Do They Call You Scales? <Event Travel>

[Nira]

After a good night's sleep, Tarah Featherook bounded up into the sky and flew toward the south. She kept her eye on her compass and world map, to check the next stop of her journey. The destination was easy to see from her height of nearly a thousand meters above ground. Her adventure in the Land of Bears wasn't too eventful, but perhaps the sands might be more eventful.

Onwards, Tarah flew, enjoying her time beneath the cloudless sky. Her wings beat against the air and propelled her ever further toward the horizon. Being high up in the sky was wonderful. Usually, being on the ground only let a person see for a couple miles ahead. So much more was seen from the perspective of birds.

Tarah looked around, checking out the various people wandering like ants upon the surface of the world. Slowly, the landscape turned yellow. Winds picked up.

<Move to Land of Wind>

[Draven]

[moved]

Tarah could see something on the ground. Though people may seem like ants, their techniques are far more flashy. Large explosions, fire, lightning, and a series of creations ebbed and flowed. What was this taking place, was it of interest. Whatever it was, it was perhaps ninjutsu in nature.

[Nira]

Tarah watched as wondrous colors sprouted somewhere beneath her. Something was going on, which she wasn't able to properly spot from her position in the sky. Wanting to investigate, her hands flew together to form seals that molded and split her chakra apart.

Tarah formed four separate shadow clones, which appeared around her in the air. Each one contained an even fifth of her chakra supply. One of them shifted to Vi Gesic's personality. Tanni, Janice, and Deena took control of the other three.

"Oh, pretty." Janice glanced down, with a face of curiosity and mirth. "Race you guys down there!"

Janice suddenly dived, her wings folded neatly behind her back as she approached the ground with growing acceleration. The other three clones followed.

Tarah stayed up in the sky. She'd let her clones investigate while she remained hovering in place.

Tanni descended until she was fifty meters above ground, so that she could clearly hear everything going on with her sound deciphering skills as a bard. The other three clones only went down until they were a hundred meters above ground, so that she could see what was going on without being too close. To avoid complications from being too jumbled together, the trio made sure they were arranged in a triangle formation. Each one was thirty meters away from the others.

[Draven]

As Tarah got closer and closer, the battle seemed to ramp up. Though like flickering a light bulb on and off many times over the battle fizzled to and end. No one was standing...

One spot signified a blood stain where someone once stood, but only a crater and small bits of parts lay around. But the other was wrapped in a crystal formation. Blood from the face, captured in a perpetual death face. Something was held in this persons hand, perhaps a sack of something.

From what it looked like the battle had raged with ninjutsu being the primary tool. They both seemed of the ninja world, but they both were now of the dead.

[Nira]

Tanni tilted her head to the side as she studied the aftermath of the battle. She still wasn't sure what happened here. The object in one of the combatant's hand was certainly of interest.

There was a moment of consideration, of whether or not to use the ability to look back in time to get a better feel for what happened on the scene.

Tanni ultimately decided against it. There didn't appear to be any winners or losers in the fight. Tarah could come down herself and check the scene if that knowledge was required.

Instead, Tanni went over to the object that appeared to be a sack. She'd retrieve it, then take a look at what it was. If it could be opened, she'd glance inside.

[Draven]

As the bag was taken it created a hairline crack in the crystal. The hand would fall as if cleaved from the body. Like a fountain a gush of blood from the wrist. If whom ever was not dead before, this accident would surely make them so. Inside the bag was but a few things. A few pieces of lint, a paper clip and a dirty coin.

[Nira]

Tanni raised her brow at the sight of the objects inside the bag. They didn't seem to have much importance. The picked out the dirty coin and inspected both sides of it, with the hopes of gaining some insight.

With no threat to safety detected, the other three clones remain on patrol in the sky.

Tarah herself descended onto the battleground. When she hovered three dozen meters above ground, she let her soul surge through her eyes. A gateway to the past was opened by her vision, and she peeked through to gaze upon the old world.

Twenty-five minutes ago, what happened on this battlefield?

Meanwhile, Janice flew over to Tanni's side to assist in inspecting the mysterious bag. She took a look at the paper clip, since it seemed like the only other substantial thing besides the lint.

[Draven]

Visions of a wanderer with no name walking the land. Then in an instant an aggressor. Perhaps was once invisible or perhaps extreme movement but the two called out to each other in rage. There was a fight that broke out. As one would expect or has seen, it was simply a different view. What Tarrah had seen in the air acted out in much the same way, and with the same result.

