Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 3.3 Bannihar
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 3.3
Bannihar Measured in Minutes
Due to a two-way-tie between readers it looks like it's up to Author Contributed Characters to break the tie... and that means the "interesting evening" wins... sorry. *evil grin* The modifiers to Bannihar for this chapter are as follows: ++ Favor, + Willpower, ++Danger, - Delay, + Experience, and - Luck... but only if successful.
The travelers spent the following day at the fresh water spring, filling up every barrel they could make available. According to Elias, the desert was vast and dry, and, despite the ample supply of water, he had no doubt that they should consider rationing what they had. "I know this looks like a lot of water for eight people, but it'll go fast."
"We should consider partitioning nine shares." Jules suggested, "If we're going to have Sebastian up in the air scouting for us then he'll probably need extra water."
"Nah..." the gryphon clacked his beak, "Up in the air I get a cooler breeze and the warm updrafts means I don't have to work as hard. I'll be fine with one-- like the Dirt-Mage said, we need to conserve what we have."
Elias paused and looked at Sebastian, "Did you say 'Dirt-Mage'?" he questioned, "I'm a Geomancer."
"A 'Dee' sound is easier to say with a beak than a 'jhee'." the gryphon enunciated the 'G' with less tongue and more breath.
"Then stick with 'magus'." the armadillo suggested, "Dirt-Mage sounds insulting."
"Good enough for me." Sebastian confirmed, launching into the air before Elias had registered that the gryphon had no trouble whatsoever with the word 'good'.
"You really need to teach him better manners." the magus declared to Roarg, "He's liable to get himself in trouble with that beak one of these days."
"Easier said than done, my friend." the badger smirked, "And believe me, he's already caused plenty of trouble before."
The party progressed through the desert at a reasonable pace. They covered far less ground than they had managed going downhill or across the flat grasslands, but they were still ahead of the progress that Lord Raes had desired. Every evening before the party set camp, Lord Raes did a measurement of their water. Between Elias memories of the desert and Roarg's knowledge of the landscape, all three agreed that they would have enough to drink... barely. It was after the third night of water review that a question came up.
"How is it you know so much about the desert, Roarg?" Kayte asked, laying on a bedroll next to the camp fire.
"Same as Elias." the badger shrugged, "we both came through here when we were young..." and the badger cracked a good-natured grin, "Of course, I think I was younger less time ago than he was." and he offered the armadillo a friendly elbow.
"But I'll still outlive you if you keep that up." Elias offered flatly, inspecting the black stone he held in his hands.
"Heh..." Elesin chuckled, "he called you old."
"Elesin, would you please relieve Iskiy of his post?" Lord Raes quickly interjected into the conversation. The kangaroo made several attempts at complaining, but ultimately she relented. Once the battle mage had left, Lord Raes' attention returned to Elias, who was, once again, inspecting his stone, "What is it you have there?"
Elias fidgeted, looking up toward the dog as if having been caught doing something he shouldn't have, "Hmm? What's what?"
"The rock you have." the champion stated, motioning to it, "I've seen you paying it more and more attention lately."
"Everyone has something they use to center themselves." Roarg spoke up, "Like how you sharpen your sword when you're trying to calm yourself."
"HA!" Elesin laughed from a fair distance away, "So THAT'S how he gets by without a partner!"
"That wasn't a euphemism!" Roarg directed at her, "NOW GO STAND GUARD!"
"You're not the boss of me, Roarg Stoneclan, I don't have to lis--"
"GO STAND GUARD!" Lord Raes barked. The rest of the evening at camp lacked Elesin.
The following day marked the mid-way point in the party's travel across the desert. Several hours after the party broke camp they reached a particularly rocky area. Although a thin layer of sand still graced the ground, it was readily obvious that it had been seeded there by the hot breeze that blew across the center of the desert. The ground was much firmer, but the powerful winds caused the group to slow further thanks to the scouring sand whipped into the air.
"Ugh." Elesin snorted, wrapping her traveling cloak around her face to keep out the dust, "This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so goddess damn hot!"
"We're in the desert." Jules noted flatly, "That's the way it works."
