Topic: The Mana-Verse

[Blue Valkyrie]

Aya moves from her bed as the door closes-her leg shakes having not used them for a week and she frowns-annoyed at her body's current state. "No time for that--" she mumbles her self as she slips on her adventuring gear-the armor looked a little different, made from sturdier materials. "A gift from the villagers perhaps?" Aya smiles "I'll have to thank them for this before we leave."

Soon Aya opens the door clothed and hinting that she wanted to continue their quest-although given how pale she still looked that would likely be a bad idea. Not to mention Calien was likewise not at his best for travel.

"Sorry for the wait."

[Sakura Leic]

"It's no trouble." Calien shook his head as he and Sakura came back in with Sakura still looking at the swords.

[Blue Valkyrie]

"I suppose we'll be waiting for another few days before the airship is repaired? If so I will put my efforts to tracking the next shard." Aya says as she invites them all back inside to sit down.

[Phi]

Pema nods and steps back inside. She ate a jelly-filled doughnut, then proceeded to grab a slice of blueberry pie.

"How in the world... did you manage to get jelly on your forehead?" Salem exclaimed.

She licked blueberry filling from her fingers. "Huh? Um, I'm not really sure, actually. I grabbed a doughnut, and the next thing I knew, it was gone."

"That is frightening, in more ways than one." He said, dumbfounded.

Pema patted her stomach. "At least it's in a better place now!"

Salem flew over to a bag and prodded the end of the staff inside a layer of napkins, lifted a few up from the stack, then floated back to Pema. "Here, take one."

"Oh, thanks!" Pema retrieved a napkin and cleaned the jelly from her mouth and forehead.

(Salem, best sentient object Father of the Year. )

[Dr. Wily II]

(You sure Peam ate a jelly-filled doughnut, and not an onigiri? )

[Blue Valkyrie]

-Elsewhere in Arcadia...

Far to west within a great city and a golden castle-the doors to the throne room slowly slide open-revealing a long hall with a red carpet and rows of knights dedicated to protecting their lord the Emperor of Aldia-the greatest military power in the modern world. The two stop short of the stairs leading to the throne and bow on one knee.

"Speak." The Emperor said-with a calm but commanding voice.

The Male cloaked figure's head rose "My Lord we return with ill-tidings regarding---" He pauses.

"You may leave." The Emperor looks to his royal guard-they salute turn and quickly march out closing the doors leaving only the emperor's loyal minister. "Continue."

"Yes my lord-as per your instructions we investigated the rumors of the floating precursor city of Pandora and it's suspected rediscovery--it appears a sky pirate was responsible for these rumors. However, they appear to be true-in fact ill rumors have spread across the uncivilized lands of shards of great elemental power falling like comets--even within the empire." The Male Hooded figure continued.

"Shards?" The Emperor leaned forward slightly.

"Yes-My sister and I belive this can mean only one thing-in an attempt to harness the Primal Crystal's limitless energies the fool shattered the crystal sending it to the far corners of this continent." The male hooded man continued.

"That is ill-news indeed--if the tome stones of my ancestors are correct the crystals absence will cause great chaos." The Emperor leaned back.

"Indeed my lord---yes rifts from the void of chaos have already been sighted across the lands even within our empire, if this is permitted we may have a great cataclysm on our hands." The Female hooded figure added sounding almost giddy.

"What do you recommend?" The Emperor responded tapping his finger on his chair.

"We for the moment focus all our efforts on the capture of these shards, claiming them all will allow us to restore the Primal Crystal and return it to the hands of the truly worthy." The Female hooded figure responded.

"Hmm--I will order my forces to focus on the discovery of these shards, it will however move up our plans to civilize these barbarians sooner than I had intended however." The Emperor looks to his Minister who begins to jot down his lord's orders.

"Very wise my lord-there is something else though, It appears the sky pirates meddling has awoken an ancient precursor guardian-she has been sighted across several towns and cities. It's safe to assume she has started collecting the shards as well to protect the primal crystal."