It seemed the target was the bag, cut loose from the wanderer and snatched by the other. As a desperation the wanderer crystallized the aggressor and all was as you see. An empty void of death leaving but the coin...

[Nira]

Tarah studied the vision, then pondered. The bag was truly of great importance, but she couldn't fathom why. She flew back up to join Tanni and Janice, who hadn't found anything noteworthy coming from the coin yet. To aid in their efforts, Tarah let her soul surge through her eyes again. This time, she switched between her soul sight and her eye of the planes. She wanted to see if the coin had any amount of soul, energy, or other invisible force.

The wanderer hadn't destroyed the bag, so the aggressor wasn't killed from uncontrolled vengeance. If the coin wasn't gifted with special powers, then perhaps the value of it was the only reason for the conflict to occur.

"I don't suppose you talk, do you?" Tarah muttered at the coin.

Janice flew off after dropping the paperclip back into the bag. Vi joined them, instead, and ran the coin through her memories of ancient history. If it was a relic, that might explain the value.

Otherwise, since it was a dirty coin, Tarah handed it off to Tanni and had her clean it up by rubbing off the stains.

[Draven]

Vi - It was a toughy for sure. Nothing she would know outright. It is old as hell, perhaps it is a Sandojin coin? But her knowledge of the know world revealed a bit more. There was once a rich region within Wind country. Other than that, it was a mystery...

Tanni - Cleaning it helped. Caked on sand... Old sand almost rusty in nature. There was a symbol on one side, and writing on the other. The symbol almost looked like a blurry sun...

[Nira]

"I'm not sure of its origin," Vi said. "It's ancient. We should consult some archives."

Tarah nodded. She took the coin and studied its shape, symbols, and contours. When she memorized its image, she gripped it in her palm and drew on her eidetic memory. She sang a soft tune to call upon her control over crystals. In her empty hand, she crystallized the air to create four duplicates of the mysterious coin. The crystal duplicate coins were given to her four clones.

"Okay, let's gather some information," Tarah said, flying higher into the sky to get a better view of the surroundings.

While Tarah flew up to look for the nearest settlement, Vi brushed her fingers across the sun symbol on her crystal coin. "Historian, linguist, curator, and banker," Vi said. "We should look for those particular types of individuals to decipher the coin. After Tarah finds someplace for us to head to, search for schools, museums, banks, and libraries."

Meanwhile, Tarah spun around while she flew upward. She searched for a distant town or city of any sort. If none were nearby, perhaps the capital of the country might be a better bet.

[Draven]

(lol didn't realize you're already in the land of wind)

Cities and tons within the Land of Wind were, well were small. Especially in this portion of the country. Sure one could find them but seeing the huts and small make shift buildings would give the impression that finding those specific kind of locations would be nearly impossible. In fact some of the towns were merely tents and nomadic people.

So the best option was to head for the capitol. It would take a day to reach on foot, but if all were to fly then the undertaking would cut the time in half. Reaching the city at night perhaps...

[Nira]

With no reliable settlement to go for, Tarah returned to consult with her soul sisters. It was agreed that they'd head to the capital, but reaching it meant arriving at night.

"Maybe we'd better get some rest, beforehand." Tarah muttered. "Janice, go locate some kinda inn for us. I'm gonna restore myself."

With that, the girls went to one of the many settlements so that Tarah could get some rest. They'd approach the capital city with a fresh mindset.

<Attempting Extended Rest>
<Also attempting to reset and apply the new 1,000 TP>

During the twilight before the new dawn, Tarah took to the skies. She'd remake her four companion clones before doing so. Once more, they'd have the coins in hand. Hopefully, the capital had answers waiting for them. This was certainly a curious event. Tarah didn't like remaining ignorant, and so pursued the information with hardheaded purpose.

The girls flew in a loose formation, Tarah at the highest altitude, while the other four remained in a diamond formation below her. The world map and gravity compass were still in Tarah's possession, and she referred to them as she flew.

<Traveling to Hitofuki>

[Draven]

Rest successful

Moved

The Angels, would find the city fairly well. Plenty of travelers heading that way, plenty of signs, plenty of routes. Well traveled routes also had well established and safe places to rest. Guard patrols along the routes, so it is fairly easy to deduce that it was an easy task.

[Nira]

Upon reaching the city, the girls split up. Tarah found a deserted rooftop to land on. She covered herself with permanent invisibility, then leaned against a low wall to rest. Her clones took their crystal duplicates of the mysterious coin and separated. Each person went toward a different direction, in search of someone that might know about the coin.

