[IC] Torn Across the Rift

[Fetzen]

Vaughtar

That mountain! The day being at its peak, but with him not being at the mountain's peak yet, Vaughtar had felt like having to die of a heart attack at any moment. He had taken off his cloak because, despite being in the midst of snow and winter, sweat beads had started forming on his skin. The gargoyle had started to fall back significantly.

Now he felt better again, though still not as good as when it was night. At least it sufficed for the huge creature to grab a snow-shovel with each hand and start cleaning up the floor. Vaughtar tried not to damage the markings by scratching them with his claws or just stepping on them in a grinding way, aside from that however 'carefulness' didn't seem to be a word he understood very well. Large heaps of snow were launched into the air and to the walls of the main room by him as he walked around the alter in growing cicles. With each double throw, his wings were temporarily consuming a lot of space when his upper body moved around. In other words: It was a little windy.

"May I help you ?" he asked towards Zesiro. Hopefully this snow-shovling business would be over soon. He wanted to rest somewhere until it was late evening. And he was worried about his health deteriorating so much during the day, something that had been quite obvious to everyone.

[Belwicket]

Ariel stood in the snow, a husky to guard Dzel. Her eyes and ears were peeled, making note of every noise around. If anything dangerous came towards them, she would leap into action instantly. However, nothing had come yet. A few more had seen her shift from woman to dog but she didn't care. Ariel sat beside Dzel to examine the markings herself, though she couldn't tell anything about them. She sighed and looked up before running around, checking everywhere. She had caught scent of something. Digging rapidly through the snow, she soon found it. She pulled it from the snow with a bark before examining it. It was a... she didn't know what it was.

[Affili]

Dayna

The ball of light so fondly dubbed love lamp by the strange Trident operatives, was having difficulties coming to terms with her new nick name and whenever someone used it she tried her best to protest it hoping that it was just a passing phase and soon all would forget about it and resume calling her Dayna.

Since the team’s return to nature her connections were slowly growing with the elements of the planet Earth. Slowly but surely, She could feel their energies vibrating through the ground. Thrumming like a musical symphony and echoing across the skies. She would spend any time she could spare with XIII since the presence of fire’s energies were laced through him like a complex silken web of sorts. The elemental energies were all still distant, stubborn to reach out to her but she would win them over soon.

Dayna was studying the water veins within a thin patch of ice not far from the groups when Dzel mentioned finding one of the ‘symbols’ they were all supposed to be searching for despite having no knowledge of what they represented or translated into but, they had all been out there since morning so any possible progress was more than welcomed at this point.

She leisurely hovered over to where Dzel was crouched and circled around her a few times before settling just above one of her shoulders. The wild sprites of her homeland had no blood or liquid essence moving through them in that form, just raw elemental energy. The larger Sentenients were not that different really.They still had no blood, instead, it was a concentrated liquid form of elemental energy that coarsed through their being that was referred to as elemental ether. If one of them was hurt, the ether was known to spill out of them and flow just the same as water so in a sense, elemental ether was their version of Blood Dayna supposed. She could identify how important blood seemed to be to humans and other flesh-lings and she frowned in disapproval
“Such a waste it seems really. A valuable life essence, just harvested and used as if it were the ink of pen...I don’t like the people that did this Dzel, they seem to have no compassion for life.” she commented angrily.

Dimitri
The monk was happy regardless of where he was now. His trusty flask had been returned to him and the minor water elemental catalyst embedded into the bottom of it was still in perfect working order. The flask was still full of the latest concoction which he had distilled among the highest peaks of the Eastern Ridges back on Temperance. The first filling of his flasks were always the most potent due to the fact that he often activated the water catalyst to refill the flask once its contents dwindled but so much had happened since he was pulled through the rift, he really hadn’t had the opportunity to drain it yet.

