Welcome to Gaia! ::

Her carelessness cost her. From beneath the grimy bog water, something writhed as she stepped on it, her boot sloshing noisily, attracting the attention of the creatures nearby. Out of spite, the vine rose up to snap at her ankle, coaxing the first real reaction from the girl -- a cry of pain. Jerking away from the offending vine, Petra reached down to press her fingers to the wound, eyes flicking down to notice the trail of blood trickling along her skin.

Nothing to be done about it now. Time to continue on.

(( Entering! ))

Crispin stepped out of the portal onto a patch of springy grass, and was immediately rewarded with a blast of misty, mildewy air. Coming directly out of the Violet Kingdom, it was strange to suddenly feel like there was air at all.

Crispin tensed, breathing in the scent of thick vegetation, as he looked around the area. Gigantic hedges wound away into dark, yawning mouths, some bending or twisting from age, into massive green walls. The grass was wild and long beneath his feet -- patches of it were up to his knees in places. Sometimes an odd looking flower or plant crept along a crumbling piece of old architecture.

"Odd," he murmured, "I was under the impression this was supposed to be more... dangerous?"

The faint sound of voices began to swell behind him. Thinking it more people coming out of the portal, Crispin wheeled around, looking hopefully for a familiar face.

There was nothing behind him. Frowning, he called out, "Hello?" but got no answer. He slowly turned back around, scanning the quiet, overgrown area again, but still found nothing. Crispin rubbed one of his shoulders.

"Eerie," he muttered uncomfortably.

"Please take care..."

"AH!" Crispin jumped, whirling around, only to find Vaska speaking amongst their group. Where had he come from?! He covered his heart, rubbing at the area, his eyes wide. "Sorry. Sorry! Goodness, you gave me a scare. But yes, good luck to you, Vaska."

He watched the man pull up his stole, as though steeling himself, and then go wandering forward. "And be careful!" Crispin called after him, before turning back to the others in his group.

Flowers everywhere... and such beautiful ones they were too. Imryn couldn't help but reach down and pluck one of them, feeling a small tingle go through her hand as she did. After doing so, she took a quick glance around the area to see a few others there doing the same thing, seeing a few with worried looks on their faces. Was something wrong with these flowers...? She wouldn't be able to tell until she gathered up more of them, so off she went to find another patch to collect from, keeping an ear out for however else might be in the area. There may still be some Gold kingdom members there for all she knew.

Shun stared at her for a moment. Had she never even picked up a damn flower before?

Perhaps she lived more under a rock than he truly realized.

"Not at all. Unless the flower has thorns that you have pricked yourself upon. Other than that, you shouldn't feel anything," he explained while grabbing some more blossoms.

He grimaced as he did so, not that it was all that visible with the mask. Taking these things left an unpleasant feeling to say in the very least.

"I believe that will be enough for us. Let's move on."

Ok... so maybe the other group had something to this dangerous flower theory.

Imryn could feel herself getting weaker as she continued to pick the flowers, but knew that she needed to collect as many as possible for her kingdom. So despite any protests that part of her might have had, she continued to pick as many as she could at once, adding another six to the one from before.

A goddamned maw had attached itself to her leg.

Madeline swore vividly, shaking her foot so rapidly that it almost made her dizzy. "********> - " Swinging her body and using the momentum to throw the creature off of her and into the muggy fog of the swamp land with a resounding splash, Madeline let out a breath of air and grinned. "********!" She said, throwing her arms up in the air and exhaling a creepily heavy breath through he gasmask.

And then something else came up from the depths and latched onto her leg.

Nooooo.

After launching the second creature into the mist, Madeline sloshed and splashed and tripped her way through the marsh like a glowing bug, and when she finally reached the end, she almost kissed a tree in joy. However, she had a gasmask on, and there was no way she was going to trust a tree not to try and kill her.

Solia was in the maze. And it sucked.

Playing her harp she just hoped nothing ate her.