Beta Test: Shadow Tempest (Aka, Blue pegasus showing off)

Akryn grinned as he approached the entrance to the dungeons, wearing full kit today, his black sword, the seven cuts, his eye patch with the motomiji star underneath, and his red glove, with his spear in his left hand and the starry end resting on his right shoulder. He alone would be a scary sight to see coming at you, but with him was a ferocious looking half dragon woman, who would have been ferocious looking anyway were she not always swaddled up like a mummy, a ten foot tall hulking figure that put out a permanent air of physical power, and a very well known ace and wizard saint. Since the discovery of this dungeon Akryn had been itching to get up here and figure out what treasures laid inside, and now that the dungeons were opened to a select handful of wizards, Akryn was ready.


Akryn had had his name down for this place for a very long time. An old family legend was that one of his greatest ancestors was trapped inside a dungeon, with his entire arsenal, waiting for someone to come and free him. Maybe this was the dungeon, where he could pick up lost family treasures that were thousands of years old! Of course, at the time he had done so he had not been planning on a team, but the one he had now was better than he could ever have asked for.

Akeya followed Akryn without saying much, instead just inspecting the opening in front of their group. Supposedly this entrance would lead to a very dangerous place, and at least Akryn was geared up for it. With a bit of imagination she could imagine him looking like a porcupine, with sharp weapons poking in every direction. She wondered if he actually could use them all at the same time or whether he'd just constantly pick one for a specific situation, only to then grab another for the next. Well, she'd probably find out soon.

As for Akeya herself, as usual the half dragon was prepared, although not in the same way as Akryn. Her teammate was focused on weapons. Akeya didn't believe that any weapons she could take with her would be more useful than what she could do on her own. Instead she had made Korikami, who was hiding in her shadow, carry a large amount of equipment that might become useful to have along the way. They didn't need anything required for climbing this time, because she was fairly certain all four of them possessed one ability or another that would allow for either flight or good enough an imitation. Instead the shadow fox had swallowed quite a large amount of rations (she had no idea how long they would be in there), and first aid stuff (bandages, antidotes for the more common poisons, stuff like that). So far as she knew nobody here possessed healing abilities, so what they had on them would have to make up for that problem.

She wasn't sure what the other two members of this team had done in preparation. Xierak still hid most of himself with a big cloak, so he could be carrying a lot inside there without her finding out. As for the fourth...Akeya didn't know him that well besides a short meeting they once had. But he was certainly powerful: she could feel his raw magic power dominate the area, outstripping hers, Xierak's, and Akryn's combined. Even if he hadn't taken anything with him, he would still be a very valuable ally.

"Any idea what kind of dangers we'll encounter once inside?"

She hadn't been able to find much, which either meant that she had been looking in the wrong place, or the information wasn't easily obtainable. Either way, it would be useful to hear what her allies knew.

Xierak had been following behind his group heading for the recently discovered entrance to the dungeons, on his back was a gigantic Scythe. It was ten feet tall atleast, forcing Xierak to carry it on his back at an angle, also he had two silver gauntlets that now took the place of his cloth gloves. Xierak sighed, he wasn’t used to carrying around magical objects with zero intent to eat them… unlike the objects he currently had in his candy bag slung over his shoulder. When they finally arrived Xierak took the Scythe off his back and gently placed it on the ground, and then sat down next to it. He then unhooked the face portion of his hood while facing away from the group and placed the bag infront of him and started to munch on its contents, the sound of metal grinding together could be heard across the clearing. Xierak wasn’t overly interested in what awards would be in there, he was asked to come so he came, but he was most definitely not going to go in there on a empty stomach. He then finished the first item and reached in and grabbed the second, placing the pointed end of the magical sword into his mouth before breaking off the tip and continued chewing waiting for someone to come up with a solid plan.