He stumbled a bit after one of Vaughter’s passes; wobbling to avoid the gargoyle’s large wingspan less he be beheaded or some such more gruesome fate. Upon the completion of his calculated yet unbalanced dance, Dimitri stubbed his toe on what appeared to be a rock, but who really knew so close to the alter. It was certainly hard enough to be a stone in any case. He let out a string of curses before angrily stooping down and picking it up, then tossing it at a nearby wall. When he looked at the ground once more, he could see a curved line stained into the floor. It was slightly faded but it was definitely a crimson colored line, indicating that it might have once been blood. He followed it until it disappeared under a pile of snow and ice before crouching down carelessly, his upper body undulating a bit as his knee settled on the damp floor.
“I think I found a some of the inner circle for the path of runes. Well” he scoffed “Whatever it is, it seems to be a piece of this whole puzzle.”
There were no visible runes where he could see and It was all a little blurry due to him being slightly tipsy, but it was definitely not a natural line.
“Maybe there’s more under some of these chunks of rock, or whatever they are anyway.” he added as he pointed to some of the larger debris scattered around the alter room. His eyes looked skyward and he winced as several bits of snow fell into his eyes. “It’d be nice if we could cover this damned room and mop up some of the water around here.” he finished, taking a long pull of his flask before offering it to Zesiro with a glossy smile “Care for a sip Zes? Made it myself!!” his eyes fell on Vaughtar next and his smile broadened. How about you? you’re a big fellow. I’d love to see how this latest brew affected you! Don’t take offense to this, but there is a breed of wild boar in the Western Wilds back on Temperance that are almost as big as you…They’re softer mind you but still big...but the point is, if I could find a way to pacify them, well that could be a boon for the pork industry! And it wouldn’t take much to catch those big bastards! A dart of some kind, laced with this brew!! Money for me, meat for them… Well You catch my drift! So what say you Vaughtsee? How about that drink, just make sure you don't fall on the alter and shatter it!" he winked then chuckled.
In their most potent forms such as the one currently in his flask, these brews would likely put the most seasoned tavern hopper on their ass with one sip, but Dimitri was so accustomed to drinking that said concoctions took closer to five or six shots to get him even tipsy.

Natasha
The tensions had been higher than usual between the reds since their meeting with Twain and Winston. Who could blame them really such a heavy blow to anyone, learning of such things. On top of all that, most of the Moon operatives Natasha had worked with, were either missing or presumed dead. Not to mention the fact that they were all on a god forsaken mountain in the middle of no where. She had allowed herself to get emotional upon hearing all the news and it took her several hours at base camp to recover from her acute sensory overload. Now she was in control again, all be it still slightly chilly.

She poured herself another cup from her thermos and sighed thankfully for Siva-Cup’s latest innovation, their line of battery powered coffee thermoses. ‘guaranteed to be piping hot even hours later’ that had been their catch phrase and Natasha had been suckered right into the sell. She supposed that fact that it was rugged and virtually bullet proof had sucked her even further in to the investment, but as expected form Siva Cup branded things, she had yet to be disappointed.

The Moon operative had positioned herself in between The recon team’s position and that of the rest of the group. The team leaders all had earpieces which enabled them to communicate with one another but, with her abilities she could respond to both groups positions relatively swiftly. Her keen eyes scanned the higher ground surrounding the alter site. Most of Rosalind’s team were inside the castle now, so she had decided to patrol the surrounding areas and for the most part, everything was quiet for now.

[Eyeris]

Zesiro blinked as the massive gargoyle cleared the snow. "Ah... Yeah. Keep doing that." Zesiro looked around. He frowned at Dimitri when the drink was offered. "Ask my brother, he'd like it." Twain was the friendly and indulgent one. Zesiro seemed to walk around with a chip on his shoulder.

"Dimitri." Rozalind snapped her eyes toward the monk. "We discussed this. You can not be drunk out here." She applauded the gargoyle, wishing the rest had his focus and good sense. "Help him out. Clear out the bigger rocks and debris. Let's clear the room. Set it up as it was before the... Event... As close as we can get it."

Rozalind then turned aside and spoke into her radio.

"Natasha." Rozalind had worked within TRIDENT a very long time but had not worked with Natasha directly before. How strange... "Natasha. Hirshe. Wolfe. Are we clear? Is anyone else out there? We can begin soon."

Dzel knelt by a body, flanked by the husky and the sprite. "They have compassion for power." Dzel replied bitterly. "And even disregarded their own lives in exchange for it... This was an act of evil." Dzel decided. Then, when the husky barked, Dzel turned her attention toward it.