Vi, Tanni, Deena, and Janice each used henge to transform their appearance to match with their former lives. The bard arts allowed them to shift their voice to fit their appearance. The wings on their backs remained, but their colors were changed, as well.

Vi lengthened her hair a bit more, and set her feathers to match in black. She increased her apparent age and height, so that she looked the part of a young woman.

Tanni kept to the teenage range, but shortened her hair up to her shoulders, then dyed it crimson. She made her wings white, with some rounder edges.

Deena put herself in a decorated military uniform from her ancient reign, and went with an older age and a scarred face. Her feathers were dyed into tan and brown camouflage, so that they'd be suitable for blending into the environment.

Janice covered herself completely in black. She wore stealth shinobi robes that only had an opening slit for her eyes. Her wings darkened, too.

Vi looked for a large group of people, preferably a market square. She'd land in the middle of the crowd. To make use of the surprise landing, she'd raise her crystal coin up and ask if anyone recognized it. After that, if no relevant information came up, she'd ask for directions to the nearest museum.

Tanni searched for all the largest buildings. She landed at the entrance of every one she spotted, then either pushed open the door or knocked. At every place she was permitted entry, she'd skip in while singing a bright tune. The crystal coin was used mostly as a prop. She waved it in front of her face, or stretch out the arm holding it while she danced. If anyone followed her when she left the building, she questioned them about the crystal coin.

Deena located the largest gathering of guards. They were the citizens that were closest to being soldiers, and generals like Deena were meant to delegate. She slammed onto the ground in front of those guards, then tossed the coin at their feet. "Attention, men," she commanded. "Intelligence from the local region says that murders were committed for the sake of obtaining a coin. This is a crystal replica of the suspected coin. Do you have any information on the subject?"

Janice searched for carriages, caravans, or other obviously wealth individuals. She dived them menacingly, and flapped her wings hard when she slowed down to land. The intention was to knock people away with the gust. Her empty left arm's fingers transformed into sharp claws. She approached the wealthy individuals, then raised the coin up to their face. She kept her claws drawn back, as if to strike. "What is this coin?" she demanded.

[Draven]

-Vi would find a lot of strange looks and suprised expressions. A bit of oddness from a winged person suddenly landing, yet wings were not all too uncommon, just that the entrance was rather abrupt. As the question was posed and the coin held up a group of onlookers appraoched.

They seemed to be dressed sharply in what looked like suits and old fashioned fadoras. One of them, asked if he could hold the coin to inspect it. The others just seemed to stand there behind him.

-Tanni, no one followed this young lady. No rather, there was a beggar outside shaking a can. Change sounded within the can, and with the man looking upon Tanni with a sad face. The implication that he was asking for the coin was apparent...

-Deena, would find that the group of soldiers turned to her with a confused look. Colors were all wrong to begin with. One should know customs and regulations about city guards before trying to order them around, at the very least... The one whom seemed to be dressed in the most highlights of red noted, "And who mite you be?

-Janice, found a wealthy couple. Seemed they were on a stroll in some park. The approach startled them and the claws frightened them. The threatening manner and the demand sparked a scream from the lady in the fluffy dress. The Gent pushed himself in front of the lady as if to shield her. "Calm down, we don't have any money!" weather that was a lie or not would need further investigation.

[Nira]

"Sure," Vi said before flipping the coin into the air so that it arched over to the group that approached.

Just in case, Vi shifted through her visual modes to inspect the group. She let the biomass within her eyes pass through her bloodpact and thermal visions. If they shared her bloodline abilities, or had similar demonic clan, she'd pick the out. The thermal vision was mostly to ensure that the group was living, or at least warm-blooded. If she was being greeted by constructs, she'd rather speak with the controller.

---

Tanni frowned with pity at the beggar. The prime personality's soul was aligned with the noble demons. It'd be improper for Tanni to help the beggar, since it'd interfere with Tarah's soul powers. Then again, no soul powers were being used at the moment, so Tanni was sure she could deviate. The risk was that Tarah might get angry later, so finding a justification was preferable.

Tanni dropped the coin into the beggar's cup. "I'm sorry to say that this coin won't be of as much worth as you need," she said. "But, if you could ask around for anyone who might know what it is, I'd appreciate it."

This way, the gift was more of a selfish act. It acted on the possibility of gaining information. A beggar on the streets wasn't likely to get much, though, and improving his situation might be beneficial. It was better to have healthy minions, and all that.

