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[center][sub][h1][color=FFE4B5][u]J[/u][/color] [u]O[/u] [u]C[/u] [u]A[/u] [u]S[/u] [u]T[/u] [u]A[/u]   [color=FFE4B5][u]R[/u][/color] [u]E[/u][/h1][/sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/kd7nAfG.png?1[/img][/center][hr]
[color=FFE4B5][i]Plenty of decapitations here,[/i][/color] Jocasta mused to herself. [color=FFE4B5][i]How macabre.[/i][/color] She wasn't particularly surprised that these were all little killers despite their subtle and not so subtle assertions to the contrary. After all, what was she?

[color=FFE4B5][i]I am what the Refuge made me,[/i][/color] she knew, [color=FFE4B5][i]and the things I have become since,[/i][/color] but there was nothing before: only vague memories of hide and seek, climbing pistachio trees, and frolicking on a rocky beach with friends whose faces she could not remember. For that wound, the Chemical Mage who had taken those memories paid with his life. It was but a trick of internal chemical and magnetic magic: overstimulate the heart and provoke a heart attack. He noticed her tampering, but it was too late. He couldn't fight it off by then. He couldn't even form words. So it was that Jocasta sat there while the others battled, her face telling the story of a near-panicked girl sweeping the distance for energies, while she ripped the life out of an evil man. It was revenge a decade in the making and yet it did not satisfy the girl. She worked to keep a scowl from her face. [color=FFE4B5][i]You still lived past fifty,[/i][/color] she knew. [color=FFE4B5][i]I didn't get to watch it,[/i][/color] she thought. [color=FFE4B5][i]You didn't know it was [b]me[/b].[/i][/color] She consoled herself with the notion that at least he would not erase everything that made up any other little children like he had erased her or whoever she had been before.

Next, Jocasta knew, she would have to set upon Mirabel, the Tan-Zeno, for she was strong in The Gift and would escape once she recognized this for the attack that it was. Already, the girl could feel the energy of three bodies scrambling. She could feel Mirabel's brain pumping out cortisol and adrenaline. [color=FFE4B5][i]You're next, you bitch.[/i][/color] She had already decided to save Gutierrez for last. The more that he suffered, the better. Al-Qorrah was unfortunate to be there, but there was nobody innocent who ran a Tethered Refuge.

[color=C78A2C][b]"Could you warm this for me, please?"[/b][/color] Jocasta snapped out of her bloodlust just as Mirabel may have felt the first pinch. She'd wasted time being unusually subtle. Six Halassa were dead. Bitch and Creep were not, sadly: the former to go on being as presumptuous as ever, the latter as arrogant. The sour look that some part of Jocasta demanded did not show on her face. She would finish her work later, even if all five of these others stood against her. As for Esparza, it would appear to all but the most trained that the anxious old man had simply suffered a heart attack. Besides, out here in the desert, with aberration-mad beasts running amok, the other caretakers would not continue their mission while carrying the body. They would return to the Refuge and she would see them there. A wave of... something cold and uneasy washed through Jocasta. She could not picture, in her mind's eye, being back there. Secretly, she wished for Triste, or even Benedetto. His constant slings and barbs would keep her mind busy.

Jocasta put hands to wheels, resisting the near-instinct to let herself float. At least the ground beneath her was rocky and she started to move. Then she found more of that Gods-awful drink shoved in her face. What was with Bitch and consuming the stuff? [color=FFE4B5][i]Fuck it,[/i][/color] Jocasta relented, [color=FFE4B5][i]time to kill her with kindness.[/i] [b]"Oh Zamira,"[/b][/color] she chirped, [color=FFE4B5][b]"r-really, you're too kind! How can I refuse?"[/b][/color] With a quick bit of chemical manipulation, she muted the signals from her taste buds to her brain and took a hearty sip. She let it linger in her mouth for a moment, checking for poisons and psychotropic effects. Satisfied that the drink was no threat, she swallowed. [color=FFE4B5][b]"Ahhh, I know I shouldn't be... be drinking this,"[/b][/color] she sighed, [color=FFE4B5][b]"because it excites my temperament ever so... so much, but that [i]really [/i]hits the spot."[/b][/color] She smiled warmly. [color=FFE4B5][b]"I can already feel the energy flowing back into me. Tha-Thank you."[/b][/color] At that, compliments towards the vile drink abounded, and they all got down to the work of filling themselves with it.

