Leda had gotten herself prepared to go as well, still keeping a hold on the bone sword. It wasn't Ultraviolet, but it was better than nothing. Her heart panged a bit with longing for her blade - she hoped that Kiera had it, that it wasn't trapped underneath the rubble... where her body most likely was. She grimaced slightly at the thought. Maybe that was why she had ended up in Tartarus - no one had been able to put a coin on her to give her passage to the Underworld. Kiera wouldn't have even known to do that, would she have? This was all so new to her - it wasn't her life, not like it was for Leda.
She left the small hut with Mads and the giant, a bit frustrated with the slowness of the pace, but glad that they were making real progress - that for better or worse, this part of the journey would be coming to a close.
@kittyluna45 Eva smiled and nodded. "Lunch sounds pretty good right about now actually, lets go then and the climbing wall will be fun. I haven't climbed it in awhile myself actually." Eva said, she didn't do the climbing wall very much she did enjoy the Capture the Flag games or the Chariot races the most. Eva loaded the last of the crates into the van and watched as the driver started to drive off with what they had picked for the day to the city. "Lets get going." Eva said as she started to make her way over towards the dining pavilion there were a few other campers there already now and getting lunch. Eva heard from a few other campers that Thanatos was in the arena right now as she listened in on a few conversations.
@Kirah The same legionnaire peaked his head into the tent shortly after Demi and Nancy had left doing what he was told to do and came back with a box of Leandra's things. Mostly it was just her clothes and a few other personal belongings an imperial gold bow and arrows, and several books as well to he looked over at Niah. "Here is her things." He said however he did remove the imperial gold bow and arrow. "I'll set her bow into the armory tent, and i'll dispose of the rest." He said as he turned and left the tent.
Kristin Reynolds
Location: Arena Skills: N/A
Kiera Donovan
Location: Camp Half-Blood Skills: N/A
Kristin looked over at Thanatos as he crossed her arms over her chest setting the training spear into the ground as she looked over at the god, she hadn't met him before as Kristin listened to the god they had found the Doors apparently which was good then. Kiera looked over at Zeke and gave him a slight smile. "Thats good to hear." She said as Demi and Nancy joined shortly after Demi had gone to grab her then Thanatos spoke up.
"I managed to take them to Central Park and will be there waiting for you to enter and blocked it from any monsters from getting out." Thanatos said as he looked at Demi as he approached him. "You'll have to ask his other son when you see him he'll be awaiting in Central Park." Thanatos whispered back, just then a very loud voice came over. "Demi!" Alexios said as he approached Demi and gently ruffled his hair. "Thanatos is here." He said as he looked over at the god who was already there. "Oh guess he beat me to it." Alexios said shrugging slightly.
Madalyne Crane
Location: Tartarus Skills:
"So how did you two demigods end up down here?" Damasen asked as he led the two demigods through the swamp, the water was really thick and the mud was making it a little bit hard for the both of them to move through it. However they eventually made it to dry land, Madalyne looked at Leda for a moment. "I was turned into a werewolf by Lycaon and his pack of werewolves.." Madalyne said softly as she looked down at her arm for a moment where the scar she had gotten when she got bit and rubbed it slightly. "Me and a few of our other quest mates were in the Labyrinth and we were attacked and I chose to stay behind to let the others escape." Madalyne answered.
Damasen stopped for a moment as he could hear what sounded like hissing and looked down at the thick dead looking grass on the ground. "There are basilisks be very careful." Damasen said as he walked one of them jumped and tried to attack him, he grabbed it in midair and easily crushed it with his hand. Madalyne quickly picked up their scent as well to and swung her new weapon at one that managed to jump at her and killed it. Leda however would see one and it would spit fire at her, however the armor Damasen had made her protected her from it.
Andy's eyes lit up at the mention of Arthur. Could Thanatos get a message to him? But her hopes were instantly dashed when he said to ask Hades' other child. That meant Nicos would be there. She took a deep breath and tried to center herself. At least now they knew the doors would be there.
They had to get moving. Those who were going to open the doors needed to go. "How long do we have?" Andy asked. It was a broad question. She meant both how long would the doors be there for them and how long did they have once they got to them. She hadn't been with the other group that had already interacted with the doors and didn't super know the rules around them.
Location: Camp Half-Blood Roman area -> Arena Skills:
"Put the weapons back into rotation. Burn everything else." Niah ordered the man. "Thanatos is in the Arena. Nancy went to meet with him. I'll be heading that way now." Hopefully they'd return with new orders. Things felt like they were settling down and a path to solve what was happening was before them.
Niah left Nancy's tent and hurried to the Arena. She joined the others gathered there. She wondered how much she had missed. Where were the gates? She didn't ask though she waited. She saw Andy looking sad. Was it bad news?
