[b]Dayna[/b]

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. 

[b]Dimitri[/b]
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.

[b]Natasha[/b]
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. [i]‘guaranteed to be piping hot even hours later’[/i] 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.