The thing that Ariel found would suddenly shudder, move, and make noise.

"c-c-click-click-click-c-c-c-c-" chattering back at the barking dog.

It stood up on four bony legs.. Not bone-like. It was literally made of bones. It looked back at the husky with empty-eye-sockets. only a foot tall and a foot long itself. It was a creature made of bones.

To be clear, it was not a creature that was missing flesh or skin. It was not really a proper skeleton. It was as if someone took random bones form the site, and reformed them into sculpture that looked like a small dog. Then animated it. It's front leg was actually a cracked ulnar bone, its teeth were tiny phalanges, it's skull was not one skull, but other bones clumsily amalgamated into what looked like a skull, the spinal bones were all sorts of bones put in all the wrong order.

[Arty Fox]

Charles Balderdash

“No what are you doing!?”

Charles had shouted, and jumped a rather impressive height, when Dimitri had thrown the rock at the wall leaving what Charles was certain was a new dent in the already crumbling structure.

“We need to be careful and methodical about this. We can’t simply just go about the place willy-nilly.” Here he paused for a second to throw his arms about the ruins before resuming to speak rapidly in annoyance. “As Rozalind said, we need to try and reconstruct the scene as best we can. I have images from shortly after the incident we can use for reference, don’t worry I selected the ones with the least amount of gore and such in them, and from there we can try and build a bigger picture of what happened.”

Moving over to where he had placed the equipment he had brought, just outside of the main structure housing the ruins, he began to rummage around picking out the tools he felt would be most useful. This included several large lamps, small trowels, containers of various sizes, chequered tape, a few meter sticks, measuring tape, a few cameras, pencils and paper, and finally a bulky laptop suitable for the weather conditions.

“We’re going to need these lights placed around the structure, try and place them so that they light up as much as possible, thought they are battery powered and will only last a few hours so let’s try and use them sparingly.” Charles spoke loudly as he explained, hoping those nearby were listening. “If you find anything you think is interesting just give me a shout and we’ll collect and document it. Vaughtar if you place any snow and rubble you dig you somewhere…”

Charles again paused to rub his chin in thought, the snow on his glove giving him a small start, trying to find the best place to put everything, somewhere out of the way but not too much of hassle to transport to. In all of this thinking and planning Charles had failed to notice the commotion happening nearby concerning a skeletal dog.

“Just over there.” He pointed to the other side of the ruins. He then stopped and frowned, looking Vaughtar up and down.

“You doing alright there mate? Looking a little bit off colour.” His hands delved once again into one of the bags and pulled out a folding chair. “Need to sit down at all? It won’t do anyone any good if you make yourself sick or something, are you having trouble breathing at all? Feeling light headed?”

The one thing the requisitions office had failed to provide them were oxygen tanks, given that the altitude where the ruins sat wasn’t high enough to cause most mountaineers default breathing. But then again most mountaineers were human which Vaughtar was not.

[cpldingo]

"Alpha... um... Whatever. Yeah."  it was Zesiro on the other end. Wolfe didn't say any thing, he expected a level of unprofessionalism from civilians. Nevermind the fact they are using in unencrypted radios, and any one, including the Russian government may be alerted, and no telling who else was on this mountain.
"Pft, that guys a fucking wiener," Hirsch remarked, Wolfe didn't answer. He was busy surveying the area. It was cold and windy atop this mountain. The marines wore thermal boots, socks, and gloves. Wolfe only wore a sweatshirt under his blouse, otherwise he wore the normal utilities. Hirsch wore about the same, except he wore his Islamic headwrapp around his face to keep warm, Wolfe wore a white beanie.
The wind changed direction and tore down Wolfes neck, he shivered a bit and re-adjusted.
The rest of the group made their way to the castle, Wolfe watched their ingress, and tracked the area around them, no movement except for snow blowing in the wind.
"Hirsch, Wolfe. Are we clear? Is anyone else out there? We can begin soon." the radio crackled.
"Roger solid copy, no movement on our side. We are going to bound to a new OP, will advise later, alpha out." Wolfe finished the transmission.
The marines began to pick up, and while keeping one hundred meters from each other they moved accross ridgeline, valleys and cliff sides to a different location. From their previous position the moved more west and north, settling on the left flank of the castle, they both found a small recess in a cliff face, giving them both cover, concealement, and shelter, best of all they were out of the wind, the Marines, though still cold felt much better about the position.
"Alpha to Omega, New OP established, we have eyes on the castle and surround areas to the north west, all quiet as of now, Alpha out." Wolfe went back to his monocular.
He began to get that feeling, though it was slight, when he centered the monocular to where he thought the group was the feeling became stronger.
"You good bro?" Hirsch asked.
"I...don't know..." Wolfe said, "im getting a bad feeling," he said.
"You better say something, your "feelings" are usually an omen of a shit storm to come," Hirsch said.
"Alpha to Omega, what's your sit rep? You guys squared away?"

