to be on her way. Ryia attempted to play off his lie but it still wasn't helping very much. All the while there was still the issue of the partially exploded building that LIndow and Damien were still inside. The draken's confidence levels had been fluctuating pretty rapidly throughout the whole ordeal but by this point he was seeing killing the minotaurs as the only way out. He wanted to avoid that at the moment with the group divided up as it was and some of them awfully close to the ever increasingly irritated bull people. Then came the offer of meeting with the chief. While the idea had its appeal, it came with some conditions that all but assured they wouldn't get out alive unless the chief was so inclined. Tied up and weaponless wasn't a way to go about anything.

"Can we get everyone away from the unstable building first?" Reinaan ultimatley interjected as he slowly began backing up himself. The lead minotaur looked to him and then the tower then with a grunt and some gestures moved his fellows and himself away from the tower. The three now stood next to each other in a group, the one closest to the building still keeping an eye on Lindow and Damien inside the building. At least with this much they should be able to get out. Lindow being in the open was a powerful bit of a strategic advantage if a brawl broke out. "As for your offer, we're gonna have to pass on getting tied up or any of that. But how about we give you that magic coin from the competition and you let the woman go on her way? Then we'll all just get out of here and enjoy our day." he proposed. The minotaur who had been competing with Reinaan seemed angry and started pointing at himself but the leader shook his head.

"Not worth it." he started as he took stock of the situation. "We must talk with chief. He will know what to do." he concluded. That seemed to be their only acceptable course of action. Whatever was going to happen had to go through the chief. At this point maybe Reinaan could create some more friction.

"I don't know that your chief's gonna be all that happy the place blew up. Or that one of his men was losing a contest of strength to someone half his size. Would probably be better to give him something, however little, and just ignore the rest of this happened don't ya think?" The Fire Chosen taunted, not entirely sure he would get away with it unscathed. On cue the one he had been competing with stomped toward the boy and reached out for his neck only to be stopped by the leader barking at him. The minotaur stopped, clearly frustrated, and looked back to his boss as the two began arguing with each other in their own language.

At this point Reinaan was fairly certain anything else he did was going to start the fight he wasn't keen on. He eyed Keres, Ryia and further away Lindow. He didn't know what to try to communicate with his look but it clearly conveyed he was out of ideas but that they should probably capitalize on the argument. However that was going to work.

[Hollow 21]

Lindow was quick slink out of the remnants of the tower the moment Reinaan provided him with an opportunity. Sighing, he approached the group from the side, stopping when he felt he was close enough to step in if a fight broke out, but still far out of each for the minotaur that was eyeing him. Listening to the other chosen struggle to remain diplomatic was painful, but he resigned to stick with it for the sake of cooperation with the others...

It didn't seem to be sustainable for much longer anyway. There was no way Damien would give up that elven sword of his, and the look that Reinaan was sending around made it clear that the boy was already set to switch gears. Lindow met the look with a slight shrug. He had accepted that they would be likely be fighting at this point.

"Hey," After watching the three minotaur talk amongst themselves for a moment, he addressed Madelyn. "We're not interesting in whatever they're searching for. If it's money you want then we've got plenty, just help us find the Demon Gate will ya?" The best they could do is try and convince the mage to join them before the violence broke out. "We're here to destroy it." 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Hollow

[LordCowCow 839]

"We're not interesting in whatever they're searching for. If it's money you want then we've got plenty, just help us find the Demon Gate will ya? We're here to destroy it."

It was as if time stood still after Lindow's statement. The words just hanging in the air like a cloud of smoke. The minotaur and Madelyn herself froze in their tracks and for a few long moments nothing happened.

Then, almost in unison, they all looked towards Lindow. The minotaur all adjusted their weapons in their grips and surrounded the mysterious man. The two who seemed unable to speak the common tongue started to snort and stamp as the trio closed in on Lindow. The leader spoke up "You want to take the artifact. Then you are an enemy to all minotaur. No more talk now you must die."

