Roleplay

"Hooded dragons? No, I'm afraid we haven't seen any crossing our paths. My apologies, girls. But, we will keep our eyes open if we see any come by.", Iris calmly replied to the Plague dragons.

"Did those hooded dragons happen to steal a map piece from you?", Kanata questioned, slightly suspicious, yet willing to help out Sestuna and Dolderra- whether they were talking about the map piece for the treasure or not.

"Whoever those dragons are, t-they sound pretty scary. T-they must be a threat to everyone in Sornieth! I don't want to get attacked again!", Aureole felt a panic coming along as she started to shiver.

"I wouldn't say that, my dear. Remember, it's wrong to judge someone that you haven't even met yet. Maybe, if we track down the mysterious clan and question them, perhaps we will gain some information as to why-"

Before Iris could finish her statement, Asriel swiftly pulled her to the side, far from the others as possible.

"Mom, what do you think you're doing?! There's no way we're teaming up with these Plague Freaks! Eventually, they're going to stab us in the back, steal all our important necessities, and leave us behind in the dust!", Asriel harshly whispered through sharp clenched teeth.

"Shhhhh, you're talking too hard. We can't let them know that we have a piece as well. You have a valid point about them stealing it, but, you have no right to accuse them of doing so right off the bat! Besides, we can't just leave them behind and let those other dragons gain the upper hand. I'm not that type of dragon to leave others behind and you know that.", Iris sternly whispered back.

"Well, I suggest we leave them behind. You never know, they could be lying to us about this "hooded dragons" crap. No offense, Mom, but, if they do end up turning their backs on us, don't say I didn't warn you.", Asriel scoffed before heading back towards the others.

A disappointed sigh escaped her mouth as Iris followed behind her annoyed son.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, Asriel was just talking about...erm...our leftover rations from our last destination. Anyways, as I saying, I believe we should team up and track down those hooded dragons that found your map piece. Then, perhaps if we have the time, we can confront them and see what their deal is. Besides, we have a little mission of our own, so some extra help would be nice. So, what do you two say to letting us help you out?"

A confident Iris smiled widely, as she extended her fore arm towards Setsuna and Dolderra. As Asriel cautiously watched from afar, he begged in his mind that the two Plague dragons refused his mother's offer.

"Well that was a waste of our time asking..." Dolderra sighed. These dragons knew nothing of this.

When asked if they had a map piece, Setsuna seemed fidgety. Dolderra eyed her fiercely before the nocturne simply shook her head.

Aureole's panicking made Dolderra roll her eyes. "As far as we're concerned they're targeting specific dragons to steal certain items of importance from them. My sister had a friendly contact with the before we were suddenly ambushed by the same contact. It was a fae dragon though, no mistaking the tiny body. But she definitely has some nasty friends. We were lucky to be rescued by some friendly ice dragons before we were torn to bits by umbra wolves."

When Asriel pulled Iris away, Dolderra had the urge to glare at this dragon. She could care less if he believed them but if the DID have a map piece and the hooded dragons found them, it would no doubt end badly for them. The wind started blowing hard enough to nearly sweep up the Setsuna.

"This wind is getting unnatural for this region." Setsuna said. "It's a calm sunny day and yet their are winds that would probably be more seen in the Twisting Cresendo's borders."

Iris came back, proposing to help them.

Dolderra looked at Iris and then back at Setsuna, "Your call, you got us here." she simply said.

Setsuna pondered for a moment before saying, "Letting you help out? I cannot confirm. Aurora usually make the decisions. If you want to help us we can gladly take you to her. She's our leader for our current mission."

Dolderra sighed. "Right then follow us, if you'd like." The winds loudly whispered in her ears, putting her on edge. Just be careful, these winds are strong, maybe even too strong for this area."

---

Opening into a shadowy glade, the scene was a sight behold.

Bloodsoaked earth, rope snaking in the mud, and shards of melting ice.

"What has happened here my lady?" Sygibelle asked Lofty, who wore a seldomly show face of alertness.

"I... don't know Sygibelle..."

Within the first few hours of sunrise, the three ice dragons had already reached the entrance to the greater ruins. It was at this point that the higher wind was noticed.

"Should we be concerned of the winds, father?" Wilhelm asked, "It seems to be increasing in velocity."

"No. If the underground is as maze-like as the texts back home suggest, then we won't be outside for most of today." Niklas replied, as the three walked in further, and we're soon greeted by total darkness. "The lantern, Elena."

"Right away, father." Elena said, as she shifted through her bag and pulled out rusted, old lantern with a blue light strong enough to illuminate a good chunk of the path ahead as they kept walking further.

"Alright, girls. Lead the way. I'd be happy to introduce my clan to Ms. Aurora.", Iris calmly went along with the Plague duo's decision as she guided her clan to follow her hopefully new friends' lead.

"You're right about the winds, Dolderra. Harsh winds are normally quite uncommon in the Shifting Expanse.", Kanata agreed with the Mirror dragon as he winced when a harsh gust of wind blew by his ear.

As Iris and Kanata stayed caught up with Setsuna and Dolderra, Aureole and Asriel cautiously stayed back.

"So...what do you think about those two? They seem nice, I guess.", Aureole attempted to break the awkwardness between her and her step-brother as she meekly whispered to him.

"Pffft, I think it should be pretty obvious what I think. I don't trust them and I'm pretty sure they don't trust me. But, you know what?! I don't care what they think about me! I just want to get this stuff over it, continue our own mission, go home, and never have to see those Plague freaks again!", Asriel scoffed with a much louder tone.

