Welcome to Gaia! ::

~Rowan~

"My neck probably would have been more thankful" Rowan stated, rubbing his neck with his hand as he stared off towards the snow. He did not know how to respond to the woman when she contemplated how it snowed all the time... although he had an idea that it was probably just a matter of being a different region. Why was that dry, water-less place always hot during the day yet cold at night? They were phenomena that he could not explain... and he doubted that they would find an answer to such things anytime soon. "I wouldn't think about it too much Blake, you don't want to hurt your head." He commented, teasing her a little bit as the two of them walked through the snow. After a while, the tracks that the two of them had been following simply disappeared, Blake making the comment that they were back where they started essentially. "It's not like it wasn't going to snow over the tracks while we were following them. It's just a little bit of bad luck I suppose." Rowan commented, looking around the snowy mountains to see if there were any more tracks that they had not noticed.

After they traveled a bit longer without any sort of tracks to follow, the two of them came across a mine shaft. Blake immediately decided that she did not want to attempt to take on whatever creatures may be hiding in it, commenting that they needed to keep moving if they wanted to get anything done today. Rowan thought it was a little funny how the woman seemed just as concerned about making good time as he was yesterday, despite the fact that they were not running behind anymore. "It's whatever you want to do, Blake. That's what it means to take the lead. You're the one in control of what we do." Rowan stated, giving a slight lecture on what it meant to be the one leading a group. I wonder if she's ever done anything like this before? I know that she got Gram during some sort of job she went on... but has she ever led a group of people through a new land before? She doesn't seem like the type to run around exploring. Rowan thought to himself, watching the woman carefully as the two of them walked through the snow. After yesterday, he did not feel like fighting creatures all that much either.

The two of them walked quite a ways after avoiding the dungeon, eventually finding yet another dungeon barely an hour after the first. It was somewhat irritating, and Rowan's eye began twitching a little bit as he stared at the structure with everything but enthusiasm. What did not help was the fact that it was a second mine, which was even more unlikely than finding two dungeons in a row. He was about to suggest that the two of them keep walking when Blake suddenly asked if he wanted to go in. Disregarding her explanation for her reasoning, Rowan simply began to think to himself. I really wish she'd just take control of the situation. If she feels like it's some sort of sign, then she needs to decide to go into this place herself. I'm here to follow orders now, not to deny her what she does and does not want to do. She's the leader. How am I supposed to get her to see that? He thought to himself, rubbing his forehead as he began to walk towards the structure. "Take on the mines? If that's what you want to do Blake. You're the boss." He stated to her suddenly, acting like the woman had ordered him to go into the mines. Maybe acting like he had misunderstood her would get her to start issuing commands like a real leader.

As such, Rowan merely darted into the structure without a second though, ready to take down anything and everything that might be within the place. "I'll leave clean-up to you. I'll try and get as many as I can while I pass through." He called out to Blake, cutting hobgoblins to ribbons as he moved throughout the cave system, being careful not to damage any of the support structures. After all, one mistake could cause the whole thing to collapse in. As such, the only strikes he made were vertical strikes down the center so that there was hardly any chance to damage the support beams. As long as she doesn't use any stupid attacks that damage the area, we should be fine in here. I trust her enough not to do anything stupid. He thought to himself, grabbing one hobgoblin by the face, smashing its skull into the ground as he ran further and further into the mines. "I'll see you at the end, Blake." He stated to the girl from about halfway through the mines. His assault on the creatures did not last long, breaking through most of them and leaving hardly any stragglers behind.

After about thirty minutes, he finally reached the end of the mines where a large room had been built. Obviously it had not been a part of the original structure, and within the room seemed to be a podium with a piece of paper on it. Guarding it, however, were three guards wearing dragon skulls for helmets. Seeing them caused a strange reaction from Gram... confusion. It was not sure whether to dislike them or not. Once they started chanting, however, Gram became infuriated and seemed to have come to some sort of decision. It wanted them obliterated. As such, Rowan rushed forward to begin his assault on the dragon worshipers. While they did use magic and such, it was no use again a man that could literally cut through it and drain the mana. All they did was fuel Blake's mana reserves as Rowan ran around the room, cutting away their magic. When he finally reached them, however, he jumped through the air and slashed one of them down the middle. The other two turned, ready to blast him with magic, when a second strike cut through all of them horizontally. What was strange, however, was that the strikes were purple and left no wounds. The three of them merely collapsed, having passed out from having all of their energy drained.