[color=C78A2C][b]"So. The settlement,”[/b][/color] Zarina remarked after a blessed few seconds of not having to hear her voice. [color=C78A2C][b]"We’ve agreed to talk to them first, yeah? Then let’s get moving before they’re all turtle shit.”[/b][/color]  

[color=FFE4B5][i]They're already far worse than that, you self-important imbecile.[/i][/color] As if to reinforce Jocasta's impression, the Virangishwoman yawned and stretched. [color=C78A2C][b]"... It’s that way, right?”[/b][/color] She pointed in a direction that was... just wrong enough that Jocasta was tempted to let her walk off in it.  

[color=FFE4B5][b]"Uh... uh, yes!"[/b][/color] the Tethered girl replied after a moment. [color=FFE4B5][b]"Th-this way!"[/b][/color] She pointed in a slightly different direction. [color=FFE4B5][b]"I'm... I'm sure Yalen senses it too. We've, uh, quite the range. Perhaps he'd be a b-better choice to um... lead the way,"[/b][/color] she squeaked. [color=FFE4B5][b]"Th-that is, if you're alright with it, of course!"[/b][/color] With a start, she turned to the priest. [color=FFE4B5][b]"Dami forgive me, I'm so t-terribly sorry for just assuming."[/b][/color]

Yalen merely pointed at himself in response with a look of puzzlement. [color=FD5E53][b]"Me? Er, yes, of course. I'd be happy to."[/b][/color] He closed his eyes for a moment. [color=FD5E53][b]"Someone must have felt the portal open. I can sense them out there. A group of four or five. They must be part of the garrison."[/b][/color]

[color=FFE4B5][i]Three now,[/i][/color] Jocasta thought, learning another valuable piece of information about her teammate. [color=FFE4B5][b]"Thank you,"[/b][/color] she mewed, [color=FFE4B5][b]"and sorry. I... I suppose we should get going."[/b][/color] And that was that. With a few more words exchanged, they set off for the Refuge, or 'settlement' as Bitch put it, or 'garrison' as Idiot put it. [color=FFE4B5][i]At least Slut knows when to keep her mouth shut,[/i][/color] Jocasta decided with some satisfaction, though the Torragonese kept stealing yearning glances at Creep's cloak. Sucker was... furtive, probably wondering if anyone had noticed or would condemn him for his use of Blood Magic. Ironically, that had actually served to increase the tiny shred of respect that Jocasta held for him. [color=FFE4B5][i]Now, if you could just learn to use it without shame,[/i][/color] she thought, but the notion soon faded from her mind.

It was tough going for the Tethered girl as the terrain alternated between stone and sand. There was a growing chill in the air and a pesky wind that continued to whip dust into the group's eyes. The blonde was forced to use a continuous amount of energy to both move herself and keep her eyes clear. More than one of the others noticed and tried to take advantage of her shield, and so, with a little peep of exertion and doe eyes darting about, she expanded it to cover them all, drawing from the residual heat in the sand to warm herself as she went and... for some reason, Slut as well. It wasn't generosity, empathy, or anything like that, of course. She just couldn't deal with any more of the girl's telegraphed gazes at her teammate's cloak.

Then, there were lights in the far distance and she knew them for the sanctuary. Clear in her mind's eye was that night, six years ago, when she'd glanced back over her shoulder at them a dozen times, with growing conviction that she had made the right choice and growing fear that it would kill her.

Yet, there was something else too, and she exchanged a glance with Yalen - Idiot. Three human bodies and a fast-cooling corpse, the energies in it changing: Tan-Zeno, Binder, and Rapist. They were hurrying back to the safety of the for-once aptly named Refuge. Further, Jocasta stretched her senses and she could feel swift shapes moving above: a pair of Froabases pounding the air with their wings, kinetic energy swirling about. The stout thirty-foot dragons liked hunting at dusk, often aided by their version of The Gift. They avoided cities, but would regularly pick humans off if they journeyed solo or in small groups. The sonic rasp of their echolocation caused her to flinch momentarily. They were either hunting or...

Almost simultaneously, the Froabases arced up and away and that struck Jocasta as wrong. One of the caretakers from the Refuge turned to look back at the fast-gaining group and shouted something unintelligible, waving them forward but not stopping. Jocasta delved into the kinetic and sharpened the distant voice. [color=f7941d][b]"Arena!"[/b][/color] they were shouting, [color=f7941d][b]"Arena Malvada!"[/b][/color] [color=FFE4B5][i]...Evil Sand,[/i][/color] Jocasta translated with a start. She reached out with her senses and there it was, near the edge of her range, approaching exactly from due east, perpendicular to their path: the gargantuan collection of energies that could only denote a Royal Sand Wyrm... and it was a [i]big[/i] one. 