Another god in the flesh. It still felt pretty crazy to actually be meeting Olympians so casually, as if they weren't all mighty powerful deities. At some point this wouldn't be such a wild concept to the young demigod. For now it was. She stood listening to everything. The doors where found! Thank the gods for that! Now they could go and rescue their friends. Yet the worst part would be facing whatever monsters lurked inside. Would the monsters there even die if you struck a fatal blow? Seraphina wondered to herself.
"Yeah, you're a little late to the party." She spoke up when Alexios came to join the group. Ironic in a way, wasn't it?
Ezekiel jumped and swatted at Demi after he had been assaulted. He frowned at his boyfriend, but there was a sparkle in his eyes all the same. A sparkle that diminished when Alexios showed his stupid face. Zeke rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. No shit Sherlock, Zeke thought to himself, remembering he needed to save face and trust Demetri. But then Sera made a wonderful comment and Zeke grinned.
His focus shifted to his sister, and he smiled at her before looking at Thanatos. ”Aside from the monsters we're likely to encounter, once we're inside, how do we find Mads and Leda?”
Stella smiled a bit at Eva's words, and pet Arbor and relaxed a bit. They went to head towards the dining pavilion, and she looked around and smiled a bit. However, she could hear some campers talking about Thanatos being there, and she gasped a bit. If he was there, that meant... The Doors right? He had to have found the doors, if he was there? "S...Sorry, gotta... gotta go. I'll see you later. C'mon boy!"
Stella heard that Thanatos was at the arena from some of the campers that were there, and dashed off in that direction. Food could wait, everything else could wait. She needed to be there for Andy, that she was sure of. Arbor was hot on her heels, yipping a bit as he was excited, but he wasn't quite sure what was going on, he just knew that Stella was excited, so he was excited.
"I died," Leda answered simply. She still got flashes of it, the moments leading up to her death. They were just as vivid now, the memories not faded. "I'm not supposed to be here, I think - I'm supposed to be in, like, the Underworld proper, getting judged and all. I should be going for reincarnation, to try for the Isles of the Blessed..." Her heart, however, wasn't in it anymore. She'd lived her whole life thinking the reward at the end would be worth it - that all of her worship and devotion to the gods would amount to something. Instead, it had been meaningless. She died and had ended up in the Pit. Some reward.
She paused in her trek through the swamp at Damasen's warning, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. Basilisks? She had read Harry Potter enough times before Rowling's cancelling to know that couldn't be anything good. And no sooner had Damasen warned them than the attack had started, with one of them spitting fire at Leda - "shit I didn't know they could do that!"
Leda is going to use the bone sword to try to decapitate the basilisk that attacked her.
☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️
Location: Camp Half-blood Skills: N/A
Nancy frowned slightly. Her thoughts were almost entirely consumed with Mads, with possible contingency plans in the (likely) event that something went wrong. And what energy she didn't have devoted to Mads and the Doors of Death at the moment was instead directed towards everything that had just happened - with Niah, with Zeke, with Demi. She didn't have the space to think about movies. A few hours ago, she would have snapped at Demi for thinking about movies at a time like this, but... She had to try. As frustrating as it was, she had to try. "...I like musicals," she finally offered. Maybe it was cliché for a child of Apollo, but she genuinely loved watching musicals. They told a story in the way an ordinary movie never could. And her favorite musical, of course, was Heathers.
But before they could get too far into that conversation, they arrived at the arena. Demi hurried on over to Nancy's brother, and smacked his ass - she gagged slightly, having hoped they would have gotten it out of their system after she left medical but... Evidently not. She was always uncomfortable around more intimate displays, regardless of who was doing them. She couldn't remember if she had been this way before the Hotel or not - if this was just who she was or just another way her trauma manifested itself.
She was quickly distracted, however, by the revelation that Demetri was why Thanatos was finally here - why they were going to be able to rescue Mads. She hadn't realized he'd asked the party god to contribute for once - that he had used a bit of influence to get something to happen, when so many gods before had failed them. Her eyes widened slightly. Demetri was... competent?!
”...You did this?" Nancy asked, absolutely stunned as she stared at Demetri for a moment - before walking up to him and pulling him into a tight hug.
His other son? Nancy had mentioned a dark haired boy meeting them in her prophecy but Demi hadn't figured it'd be another Son of Hades. Fine. Just a little longer then until he himself could get some answers. His jaw clenched as he heard a familiar voice calling after him, feeling his hair getting ruffled before Demi took a wide step back. ”Hey hey hey, listen, Alexios. Two very important things. Number one don't mess with the hair please. I know it's disheveled but it takes a lot of time to get it the right kind of disheveled ok? Two, kinda just made a pact. See that lovely kid of Apollo over there? Yeah she has some issues that appeared under your domain see, so while I'm with her like I am right now, you can't be near. Otherwise not only is it a major party foul, it's also like being the biggest party pooper in the world. But I genuinely do appreciate your help, even if your are a bit late to the reveal of Thany over there.” Demi said as he patted Alexios head and ruffled his hair before walking further away to be with Nancy and Zeke.