Akryn couldn't help but grin even more as the full team gathered at the entrance to the dungeon, all seemingly well prepared for what was to come. "Awesome, we are all here. Good, then we can get started. First things first, formation and assignment. I will take point, my weapons and fighting style favor an up close and personal touch, and I have enough tricks up my sleeve to counter many possible traps and monsters. If the passages are wide enough then Akeya and the ace, I am sorry I do not know your name, please tell me, will walk together behind me, ready to pull me out when I get in to deep. Xierak, with his enhanced sense of smell and hearing will be our rear guard. His abilities allow him to defend the back easier. If you see something of possible interest, or an idea comes to you, let the rest of us kno all, be careful. We don't have a healer on this run so no matter how powerful we think we are, we still require caution. Any thing to add?" Akryn asked, looking at each of them in turn.

Akeya looked at all the other members of this team as they gathered in front of the entrance, her eyes gazing right through her almost permanently present blindfold. They all looked ready, which was good. She herself waited for Akryn to decide how they would advance from this point on. He tended to take the leading role, and so far she didn't see reason to object. His idea of going in front when they had an ace with them was slightly questionable, but he was right that his fighting style preferred being in the front. He probably wouldn't immediately die even if they encountered something exceptionally dangerous, and if things turned out badly they could still change things later on. Putting her and Ayaseru in the middle, however, she had some trouble with, especially when he put Xierak in the back with as argument that his enhanced senses would make him best for watching their back. She was pretty sure that she was better suited for that task... And while she was fine with Akryn taking the lead she wasn't going to just obey a bad decision.

"I mean no offence to Xierak, but I believe that I might be better suited for the role of rear guard. We both have an enhanced sense of smell and hearing, but I also have the ability to see clearly even when there is absolutely no light, meaning that I can spot ambushes that do not have either sound or scent, and if Xierak has the ability to sense magic acutely I have yet to witness it. However if I am incorrect in this assumption I'll apologize and stay in the middle as Akryn suggested."

Now just to see whether both Xierak and Akryn didn't mind. Well, and Ayaseru as well, but she didn't really see why he would have objections against this.

Xierak sat there and listened as he finished off another sword, he looked into his bag and sighed, seeing all the swords he had taken from the weapons Vault back at the Guild had already been consumed, “They didn’t last long…” Xierak then got up as Akyrn finished laying out the details of his plan, the arrangement made him laugh, he heard what Akeya had to say and then reached down and lifted up the Graviton Scythe he then placed it onto his back, adjusting his stance just slightly for he can handle the weight without hampering his movement. “No Offense Taken Akeya, I do have a better time seeing in the dark than most but your vision probably surpasses mine in that regard. You would be better at the rear guard, but for a different reason, Despite your combat skills Akryn, I am afraid that I may be far better suited for close quarters combat, not to mention if you put me in the back or in the middle I may accidently catch you guys up in my attacks.” At this Xierak nodded and walked into to the entrance of the dungeon, carefully angling his feet to be able to walk down the steps without falling down them.

Akryn nodded, though kept an eye on Ayeseru. He was a lone wolf, that much was obvious. He was powerful, yes, but Akryn was already fearing his solo act would harm the team. That needed to be reigned in, and fast. "Ok then Xierak will lead, wolfy in the back. Ayeseru, you will be in the center with me. We need to work as a unit and I want your power, combined with my arsenal, in a place where it can easily aid any direction." Akryn said, fixing the ace with a single eyed stare. If he even suspected that the aces actions would harm his team in anyway, Akryn had aalready determined that Ayeseru would pay for it, one way or another.

Without another word Akryn rose from where he had crouched and approached the gateway, following Xierak, and again looking to ayeseru. "Come on. The middle, with me. I will not jeopardize my teams safety and well being to accommodate any ones prowess or confidence. Their well being comes before mine. Or yours."

With the order of people settled Akeya waited for the others to go in front of her so she could take her position in the rear. She was glad that neither Akryn of Xierak had made an issue out of her objecting to the original plan of who took what position. It would've been a bad start to this mission if they immediately entered an argument.

While Akeya was thinking about this it appeared that a new opportunity for an argument showed itself: the Ace, Ayaseru, appeared to be wanting to go already, and Akryn wanted to make sure that he would actually act as a part of the group rather than an independent unit. Akeya had only met Ayaseru once before, briefly, so she didn't know too much about his personality, but she wasn't sure if an Ace would take any kind of rebuke kindly. They were powerful mages and influential people, after all.