[Belwicket]

Ariel growled and leapt to rip what could be considered its head off. She didn't know what this was or how it came to be but figured it didn't deserve to live its life at a mass of malformed bones. With its "neck" trapped in her teeth, she used her forelegs to scratch at it, hoping to knock other bones off. She didn't know if she could do it alone but hoped she wouldn't need too much help. Her grip tightened as she snarled and growled.

[Eyeris]

It came apart easily. The neck crumbled in her jaws like the beads of a necklace falling off their thread. The bones flew and scattered in all directions as the husky pawed the body apart. Was it only a pile of bones? What had been holding them together? Or had the animation only been a group delusion?

[Konan375]

It was far too cold.

If it weren't for the gratuitous amount of winter-wear that XIII had been provided with, he wouldn't have been able to help with the snow removal. He made sure that not much, if any, skin was exposed to the cold, and the lack of bite told him that he was successful in that part. He was glad for the warmth that his clothing provided. Glancing around the room, he noticed that Vaughtar was clearing snow at a very quick pace, but the gargoyle was not looking very well. XIII made his way over to Vaughter and caught the round of questions that Charles had for the gargoyle.

"I could take over for you if you want," XIII said, his voice muffled by the balaclava he wore. He smirked and spoke with humor in his voice. "Hell, I think I could even beat you in how quickly I can remove the snow." He glanced at the circle the Vaughter had clearded from the alter outwards. "Besides, it looks like you've done more than enough to deserve a rest."

[Fetzen]

Vaughtar

Having one snow shovel to clear snow was good, having two snow shovels to clear snow was even better, but against ice crusting an alter, having claws was the best. At least that was the way the gargoyle had already started to think about it even before Zesiro accepted his help. However he would have to be careful not too scratch the stone too much, since, after all, they were currently looking for signs on the surface of it.

Vaughtar's impending tests of his approach about de-icing did never take place, since almost the same moment he got his hands in touch with the object, the rather strangely speaking monk approached him with a proposal of his own. Shouldn't someone who was athletic and well trained move in a more straightforward, precise, and stable manner ? Subtly wobbling around, an elevated aggression level that allowed for launching an entire barrage of curses at things that could not respond before tossing them around - the gargoyle knew these signs, though in Munimis, he had only been able to observe them on humans and other folks, never on himself. The reason for this probably was that he had been way too big for the little amount of liquor he had been able to get there. The stuff Dimitri was offering him... well - the monk appeared to be fond of it. Now logic would dictate that it would be unwise to gobble a substance that was unknown to oneself and possibly much more potent that everything encountered so far. It would also dictate that it was inadvisable to allow for an exchange of trace amounts of body fluids between a living gargoyle from another world and a human from another world by sharing a bottle. But did Vaughtar care about such details ?

"I'm curious..." He glanced over to Rozalind who was vigorously objecting, confirming his own suspicions about Dimitri currently being slightly intoxicated. There was no point in whispering for him, he knew he couldn't get his voice low enough for noone being so close by to be able to hear it. "...Come back to me when this is over. I want to try this!"