"I was alright with the heat," Kayte noted, squinting through the wind as she raised a section of her robe to try and block the stinging dust from getting in her face, "it's just this sandstorm..."
"It IS a lot of dust." Iskiy acknowledged, moving to stand between the priestess and the wind. The Wild Lander wore a scarf on his head, carefully dangling down from his antlers to create an almost conical tent. It did an incredibly good job of keeping the sand out of his eyes as long as he wasn't facing into the wind.
"I'm just glad we're out of those sand dunes." Elesin commented, "My legs haven't burned this much since the time I accidentally dropped a fireball at my feet."
"Well, if we're all complaining..." Elias grumbled, "I suppose my biggest problem are all the people complaining." the comment got him quite a few looks. "Well it's true." he reiterated.
"There's more than heat and dust out here." Lord Raes claimed everyone's attention, "We'll just get through this and be on our way."
"Exactly." Roarg acknowledged, "If this is the worst part of our journey then we can be all the more relieved when it's over."
"But," Jules added, "While we're in the middle of it, I do want to point out that this must be what the Eternal Flame is like."
"Agreed." several voices spoke in unison.
"Just with more complaining." Elias added.
Several party members were just about to comment, but they didn't get the chance, "Something up ahead!" Sebastian called from above. The gryphon swooped down to land on the rock near The Risen, "This rock ends about 20 yards up ahead and there's something moving in the sand."
"Moving in the sand?" Jules asked, "Like... some snakes, or a giant scorpion, or what? What do you mean 'moving in the sand', gryphon?"
Sebastian looked past her as an enormous dune rose up from the ground. Amidst a cascade of sand, thick, rocky ridges became visible. The party quickly came to a halt as more and more of the ground shuddered beneath their feet.
"Oh Goddess..." Roarg murmured, "This isn't rock we're standing on." and then, all at once, the ground shifted beneath them, disappearing into the earth; they fell several feet down onto the sand. Everyone quickly stood back up, some drawing weapons, others praying, and some just gazing around for any signs of... whatever the problem was.
"Gather up." Lord Raes directed, "Stay close."
"Bad idea, yer Lordship." Dana's voice was unmistakable despite the whipping wind. They party glanced toward the white wolf, who padded casually toward them, her silvery mane dancing in the breeze. Despite the powerful gusts and the prevalence of sand, not a single grain of dirt appeared to stick to her... or even reach her for that matter, as if the wind were diverting it around her, "Ye have quite a problem t'deal with."
"Dana!" Iskiy announced, tail wagging. He paused for a second, "Ow!" and he rubbed at his eyes; the scarf on his antlers channeled the wind right into his face when he turned to look at her.
"Greetings later, Iskiy." she offered neutrally then looked to the party, "Ye best spread out..." she warned, keeping a good distance from the party, "It'll swallow as many a ye as it can if given th' chance, so don't group up."
"Swallow us?" Elesin asked, looking at the white furred Wild Lander, "What could possibly--" and her words failed her as an enormous rock-like tendril rose high into the air, the tip opening to reveal a lamprey-like maw with three circular rows of shield-sized teeth, "...oh."
"Goddess help me," Dana sighed, "Ah do think ye could use a little help." and she turned around to face the creature, flames licking up one of her arms while arcs of lightning flashed between her claws on the other, "Try not t'get eaten... this thing's elemental born."
"Getting eaten wasn't exactly part of the plan." Jules responded, "Why should it matter whether it's elemental or not?"
Elias, who looked a little paler than usual was happy to supply the answer, "If it's part elemental then chances are you could live for days inside its gut as its insides slowly beat you to death."
"Alright..." Elesin confirmed, "No getting eaten... got it."
"Remember..." Dana noted, slowly circling around the enormous, stony, lamprey-like creature, "It'll eat ye if it can, or it can try an' crush ye... but, in the end, it's still just a worm."
"I've never been THIS worried about a worm before." Iskiy admitted, readying his bow.
"If it's just a worm, all we need is a bird." Sebastian offered.
"A really BIG bird." Roarg added, readying his axe.
"A really big bird made of stone." Kayte added, unhooking the sacred censor from her staff.
"So..." Elesin grinned, her two swords glowing with magefire, "you're saying we need a 'Roc'." Nobody laughed.