Amused with her rationalizations, which Tanni suspected was something that evildoers liked to do anyway, she began to sing the tunes of crystal. First, she created a crystal stall in front of the table. Then, with several uses of her weapon creation art, Tanni stocked the stall with crystal disks, marbles, and boomerangs. The objects weren't strictly weapons, and passed as toys, so children and parents might be interested. She also searched for some stray fabric, such as discard sacks. When those were on hand, she'd use her Karinui abilities to morph them into clothing more suitable for a merchant, then tossed them onto the stall.

"Sell these for funds, if you need them, okay?" Tanni said. "Please be sure to remember asking about the coin, if you get the chance."

Lastly, Tanni summoned ten shadow guardians around the beggar. Two took the shape of stern and bulky men. The other eight were children. "Men, strike down anyone who tries to harm the beggar, or steal from him. Children, look interested and fascinated by the crystal."

Tanni didn't need to vocalize the commands. They were mostly for the beggar's benefit, so that he didn't freak out by the summoned figures. Both the men and children had the same attack command, even though she only addressed the men out loud. The men also had the passive command of looking tough, but not intimidating.

Finished with the setup, Tanni waved goodbye at the beggar and walked off.

---

The lack of immediate answers drew Deena's ire. She had no patience for delays. If the man who spoke to her had sufficient authority, she could use his face instead.

Denna spoke, "I am the authority upon which-"

It was a ruse, though. During that time, Deena did a motionless casting of an earth manipulation. The ground suddenly shook, then took on the consistency of quicksand. The surrounding area, beneath all the guards, began to funnel toward one point in the center of a spontaneous sinkhole. Deena didn't resist the pull. She let herself be dragged beneath the ground while focusing on which guards might also get sucked beneath.

The intent was the bury the guard with red highlights. Deena swam through the earth perfectly fine with her underground fish projection, and so sought either the lead guard or one of the less significant guards. She also took the time to retrieve the crystal coin, so that another one didn't need to be forged.

Once in physical contact with one of the guards, Deena began the process of consuming. Her black biomass stretched out to absorb her victim. It'd be a three second process, and ideally the underground setting could obstruct the guard enough to prevent escape.

Absorbing the guard meant adding a face that was usable for a disguise. The only one in the biomass archives right now was the face of Ace, which Tarah locked away to fulfill a contract. Shame. Tarah wasn't a fan of adding irrelevant faces to the archives, though, so the face was the guard would be abandoned once Deena's current body got deconstructed.

---

There was rarely ever any weight in a threat if one didn't follow through. Janice rushed forward and slashed at the man's chest with her claws. She used a careful strike to avoid lethality. By the skill granted by captured alive, she intended the wound to be deadly enough to leave a vicious scar, but not to kill.

"Money is worthless to me," she said. "Give to me all the information you care to remember. Death is the penalty for nobility and secrets."

[Draven]

Day 1!!!!


-Vi- The leader was special. He was of the Kaguya clan. The coin was flipped to him and he caught it of course. Turning to his henchmen for investigation. There could be mumbling heard, but nothing definite. It looked valuable and old so it was indeed of interest.

If one could hear them somehow this is what they discussed. They thought it of this country, they thought it belonged to some stupid old kingdom. Perhaps to the north in some abandoned castle. But yet again they were stupid rif-raf of the streets. They took off in a strut down the road, thinking to hawk this off to some vendor...

---

-Tanni- The Beggar looked in the cup with glee. It was excitement upon having some kind soul give him a precious... Looking upon the coin as the words were struck about absolute worthlessness... But insanity struck the homleess one as a tune was sung from his lips:

There once was a City under the mountains.
Sadojin who carved deep caves.
Gold and gemstones they did seek.
A kingdom under the majestic peak.
They had grown too grand. A Dragon came and glassed the land...
Now the glorious horde, sleep under the mountain lord...

The stall created, stocked with toys. A beggar he was with no ambition or ploys. He rather sit the streets then pedal wares. A mumbling fool, he sat down and stared. Not another word, just imply shaking the cup, expecting more with the women with luck.

---

-Denna- Smart Denna was smart. The situation would have turned ugly. They charged and fell trap to the shifting earth. Cobble stone was well enough for such a use. They thrashed against the force of the quicksand. They yelled for others to come. The Captain was quick thinking though, grabbing a radio from a pouch before he was up to his waist in this mess.

"Send Back up to the crossing of Marcks and Piosndent." But the darkness took him as quickly as his subordinates. A scare left upon the land as the soldiers were swallowed up. The setting was indeed perfect to consume one of them.