Meanwhile, Ariel, in her husky form, had found something. Something that suddenly started reassembling itself into a being that the gargoyle had never seen before. It was very quickly overwhelmed by the husky single-handedly, but what if the next one would be bigger ? Who knew how many bones were left under that snow, or if the creator of this entity was innovative enough to just figure out another way of piecing together the broken remains. It was enough reason for Vaughtar to start fiddling around with the radio, that was quite small for his huge fingers, in order to give the safeguarding marines an update of their situation. They knew how to fight things - he could tell himself. "We just had an... incident over here. A smell skeletal thing assembled itself and got... killed." No proper callsigns or other indicators of radio discipline - where should he have acquired this knowledge ? Yet his voice probably was enough of a callsign by itself.

With his mood having experienced another significant drop due to their environment revealing its dangerous properties, Vaughtar turned to the small crowd that had started to form around him. He pointed at the roof, but it was obvious that he meant what was in the sky behind it. "The sun. I shouldn't be here! I should be a statue standing around somewhere until it's dark! It makes me feel sick..." He examined the folding chair Charles had come up with. "You sure this thing will stay in one piece when I use it ?" The gargoyle remembered the crushed crate only too well. "If I'm honest I'd really like to just put down and watch XIII or you do the remaining work. The more of this shitty daytime is done with the better I'll probably feel."

[jdh97]

Herbert

The ascent had left Herbert aching in the joints and with muscles afire, yet he had not complained. He leaned heavily on the loaned walking stick, a black thing with a rubber handle and peculiar spike on the bottom. Even still, so stretching was the exertion that Herbert was almost glad when they were able to halt, even if it meant at the foul ruins. The wrongness was still here, but it seemed more nuanced now, no doubt due to his recent enlightenment. Twain’s methods had been… interesting, but Herbert had willingly accepted the existence of magic; the evidence was next to irrefutable. Shades of the world previously hidden, now danced in all their grimness.

An outcrop of slab and stone invited Herbert to rest against it, and he obliged gratefully. The team went about excavating. He knew little about them beyond their names; he had spent much of his time alone or with Twain; after all, they all had their respective homes to return to, it made little sense to become attached. After he regained his breath, he pulled a bottle from his pack and swallowed in three large gulps, the water icy cold and oh-so refreshing. He wiped the beads of sweat from his brow with a gloved hand and stared up at the sun. The snow still clung to the mountain in thick blankets and droves, but Herbert was sure he had burnt the exposed areas of his face, for they were tender and felt rather too hot.

A chittering caught his ear, stealing him from the brief respite. A flash of fur sent off-white bones sprawling. The sight of the bone creature recalled to him another such beast.

“Ariel, stop.” Herbert’s voice rasped with urgency. Pushing himself off the wall, he strode over to the main pile of bones. The bones were small and eclectic, but tiny spider-web strand seemed to stretch between them; it’s magic still holding. “I do believe we may have met, or at least his kin.”

Herbert went about gathering the bones up, stooping and crawling, following the barely perceptible hints of magic that bound in. Occasionally, thrown-up piles of snow bounced against him as he searched, oblivious to all else. When the bones sat in a jumbled pile, Hebert stood and brushed off his hands, watching expectantly.

“This creature may be like us, or it might be from this world. Regardless, it is not doubt important in understanding in its fullest what happened here.”

Mallaidh

Perhaps the quietest of all the party, Mallaidh rarely took her eyes off the ground a few feet in front of her, yet they focussed on a point far beyond. Her brow was imperceptibly creased. The great sword leant against the front of her shoulder and she held in with both hands, clinging to it with white knuckles. However, even the sword did little to comfort her, and she felt a touch dirty and dishonest for holding to it with such a fervent determination and stubbornness. It was as though the floor of her heart had been pulled endlessly inwards, and the gaping chasm it left had been filled with an aching numbness; such was singular to the hollow grief of loss.

[Belwicket]

Ariel, growled warningly at Herbert as he began collecting the bones. She didn't know what it was but it wasn't natural. She wanted to shift back and yell at him but knew her clothes wouldn't protect her from the cold. As Herbert began reaching for the final bone, Ariel stood above it, nipping at the man's arm warningly, not hard enough to hurt or draw blood, just enough for him to pull back and let her take the final bone. She wasn't sure if he'd see it as a dog wanting the bone or as Ariel not wanting the bones to reform the... whatever it was that she had knocked apart. Nor did she really care. She took the bone in her mouth and carried it to Dzel, trying to get the girl to take it. I wish I had telepathy. she thought to herself, It would make this all a lot easier.

