[hider=End of Episode 1] [center][h3]Path to Freedom: Skathi and Cayde[/h3][/center] [@Guess Who],[@Suku] Perkeo, elated at having been freed, practically hugged Cayde's leg, but, seeing as that he really really really would rather live, he instead followed the words of the nobleman before him. Beaming, Perkeo gave a bow to him, saying: [color=fff79a][b]"Very well, with you lighting our trail, its smooth sailing from here on, sir."[/b][/color] he said. While he had no idea what house Cayde was from, it was clear from his posture, his voice, and his courage, he was no doubt from a noble military family, or a Knight Order at the very least. Perhaps even a rather bold skyfarer captain. Regardless, Perkeo resolved to escort Cayde and the group down the many flights of stairs. Within no time, the party found themselves equipped with their former weapons and armor, and Perkeo with his beloved [url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Gitarrenlaute.jpg]lute[/url] in hand. The thing was massive, easily larger than any weapon the party carried, and fitting snuggly in the massive Draph's hands. Strumming a few notes, he seemed elated, a pleased smile on his face. [color=fff79a][b]"Halfway there. Just need to pass the Warden, and we'll-"[/b][/color] he said before a loud boom echoed from outside. It seemed they'd have to hurry. Guiding them along to the fourth floor, they would come to see Skathi face to face with the warden himself, bodies of prisoners and beasts alike scattered before them. Fire burned across the warden's axe as he swung, his heavy strikes deftly parried by Skathi's ether-clad claws. Though she could avoid his strikes well, actually getting in for a hit was difficult. This man was far above normal. As such, when Cayde joined the fight with fire of his own, the tides began turning rather quickly. Clashing steel with Cayde, sparks literally flew between them. [color=f7941d][b]"You're not bad at all. Too bad you lost it all, Selmy. Could have been a hell of a general. Now you're just gonna be one hell of a-"[/b][/color] he'd manage to say before a wooden THWACK impacted with the back of his head. Perkeo, having taken the opportunity to strike him down nonfatally, sent the terrifyingly skilled warden crumpling to the floor with a single strike to the head. Sweating nervously, Perkeo took a breath of relief. [color=fff79a][b]"Sorry about that...I thought I'd get him while he was talking."[/b][/color] By now, Skathi's rage would have subsided, and without much else to do, would opt to join Cayde and co. in their quest to escape this island. After all, hard to defend Griever's land when she wasn't on it. A pact was made, and, after fighting their way through a swathe of guards, they would retrieve Skathi's bow. With her weapon in hand, the primal-infused warrior proved to be more than a match for the legions of common guardsmen, supporting Cayde with arrowfire, while Perkeo...well, he hit a few while they weren't looking. Reaching the ship in the hangar bay, the crew would find that the prisoners had managed a resounding victory. Still though, the storm raged on outside, and with it persisting and without a proper pilot, a certain Erune riot-starter was left to pilot the ship. Gulping, the tan erune woman started hitting switches and flipping levers. After nearly causing the ship to self-destruct a few times from the engine almost overheating, another inmate stepped in and pushed her into the Co-Pilot's seat. [hr] [center][h3]Path to Freedom: Arno and the Akula[/h3][/center] [@Skyrte] While the cannons were small, they were certainly packing quite the punch. As a creature of the deep, fending off human weapons was clearly not the duty of the Primal Beast. However, as the storm grew worse and worse, Arno could surmise rather quickly that the beast was directly affecting the weather in an attempt to knock him from the skies. The Harvin was skilled, far moreso than a normal person could be, and far more prepared than any would expect to be. The turbulence was only a minor disturbance, while the bullet holes in the beast's tendrils became more of a hindrance to it. Letting out a tremendous roar, the beast began rotating in the water. It was as if the entire basin of water the Island sat upon began to turn with it...and soon, it was very clear that was exactly what was happening. Whipping the water around itself, Charybdis' tendrils soon became moved by something more than flesh, as rounds harmlessly impacted with the high pressure current of water surrounding its body. Worse still, was the fact that the beast was quickly gaining elevation, seemingly flying on the very water it controlled. Just when things began looking a bit too hot to handle, Arno would hear the engine of the main airship down below start up. His job wasn't to kill the beast, but now that his distraction had succeeded, all Arno needed to do was to distract it to look away from the ascending airship. Circling around, the pilot's diversion succeeded once again, letting the airship soar gracefully at an elevation below his, hopefully out of sight from the beast. Once a fair bit of distance was reached, Arno would move to begin a mid-flight landing on the Zweite Transport vessel. A simple matter for him, and, with his ship secured, the harvin was free to move to