Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Yep... Wouldn't be able to come out and play~ " Talon snickered and gently booped the poor spider on the ...er... head. The chatter between the two ancient guardians was tuned out. Shiny was all they ever argued about. Oh, and which human was better. Personally, Talon figured Shun was more up to the tasks than himself, but that would be an argument with Atelius that Talon would loose.


The petting brought a coo from the little dino, along with a continuous buttwiggle of happiness. So there was a huge burning spider of doom, who cared! Pettings~


Talon, on the other hand, followed after, plopping the upset spider in his jacket pocket, and instantly noticed the amount of light. Oh and that dead corpse of a giant spider thing. The levers and carvings were interesting. Though he was more curious about how high the ceiling went and if there was a trap door in here. He half was listening to Nick at this point. Obviously this wasn't a 'game'.

Yet, he was grinning from ear to ear as if his life wasn't on the line. Maybe he should resign and go into adventuring? Yeah...that'd be fun... "Roulette? Ooh... Fun. " Moe chirped and squeaked, condoning his human for acting like a child. It sounding like a bird telling off a cat, or something similar in the variety of squeaks, hoots, honks, and barks. Moe then spun around on Nick's shoulder, lined up his jump and leaped at one of the levers. Hoomans.... PSH!

(( MOE flips a switch! ))

Edit from number rolled '4' in main thread

Clicks erupted after Moe landed on the fourth switch. He dangled there by his from claws... Talon was dumbstruck and furious. "Moe! Bad Moe! " The clicks made Talon nervous. Oh..no doubts something bad was going to happen. But this time, it wasn't his fault directly.

Before Nick had found the obvious boredom of the Ancients frustrating, now she had found a new, if not psychotic, amusement from them. She turned to watch as Moe lept from her shoulder to one of the leavers. Than chuckled quietly to herself when Ranee tripped and activated another leaver.

Loud clicks echoed through the room as some gears on the other side of the wall begun to creak and move. The clicks came to an abrupt halt after a moment of shaking the room. Dust fell from the ceiling, which was a good forty feet above, before three circular stones fell from the ceiling each a good foot in diameter. Each came with their own chain which looked to have been detached on the end. The holes illuminated immediately with a dim red glow before more of the biters emerged and scrambled about the ceiling in random order. By what was witnessed from the hallway, they came in groups of ten. And it didn't take long before all thirty of the devils were scurrying toward the walls so they could descend upon the party.

The Biter that had been placed in Talon's pocket rolled and shuffled about until he was able to poke his head out and watch the commotion halfheartedly. His front legs poked out than clipped onto the pocket edge to secure himself. "hurrp........."

Zutnic looked from Shun to the levers on the wall. At first his head titled and he thought of asking why Shun did not pull one himself. He could have easily picked the right one with his superiority. Than again, he could be just making sure the others didn't feel so bad at how good he was. It had to be that. When the ceiling compartments were opened his head whipped upward so he could watch the little ones scurry about. His large claws tapped on the ground threateningly. "They just annoying...." He hissed to Bent without looking.

Atelius nearly face winged when Moe took the bold action of leaping on a leaver that would have brought the room in. Guessing? A decent equation could have been used to determine the right lever to pull! Surely Talon could have figured that out. Unless, unless he was being modest. Oh how the greatness of his master knew no bounds.
"Oh...." He sighed when the biters begun to crawl in. Without more unsatisfactory noises he lept into the air and begun to spiral his way upward toward the little things.

Nick reached forward with her left hand and pulled another of the leavers down. The ground begun to ruble as something behind the walls again begun to click and grind. Not long after the noises shook the room the large corpse of the massive biter shook before the ground below it begun to fall in layers creating thin 1' run 2' rise steps leading under the wall. As the incline became very steep the metallic corpse rolled downward crashing with every step it hit. The room, which was quite a ways downward, looked to be glowing a ruby red by the light cast on the bottom of the steps.

Nick looked rather disappointed at the success, it would have been fun to have seen what the others would have done. Though, more than likely they activation of the right switch deactivated the others by use of all the mechanics behind the wall... Pity.