Just then one of the two others took a step back in surprise. He started looking around wildly. Eyes passing over Lindow as though he weren't there. He started to say something to the other two who regarded him with confusion. "He's right there. He didn't even move." The leader said, smacking the other upside the head. Which caused them to start to argue.

Even while this happened the other one let out a gasp as he looked towards the sky. He began to point and say something in a fearful voice. The leader looked up and shook his head. "Have you both gone mad? There is no Roc there." And, while still standing around Lindow, the three began to argue about they were or weren't seeing.

Meanwhile Keres let out a sigh of relief as she lowered her hands. A thin trail of water splashing along the ground as she did.

She gave the others a hurried look. They had to do something quick before the spell wore off.

The girl noticed that Madelyn, casting her a curious glance, had started to move around the three minotaur and once out of arms reach began to take off past the rest of them and towards the outskirts of the city. Clearly not wanting to be there any longer now that she was given a chance to avoid the beast-men.

[Hollow 21]

The silence that hung in the air after words left lips had the distinct weight of moments right before a situation turned violent. Lindow felt both hands move over to his blades seconds before the three beastmen surrounded him. Their demeanor was now unambiguously aggressive, making the witch hunter considered himself thankful that they hadn't just outright tried to trample him. 

"You want to take the artifact. Then you are an enemy to all minotaur. No more talk now you must die." As the leader spoke, Lindow called to his shadow in preparation to defend himself. There was no question of the tribe’s objective anymore, which meant that these men had officially declared themselves enemies of the Chosen.

“I take it back. I guess we do have some things in common after all…” Welcoming the catharsis of battle after the tension of trying negotiate, Lindow sneered at the opposition. Though before anyone could make the first move, a familiar confusion suddenly broke out amongst the minotaur trio. It took only a single glance at little Keres to deduce that it was the work of her magic. For moment Lindow considered using this as a chance to try and kill the leader the group, but after seeing Madelyn break off and make her escape, the man quickly remembered that she was the key objective here. 

With the three minotaur clearly too distracted amongst themselves to notice, Lindow allowed himself to sink into the murky shadow that had been gathering bellow him. After swallowing the Thunder Chosen whole, the rogue shadow began slivering flat across the ground to follow the fleeing sorceress. 

[Skaia 578]

Ryia looked over to Reinaan and Lindow nervously, as they both seemed to be gearing up for combat. Fighting was precisely what Ryia was trying to avoid and getting into an altercation with the minotaur was something she could only see going poorly for a variety of reasons. However everything had come to a pause as Lindow mentioned the Demon Gate. The girl's eyes widened as she was dumbfounded at his bluntness on the subject, and so was everyone else as it had turned out. The girl's anxiety was only reinforced as the Minotaur's didn't seem to take kindly to this statement, leaving Ryia in a state of confusion as well. "Wait...but..." Before the girl should try questioning the minotaur any further, they seemed to break out into an argument amongst each other.

Seeing that Keres was the cause of the confusion, Ryia felt it best to use this opportunity to leave. She wasn't particularly happy with leaving things as they were now, but she didn't feel like any progress would made either by talking or fighting with them. Going over to the Water Chosen, Ryia said, "do you uh, need any help. To run, that is?" Ryia wanted to make sure that they didn't just leave her behind in their mad dash away, though she wasn't sure what she could really do to help speed the girl up. All the same, once that was done with she too began to dash in the direction of Madelyn. 

[Doggo 218]

With options of how to resolve things peacefully escaping him, Reinaan was surprised to see Lindow move in to talk to Madelyn directly. He spoke plainly of what they were looking for which only enraged the minotaurs. The relic they had called it. If that wasn't a sign they had it the boy wasn't sure what was. Regardless he readied himself to fight only to see confusion among the minotaurs take hold. Two of them seemed convinced a Roc was circling overheard. The draken saw nothing of course but quickly put two and two together that Keres was casting her illusion magic. Madelyn wasted no time in escaping, a wise course of action as the chosen themselves moved to leave rather than fight the hulking beastmen near or in an unstable building. Reinaan took off to return to Kloqah and the mule and took note of Ryia looking out for Keres on the way to escape the scene. The mage was slow on her feet and the boy knew what he had to do.