[Eyeris]

Herbert frowned. "Whatever was the meaning for that Ariel?"

Dzel touched the husky on the head, scratching gently behind her ear. Then she stood, facing Herbert with the bone in her hands.

"I think that she is worried... And so am I... That this may be an evil creature. More dangerous than we know. If we should put it back together, and if it should come back to life, who knows what it might do should it also regain power?"

Rozalind stepped over to the Gargoyle, XIII, Charles, and Dimitri. She looked the sickly gargoyle over. "You feel ill during the day. Charles, we will have to take that into account when planning." There was no way any of them could carry the gargoyle out if things got ugly. He was far too heavy. "What's this?" She hadn't seen exactly what had happened with the bone puppy, her eyes had been looking out for enemies outside the castle, she should have suspected they could already be planted within the castle. "Keep it separated. We will bring it back in two parts. We will let the lab put it back together and see what happens. I don't want to jepordise the mission if we don't know what is going to happen--"

Zesiro cut in. "---I'll tell you what is going to happen. If it's an un-dead thing then that shit is only bones. If you bring it back to base you will just have a useless sac of bones. Shit doesn't come back by itself." He flipped on the radio. "Hey guys. Possible mage presence, necromancer, consider any dead bodies you see as loaded guns."

[cpldingo]

"We just had an... incident over here. A smell skeletal thing assembled itself and got... killed." a deep and gravely voice said over the radio.
Vaughtar, Wolfe thought, he didn't expect an off worlder to have any sort of radio etiquette, but was impressed he could manipulate and work a radio.
Wolfe didn't bother responding, he maintained his eyes on the castle. The feeling wasn't as strong as before, but, it was still there. Something definitely wasn't right. Even Hirsch seemed tense.
The wind picked up, and the temp seemed to drop a bit, though the crevice that Wolfe and Hirsch sat in was covered from the wind.
A few more moments and the radio crackled to life once again, this time it was Zesiro, he didn't seem panicky, but his voice tense. His radio etiquette had improved somewhat as well, most likely due to a small bit of an andrenaline rush.

"Hey guys. Possible mage presence, necromancer, consider any dead bodies you see as loaded guns."

"Necromancer?" Hirsch asked. "Like those guys who fuck dead people?"
"What? No that's a necropheliac." Wolfe corrected.
"A Necromancer is a type of sorcerer or magician that can bring dead bodies back to life." Wolfe explained to Hirsch.
"Like....like Jesus?" he asked confused his eyes wide.
Wolfe dropped his head and shook it.
"Holy shit, how, how did you survive childhood?"
"I drank my milk and ate my veggies," he said with a shrug.
Wolfe spent a moment gritting his teeth and glaring at Hirsch, then went on.
"A Necromancer is someone who uses magic to make zombies," he explained in the simplest of ways.
"Oh? No shit... thats bad, we need to stay alert," Hirsch said shouldering his SAW and tracking through his scope.
Wolfe sighed and went back to his monocular.

[Viridity]

Vata followed the group silently. He might've said something if it wasn't for the fact that he was struggling to keep up with the rest of the group. His legs were better suited for the occasional stroll around the city to the market, not ascending a mountain. But if it meant a shot at learning more about what dragged them all here, it would be worth suffering a bit for. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the place where the castle was. Or, at least, what was left of it.

Trying not to focus on the fact that his legs were on fire, Vata followed the people who were investigating the symbols by the altar, paying close attention to the things that they were looking at. If he wanted this to work, he'd need to pay close attention to this sort of stuff. Normally he wouldn't need to do this, but with the tenuous link he had to the Spiritstream, and by extension, the Spirit of Inspiration, he needed to make sure he got a good feel for what they were looking at, since if he didn't, the other people here would probably end up getting a sudden burst of inspiration for something like what they should eat tomorrow, or other unrelated things. He had it happen once to one of his students, who, during a lesson regarding writing style, suddenly got an idea regarding a new outfit, and then rushed off to the market, and then returned an hour later looking considerably more stylish. Unfortunately, the student's writing style was not helped much by this, and Inspiration seemed amused by the turn of events.