Footsteps upon the scarred earth above could be...felt? or heard..

---

-Janice-

More screams, more frightened looks. The women looked as if she was paralyzed from shock. The man on the other hand shaking as he kept his body in front. He winced as the actions of Janice shown such violence. He blubbered, "I...I don't know what that is!" speaking almost as if a shred of resolve had entered his body...

Yet the women seemed to draw back as she focused upon the coin. No words just simply a reaction....

[Nira]

That was about the mellowest robbery that Vi had ever experienced. She shrugged, then activated a simple invisibility on herself. She tagged behind the group led by the Kaguya, all while listening to their conversation with her bard hearing. If they stumbled on any information while showing off the coin, it'd be a favor to her.

---

"Aw, not a businessman?" Tanni asked. "That's a shame. There is little to seek in forgotten peaks, if words have been left stolen. I hope I'm first to hear of this, but this I give my doubt. A grand old city heard by many, if lost then I'm without."

Tanni strolled off, but with a new question. Where might she find Sadojin?

---

Deena kept her ears peeled, but sought the captain. If he was suitably immobile, she'd grab his ankles and begin the consuming process. However, if the captain still had the ability to move beneath the earth, Deena focused first on punching the back of his head to knock him unconscious.

So long as Deena was able to complete the consuming process, she'd swim back up after stealing the captain's clothes. The clothes of a clone were unreal, regardless, so there wasn't any risk in leaving them behind. When she was right by the surface, she deactivated her underground fish projection and used brute force to break out onto the surface of the ground. This entrance method likely appeared like the captain digging himself out of the ground.

At that point, it'd be a question of who waited up above. If it was reinforcements, dressed similarly to the guards, then a snippet of the truth sufficed. "T-the other guards, they're buried below! They'll die if they're not dug out!"

A man's voice, or any voice for that matter, was a simple thing for bard vocal cords to imitate.

---

Janice tilted her head as she studied the bloodied man. Then, with a ferocious thrust, she grabbed at the man's neck. She avoided killing him, but began the process of consuming once her hand made contact. During the next three seconds, black biomass pour off her arm and attempted to spread across the bloodied man's body.

Three seconds for the woman to give useful information. If it didn't yield anything, Janice pulled back the biomass. There was no need to use the man's face for anything if he wasn't involved with the coin.

[Draven]

-Vi- The leader turned away and started walking in a strut. All the henchmen followed of course. Turning a corner and into a shop the group filed in. The leader went to the counter and started picking things up to look at them. The other men did the same in various isles. Nothing too out of the ordinary, except the shop owner looked rather concerned.

"Look I told Jojo that I'd have to wait till the end of the week." The shop owner stated. Yet the leader didn't acknowledge what was spoken. Rather he started to drop some of the items on the counter onto the floor. Some were damaged, some had to be stepped on to be damaged. The lackies followed suit and started ruining product upon the shelves. Soon it was a fest of destroying shelves and inventory.

The leader thrusted up a hand to the others to make them stop, and they did not fail to please their fearless leader. "Double payment..." is all he said before starting for the door. The henchmen followed suit...

---

-Tanni- The beggar fade away into history never to be heard from again...

---

-Deena- The consumption of one of the guards was possible. In fact there would be no struggle as the guard would be struggling for breath... It would be lights out on the mans soul as biomass covers his body..

Yet...

It was interesting, the Captain seemed to be creating room within his trappings. The earth loosened up around him... As Deena punched the back of his head, his head exploded, or did her fist simply pass through it. It would be hard to tell without seeing what was going on, but something literally would feel off.

Should Deena still with to employ her tactic, it would have to be as a lowely guard from her first consumption. She had the where-with-all to think to take the clothing of the captains, so she would most likely have done the same with the first. If she still tried to go for the captain's clothing, she would find that they would be none.

On the surface... Other Guards would be about, about 15 of them to be exact. Without a response of what was going on, their alertness was heightened, especially during the day. The ruse would hold as Deena would be viewed as one of their own crawling out of the ground. Yet the captain...

The Captain seemed to materialize out of the ground. A flood of sand, a storm almost came from the depths, and materialized. The captain would come forth, clothed and all...

Deena called out and some of the guards began to dig. Some using their swords, some using their shields as makeshift shovels. The Guard captain starting to look around as if in search of something...

---

-Janice- The man had seconds to live. In protection of his women. She shrieked as this was happening. She could barely get out, "One of Osk's..." but nothing more than tears, chokes and screaming could be heard before the man lay dead and deformed.