"Come on girl, we gotta get moving." he told Kloqah plainly as he leapt onto her back. The lizard protested but took off at a moderate pace which the boy only urged to move faster. Another snort and she sped up again, circling back to Keres and Ryia as they fled. "I'll get her out of here, get going as fast as you can or take the mule." Reinaan said in a hurry to Ryia as he passed and quite nearly scooped Keres up from off the ground and onto Kloqah's back behind him. "Sorry if that was rough." he said as a matter of fact. He couldn't take the time to be sure if he'd punctured the girl's skin with his claws at all for the moment. The mount turned about at the Fire Chosen's beckoning and began running away faster than either passenger could have hoped to go on their own. Now they had another goal. It wasn't long at all before Kloqah caught up to Madelyn who, like Keres, wasn't particularly fast on foot. The scooping procedure repeated and now Kloqah's back was rather crowded with the Draken, Madelyn and Keres in that order from front to back.

"Get your claws off of me!" Madelyn cried several times in protest to the maneuver. Reinaan struggled to get her into place as his mount continued moving but ultimately he was much physically stronger than her. Still, some verbal reassurance was probably in order.

"I'm not trying to hurt you I just wanna get you away from them! We could use your help but you can decide what you wanna do when we're back at the city." Reinaan nearly shouted over the girl to get her to stop complaining and resisting him. More than that he didn't want her diving off the mount at this point or she might hurt herself.

"Ugh, I suppose I must once more suffer to achieve my goals. As always. Very well...though could you not have gotten a more spacious mount?" Madelyn returned as she ultimately settled down.

"Use those legs a little more and I wouldn't have to escort everyone." Reinaan snorted back, wondering just how many humans would never make it on their own with how slow some of them ran. 

"How crass." Madelyn returned with a huff. As Reinaan looked back to ensure the safety of his two passengers he took note of Keres making a concerted effort to not look at Madelyn. The boy had his suspicions this was another former acquaintance but knew the Water Chosen would likely never raise the subject herself.

"Hey, Keres, keep an eye out behind us. We don't wanna leave the others too far behind but we don't want those bulls on our tail either." Reinaan called to her as he kept his eyes forward. He needed to guide Kloqah effectively as a misstep in this situation would create quite the uncomfortable pile up. But also stating her name was his own way of seeing if the two knew each other.

"...Right" Keres returned, terse as ever.

"Hm. Interesting name..." Madelyn commented as she shifted. Reinaan mentally wished her luck in finding a comfortable position. But more important was her reaction. These two definitely knew each other but were being stubborn about bringing up how.

"What, you know a Keres or something?" the Draken teased.

"No, no, I don't....I don't believe so." the ruins expert returned. Despite her statement she was clearly in thought. They must not have known each other well. Regardless, Reinaan didn't feel like really grilling her with questions until they were sufficiently far away from the big bull-men. How far away that was he could only guess. More importantly they needed to regroup with the others.

[LordCowCow 839]

Damien raised an eyebrow as he saw Lindow suddenly vanish. And Reinaan mount the lizard and take off. "Well this is awkward." He said, glancing up at the minotaur who were, at the moment, still squabbling. Nodding to himself and sighing he took off towards the side. Unable to get to the others without running right past the minotaurs and not wanting to waste time circling around he instead went in a different direction than the others.

By the time the illusion had worn off and the lead minotaur realized that Lindow was now actually gone they were out of eyesight of the bullmen. He cupped both of them on the backs of their heads and told them they'd be the ones to tell the chief that they had lost the woman.

On the back, nearly sitting on the tail in fact, of Kloqah Keres was trying her hardest not to draw the attention of the girl in front of her. Which was made hard by the water chosen also trying not to fall off the lizard's back. She couldn't fully justify this feeling. It was clear Madelyn didn't really know who she was. It was as though she was brought back to her school days. Hiding in plain sight as the other students socialized and studied together.

Once they had gotten far enough from the old city without any signs of pursuit Keres wanted to ask Reinaan to slow down so she could get off. As it was she was practically sliding off the end anyway.