"Go ahead... get the item, Blake. You're leader after all." Rowan stated to Blake, waving his hand slightly as he walked away from the carnage that he had ended. The young man was obviously content in having done something interesting for once... and doing Gram's bidding seemed to give him some sort of feeling of contentedness as well. Whatever it is... it better be worth all the trouble we went through to get it. He thought to himself, standing by the exit to the room. He was waiting for Blake to claim their reward so that the two of them could leave the mines. After all, it would do neither of them any good to spend too much time there. "Just remember, you need to set up camp soon. Taking a rest is just as important as exploring. You can't just search for an entire day and expect to be in the best condition." Rowan commented, trying to help her out since this was her first time being the party leader. Blake seemed to be relying too much on him in most cases, so he hoped that she would at least take what he was saying into consideration.

~Rowan~

"Entrance, huh? I guess that'll work." Rowan responded, thinking whether or not it would be a pretty decent place to camp or not. "If you're going to take a nap though, don't take too long, alright?" He stated, rubbing the back of his neck while the two of them walked through the mines. He was not too interested in the piece of paper she had found, thinking it was probably some sort of ancient scroll for a spell or something of the like. That was why he displayed slight irritation when Blake suddenly ran up to him, telling him that he needed to see the piece of paper and shoving it into his hands. Disgruntled, the man took the piece of paper and shook it slightly while speaking. "Look. I don't care about a piece of paper some weird shamans were guarding. If I did, then I would have walked up to the podium myself and gotten it." Rowan stated, to her, holding the map up and looking at it. While there was nothing too descriptive on it, the map did show a series of floating islands with a dragon head not too far off from them. It was a rather curious map... but it seemed pretty ancient as well.

"It looks like something from before our time. And what I mean by that is, it looks like it's a couple thousand years old." Rowan stated to Blake, handing the piece of paper back to her while he sat down near the fire that she had made. "It might be the place we're looking for but I doubt it. Just because it has some symbols on it that are dragon-like does not mean that's the dragonkin's homeland. All it means is that there's some floating islands in the sky somewhere, probably close by. It could just be a giant dragon nest. There's no telling what that place is." Rowan stated, staring at the fire in front of him as he spoke. Maybe I'm just being a bit too cynical. I mean... there's a chance that it's the right place. But.... it just doesn't seem likely. Rowan thought to himself as he watched the flames dance in front of him. Soon, Blake was speaking to him again, telling him that she would cook some rabbits that her wolves had hunted if he skinned them. Sighing slightly, Rowan merely picked up the rabbit and began to remove their fur so that Blake could cook them.

It did not take him long to finish his task, placing the rabbits on a cloth and placing them near Blake. "Remember, if you use too much seasoning then you'll attract monsters. You have to balance it out, or else something bad might happen." Rowan stated, trying to give a little bit of helpful advice as he leaned back into the snow. With the coat on, he could not even feel the temperature around him, feeling pretty content at all times of the day. "There's no harm in following that map though. If we did manage to make it to those floating islands, then we would undoubtedly be able to scout out a good bit of the land around Carmillion. If it isn't the place, then we could definitely get an idea of where it might be from there." Rowan stated, staring up at the sky as he contemplated the possibility of being able to find the person who had slain him. "Then... we'll finish this once and for all. This time.... I can stand against her." He stated, looking up at the clouds as he reflected on his moments once again. The traumatic images flashed through his mind, and the young man quickly closed his eyes to erase the images as quickly as they formed. Remembering such a tragedy was still a bit too much for him... and he wanted nothing more than to bury it all in the past. That was what this trip was for after all.

