It was Nasch! Their paths crossed once again, he was happy to see it wasn't a dangerous creature, he couldn't keep up in a fight at this gravity. Yoroshu neglected to answer Nasch's questions, he didn't want to accidentally inhale any sand. He was still trying to adapt to the gravity, he wasn't able to move as quickly as Nasch was. He begrudgingly followed Nasch up the steps, he felt the energy surge too. He already knew he was going to get more than he'd bargained for. But, he didn't necessarily care; in fact he welcomed it. He craved and adventure and here it was.  Once they reached top of the steps Yoroshu tried to remain standing, he didn't want to crumple down in front of this powerful being. As Nasch went with the diplomat route, Yoroshu prepared himself for the bad cop route. He began focusing more and more power just to be able to move freely in case this visitor wasn't friendly. He'd gotten stronger since their last encounter, at least he'd hoped so. He had a stern expression on his face while Nasch was talking, trying to pick apart the features of this being. Almost as if he was sizing them up.









Word Count: 205| Nasch Queen Kuueru

Yoroshu deduced she wasn't an enemy, not yet, at least. He sighed, toning down the power and dropping to the ground, although he fell into a more sitting position. "Not constipated. The gravity here is tough." He said with an annoyed glare, he then looked at Nasch. He was the one who knew what was going on, as far as he was concerned Yoroshu was just along for the ride. He dusted off his gi, and rose to his feet. "I'm Yoroshu by the way." He said, introducing himself as he straightened his black obi. He had more ease maintaining his posture, though it was still visibly difficult. He waited for Nasch to introduce himself. He kind of gave up on the bad cop role if this person was an enemy, he wouldn't last a second. He popped his knuckles and neck while adjusting to the gravity. He wasn't too surprised by the scenery, deserts weren't a new thing for him. He folded his arms together as Nasch did whatever explaining he would do, generally just waiting for them to get the introductions out of the way so they could get back to the possibly lethal business they were attending to on this desert planet.




Word Count: 205| Nasch Queen Kuueru

She, Kuueru, was at least a lot kinder in her introduction than he expected from her initial reaction to their presence. Nasch was able to breathe a short albeit genuine sigh of relief. He wasn't going to be obliterated today. That was surely some of the better news he could have gotten. More than that, they were even entitled to aid in the search which means the entire tomb was game on. As excited as Nasch got about the idea of exploring a civilization's age-old tomb of their greatest and more fearsome ancestors, cautionary tales were best followed. He nodded to Kuueru as she vocally alluded to that detail and turned to Yoshoru to relay it again to him as well. Answering the remainder of Kuueru's own questions, Nasch started taking careful steps forward into the tomb.

"I met Yoroshu on Planet Earth. I was just there on some short-term business regarding a witch and a small tournament in Satan City. Actually, I'm meaning to return there when my business in this part of the galaxy is squared away." Nasch jostled down a small slope in elevation heading downwards from the mouth of the ruin. As they got in, the light began to dim and darken the further they trekked. As Nasch was about to signal with a hand to slow down, lights began to flicker in and around the area. Torches that illuminated autonomously with flames of violet and burgundy lit in succession down the path, one pair after another. The path, much unlike the mouth of the ruin itself, was well carved and decorated with ceremonial insignia and ornate inlay all throughout the walls, flooring and even the roof to a lesser extent. The hall itself was roughly twenty feet apart, wall-to-wall, and the roof above was at least fifty or so feet away. One could fly through this path if they so wished.

Aside from the decoration and the torches, the path seemed to lay mostly bare and more frighteningly, undisturbed. Dust was settled along the floor and walls with little indication of any other foot tracks, meaning it hadn't been touched in a long time. Nasch at first guessed that maybe the sand from outside had whirled its way in here at a point but the walls and floor seemed void of any sediment erosion. It really was just accumulated dust particles. Nasch took the first step down onto the decorated path, looking back to Kuueru and Yoshoru with a look of amazement.