But it was Madelyn who spoke up first. "Alright already. I don't think those boors are after us. Stop this thing and let me get off right this instant."

Once they did stop both of the mage girls, each thankful for different reasons, slide off of Kloqah's back.

Keres looked around and realized Damien wasn't there with them. She could only hope that he had managed to escape as well and would meet up with them later. She moved over towards Ryia. Awkwardly placing herself between her fellow chosen and her former classmate. She muttered to the girl, trying not to be noticed by anyone else, "sorry. I should have told you my plan...I hope it wasn't too sudden."

Meanwhile Madelyn was laughing. "Ahaha! Those idiots were quite easy to trick weren't they? Not that I'm surprised. They're as dumb as the animals they resemble." Her laughter settled into a chuckle before disappearing. She turned around "So whose magic was that? It was...somewhat impressive I must admit."

Spoiler

You can assume that you're at a safe distance now. Which means now you can ask Madelyn whatever you wish or check in with each other.

Damien will turn up at a later time.

 

[Skaia 578]

As it had turned out Ryia's help was not needed in keeping Keres out trouble. Which meant that she could focus on her own escape more freely, which was still simply just running away at top speed. Once they had gotten to safety, Ryia was a bit concerned to see that Damein wasn't with them but knew that he was capable enough to avoid any sort of fatal danger. Even still, it didn't make her feel any less uneasy about the prospect. Nor was there any real relief in having escaped. The girl felt troubled by learning the Minotaur's true objective and had wanted to avoid causing direct conflict and violence with them at all costs. Now, however, it seemed like a situation was becoming harder and harder to escape from. As Keres made her way over and muttered an apology, Ryia's tense expression broke into a small smile. "Oh, no, it's nothing to worry about. Without your plan we might've had to fight our way out."

It was then that Madelyn seemed to wonder about the magic that had brought their escape. Looking to the girl, Ryia stated, "ah well, that uh, that magic was hers." Ryia gestured to Keres.

Madelyn looked to the other girl. "Huh, you don't say." She looked the girl up and down. "Doesn't really seem like much, you sure?"

Ryia gave an awkward smile to the mage as she confirmed her comment. "Uhh, yes. I am." Ryia felt as well that simply confirming was not enough though. Feeling somewhat offended by the girl's comment she felt a need to explain further. "I'm not very talented with magic myself, or anything. But um, Keres - her magic has always been really helpful and she's definitely the best at it...well, uh, among us."

Madelyn gave Ryia a look of pity. "Is that so...well, I suppose in this case it was rather helpful."

Ryia still couldn't help but feel somewhat annoyed by this girl, and so with an unusually pouty expression the girl looked away from Madelyn saying, "yes. It was." 

[Doggo 218]

Kloqah had done well in ushering the group away from the angry minotaur trio but Reinaan wasn't sure when was far enough to be considered a safe distance. He knew the beastmen were strong but had no experience with their speed or endurance. Thus, how good they were at tracking prey was also an unknown. Though cows didn't eat meat the boy was pretty sure. Maybe cow people didn't either. It was Madelyn who ultimately broke the silence of their escape, claiming they weren't being followed by this point and demanding to be let down. What she was basing this on the boy could only guess but still he told his mount to slow to a stop and soon Kloqah began her much deserved rest as the mage girls slid off her back. Reinaan was quick to follow and keep his eyes on their surroundings to watch for the others. Ryia and Lindow arrived very much not in the company of the minotaurs before too long which was reassuring, though Damien remained unseen if he was in the area.

"Glad you made it out of there." Reinaan voiced to Lindow in particular as the girls began talking with each other. "Guess we'll be putting off figuring out how we stack up to those piles of muscle." the draken offered in jest, still trying to entertain the thought he could have beaten the minotaur without a triple magical intervention. "Though how did you guys end up in the middle of all that anyway?" he asked, and hearing Ryia and Madelyn's conversation regarding Keres' magic turned to face the new girl. "For that matter, what the hell was even going on in that building? What were those guys looking for?"