After several minutes of watching the investigation, he called upon the Spirit of Inspiration, who promptly, and somewhat feebly responded. He had no idea how much of an effect it would have, but hopefully it would help them some sort of insight for the symbols they came here to investigate. He decided to finally speak up then.

"Any progress? I know we're not working off much here, but I figured I'd ask to see how it's coming along."

[Arty Fox]

Charles Balderdash

Charles mental chastised himself for overlooking such important details.

“Noted,” Nodding towards Rozalind. “Though that will limit any team with Vaughtar on to night time missions, might actually prove quite useful.”

Regardless of Vaughtars comment Charles unfolded and set down the chair when his attention was drawn to the commotion of the skeleton dog. “Just, go and sit in the shade or something Vaughtar and rest.” He gestured to a spot near to all the gear he had brought.

“We could separate the bones into different containers, hopefully it won’t adversely affect its condition,” Charles drew up to Herbert and the pile of bones. “Or make it think worse of us or something.” He mumbled.

Kneeling down beside the pile Charles began prodding at the bones with a pen, then carefully separating them from one another with his hands so that they each lay beside another in a line.

“Let’s see we have a few femurs, ribs, skull, and I think these are vertebrae of some kind,” Charles pointed to Ariel. “Don’t damage that bone, got it?”

Returning his gaze back to the arranged bones Charles resumed examining them and struggled to put a name to all of them, let alone guess their purpose or placement in a skeleton. He ‘hmmm’-ed.

“Anybody here know much about bones? Oh! And could someone else bring me a camera please?”

Using the end of his pen to hold aloft a golden thread between two bones Charles raised an eyebrow towards Herbert.

“Magic I assume?”

[Belwicket]

Ariel was growling softly at all the male members of the group talking to her as if she weren't as smart as them. With a single claw, she did her best to write the names of the bones in the snow, hoping to show Charles up. She barked when finished before glancing at Dzel.

[Fetzen]

Vaughtar

The gargoyle had picked up a facial expression that looked pretty disappointed - about himself. While all of the other members of the team were doing their job, he was told to take a break. It felt far from satisfying, and so was the prospect of experiencing this every bloody day to come. Especially now when he was suddenly experiencing a particular need to go on and continue as if someome had injected him with pure inspiration that was attempting to form itself into a concrete idea.

"I'll be over there in the snow if you need me. Shouldn't be hard to miss me." he replied in a sadly tone towards Charles and Rozalind.

He stepped out of the main hall in the direction it was currently throwing its shadow at and chose a location that would allow him to remain in it for several hours before the sun would have travelled far enough to resume shining on him. Lying down, he wrapped his wings around himself. Not that he needed a blanket to protect him from the snow he had sunken deeply into, but it helped keeping the diffuse light away from him.

[Affili]

Natasha

"All clear from my location right now, but there are a few odd scents riding the winds around here" she responded to Rozalind as she watched the marines relocate to another vantage point. It was a relief to the striking red head knowing that there were two more capable, battle tested operatives nearby. a few moments of radio silence the Zesiro sent the message implying there were possibly necromancers in the area.
She had watched Ariel rip a re-animated four legged beast to bits prior to Zesiro's message so she was not all that surprised at their suspicions.
"I hate necromancers" she muttered out loud as if this was a regular experience for her

Dimitri was taken back slightly by Rozalinds reaction to his habits thinking that she could use a few drinks herself to unwind a bit. But he wisely decided to keep that suggestion to himself given the burning glares she was sending in his direction. He was disappointed when Vaughter refused his offer but there was still plenty of time to put the large gargoyle on his ass and Dimitri looked forward to the unofficial challenge.

He moved over to where Vaughter had plunked himself down in the snow.
"Shall I prepare a tombstone for then friend? what shall it read?" he asked with a chuckle as he examined the gargoyle's internal energies.
"ah! so there is a life force flowing under that very thick hide of yours" he observed out loud.