~Rowan~

Rowan had not been sleeping while they camped... but he had been away from the campsite a little bit so he could stand guard while Blake took her nap. For the most part, nothing had attacked camp. Whatever did try to enter their campsite was quickly scared off by Rowan before it ever even made it within a mile of the camp. Whether that was from magical fire exploding from nowhere or Rowan making sounds to draw their attention away, none of them managed to make it anywhere near the camp. As long as they don't get near us, there's no problem. All we have to do is make it through the hour without running into trouble. He thought to himself, standing guard at the top of a tree while looking out at the vast, snowy field before him. After a little while, he heard a voice calling out to him that seemed to belong to his Mage. Looking down from the tree, he saw her getting ready to head out now. I guess we better get going before anything else tries to attack us. He thought to himself as he jumped down from the tree and landed beside his Mage. He then began to walk alongside her.

It was not long before the two of had finally run into some sort of life.... if one could call it that. They were ghouls... and as Rowan seemed to be readying himself, Blake simply told him that she could take care of the monsters without his assistance. Well, she was actually starting to show a little bit of backbone, so that was something positive that had developed over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, this brave attitude was only being shown when it came to these undead creatures that she was so familiar with. The woman needed confidence in fighting anything rather than just what she knew. Even if I can trust you with something as simple as this... it's not like I can just let you run around and fight creatures that even you're not sure you can beat. Rowan thought to himself, watching the woman carefully as she began to fight the creatures. Blake did not take very long, and she seemed to be rather confident in her capabilities. The creatures were actually vanquished with little to no effort from what he could tell... although he did notice the souls leaving their bodies. As such, he did not feel very confident that the girl could have held her own as well against living enemies. Obviously, her technique had been based in necromancy and probably did not work on living creatures.

"Consider your apology not accepted." Rowan stated without any malice in his voice when she apologized for lingering behind. While he did not understand why she would do such a thing, he recognized that it was most likely Blake just being Blake. There were just some strange things that could only be explained as being just what a person does. After a while, it seemed as if Blake was finally starting to feel the effects of the cold, not being used to such temperatures. Staring at the elf woman, Rowan could not help but feel a slight.... something. There was a desire to help her, if only a little bit. As such, he sighed a bit and removed his coat, exposing himself to the cold air of the land. Then, quietly, he move near her and wrapped the ice-resistant material around her so that she would not be freezing anymore. I wonder.... if I may not be a good Knight. It used to be my dream... and maybe it still is a little bit. But... from how I am... from how I've been up until now. Maybe... I don't deserve to be anyone's Knight... He thought to himself as he simply stared at the woman. He would, however, decide to turn his face away from her and keep a rather uncaring expression on his face should she try to look at him. He also created some demonfire so that he could keep himself warm while the two of them traveled through the snow, making sure that he did not kill himself with the small amount of kindness he was displaying.

It did not take them too long after that to finally come across what they were searching for, the map actually proving to be rather useful. It was a gigantic continent, far too large for any sort of map to do it justice. So this was what the map was depicting... The only reason the two of them could even see it was because they were far up enough on a mountain to see it. Most of it was actually covered in clouds as well, which meant they had merely been in the right place at the right time. "Looks like we found what we were looking for.... About time too." Rowan muttered to himself mostly, staring up at the large structure that seemed to house dragons or at least something dragon-like. Whatever's up there... it's our only lead for now. Rowan thought to himself. Blake's suggestion to wait, however, was met with a bit of criticism from Rowan. "Wait? This is our goal. What purpose do we have in this barren wasteland of snow except to find this place?" He quickly stated, not too keen on playing games with Blake at this point. Maybe she was just trying to stall for time because she did not believe he could beat that woman. That would be something. Staring at Blake, however, Rowan remembered the look she had on her face when they first arrived and simply sighed... still frustrated a bit. "Whatever.... I better not get caught in a blizzard because of you..." Rowan stated, giving in to the desire to stay in the snowy wasteland.