Ruins of Azlant Gameplay I

[Placeholder: Jax and Kaimana hit back at the mists, Jax kills his, Kaimana wounds his. Mist attempts to attack Jax next, but misses, Kaimana kills it after that. Hag color sprays again, and this time Aisha is stunned. Jax and Kaimana are moving up and Amissa casts haste. Hag fails to cast defensively, then Jax FA, Kaimana hit, magic missle hit. Hag is very wounded and attempts to drink a potion, then bisected by Kaimana.]

Once the fight ends, Amissa walks over to the platform in the center of the room and begins inspecting the orrery. "This is... quite remarkable," she says. "It looks like this can be used as a reference for navigation or knowledge of the stars. On top of that... you could probably use this to contact other worlds. I'm looking forward to studying this in more detail."

After deciding that a team should come back to look more closely at the apparatus, they head back to Aeroclyse. "The hag's dead, Aeroclyse," Aisha calls out to the cyclops to announce their arrival.

"The hag is dead?" Aeroclyse repeats in disbelief. "This is no trick?"

"She was a little cut in half by the time we were done, so," Kaimana answers, almost sheepish.

"Thank you for freeing me from that monster," Aeroclyse says, with a shudder at his still fresh memories of torment.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have done so sooner," Aisha replies softly. "Do you.. have anywhere to go now?" she asks, finally broaching that thorny problem.

"Maybe, eventually, home to the shackles," Aeroclyse says after several moments of thought. "But nowhere now."

Aisha takes a deep breath and closes her eyes thoughtfully. "Do you have any idea what you want to do now?" she asks.

"Just survive. Eat, sleep, and be safe until I find a way home," Aeroclyse says, after a moment of introspection. "Unless friends want something of me. Happily do whatever friends ask."

"I'll try and do what I can to help you find a way home too," Aisha promises.

The party assists Aeroclyse in setting up a camp near the caldera, before departing back to Talmandor's bounty. The journey home is without incident, arriving near sundown. As the group approaches the colony, they can see the odd site of a large group of people, fifteen in number or so, marching through the streets with torches, hollering and banging objects as they go.

Aisha immediately rushes forwards to approach the mob, but only gets within shouting range, nervous about just what mobs can do. "What're you doing?!?" she shouts.

Luetin steps forwards, always eager to take the lead. "We're going to drive that blasted witch out of the colony, that's what!" he declares, to the cheers of the mob behind him.

Any nerves Aisha had evaporate, replaced by fury, and she gets herself right up in front of the mob. "You'll drive out a woman who's done nothing but use her talents to help people?" she speaks directly to Luetin, but projects her voice and stares at the whole group, her gaze resting on each face in turn. "Who's never hurt a single member of this community? Think about what you're doing! All of you. I understand things are hard right now. Not everything's gone as planned, and a lot of us are scared. Believe me, I'm scared too. But that doesn't mean we need to be turning on each other and letting those fears control us. Letting them drive us to attacking our own and tearing ourselves apart. That won't help us, and it's wrong. We're better than that. You're better than that. Start acting like it."

As Aisha speaks, and stares down each of the mob in turn, some of the more weak-hearted members slink off to return to their homes without a word, and soon, Luetin is left with only a few followers, looking uneasy and unsure. Luetin himself looks appropriately abashed, and turns away from Aisha's eyes. "Er, well, I suppose she has helped us some... Maybe it would be a little rash..." he says, retreating with the last remnants of the mob.

Jax remains tense throughout the conversation, scanning the mob for any sign that violence might soon break out. Once the mob begins to disperse, he relaxes, but waits for the rest of the mob to leave before turning to the others. "I saw Irvin. He was trying to hide within the crowd, and left as soon as the mob began to falter. Coward," he states, a hint of anger flickering in his eyes.

Kaimana notices Irvin too, the farmer trying to remain unseen and looking to the ground as the mob disperses. Kaimana's face goes through a few expressions, too quick to catch the sentiments behind them, before he turns away from the group. "I'll be swimming, if something comes up," he mutters before walking off. A short distance away, a walk turns into a jog and a jog turns into a run until he's in the water, pensive once out far enough.

Aisha sighs. "I'm going to go check up on Eskelda. I'll see you all tomorrow," she tells the others, then heads over to Es's house and knocks on the door. "Hey, Eskelda, it's Aisha," she calls in.

No response comes from within.

Aisha frowns and furrows her brow, knocking again. When there's still no response, she slowly pushes the door open.

Eskelda's cottage is empty inside, but without any signs of a struggle. It appears a few essential items, such as food, were taken with some haste, but most of the belongings still remain inside.

"Hells," Aisha swears, then dashes off to catch up to Jax, knowing that her ability to search and track is limited compared to his.

As Kaimana heads off, Jax stiffly turns towards the town hall and begins walking. As much as he wanted to be done with everything, he still had to report the recent exploration's events.

Enroute to the government house, Jax notes more than a few soldiers who seem to be heading back to their normal routes from the government house. Inside, Ramona and Carver are there, having a discussion, though it feels like a tension in the room has left within the past few minutes. "Ah, Jax," Ramona says with a weary smile. "Your group has excellent timing, as always. Thank you for dispersing the mob."