It was always a challenge for others to determine if the jovial monk was within his senses or completely out of them, but it just so happened that at that moment, he was completely within his senses as he studied the complexity of Vaughter's internal energies.
"Do you know what keeps me going Vaughter?" he asked as he stretched his hand out towards the sickly gargoyle. "and no, it's not the booze, because I know that is what you are thinking my large and muscular friend." His hand began to glow a pale green color as he channeled some of his own energy out of his hand and directed at Vaughter to see if the two different energies were compatible at all. "Fascinating!" he exclaimed as a spark seemed to materialize between the two men. "Born of some form of magic, yet no means to really tap into its forces! B but I Digress, you see, every living thing has a flow of internal energy. Some share a similar form of energy while others have a completely unique composition of internal energy. It's kind of like an unseen oil that lubricates your vitality...If that makes any sense. But' I am capable of understanding the ebb and flow of said energies and I think I can help you feel a little better for now friend." he sighed then continued "But unfortunately, I doubt that I can do anything for your resistance to sunlight. Never the less, please accept this little bit of relief; however brief, it may be." he paused and chuckled "Did you hear that? I rhymed! how clever!" His hand and body began to glow a more intense emerald green as he tapped into his internal energy "Anyway, I'm not sure how long it will last but it may prove to aid you in feeling less ill." Dimitri leaned a little closer to Vaughter and smiled "But between you and me, I think you would feel much better with some booze in your gullet. Let's not upset Rozalind though, there is a time and a place for everything."

If Dimitri's healing proved effective, Vaughter would feel a strange warmth spread though his body, but not like typical body heat, this was a deeper feeling. His muscles would relax and he would feel his fatigue fading away slowly but surely.

After several minutes of silence, the monk looked at Vaughter once more.
"Tell me how you feel? If I have failed, we shall have to start carrying a large tent around with us for you to burrow in during the daylight. If you feel better, we can conduct another healing session once you feel lousy again just until we figure out a more permanent solution. The alchemists back at Trident should be more than capable of finding something to help you. Hell, I'll even lend my vast and extensive knowledge to them if it helps! Back on Temperance, I have been hunted by posses of men that would seek my expertise but for the most part, they are easily eluded!"

Dayna had taken to following Natasha around like a lost puppy. At first she was simply bored, but the two of them had shared a few moments together just talking and the ball of light found this flesh-ling far more intriguing than the others. there were so many different forms of energy flowing through her. the two of them would pause every so often while Natasha listened to the radio chatter and sent her own updates to the others.
"Natasha, I don't like how this place feels right now. something just doesn't seem right. there are too many unnatural and quite frankly appalling energies lingering around"
"I know, it's too quiet"
"I think we should consider regrouping"
"Not yet! soon though, in the meantime, why don't you tell me about your homelands."
"Sentrance is amazing! it's nothing like this Earth. There are no towers of glass and steel no. endless forests, blue waters and you should see the nights. the skies dance with so many colors, but they aren't too bright. they are just perfect to falla sleep under"
"It sounds like a wonderful place"
"It is and it isn't. There's a lot of skirmishes between the elemental clans and to be honest I think all of them have forgottne why they are even fighting."
"Oh, i'm sorry to hear that"
"It's OK though. Genacious is working hard to unify the clans once more"
"Do you think he will see success?"
"Oh yes, but will take time"
Natasha suddenly put her hand up to halt, catching a glimpse of movement far off in the distance.
"Damn it, just when the conversation was getting interesting"
"Ember Star to Alpha. Possible movement on our twelve. Can you confirm?" she spoke into her earpiece. Natasha was certain there was something lurking in the distance but if the boys had a better vantage point it would save her the need to charge in there for a confirmation however twitchy she was for some action, there was no need to be reckless.

[Arty Fox]

Charles Balderdash

Charles looked down at the snow writing and then back up at Ariel. He then grimaced apologetically to her hoping she wouldn’t bite him. While he assured himself that it was unlikely that a team member would attack him Ariel was someone he hadn’t worked with before, let alone actually spoke to, so he had no idea what her reaction would be. Currently she seemed annoyed and slightly deadly.

“I’m really sorry, but I can’t read that.” It was hard to read snow. “Could you maybe write down what they’re all called?”

A simple flick of the wrist and a few paper tags with strings attached were suddenly in his hand. He offered up the pen and tags to Ariel.