"So this is the tomb of the Last King of Taldoreia XV. Absolutely wonderful." Nasch's face then quickly betrayed his words in that there was sternness and seemingly unnecessary stoicism soon thereafter. He looked more perturbed than his words seemed to lead on. He gestured out for them to follow as he looked both ways in the path to see into the finer details of each wall. "We should start looking through these inscriptions. Art, symbols, iconography. Anything that might help us moving forward. There's a couple of halls down the way, I think. We'll have to decide which to go down when we get there too."

---

Word Count : 525 | Queen Kuueru | Yoroshu

Yoroshu followed behind the two as they traveled the tomb, Yoroshu didn't understand demon at all, and he looked at the inscriptions as if they were completely alien to him, because they were. The rodent false alarm didn't necessarily set Yoroshu off, if they were in legitimate danger, Yoroshu was confident he could sense it... confident but not sure. Magic wasn't his strong suit.


Yoroshu looked at the elaborate walls with wonderment and awe. "This is a really beautiful tomb. I would not mind dying here." Yoroshu remarked, just in case there was a Mad Zombie King inside waiting for them to come. He walked with a relaxed and carefree demeanor, strolling his hands across the wall as they ventured onward. His mystifying stroll was disturbed by a life-saving shield that guarded them from the rain of arrows triggered by a misstep "That, that was very close, thanks."  Clearly the tomb had traps set up to defend against raiders or looters. "Well this place is dangerous. Noted. Who wants to bet there's a zombie in this place? I bet there's something in here... creepy vibe. But we are in a dead man's tomb, so it might just be that." Yoroshu said, trying to make conversation as they explored the vast tomb, little did he know the dangers which may lie inside the tombs of the once Great King of Taldoreia XV.  

After Kuueru's prompt explanation of the details and Yoroshu's input, it ultimately fell into Nasch's hands to decide what path they would take. He didn't want to spend a long time trying to weigh out their options, but from what his new acquaintance seemed to describe, one path seemed to mean death was imminent, whilst the other would set forth a trial of some kind. Or at least, that was how Nasch was interpreting it. The literal transcription was more along the lines of "the right is not always the right way." Whether that was meant to be taken literally in that the right path may not lead to the right-path entrance, or that it was simply just the wrong choice, Nasch couldn't conclude. So he took the only other path that made actual sense in the scope of his imagination.

"My knowledge of tombs is no more vast than the base scholar, but if you're leaving it up to me, I'd say we take the left-most path. It seems like the right-wing will involve some level of trickery or a test of our abilities in a way we might not imagine. If the left was built with the intent of killing its intruders, I'm not convinced they would go out of their way to mention it on their wall plans. Not if the ingenuity of earlier devices still stands." Nasch splayed a hand out toward the carved flooring with traps laid about it as an example. "Let's go. We shouldn't waste a lot of time, no telling what machinations lie in wait for us ahead."

As Nasch said this, he ascended a few feet upwards in flight, motioning for the rest to do the same. "We should stay off the ground for the time being. If anymore traps on the ground await us ahead, this will be the best way to overcome that challenge." Nasch crossed his arms awaiting for those who wanted to take to the air to do so, and those who did not, would not. Either way, he started ahead down the left path.

The way down was eerily similar to the first hall they explored, though something was keenly off about it. Small plates in the walls seemed to be loose or damaged. Some were even missing, showing the halls of the tomb itself were not immune at all. In fact, it was strange that there was damage to this section of the ruin and not anywhere earlier. The ground was beginning to share some of that sentiment, seeming damaged and some parts appearing as if they were loose or even capable of caving in at some point. Eventually, after perhaps ten or so minutes of mostly silence amidst small talk and chatter, they came to a large opalescent door. It stood from floor to roof in size and there two large handles carved into the door. The door itself was intricate and wonderful in its design like much of the rest of the tomb, though it seemed ceremonial at best. No inscriptions from what Nasch could tell, but then again, it wasn't like he really had any proper education in reading glyphs or ancient texts of any kind. The smell of sulfur and ozone mingled near the door, giving off a wretched odor that even Nasch had to steel himself for momentarily before turning to his comrades behind. "I believe we have made it to the door of our trials," he spoke in a somewhat hushed tone.