Still, not something she would interfere with. Akryn...wasn't exactly the smartest of people, but unless Ayaseru managed to really piss him off or was notably obstinate this shouldn't end with actual trouble. So Akeya continued to wait until the others had already entered the dungeon so she could cover the rear. Although while she waited she might as well start scanning their surroundings for signs of magic, so she closed her eyes and focused, tuning out the sounds of her teammates talking as she instead tried to become sensitive to everything around herself. If the others entered the dungeon she would open her eyes and follow them, but otherwise she would just stand there, intensely focused.

Akryn was quite suddenly in front of Ayeseru, and he looked very unhappy. He had felt Ayeserus sudden exertion of power but he was far from intimidated by it. "No, you see, it was not an invitation. Their lives are worth far more than yours. If you cant play ball, then please, feel free to leave. We do not need you and you do not need us. By all means, wander on your merry way. But never" Akryn said, his massive sword suddenly coming off of his shoulder and aiming at Ayeseru, glowing a brilliant silver energy, a silver energy that Ayeseru should be able to recognize as quite dangerous to darkness users, "and I mean NEVER will your ego be allowed to harm my allies." Akryn said before putting his sword back on his shoulder and turning his back on the H rank ace. Akryn could not beat the fallen god slayer, not even if Akeya and Xierak helped. But he refused to be bullied, or let his team be endangered, and he would most certainly fight if need be. "Ok Xierak, head on in. Akeya and I will be right behind you."

Akeya nearly gasped in shock as suddenly both she and Akryn were surrounded by the immense magical power that Ayaseru was emanating. She had been focusing on detecting any magic, malicious or otherwise, so to suddenly get hit by so much of it left her dazed for a moment as she tried to close out the sheer amount of it. She knew that as an ace Ayaseru had a lot of magic power to throw around, but she wasn't exactly happy about the sudden demonstration.

When she recovered from that shock she saw that Akryn and Ayaseru were still arguing. Ayaseru didn't like being told what to do, which the half dragon had kind of expected, and Akryn didn't like the fact that the ace was objecting to being threatened. Which, honestly, she also expected. However she wasn't really in the mood to keep listening to their arguing. And she didn't feel like constantly having to deal with the tension between the two either. They came here as a team, and Akryn was right that they were supposed to do this as a team. However currently his attempts to force the issue were making things more complicated instead of helping matters. Also, the fact that he put so much emphasis on how her life was more important than that of either he himself or Ayaseru annoyed her. As if she wasn't just as capable as Akryn. They should be moving ahead as a team, not prioritizing particular members over the others.

Combine that with the sudden shock of sensing a huge amount of magic energy without warning and Akeya wasn't in too happy a mood, and then did what she thought was the best way of solving the issue. Or at the very least to feel somewhat less annoyed. When Akryn turned around and walked towards the dungeon Akeya temporarily suppressed her magic and followed him silently, then slapped the back of his head. It wasn't a hard slap. She very much doubted it would even hurt. But the fact that she had done so without warning and that she had done so after sneaking up on him so he didn't even know that she was right behind him should help bring the message across. When Akryn turned around he would see her glaring at him right through her blindfold, her tail lashing out behind her.

"Xierak and I aren't helpless hatchlings. Don't treat us as such, and don't pick a fight because somebody isn't behaving quite the way you want them to. As an ace he knows what he is doing."

She then send her glare at Ayaseru.

"I apologize for Akryn's behaviour, but please cooperate with us. You are significantly stronger than us, so it might be tedious, but we are here as a team, so unless you would prefer doing this by yourself I'd rather we didn't fight amongst each other."

She then returned her glare at Akryn. She wasn't exactly sure how he would react, but he probably wouldn't be happy that she just basically told him to stop picking a fight. However she did feel that it was better to get rid of this problem of Akryn trying to force Ayaseru to behave according to his own wishes, and Ayaseru objecting to that, sooner rather than later.

"Now let's get moving."