"Shhhh! C'mon, Asriel, just give them a chance! Sure, Dolderra makes me feel a little uneasy. B-but, a-at least Setsuna's there to break the i-ice, r-right? And besides, they got something really important stolen from them. From the looks of things, Mom really wants to help them out...", the Nocturne quickly hushed him before the others could hear him.

"Well, from the looks of things, Mom is too stubborn and naive to be trusting dragons she doesn't even know!", her step-brother barked back, disagreeing with Aureole's proposition of befriending the Plague dragons and calling out his mother for her kindness.

"Huh? Is something the matter, you two?", Iris nervously turned around, wondering what all the hollering was all about.

"It's nothing!", Asriel quietly yet rudely scoffed as he hung his head low, keeping his mouth shut for the rest of the journey.

Aureole was desperate to say what was on her mind, but, she quickly gave up on that idea- afraid to cause tension between her family and the two Plague Dragons...

Deeper in the underground labrynth of the greater ruins, as the three ice dragons carried on into a room with three corridors, they noticed footprints on the floor.

"It seems we are not the only ones below ground." said Niklas. Elena then looked closer at the footprints, to try and identify what made then

"Father, they look to be Fae footprints." Elena said, "They appear to continue further down this left corridor."

"And what does our map say?" Niklas asked, and notioning her not to say it out loud, as he felt there were eyes watching them. The possibility of it being the Fae the plauge dragons mentioned ran through his mind, and considered it likely. Therefore, he got an idea on how to handle things. "The middle corridor? Then we best be off." He started to say, before interrupting himself, "Wait. If the Fae the plauge dragons mentioned is here, then our footprints might give away the location of the next map piece. It's too low of a ceiling to fly, so we'll have into the right corridor to lure the Fae into a trap. Let us be going now. Hopefully, the Fae will take the bait."

As the three ice dragons continued through the right corridor, Niklas thought to himself, "I sure hope the Fae takes the bait." He then began thinking of a contingency plan as Elena continued to lead the way with her lantern.

Taliki stared at the scrap of the map in her paws before staring up at where the mirrors had gone. Her body visibly shivering before Owento rubbed up against her in comfort, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

The wind went gale force suddenly. The wind threw both Setsuna and Dolderra to the ground as if a palm had smooshed them into the stone of the promenade.

"Definitely NOT normal!" Dolderra gasped as the gust drowned them in a ireful fit.

Two dragons in tanned attire had appeared from the cloudless, their identities a mystery as their face remained hooded despite the raging gale.

"Take all their possessions. dead or alive." the smaller one of the two stated.

---

Lofty simply followed the orb of lightning energies while Sygibelle looked on at the disarray the clearing had been thrown into. Within the ice she swore she saw the shadows of creatures in some of them.

"My lady... can we please get out of here?" The apprentice was worried of what might jump out from the shadows at this rate.

"In a moment...." As the pair of shamanesses closed into the middle, the orb seemed to still, getting slightly bigger as it collected the energy around it.

"What is the orb doing?" the fae quizzed.

"It's gathering.... left over.... lightning essence....."Lofty stated, " Very soon...we'll know....where... they are...."

After what seemed like hours of navigating countless corridors and pathways, the three ice dragons finally reached a large chamber; a massive waterfall flowed down a seemingly bottomless pit, and the walls were coated with diamonds, glistening from a beam of surface light coming down on a center pedestal with a small box on it. The path to the pedestal was a bridge, made up of what seemed to be carved stone.

"There it is," said Niklas, as he, Wilhelm, and Elena walked over the bridge, and to the pedestal. Wilhelm stepped forward, and opened the box. Instantly, the next piece to the map flew out and attached itself to the map they already assembled.

"Might I catalogue a few things in this chamber, father?" asked Elena, "We have yet to have anything like this in out records."

"You can, but be quick. We are still on a schedule." replied Niklas

The Water Dragons were too harshly blown over by the sudden winds.

"AHHH!", the aquatic quartet hollered as they were brutally shoved to the ground.

"Mom! Hang on!", Kanata called out to his mother who was rolling away. He quickly got up and tightly grabbed his mother's paw- preventing her from getting away.

"O-oh thank you so much, my dear son! I should be fine now.", Iris took in a deep breath before dusting herself off.

"I-is everyone alright?!", Aureole nervously gasped, scanning her step-mother for any scratches or bruises.

"No need to panic, sweetie. I'm alright!"

"Same here, Aureole. How about you, Asriel. Are you-", Kanata replied before questioning his brother the same thing.

"I'm fine!", Asriel suddenly shouted in a fit of anger, glaring at his twin in disgust. He was sick of Kanata always trying to look like the hero and showing off how "amazing" he was to his mother.

"Umm, well, that's good. How about you Dolderra? Setsuna? Are you two-", Iris shrugged it off before turning back her attention to the Plague Dragons. However, as soon as she was about to finish, she was interrupted when she noticed two unknown and mysterious dragons dressed from head to toe in tanned uniforms approach the group.

"Take all their possessions. Dead or Alive.", the smaller one exclaimed.

"I don't think so! You will identify yourselves or else we'll have to use force!", Iris bravely shouted, striking a bold and battle ready pose as the remaining three members of her group courageously stood beside her- prepared to fight off these strange dragons. They were not going to let all their hard work of coming all this way to complete the map and find the treasure go to waste...