Soon after the rumbling stopped sand begun to pour in through the three small holes in the ceiling. In small amounts at first, but the amount increased with the passing second.

Talon, aware that there were swarms of Biters preparing to strike and there was sand coming in, pinched the bridge of his nose and took a few deep breaths. Why did Moe have to be the one to cause all his problems? Why?

He heard Zut mutter something about annoying. Talon nodded, though not about the little Biters swarming from above, but of Moe's uncontrollable desire to help and play games...and Ranee's clumsiness to trip the second switch. The small noise of pout was met by a poke. "None of that. I'll sick The Stick on you. Moe... "

Angrily, Talon snatched the little squirming Dino under his arm and headed for the stairs, ignoring the sands that fell around him. Psh...He had worse. It was annoying, and he'd most likely have sand all over him... And he'd be laughing about it later. This was going in his report and he was going to demand compensation! Overtime pay at the very least! "I'm not sure what is worse, water with electrical currents, or sand and fire spitting spiders. " The spiders were a minor concern... Sand could crush... Spiders could only burn a person in swarms of agonizing fire. "Is a fruit basket too much? Oh! How about a 'Love You' pink teddy bear with a balloon for these guys. There's bound to be a ' You got us good' card somewhere that's cleared for Time Travel. " More grumbling and Talon was quickly descending the stairs, mindful of any other tricks on the stairs...

Plus, was it him or was it getting brighter?

Zutnic took off after shun enthusiastically. He now had another purpose in life. "Zutnic have to teach Bent-" At least he had managed to say the name correctly this time. "- to fight too. Like it. It good way to stay awake."
The way he spoke 'awake' suggested there was another child-like behind the word, as a one would understand the meaning of death to be merely sleeping for a long time.

Atelius had nearly reached one of the biters, but had noticed the sand before he could maneuver an attack against one of them. Quickly he corrected his path and begun to spiral back down toward the stairs, hopefully they would be clear of the steps by the time he reached them, he was coming in fast and would require a lot of space for his wingspan.

"Ancients had too much time on their hands... and telling by their other creations, they were against 'nice and pretty'."

Nick was last to begin her decent, but she easily ran past the trio as she glided down the stairs at running pace. Amazing how she managed to keep her balance at such a steep angle. Especially with the unbalance of the right and left side.

With her black cloak it almost seemed as if she were floating down on a menacing cloud of black fog. The ceiling above in the previous room begun to crack and larger boulders begun to fall causing a panic amongst the biters whom were previously so determined to kill them. Now they just wanted to make it to the stairs and live..... so they could kill the intruders.

Once in the room below Nick slid to a stop, the steel on her boots grinding against the rock. She looked up at the walls than down to the deep pools of water on either side of the thin pathway. Well, if this wasn't a familiar sight. This time the room was illuminated by the ruby eyes in the statues sprouting from the walls. Each one looking like an obliterator with water pouring from its mouth. The red light made the water seem like cool clear magma flowing. There must have been an underground source somewhere. Nick had half expected fire.... As for where the power source was coming from, that was another mystery. The pathway continued for a good hundred feet before leading to another hallway with an abrupt turn leaving anything on the other side visible. Luckily for the group there were no more circular runes on the wall indicating the biters. Nor where there any signs of the ceiling being unstable.

"Having f-" Nick begun as she turned to face the stairs, than felt a sudden sharp pain stabbing mercilessly at her mind, cutting her words short and causing he to wince. The brightness in her right eye intensified. That wasn't right... so close? Now? Where? Couldn't be very close, there was no way. They were not that deep into the temple's chambers...

"Naw. Form follows function here... " Yes...Talon was the chatty one. He enjoyed talking. It made it harder for him to think. Thinking was bad in situations. Especially when the main focus was running down steep stairs, trying to ignore the crash of the ceiling from behind, a pocket spider clinging to his pocket, and Moe squirming like nothing else.

Talon noticed Shun was stopping, so naturally he did to, not wanting to bowl them all over and end up minced meat from Zut. Setting Moe down, Talon glanced around the room. The sound of water met his ears while mental images of flame spitting monsters danced a merry jig. This was mildly surprising. "Very nice... " The sharp stop of their 'guide's' words caused some alarm in the pilot, and a concerned chirp from Moe. He chose to ignore it.