pilot the Transport Vessel. ...Out of the corner of his eye, from the mirror present to view the back of the ship, the pilot would see the beast standing there, faced towards them, its entire body rotating at an impossibly high speed. Water formed a vortex around it, the spinning circle drawing closer and closer to its maw, before all at once it broke, the water ejected faster than a bullet, in a continuous stream towards the ship. Narrowly avoiding a direct hit that would have taken out the enire airship, Arno's skills had spared the vessel, but the hit had still cost one of the main three engines. Now sputtering, and barely able to keep aloft, Arno's next few motions were crucial. Soon, the beast fired again and again, this time scraping the main wing on the right, and, with a third blast, impacted against the side of the left main engine and punctured it all the way through. Without enough hands to run immediate emergency repairs, Arno would find the ship crashing rapidly, its nose almost completely turned to the bottom of the sky. A miracle occured, that day, wherin an ever shifting current that frequently traveled throughout Tyragrande carried the ship a fair distance, far enough to crash land onto...well, land, rather than an empty void of cloud and eternal falling. Within a large patch of forest, the present crew would land, the impact knocking out quite a few people aboard the ship, and making damn sure that few would be in any shape to repair the nearly completely destroyed ship. For now, freedom was their's...and, well earned. Patting Arno on the shoulder, the erune that helped him escape panted heavily, pale enough to look like she hadn't seen the sun in a few weeks. [color=fdc68a][b]"Y-Ya did...d-did real good..."[/b][/color] she managed before her cheeks swelled. Hurriedly grabbing the helmet she used for her imperial disguise, the woman barfed into it, turning away to keep Arno from seeing. ...Well, she had at least stayed classy most of the ride. [hr] [center][h3]Path to Freedom: Marshall[/h3][/center] [@Enkryption] To say that Marshall escaped from Ziggurat was a miracle was...fairly true, honestly. Of all the airships to board, a particularly skilled inmate chose to hijack the one he was on, sailing it off, far into the horizon and away from Ziggurat. What he couldn't have anticipated however, was the turbulent storm that followed in the wake of Charybdis. The beast's wrath was not contained to only the island, it seemed. The final blast of water that the beast had launched stripped the entire right wing of the airship off, resulting in the entire thing tumbling down, being carried on the same current and impacting a fairly long distance away from the larger ship. Many other smaller ships weren't so lucky, plummeting to the depths below. Well, Marshall was fine at least. His pilot had fallen out during the current sweeping them up, but a crash landing never DID require a pilot. A bit of a broken left arm, and a bit of shrapnel in his stomach sure, but Marshall was just peachy. [/hider] [hr] [hider=Episode 2: Colony of the Overgrown Island, Malovarna] [center][h3]Verdant Woodlands[/h3][/center] [@Guess Who],[@Suku],[@Ammokkx],[@Skyrte] A hunt interrupted may be expected by the hunter, but never by a crash landing. As the young Erune Cyll stalked the bestial, occasionally monstrous prey through the lush woodlands of Malovarna, his ears hearing the sound of a massive object crashing just before it spooked off a tremendous number of wild beasts and animals. While a few stragglers were curious, it was clear it was more the smaller rodents and rabbits that seemed intrigued by the fallen craft. By the looks of the banners and various flags, it was clearly something piloted by the Zweite. It certainly couldn't hurt to take a peek...after all, a crash like that would normally leave most people dead. Inside, Cayde and Skathi would find themselves shaken back to consciousness by Perkeo. Elated to be safe, Perkeo was bounding with excitement at his freedom, seemingly unfazed by the crash. [color=fff79a][b]"Up up, you two. We've lives to lead, and an island to find a home on."[/b][/color] [hr] [center][h3]Poison Maker's Cottage[/h3][/center] [@ShwiggityShwah],[@Enkryption] A busy day's work was what awaited an Alchemist's Apprentice, and the small [url=https://i.imgur.com/pKa1mNy.png]girl[/url] patrolling the woodlands with her large, mushroom-like companion. Together the duo regularly searched for various herbs and mushrooms from the lush woods of the island, and today was no different...save for the titanic booms that echoed and shook the ground following the crashing ships. [color=bc8dbf][b]"Huh? Did...did something just fall, Mucu?"[/b][/color] the young girl asked, looking up at her mouthless companion. Offering the smallest shrug of its shoulders, Mucu carried on, its footsteps light against the soft brown dirt. The patter of her small feet was lost against the sounds of animals rustling in the shrubbery surrounding them, and, after a few minutes of walking, they would come across the wreckage of Marshall's ship. Taking a very cautious step inside, the young girl would come face to face with Marshall. Since he hadn't gotten a proper chance to fully recover just yet, she saw his broken arm and gasped. [color=bc8dbf][b]"O-Oh my gosh Mister! Y-You wait right here, I'll get help! Mucu, protect him."