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"Ah fuck," Zell commented, after Fenna and Lillianna delivered the bad news.  "And here I was thinking it was gonna be a boring day."  When  Adam gave his own response, emphasising the importance of teamwork, Zell nodded.  "You got it, Adam."

The final decision went to James, "On you, big brain.  What'cha got for us?" Zell turned his back and kept a lookout for danger while the Cleric thought about the situation.  There was no danger in sight, which somehow made things more intense, like some kind of horror flick.  [i]Protect,[/i] was the word in bright Vegas lights, right now.  [i]Water Stance: Free-flowing combat technique and philosiphy relying on ever-moving footwork and slashes rather than stabs. Effective when defending and outnumbered on disadvantaged terrain where bottlenecks cannot be utilised.[/i]  It was like a rollerdex of combat theory just span around a spat out something helpful for him.  Still so strange to have so much knowledge he'd never actually learned just sitting in his head.  When James made the decision, Zell approved, though he kept lookout until the group was ready to move again.  "Kicking through the front door, I like it.  Let's do it."

MacKensie offered to scout, the tone of her voice drawing Zell's attention moreso than her words. When he looked at her, he saw the same face from that moment on Hommas' eastern wall when she shot a bolt right by his ear.  She was ready to rock.  She and Fenna went ahead, then the group began to move.  "Meatheads, weapons ready," Zell said to Clive and Arthur, giving a pat on Joji's back - a quick reminder of their battle role - before he drifted to the lone rearguard position once more.

"Hoe.  Lee.  Shit," Zell muttered as he saw, in the distance, MacKensie just start [i]fucking flying[/i] up to the top of a tree, out of nowhere, blonde hair n blue cape billowing in the wind.  [i]Since when!?[/i]  For all of his efforts to stay on point, he couldn't help but be drawn up top, continually glancing up to check on the Frenchwoman.  She was using some kind of magic rope to do some of the craziest circus shit Zell had ever seen in his life! It might've been less shocking if the Ranger had shown any signs of these abilities during their last battle, but as far as he'd seen, she was a crossbow-toting badass and nothing more.

Adam stayed sharp, leading the way through enemy territory with the help of information Fenna and MacKensie were feeding him.  There were a few hot moments where Zell was gripping his sword-hilt, ready to jump into action and formation, but the group managed to stay out of trouble.  In truth, Zell almost preferred that they just get it over with and fight.  The anticipation was killing him.  But once the party was in the clear and everyone was back together and walking normally again, he slowly started to relax.  The sense of danger slipped back into the shadows.  After what Lillianna had told them, danger would always be present, but at least it wasn't immediate, giving them a bit of a mental rest for a while.

When Joji swore under his breath, Zell walked up to the man's side to see what the issue was.  "You and me both, big guy," Zell agreed, looking out onto region that stood between them and their destination.  It looked like an actual maze carved out of nature.  "I'm a pretty simple guy," he told Joji.  "Not a big fan of puzzles, tee-bee-haeche."

Joji asked if they could go around and Zell knew the answer before Adam said it.  As far as the eye could see, both east and west, was a cascade of jagged rock.  They'd have to go through.  As the group started descending into the labyrinth, Zell fell into step beside MacKensie.

"Since when the hell could [i]you[/i] fly around like Batman?" he asked.  It almost sounded like he was offended she hadn't informed him earlier.  However she replied, Zell's tone would change as he looked at her, a raise of his eyebrows and a grin on his face.  "Pretty badass, if I do say so myself."

...

"My god," Zell complained.  "How much more of this shit do we have to take?"  It had been a while and quite the work out.  The changes in terrain, the climbing up and descending back down.  "My ankles are killing me." The constant feeling that some monster could come jumping out from a crack or crevice at any moment.  "Screw you, Vadim.  We save your ass and this is how you repay us."

His whining stopped when the group came to what seemed like a dead end.  That is, until Adam started casting, giving an example of the plant magic he was talking about back in Hommas.  Dude straight-up just [i]grew[/i] the gang a bridge.  Zell's jaw dropped, a smile on his face throughout.  The amount of impressive feats he'd seen just continued to increase.

He watched Adam go in the first pair as they went across, then took his turn next, nodding to his partner and starting the journey.  It would seem that although Zell [i]heard[/i] Adam say, 'Be careful,' he wasn't actually listening, because the dumbass swordsman decided to lean over the edge as he was traversing the tree-trunks, so he could see how far down the abyss went.

One of his feet slipped and his arms flailed out as he fell over the edge, slipping through the gap under the 'hand-rail trunks.'  One hand barely managed to grab a conveniently placed branch to stop him freefalling into the black hole.  With an arm and leg dangling, Zell was one wrong move away from never being seen again.