Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sunstrike....no, he thought to himself, for now...it's Dearc.

Dearc turned around sharply at the entrance, watching the door slam open and shut with vauge surprise on his scaled face. It soon turned to determination at the expression on Engel's face.

He would have liked to say he was prepared for anything. That he'd been trained on how to handle a split second decision like this one. But the fact was that he'd spent the last four or so years being a janitor, and that all the experiance he had at this level was next to zero.

Even so...he fell into it well, with his head held high and a serious expression.

"What needs doing, Engel? I'll prove myself with whatever task you lay before me." And he meant it, every single word.

I hope it's enough...

Tellus took the glasses even as she held the other woman up. THe heat continued about them in waves, but surpringly she wasn't as affected as she would have been normally. That was odd in and of itself. It was almost refreshing. Helping Hono over to a point to where she could sit in shade...sorta, Tellus found herself going back out into the heat and sun, stretching trying to get as much of the sun on her body as possibly, like a cat...or a lizard...odd, that.

"Well, he's not here...but closish.." Blinking as she jolted upright. She knew she had a connection to Sunny as well but she hadn't been able to do anything about it. But it wasn't Sunny she felt, it was someone else, someone she hadn't realized the connection was just as strong to, and she found it slightly disturbing.

"Not Sunny...Kas..." Her hand went to her stomach, clutching it slightly as if in pain but it was merely a dull ache. "So which way, fearless leader?"

Tellus shrugged and smiled. "Works for me..." Thinking for a moment back to the children, but knowing that Munin would keep them out of as much trouble as possible. She idly wondered where Tersiel was as well, but that was just since it had been a few hours since she had last seen him. "I wonder what kind of creature lives out here"

The shades slid down her nose and Tellus had to chuckle. "That might do it...." Before pushing them back up with one finger and glancing about her cautiously, she was uneasy but couldn't exactly explain why. She felt Kasuga...or rather Vahn, and she thought she might feel Sunny...but she felt something else as well. "Still if there were creatures, it might be interesting to see some even if we did have to fight them." She opened her purse, and lucky for her it had a bit of hammerspace in it and her nagamaki pulled out, glinting brightly in the sunlight. "I'd kinda like the practice."

The rock skipped along, skipping, skipping and bounced hard against the "ground".

Except the only problem was this wasn't ground. No, it was something much, much else. The next moment or two would defintely have the blue haired female regretting her last comment.

Because if she wanted merely practice.....well, she was just going to have to settle for being dinner.

The desert is such a harsh place after all. People don't normally go to the Sahara and camp out for pure fun. In this place, it was literally, nearly a darwinistic enviroment. Only the strong survived....or those who could adapt and move on.

While the intense heat, and burning sands, and dry, arid air was shrugged off and treated like a day at the pool to these two.... the inhabitants of this place were not to be taken lightly at all.

Now-- for refrence, barring the inclusion of a "You are HERE" map, these two "ported" in, seeking a distinct person. Now in the interest of fairness, they did not immediately appear before their intended target.

That would just be too easy, after all. The person they saught, would be roughly located east of the Salt Pans, still within the vast openness of the desert itself. Just further west, past the Salt Pans, would be found the solitary Volcano on this southern edge of the continent.

It was there, that Hollow was located.

However, should they head south, continually-- they would eventually wind up within the maze-like structure of the mesas, and upon exiting, find themselves within sight of Strata itself.

Of course, without a compass, let alone any preparations for prolonged exposure or a journey within such an enviroment, it was hard pressed to imagine just what these two ladies were doing here, and going to do?

They could perhaps easily keep teleporting, until they lucky, maybe?

Be that as it may-- they were there, and here they were.

And something was very grateful that they were there.

Although snakes are usually akin to lizards one wouldn't recognize this when viewing the gigantic Rock Snake, the living horror of the Southern Gaian Continent. It resembles much more a nightmare of a snake combined with the strength and size of a dragon.

So the Giant Rock Snake is one of the great dangers a traveller can encounter while crossing the desert of Barthavos. With its length of up to 17 feet it is one of the biggest predators of the desert and its ability to meld with its surroundings while lying unmovingly and waiting for its prey has seldom cause the death of incautious travellers. Though being big and strong this snake nevertheless kills the prey with its lethal venom.

The Stratanians, and Lizard Clan respectively however, know how to find the snake, kill it and use its valuable skin and bones for constructing the finest, light weight, but hardest armours known.

But again, I digress.
At first, what the two would see, if any of them were even looking int he direction of that kicked rock: a white structured irregularity of the rim of the salt pans, but soon they would discover their error.

