Ruins of Azlant Gameplay I

"Mm." Amissa nods slowly.

Upon getting back to the top, Aisha finds a flat piece of ground to lay out her bedroll on and sits down onto it with a sigh. "Sorry everyone, I forgot to give out shields before we went down, it probably could have saved us some grief," she apologizes, grimacing and stripping her breastplate off.

Jax stares distantly past the edge of the crater. "Maybe," he replies, unconvinced.

"I... do not think we have much room for error, anymore," Amissa says quietly. The words seem somewhat forced, and she speaks slowly. "The threats we are dealing with... both here, and generally... are severe enough that haste will only... put us at risk. It would serve us well... to do more analysis... and prepare ourselves properly... in the future."

"I agree. It might be a good idea to plan for any of these excursions to be overnight trips from now on," Aisha suggests. "So that we can take the first day to scout out what we're getting into, then rest and come in completely prepared the next day."

Kaimana considers mentioning he forgot his shield at first too, as reassurance. Then he reconsiders, not wanting Aisha to think any lower of him than she must already, and keeps quiet.

Then Amissa suggests more thorough preparation, Aisha suggests scouting ahead for more information. Kaimana considers, and finds himself worried his scouting would do little. He doesn’t know what to do against different enemies besides hit them. Usually. Unless he’s told not to. He can’t say that, though, what good would it do? And imagine the harm that could come.

The half-elf notices his braid has gotten over his shoulder and throws it to his back before needlessly readjusting his bedroll, again. He wonders if there’s anywhere nearby to swim, desperately uncomfortable.

Jax slumps down, his spear clattering at his side while he slips his pack off. "I dont know..." he mumbles. He considers ending at that, but decides against it. This needs to be said. "Am I even helping, being here? I'm not as strong or resilient as Kaimana, and my magic isn't as powerful as yours," he motions to the mages. "I just...keep trying, but all I do is force you to focus on keeping me alive instead of everyone else..." he trails off.

Amissa turns to look at Jax, and a frown forms on her face. "This... is why... we prepare." She takes a deep breath. "None of us... came here... to fight skeletons. I... am... a scientist. Not... a fighter. This is... not... how I want... to use magic. Nor... am I good at it." She holds her chest for a moment, recomposing, before continuing. "As... you may recall... none of my spells worked. The only one... that had an impact... was the pit... and only because... it was utilized by others. But... I still try." She points down into the ravine. "If... you feel... overwhelmed... from this... you have two options. You can keep trying... or give up. But this..." She massages her throat. "This... is nothing... compared... to what the Azlanti fought. If you aren't willing... to fight this... will you fight them... when the time comes?"

"Well said, Amissa," Aisha smiles at the android, then adds more, wanting to personalize the advice to Jax. "Jax, do you know what would have happened if you weren't there today? Kaimana would have taken the brunt of those attacks, and then the explosion that knocked you out probably would have knocked him out instead, and then Amissa and I would have been helpless and we all would have died. Plus, you're probably the best tracker and hunter in the entire colony, so don't sit here thinking that you don't contribute."

Jax opens his mouth to reply, then closes it. After a moment, he responds, calmer: "You're right. I hadn't really thought of it that way." He pauses again. "I won't give up. I wasn't ever intending to abandon you; I guess I was just blinded by my own failures to see how thing's would've been worse had I not been here, and that made me fear I was doing more harm to you than good." He closes his eyes. "...thanks." he says, quietly.

Amissa opens her mouth, then closes it again. She curls up on her bedroll, back facing towards the group.

Kaimana considers asking Amissa if she’s okay, but she seems pretty clearly not. He stands up abruptly and starts walking off.

Aisha watches Kaimana walk off for a few seconds, then scrambles up to her feet, murmuring to the other two, "I'm going to go check up on him," then jogs off after the half-elf. Once she gets close, she calls out, "Kaimana! Wait up!"

Kaimana turns on hearing her call out, visibly puzzled, and waves. ”I’m not going far?” he clarifies. ”Just wanted to move around.”

”No, I know. I just wanted to chat is all, you seem a little... put out? How’re you holding up?” Aisha asks, stopping next to Kaimana.

Kaimana rubs the back of his neck, not quite looking at her. ”I didn’t nearly die. We made it out. It’s fine, right?”

”In my experience, anyone who says ‘it’s fine’ isn’t really fine,” Aisha comments with a wry smile. ”You don’t have to tell me what’s eating at you if you don’t want to, I’m just checking up on my friend is all.”

”I’m surprised you wanted to check on me at all,” Kaimana answers, catching himself after saying it and leaving the comment there.

Aisha pauses and blinks twice, caught completely off-guard by that comment. "Why wouldn't I?" she asks, her lips curling into a small frown.

Wait, I forgot to include the excuse. "Ah, just, I guess Jax is feeling some better at this point but Amissa seemed kind of worn out from talking with him?" he answers hastily. "Though, I guess maybe she's just worn out and will be okay after resting. Not sure." The half-elf look back at Aisha, and notes she seems genuinely bothered by his surprise. Is that an act, or should he be more honest? He considers, and decides to give her the benefit of the doubt. "And you think I'm an idiot, so I didn't think you'd bother, I guess."

"What? No I don't," Aisha shakes her head vigorously, scouring her brain for any time she could have said that, then her eyes widen. "Was this because of what I said when I was upset that you didn't notice your wounds? I didn't mean to insult you then, I was just angry because I was worried."

Kaimana frowns, considers, and says, "I'm going to back to walking. Sorry to bother you." He then turns to walk off.

"You weren't bothering me," Aisha insists, then sighs, "But okay. If you ever wanna talk, I'll be here," she replies, closing her eyes for a moment.

The next day, the group heads down into the ravine again. Taking a look around the immediate area, they are greeted by two doors with strange locks. "Give me a moment," Amissa says, and leans in closer to take a look at the locks in further detail.

After around ten minutes of musing to herself, she stands up straight again. "It looks like these locks correspond with ioun stones." She pulls out her familiar bag and opens it, releasing the ioun wyrd inside. She reaches inside and pulls out a spindle-shaped ioun stone, then inserts it into the lock. Once the door is open, she puts the stone back in the ioun wyrd and returns it to the bag.

Behind the door lies another Blast Shadow. Amissa and Aisha both cast spells on the party, enhancing their speed and strength while the undead rushes forward and claws into Kaimana. Amissa retreats out of range of the inevitable explosion while sending bolts of arcane energy lancing forward and Aisha attempts to heal the worst of Kaimana's wounds as Kaimana and Jax swing into the creature. The flaming skeleton's claws rip into Kaimana a second time, leaving the half-elf severely wounded. "Kaimana, get clear of the blast! I can handle this!" Jax shouts, and Kaimana obliges, with Aisha following. Another flurry of claws results in the undead collapsing into a burst of flame.