He stepped back now in line with Kuueru and Yoshoru, nodding that this was indeed where they were headed. "Well then. If everyone is ready..." Nasch took two hard steps forward and grabbed the handles and pushed forward. A devastating creaking sound could be heard as the hinges of the door ground against one another with each moment the door pushed forward. Nasch had to put a lot of back into it. Despite his muscularity, the door was quite heavy when pushing it open by himself. By the time it was most of the way there, Nasch could see inside and so could those behind him, lied some kind of... entity. Lightning erupting around its form, or more aptly, that it was a form completely made of blue electricity zapping and coursing around it. It lied with its paws furrowed over one another. It resembled that of a Sphinx. As Nasch stopped and the creaking ceased, the creature turned its lion-like head toward him and roared, the lightning around it beginning to spark and shoot in many directions as the wings of blueish flame furrowed out.

"We've found our trial, certainly. Nasch once more took to flight once more and let the familiar green spheres of energy begin to pulse in his hands. "Spread out! Look around the room for a way passed it! We might have to take it down, but let's try to move along quickly!"

---

Word Count : 821 | Queen Kuueru | Yoroshu

Left it was, he agreed with Kuueru's words, either room possibly held something dangerous so roll the dice. Yoroshu was the type to roll the dice on dangerous situations, he was always itching for a fight, anything to give him experience, it was all worth it in the end, after all, at least for him. Yoroshu ascended as did the other two. Surprisingly, he had become fairly accustomed to the harsh gravity the planet possessed. "Yeah, bird time." He replied, a hint of exhaustion in his voice. He had dealt with the gravity, but it still took somewhat of a toll on him. At least he wasn't wearing weighted clothing, that would really be bad.



He thought flying was a grand idea, can't trap the air, but this was a tomb empowered by terrifying demonic energy. But flying was better than stepping on any pressure plates and not having a magic shield appear in time.  Bad thoughts. He participated in the chatter, passing the time while they traversed the tomb, though he secretly hoped they would run into some kind of trouble, a selfish hope. He was working on that, hell, if he devoted as much time into working on his flaws as he did training, he might actually be a decent person.

 Finally, they hit a dead end, he descended to the ground. The stench was unbearable, he pinched his nose as Nasch did the honors of opening the door, the flash of light nearly blinded him, took him by so much surprise he stopped pinching his nose, double-teamed by the horrid stench and the blinding light, it hurt terribly, but nothing could prepare him for what was behind the door. 


A sphinx. A damn SPHINX. "Egyptians be damned!" He blurted out. His hopes had been realized, something to fight, yippee! He got into a fighting stance, a confident smile on his face, Nasch's words of spreading out to look for a key went in one ear and out the other, thankfully, Kuueru found the key, now Yoroshu could focus on killing the electrical beast. It's lightning had paralyzing properties as informed by Kuueru, good to know, Yoroshu was forming his majestic attack plan of which way he would bash the Sphinx into oblivion when it shot its beam of lightning towards him and Nasch; plan to the wind, then! Yoroshu vanished as the lightning bolt struck the wall, he reappeared just feet from his original spot. "Too slow!" He yelled in retort to the attack, the mocking tone very strong in his words, he had no clue how he managed to dodge that, he didn't know his reflexes were that attuned. Almost immediately after his taunting words, he extended both arms forward in one swift movement. An orb of sapphire light began to form in his hands. "Eat this!" He yelled, as the orb extended into a malicious blue beam of energy headed directly at the sphinx.

Word Count: 491| Nasch Queen Kuueru