A mouth heavily armed with sharp long fangs would be the first thing to attract their attention, as the "ground" shifted, and something visibly large loomed out. Especially the long tubular fangs at the edges of the jaw which act as injector teeth of the venom. The head is big and looks somewhat square and seems heavy. - Or maybe you are staring at the yellow, lidless eyes with round pupils which seem to hypnotise you? Probably you won't have an eye for the strong and muscular body. Though this snake has an elongated body, tail and no limbs like all of its relatives, it is not as elegant as others of its kind and more heavily bodied due to its more sedentary life.

The entire body and tail was covered with scales. These scales were arranged in longitudinal rows, mostly large and shield shaped. The ones on the ventral surface of the body are modified into broad plates and are used in locomotion.

The colouration of the snake was a nearly white skin with a pattern resembling the salty, cracking crust of the nearby dried lakes.

Now, how exactly could something like this creep about, and rise almost soundlessly? The elongated, limbless body of the rock snake permits it to be soundless in motion, invisible at rest and almost unlimited in its access to hiding places - if they are big enough for this enormous snake.

Being very heavy the Rock Snake uses mostly a rectilinear way of locomotion: the body moves in a straight line using a flow of muscle contractions along the sides. The body musculature is used for sequential lifting, anchoring and pushing against individual ventral scales.

The head is, as with any other snake, the most remarkable feature. Between the nostrils and the eyes is a zone which is receptive for heat and allows the snake to recognize a prey due to changes in the radiation of heat despite the hot environment it lives in.

The snake has no external ears, the reception of sound is entirely by bone conduction within the skull, allowing to hear some earthborn sound waves. Its skull is characterised by mobility. It is light with only a few bones which are connected in a way that allow slight rotation or movement of one segment upon another. The lower jaws can be detached from the upper ones. The only compact unit is the central braincase.

The teeth are long, needle sharp and slightly recurved. This facilitates swallowing and prevents loss of food, because the only direction a food item, which may be alive when swallowed, can go to escape the teeth, is down the throat.

The rock snake has, like other snakes, an organ in the roof of the mouth which enables it to smell very little amounts of specific substances when they are picked up on the double tipped tongue and brought into the mouth to analyse. While it is not as important for the Rock Snake for trailing and finding prey, it tells it however which kind of prey is near or if it is one of the rare enemies.

The venom of the Rock Snake is very lethal. It is not only the huge quantity, but the quickness it works. This is important because despite the speed the snake can act while biting, it is not very mobil in tracking the prey, so the venom has to work quickly. It affects mostly the motoric functions and respiration and causes death through suffocation.

Hopefully the lethal venom of the snake would work fast, so that they wouldn't encounter the experience of being eaten and devoured alive.

Welcome to Barthavos.

Sunstrike's heart sank like a stone.

"Leader....me?!" My people. Could I actually...again......his eyes narrowed and then closed. "And how much "help" where you planning on giving me from the shadows brother?" There was something, strange in his tone, and his stance shifted. Then he looked away. "No matter, what'd done is done, and there's a hell of a lot that needs finishing now without looking too deeply into loyalties. I'm trusting you, Engel. And I hope you'll grow to trust me, else we're all dead."

If Engel didn't feel it before, he would now. Dearc suddenly gave off a prescence, an attitude of someone that was used to leadership roles. His shoulders were back, his stance grew and the gaze...

His eyes were always rather strange, shifting depending on mood and attitude, but over all lazy and carefree.

Now they were in stark focus, and his pupils were red, mad circles that gleamed with all the usual emotions you'd associate with a leader. It was a "How can I use you completely without destroying you," attitude, a mixture of paranoia, confidence, and the constant need to set things up with the advantage being for HIS people rather then anyone else, no matter what the stakes.

It was a scary change, because there was also a coldness that had NEVER been associated with Sunstrike before. This was something that would be alien to his friends, and much darker and ruthless then he'd been before.

"Right now we need to get that animal of a general back here before he brings the whole united human kingdom down upon us, if we're lucky, the great pathetic fool. There's worse things in Strata then humans at the moment that'll be brought down. Probably hoping to win leadership points of his own by going off like that. That was what you were shouting about down the hall, correct?" The multi coloured eyes blazed.

"Come Engel, you need to show me how to get him back." This was said with great reluctance. Dearc didn't want to be reliant on this masked lizard at all. When your surrounded by sucpicious people, it was best if you knew what to do yourself. But he had no choice, and he'd rather trust in this lizard then any of the others. "I imagine the council needs a summons, even if I have to drag them each by their scaly fat tails to the table."

The door was flung open, and two guards nearly had their arms wrenched off as Sunstrike grabbed the downcoming weapons meant to block his path. He growled viciously at them, and waited for Engel to pass and lead him in the right direction. Intelligence warring with sheer rage.