"Truely?! An ancient "Guardians" has survived? The ones from the old tomes--I see. Yes I will have my scouts keep an eye for such a person-surely a winged being would be hard to miss even in the untamed lands." The Emperor raised an eyebrow at the possibility of claiming more precursor magi-technology.

"Then we shall continue our search for the shards and this guardian." The Male Hooded figure bowed standing up with his sister. They took one step back in respect and turn to leave.

"It has been ten years since you two came to me..." The Emperor suddenly said-the two stopped turning to face the emperor again. "Thanks to your insight I learned of my ancestors and their great power-yes without you two I would have never been able to translate the tomb stones, unearth the ruins and understand their technology, yes I owe you two much--but how did you come across such rare information." The Emperor said suspiciously.

"My lord--my brother and I have only the purest intentions, we study the ancient precursors-the Arcadians and their great culture-we also know this empire is the greatest chance to unite our troubled world. That is why we share such information so we might serve the empire and her people." The female responded bowing.

"I see-you are true heroes to the empire then-could we all be as selfless as you and your brother." The Emperor nodded-perhaps not convinced of their true intentions. "You may go-I will arrange what we discussed."

The Two hooded figures bowed finally leaving the throne room as the guard returned to their emperor's side. Once alone they moved to their room within the castle. "Hmpf--I so despise playing the servant to such a man." The female said in a frustrated tone-as she dropped her hood revealing herself to be Doll Master.

"I understand but the Aldian Empire is the greatest military force in the world now-and keeping them in control will certainly be to our advantage. That man's greed for Arcadian magi-technology is the leash that keeps him firmly within our grasp."

"Either way once the empire begins invading other lands to search for the shards we'll effectively be keeping our enemies busy while we wait for Aya and her friends to gather them for us! Doll master giggled "You are rather brilliant brother."

"A realm in chaos cannot mount a defense against us and only the emperor's air force could threaten Pandora, an air force we effectively control-Mar has been focused on restoring Pandora to a operational state while the doctor continues his efforts into resurrecting our Chimera program-until then we must continue to hound Aya and her allies enough to slow them down but not so much as to interfere with the collection of the shards."

"And if the empire finds some first-it won't really matter they'll encounter Aya sooner or later!" Doll Master stretched.

"Indeed-now the good doctor has managed to track down two more of the shards we should return home and plan our next move." Mask Master nodded.

"Please let me be the one to go after them next brother--I wish to repay the favor they showed me before--that dwarven barbarian more than any other! Oh yes I wish to see him kneel at my feet." Doll Master eye's flare with rage.

"Perhaps--but remember we need them alive--but I suppose we must test your new body and abilities-if you promise to behave I don't see why you can't go-assuming Mar doesn't have other plans for you." Mask Master sighed.

"Yay! Don't worry I won't kill---all of them, I just want to play." She giggles and teleports away with her brother back to Pandora.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile back at the inn.

Aya sits on her bed cross legged her eyes closed meditating on their next shard-suddenly she gasps and opens her eyes.

"I've found another--no two more!"

((Sorry for the long post-the Aldian Empire will be more relevant soon-wanted to step them up))

[Dr. Wily II]

(Ze plot thickenz... *Gendo pose*)

[Blue Valkyrie]

((Yep Doll and Mask Master have been manipulating more than just White Beard in preparation for their master's return-generally sabotaging any group that poses a threat to Mar--anyway just need to wait for responses before we head to the next location.))

[Fxeni]

Fxeni sighed as he wiped the sweat from his brow, wrench in hand. He had been busy helping with the repairs on the airship, doing his part in getting it back up and running.

"Are you sure you're alright with working here? Your friends would probably appreciate having you around," a woman with short red hair said as she approached, food in hand.

"The quicker we get this ship up and running, the better. Who knows what havoc those shards are causing elsewhere," he replied, going back to tinkering with the airship engine.

"Yes well, you won't be much use over there if you're too tired to do anything! Speaking of which, have you eaten recently?" she asked, glancing over at a plate sitting off to the side full of food.

"I uhh... haven't been hungry, too focused on this," he replied sheepishly, looking over at the plate she was eyeing.