[/b][/color] the young lilac-haired girl said, acting quickly and running back to her master's cottage. [color=bc8dbf][b]"Master Poxxie, Master Poxxie! Someone's hurt really bad in the woods. T-They need a splint, a crutch, and something to dull the pain."[/b][/color] the girl explained, having barged into Poxanne's personal study. If Poxanne would agree, she would take her to see Marshall. Back at the airship, Mucu was doing his duty, wordlessly watching over Marshall while also blocking the doorway with his body. Looking at Marshall with a cautious air about him, the two pale eyes, the only thing discernible as a face on the beast looked at Marshall's armored arm and the space between them furrowed. It seemed that he sensed something about Marshall... [hr] [center][h3]Malovarna Halmet: Beetraz[/h3][/center] [@Awesomoman64] Sid's keen eyes had never let him down before, and the sight of a crashing airship from a nearby village presented a perfect opportunity to the [s]former?[/s] pirate, one which carried a decent amount of risk to it, but a chance for oodles of profit. Assuming that it must have been a transport fleet carrying goods, it would likely be in Sid's best interests to investigate the large ship crash. The villagers were appreciative of him, ever since he boldly chased off a tax collector, as well as his cronies from the relatively squalid hamlet. With the wind at his back, Sid would recall a dream he'd had the other night...one that Cyll, and Poxanne would share as well. [hider=Poxanne, Sid, and Cyll: The Dragon's Interrogation] [color=7B68EE][i][b]"Child of the Sky..."[/b][/i][/color] A voice rang out, calling from within the widespread arms of sleep. Soon, a dream formed in the minds of those who's destinies lie intertwined with one another, as a vision of the sky formed in their minds...or, rather, of themselves falling infinitely in that sky, limp and helpless as the winds tore at their backs, and roared in their minds. Soon, the bright morning sun that shone in the dreams set, creating a gorgeous crimson that painted the entire sky its shade of red. Now, floating before them was a being that could only be described as a [url=https://i.imgur.com/ENlL4E9.png]Bound Dragon[/url] , its arms tied together and forced to clasp against its chest, while its mouth and eyes were sealed. The presence of this being seemed...otherworldly, as if even in this sky of impossibilities, this being especially did not belong. [center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpieDwSpdMg]♫♪[/url][/center] [color=7B68EE][b][i]"I am the Dawn, and Dusk of creation. I have come to you as you near the precipice of awakening to your destiny. Death stalks, and soon it shall reap. Thine idle days, cultivated on this sprawling greenery will close, and conflict will follow wherever you go. Answer me, Child."[/i][/b][/color] the dragon growled, not once moving its mouth. It was as if it spoke directly into your mind. If you focused, you would see that surrounding you were other, faint figures falling down at the same pace. Details were foggy, but a sense of...connection could be felt within the dreamers. [color=7B68EE][b][i]"Those who's fates you will entwine with your own...what will you do when the time comes to untie them? When bonds become only a hindrance to your aspirations?"[/i][/b][/color] As if compelled by the gravitas and divinity of the gargantuan dragon, honesty was the only thing that COULD flow from the Dreamers' thoughts. As if lying were impossible in the presence of this being. Again, it spoke after hearing your answers. [color=7B68EE][b][i]"This world has need of strength...dare you to carry that burden on your shoulders, when you yourself have failed before you have even begun?"[/i][/b][/color] Another question, the dragon's eyeless gaze seeming to burn your soul merely by observing. Now...it wasn't clear if this was a dream or reality. Another growl, and a final question asked. [color=7B68EE][b][i]"What is it that drives your Conviction, Singularity? How do you so fearlessly embark towards the end, knowing the destruction that may await you?"[/i][/b][/color] With his final question answered, the dragon beat his wings once, and the sensation of falling stopped completely, as if you and the other figures bathed in ethereal light had been completely stopped. Time seemed to stand still for a minute. Then two. Then three, four, five, and finally, after six, the deafening silence of a windless sky gave way to crumbling landscapes falling, memories of home, possessions, entire islands sent falling down past you. [color=7B68EE][b][i]"Such fragility...yet you shall outlast even the most durable. Such weakness, yet you shall overthrow the undefeated. I will not deny the possibilities that lie within you. Awaken, Children of the Sky. Your hour is at hand."[/i][/b][/color] As if you could no longer see, the world began growing dark, and, in a single, cacophony, the dragon's roar filled the empty dreamscape, the binds seeming to loosen for a moment as light filled the dream. Swallowing it whole, that light enveloped you as well, as well as the figures surrounding. Then, it would end, eerily present in your minds very clearly after awakening that morning. [/hider] [/hider]