During all that it seemed others were getting their questions out and about to Thanatos. How long till they march, what could they encounter, what should be expected. It felt like a boring Roman meeting all of a sudden but they were all very important questions. He was trying his hardest to pay attention, when suddenly he felt himself pulled into a tight hug. He'd expected Zeke or Andy, really anyone before Nancy. But he returned the hug all the same. ”Please me and Thany are chill, met before and well the gods need to do their parts too. They can't all be lazy bums, so I ya know…asked for some things to get done. Really it's nothing I wouldn't do to see Zeke and you smile. Or to help a friend in need.”
Thanatos turned to look at Andy the first one to ask a question, on how long the doors were there for. "I can keep them in Central Park until you arrive there before I have to move them again." Thanatos answered Andy's question, as Kristen nodded slightly they had time to at least gather supplies and time to get into the city itself. Thanatos turned his eyes towards Zeke asking his question, he knew that Giants lurked down there. "You will need a god to travel with you." He said as he looked over at Alexios and shook his head slightly, the son of Aphrodite did annoy him sometimes.
"It seems like you have one with you already." He said as Alexios turned to Demi and frowned slightly, he was still willing to help. "I'll keep my distance don't worry, but i'm coming with you down there can't let my future husband get killed down there." Alexios said, while giving Zeke a slightly smug look it was going to take a lot more to keep him away. Then Thanatos spoke again to answer the rest of Zeke's question. "Tartarus' realm blocks me from seeing what else lurks down there and I cannot find your friends, you'll need something to speed your travels and search down there." Alexios told him.
"We can use that flying ship we flew to New Rome in awhile back." Kiera pointed out, that would make traveling and searching for her girlfriend Leda and Madalyne down there quicker. Kristen spoke up as well to, agreeing with Kiera that could help speed the search along a lot quicker. "I'll ask Alannah and Lauryn if we could borrow the Argo III since it's their baby." Kristin said, as Thanatos looked at the others. "I'll leave you all to prepare and will meet you all in the city." Thanatos said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Madalyne Crane
Location: Tartarus Skills: mistyiokinesis
"Just don't touch them their skin is poisonous." Madalyne said to Leda as she backed up slightly, as she summoned up a fireball in her hand and hurled it towards the basilisk setting it on fire which started to cause a small fire to grow slowly under the grass, which revealed a few more of the little snakes. Leda would be able to behead the one that attacked her easily as it tried to lunge at her, while Damasen was stomping on several of them causing the ground to shake as well to.
Damasen turned to look at Leda as she explained why she ended up here, he never heard of that happening to a demigod whenever they did die which was odd to him. "Maybe ask Hades or Thanatos the next time you see them." Damasen suggested as he swung his weapon killing another one, while one got close and tried to bite Mads she managed to get out of the way from it, while another one would lunge trying to bite Leda.
"True," she said with a small laugh as she helped Isaac up, not long before he had landed another hit on her. There was the sound of movement as someone else showing up, and she couldn't really tell who it seemingly was based on the words. Something about someone finding something they were looking for? She wasn't entirely sure what it was that they had said with regards to the situation. Then again there was such a sudden swirl of words and other people showing up and everything. Was a bit of a whirlwind.
Though it was made obvious who it was after she was able to funnel through and figure out it was Thanatos, talking about the Doors of Death or whatever it was that they were called specifically. Hearing about what else everyone else was saying was a bit difficult to follow along with. She just listened to the others, since sparring was definitely over as they had other matters to deal with, and now they were likely going to go off on a quest to deal with the doors or whatever it was. Things were going to start picking up real fast, she still wasn't entirely sure what the plan was going to be, but it'd be fun to try and figure it out.
Andy shifted from one foot to the other. She hated this. Hated the calm before the storm of a fight. She'd rather just get into it. But they had to plan. Gather resources and travel.
"The ship will fit through the doors?" She wasn't sure how big the doors were, but it seemed wild to imagine a set of doors that the Argo III could fit through.
Stella showed up with Arbor, followed on her heels close. Chcolate ran over to Arbor, and she went to Stella.
"You just missed Thanatos. He was here. He told us where the doors are and that they'll be there until we can get to them. It was a big deal. Soon, they'd all go into Tartarus to find their lost friends.
Location: Arena Skills:
Niah couldn't hide her expression of surprise when Nancy hugged Demi. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth opened slightly. Sure, there had been some resolution between them all, but Nancy hugging him had not been something she would have guessed would ever happen.
Niah smiled. Yes, she had taken away her friends' free will by using her power on them, but it had positive repercussions. It wasn't something she would do again unless her hand was forced like it had been. She was just happy that it was alright.
She focused her attention back on what was going on with Thanatos. His answers were reassuring, though she wished they could ask him a couple more questions. Like if he knew how far from the doors Mads and the Greek girl were.