"EAT. NOW."

"... Fine. No need to be so pushy, Ariani," he replied as he grabbed a sandwich off the plate and chomped down.

"I know how you get. You'll thank me later!" she said as she walked off.

"Yeah Yeah..." he grumbled as he took another bite out of the sandwich.

[Blue Valkyrie]

((I read Wrench as Wench. Just waiting on Sakura and Quickie then. ))

[Sakura Leic]

"Two of them?" Calien questioned "Are they in different places?"

[Blue Valkyrie]

"They felt reasonably close to this one town--it was near a lake, I saw boats and felt all sorts of races living together-near the Jagged Peaks?" Aya frowned trying to think of the details.

Suddenly a voice from the door way caught their attention.

"It sounds like you are talking about Haven Rock, it's a large community near the great lake between the Jagged Peaks and the Dead Lands across the bay." A young women who the group recognized as one of the workers helping with the repairs.

"Haven's Rock?" Aya asked

"Yes-I'm sorry I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I was told that there is dinner and everyone is welcome to join us at the town hall-a celebration for everything you've all done for us." The women smiled still peaking around the slightly open door.

"Thank you-but can you tell me more about this Haven's Rock?"

"Oh of course-On the other side of the Jagged Peaks where the dwarves live there is a great lake, that feeds into the ocean on our side of the lake is a growing town called Haven's Rock where refugees from the war with the Aldia Empire have colonized-at first it was the beast tribes from the grasslands but soon humans, dwarves, elves even goblins have come to make that small town their home-it's more a city now. They fish-and trade with countries across the sea."

[Sapphire Knight]

Shuu had been occupying himself with eating some more of the baked goods that Pema had brought while thinking about a potential stand-in sword should he not be able to wield his daemons.

[Phi]

(Pema would've dashed out of that room at the speed of light, upon hearing of the dinner announcement.

But she IS currently stuffing her face with all the goodies she bought, so maybe after the conversation ends and everyone leaves out for the celebration.)

[Blue Valkyrie]

((The celebration diner can be something we do or we can skip to move things forward-what does everyone want to do?))

[Phi]

(I think it's about time to skip.)

[Fxeni]

(Likely skip, myeah.)

[Blue Valkyrie]

(Alright I'll need some time to come up with a post-either tonight or tomorrow after work)

[Blue Valkyrie]

The entire town takes part in the festivities-and the song, dance, and feasting goes well into the wee hours of the night-eventually however as Pema polishes off the last of the food the party decide to retire for whats left of the night.

The next morning they say their farewells and board the Darkstar, the repairs allow the battered airship to return to the sky and carry them to Haven Rock. The journey there is thankfully uneventfully and most of the party are able to sleep off the festivities. Soon Fxeni notices their destination appear on the horizen and is surprised about how large it is for such a new community.

"Unknown airship-identify yourself and state your intentions!" a voice suddenly came over the radio.

[Fxeni]

"This ship is the Darkstar. We are here to investigate an odd energy source in the area, we mean no harm," Fxeni replies, opting to leave out the nature of the shards just in case.

[Blue Valkyrie]

The voice pauses and mutes on it's end for a few minutes before finally turning back on. "How many passengers are on board?" The voice continued.

[Fxeni]

"Ermm..." Fxeni muttered as he counted them up in his head. He then realized that he was counting daemons, invisible creatures and a staff that could talk. He shook his head and considered only the ones that most people would count.

"Nine, including myself," He replied.

[Blue Valkyrie]

"Dock at landing pad four-leave all weapons on board and await instructions." The stern voice added bluntly cutting off communications.

((Fxeni you have a chance to gather the party prior to landing))

[Fxeni]

Fxeni eyed the radio as he listened to the orders given. He wasn't particularly fond of the tone, but he conceded that they were outsiders riding on an ex-pirate airship, which is plenty enough to cause suspicion.

"Everybody, could you please gather on deck," Fxeni asked over the radio to the rest of the group.

[Sakura Leic]

Sakura and Calien came up on deck at Fxeni's orders while Sakura wondered what was taking so long.