One of her idiot teammates was shouting for the caretakers to slow down. Another was asking if they needed help. It would be easier to let these fools die, but she needed them, in a manner of speaking. Jocasta was not entirely ready to waltz into that Refuge and not just murder every caretaker in sight. The face that she was forced to wear for them might be the only thing that would hold her back. She took a deep breath. [color=FFE4B5][b]"Sand Wyrm!"[/b][/color] she screamed, making sure that everyone heard her. [color=FFE4B5][b]"East of here! It's... it's coming up [i]fast![/i]"[/b][/color]

The caretakers would make it if they dropped Esparza's body. They'd make it with time to spare. The foundations of the Refuge were solid stone and ran deep underground to bedrock. Jocasta's peers were... a fifty-fifty proposition. Anyone who could boost their speed with Kinetic magic stood a good chance. Anyone who could lift themselves at least one hundred feet clear of the sand might live. Or, they could fight it. The Refuge was so tantalizingly close. Jocasta never thought that she'd actually be [i]happy [/i]to see one of the accursed places, but its presence was now a comforting thing and a grim reminder of the sheer hostility of the High Desert. Separating herself from her wheeled-chair, she raised it alongside her as she rose smoothly into the air. Then, the Tethered was flying, letting gravity tug at her and then drawing from that same energy to lift herself back up in a continuous loop. She glanced down at the ground and her five peers. She glanced ahead at the Refuge and its stoic walls. [color=f7941d][b]"Hurry,"[/b][/color] the caretakers were shouting at the students in Torragonese, [color=f7941d][b]"Run! Use your magic!"[/b][/color] She glanced East at a distinctive growing furrow in the sand. Jocasta Re had killed many people and many things in her life, but she had never even [i]thought [/i]to kill a Sand Wyrm.
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[hider=Action Opportunities]1) There are plenty of dialogue opportunities during the journey, which took roughly half an hour. Feel free to play those out before things get serious.
2) Anyone can have shouted out to and tried to communicate with the caretakers. Feel free to have your characters notice that something is 'off' around the same time as Jocasta.
3) The Royal Sand Wyrm (Serpentis Regia), is the apex predator of this ecosystem and is considered by many to be nearly impossible to kill. At twenty-five meters (over 80 feet) in length, it can easily swallow a person whole, though it makes a point of biting down and dealing a fatal blow to anything that it ingests. Capable of using the Gift to shield its vulnerable spots and counter the internal attacks commonly used by Froabases, it is unbelievably durable. Its maximum travel speed while hunting is sixty kilometers per hour, though it is not particularly agile due to its massive size. It can, however, bury prey or attackers in an avalanche of sand and, when surfaced, breathe out a burning cloud of high-pressure acid steam. This acid does not harm its own armour. You would be able to tell that the one that you are facing is not aberration-mad. Were it to go aberration-mad, it would either attack the Refuge or the somewhat-nearby town of Jarramon. Casualties would likely be in the hundreds or even thousands. You have a few options:
[indent]a) Attempt to fight the Sand Wyrm right now. This is a very risky play. It could pay off in a big way, but there is a serious threat of death.
b) Run. You might make it to the Refuge, if you're fast, and you might not. Technically, you only need to run faster than the slowest person to uh... buy yourself some time. Will you leave your teammates behind to save yourself?
c) Fly, if you're able to or if you can get someone to help you. You'll have to fly at least one hundred feet up and maintain it long enough for the Sand Wyrm to lose interest or until you're over the Refuge and can drop down into it.[/indent]
4) If you survive, you will make it to the Tethered Refuge. This is a large sandstone complex with tall, thick walls and an inner courtyard built around an oasis. It has many rooms, a church, a medical wing, and a large sunken agora with a partially covered bathing pool. There are three towers: a tall narrow 'Tower of Reflection', a shorter administrative tower near the medical wing, and the church's bell tower. There is also a small chapel to Vashdal for those who keep the Darhannic faith. The doorways are generally wide and, aside from the gardens, where tropical fruit trees, flowers, and produce are grown, it is smoothly paved, with a minimum of stairs and many ramps. There is a winch and pulley platform system in each of the towers that can only be operated by the caretakers at the top.[/hider]