Though he couldn't help but be reminded that the crazier the woman got, the closer they had gotten to the machines. With that in mind, Talon carefully moved ahead, away from the doorway that no doubts the others would be streaming through shortly, bringing out a flashlight ( since he didn't ever like those newfangled night goggles) and did quick studies on the Obliteraor Sentinels. Well, at least his theory of underground lakes was proving to be true... "Huh..."

"Zutnic would, Bent is striker too..." Zutnic looked over to Bent briefly before quickly returning his focus to the area ahead of him. The quick distraction nearly made him fall forward. Once at the safety of the leveled floor Zutnic looked around to the water. He was quick to take note of the large biter mass still drifting downward. Than swept away by a very strong current near the bottom.

Atelius dove into the room just barely missing the heads of anyone in front of him. His pass created quite the back draft. The seeker flew to the end of the room before carefully circling back than landing just behind Nick. Both him and Zutnic cringed at the familiar feel.

"Keep your distance..." He spoke quietly to the only one in the room whom had not encountered the black fog.

"Of course..." Nick growled from behind clinched teeth. Her right arm begun to rattle as it shook and her left moved to steady it. Small compartments along the arm clicked open, much like they would have for the Jury when boarding, or when she was being pinned against that damned wall. Seconds later a thick black smokey looking substance hissed from the vents in the arm. "Keep away from it..." She growled again as she backed away from them slowly. Atelius hopped around Nick as she passed to rejoin his master.

If that wasn't the best of signs the stairs behind them illuminated with the bright lights of the biters marching downward toward the group. Only one had been visibly crushed by a stone, the other twenty nine made it to safety just in the nick of time. Even with their life threatening ordeal close behind them, they still approached the group with the same vigor as before. The biter in Talon's pocket ducked a little further in to hide from his former comrades for fear they would see the shameful state he had been reduced to.

However, as their luck seemed to take a turn for the worst, the pools at the far end of the pathway begin to bubble. Than cuddlers, these with red gems on their foreheads instead of blue, literally shot out of the water and plowed their way toward Nick. At least ten of the twenty one did. The other eleven charged past the fog toward the biters. Largely outnumbered, yet determined. The ones who charged Nick lept at her arm in an attempt to bring her down to the ground via force by weight.

The appearance of the black fog brought a sudden dryness to Talon's throat that he just didn't like. Great! Now, not only will the poor woman go crazy, so would they! Thank gods Ranee was being told to stay away.

A symphony of clicks caught Talon's attention. He frowned as the wave of red eyes skuttled in. Squaring up, he readied his stick to start driving the little menaces into the cold, quick, quiet water. That was until the aquatic calvalry arrived. Mechanical cuttlefish flew out of the water attacking the spiders. Talon was mildly suprised, but then figured that all mechanical cuttlefish resided in dangerous ancient temples in the wild. Moe had taken to burring itself in Talon's backpack and hiding there.

He took to driving the spiders that got out of the tentacle and lasor reach of the mechanical cephelopod's into the cold depths below. A yelp of a name and Talon glanced, taking note that Atelius was at his side. Apparently Nick was being swarmed by them. Talon frowned, but recognized their attack. "They're after neutralizing the danger. Easing her pain. Warning though, when those suckers get knocked off, its a real hoot. " Somehow he managed that last part to be as dry as possible. "Don't go near until they let you. "

Talon let himself get momentarily distracted by the depressed spider in his pocket. "Aw. You aren't a failure. Look! You're alive, and now can plot the evil stick's demise! I'll give you a carrot if you stop pouting. " Bribing a mechanical object with food in the middle of a life or death situation... Moe squawked and no doubts facepalmed in the bag.

Thinking for a few moments, the most logical way to get out of this was to head down that path. but with the water and the black fog leaking through the air, there was no way around. What a pickle! " 'Telius, Scout ahead, report back quickly... Also, different tribe of the same Cuttlers? "