-sniffs-

All the feels.

Oh stahp!

Your gifs are hilarious! Do you look for a new one each post or have them all there randomly? I could not get the random in the foprum signature to work for me very well. photobucket uses too many symbols. :P

I guess our RP goes here?

[spoiler=catnip thieves]Decked out in their rocking concert outfits, the Catnip Thieves meandered through the tightly packed crowd along with Tanaka and Larianne. Celeste cringed as a particularly sweaty fan squeezed against her. She nearly threw up in her mouth. The mage was rather claustrophobic, and the sauna-like concert conditions were certainly not helping. If it weren’t for the copious amounts of hairspray she used, her hair would’ve taken the appearance of a lion’s mane. Celeste whipped her head back and forth, searching for a less crowded area, but her gaze settled on Gavin instead. The horned boy had a small bubble of space around him, probably due to the shoulder spikes he was adorned with. The horned girl sighed futilely. Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Is something the matter? You’re staring at me with a singularly uncomfortable expression.” “Oh-uh, nothing.” Celeste rubbed her temples. The heat was really getting to her. “I just need some fresh air.” “In that case, how about we head over there?” He pointed at a slightly less crowded area in the distance. Celeste sighed in relief. “You’re a lifesaver. Let’s go.” But before she even had the chance to alert the rest of her team about the nicer, less crowded, and surely cooler area, a very nervous pianist approached Tanaka. “Omigawsh! Is that Pale Lightning?” a fangirl screeched in the distance. Everything went silent. “Aw, fuck.” Amalia breathed. All hell broke loose. A sea of fans screamed and stampeded towards Tanaka like a giant, nameless monster. The poor pianist who approached Tanaka earlier wound up getting crushed against him when the shapeless mass of fans swarmed him. In the commotion, Celeste had squeezed her eyes shut and hoped that she would still be alive when she opened them again. Thankfully, Larianne provided diversion: “Look there! Isn’t that Rembrandt?” She yelled at the top of her lungs. “Omigosh Rembrandt! I love you!” A fangirl hollers as the monstrous sea of fans changes its course, going after Rembrandt instead. Celeste opened one eye tentatively. “Is it gone?” “Quite gone.” Aodh responded, looking harried. Hearing Aodh’s reassuring words, Dana slowly released her death grip on Reyna. “I think I’ve seen it all now.” Lizzy commented, eyes wide as saucers. “I believe the concert will be starting shortly. Let’s find seats.” Gavin spoke up. And so everyone found their seats to enjoy the rocking concert.

“Pale Lightning and the Stormboys gave an exemplary performance.” Gavin rated. “You have good taste in music.” Aodh grinned, elbowing the horned alchemist. Gavin smiled. “Why thank you, brother. I would expect nothing less from you.” He said, jokingly. “But did you hear the Birdbrains? They were sooo good!” Reyna fangirled. But before Reyna could talk more about how great Rosemary and the Birdbrains were, a horrified scream echoed throughout the stage. Amalia growled. “Oh, what the hell is it this time?” “Let’s find out.” Reyna pursed her lips. “It came from backstage.” As soon as the Catnip Thieves approached the stage, a makeup girl ran out, sobbing. “S-she’s d-d-dead!” Sure enough, there was a corpse. The corpse of the nervous piano player from before, whose facial expression was twisted into one of petrified horror. Gavin gently knelt beside the hysterical girl and patted her comfortingly on the back. “There, there. You’re safe now. Whenever you’re ready, please tell us what happened.” The girl pried her face away from her palms, and looked at Gavin with watering eyes. “S-sunny! Oh, poor Sunny. I, I w-was so worried--” Great, heaving coughs wracked her body. Gavin furrowed his brow. He didn’t have any tissues on him; his glove would have to do. “I’m incredibly sorry, miss. I don’t seem to have any tissues. Here, use this.” He handed his glove to her, which she gratefully took and blew her nose in. Once the girl recovered, she spilled her guts in one go: “T-there was that phony man-nager here earlier, p-playing around with the roster, and I told the real m-manager about it. W-we never caught the fake, but Sunny got scared to d-death and said she had to find somebody, but she never said who! A-and now-- n-now…” The makeup girl broke down once again, crying bitterly. “It’s alright, miss. It wasn’t your fault.” Gavin comforted. Amalia took off her scrawny leather vest and wrapped it awkwardly around the sobbing girl. Celeste stared. The warrior glared back at her. “Hey, I have a soul, you know.” “There’s no use standing around. We must get to the bottom of this.” Dana calmly spoke up. “Oh my god! Sunny!” Rosemary and the real manager, followed by a weary mage and deputy rushed in. The mage knelt next to Sunny’s body and sprinkled a white powder over her. It sizzled and turned black. “Killed by Unseelie magic.” He sagely decided. Everyone gasped. The manager immediately separated everyone and separately interviewed them. The Catnip Thieves solemnly listened in on the interviews. After the interviews, the crew stepped outside to discuss who was the most likely suspect.

After a good while, Dana barged back in, finding the manager. “Well?” The manager said. His hair was in a disarray, and he was pale. The deputy and mage beside him didn’t look much better. “We’ve made our decision.” Reyna announced. The manager sat up straight. “Tell me more.” As the crew relayed its verdict to the manager, the deputy furiously scribbled down notes. The deputy gratefully shook everyone’s hands. “Thank you so much. You’ve been a great help.” “Anything we can do.” Lizzy smiled. “Well that was stressful.” Celeste frowned as they headed back to the Gearloose Goose.

The bikes had been steadily coming together and were almost finished. Through the window, Lizzy could see Tony and Jedro working on what had looked like complete piles of junk, but increasingly looked like motorcycles. Well. As long as they'd drive well. And until they'd be finished... Maybe she should go into town and stock a few useful things - these smoke grenades had been so useful... The rest of the Catnip Thieves were inside, preparing for their mission. Gavin brew diverse potions, ranging from the tried and tested acid bombs over flame bombs to healing potions. Celeste, not seeming to be bothered by the smoke and fumes, sat beside him, pouring energy into a shield bracelet. Who knows when you'd need a good shield, right? "Same for a net", Reyna laughed, weorking on a new one just on the other side of the room. Amalia and Aodh were in the other room, maintaining weaponry. The bard had made some new arrows to replace those lost in the forest and was now setting up a new string. The warrior had been sharpening and oiling her sword, but now let it sink, apparently finished. "Hey, Aodh", she said, "you wanna go downstairs and check up on Dana? Shouldn't she be ready soon?" "She should. I'll come, if you give me another minute." They found her in the workshop downstairs. "Yo, Dana, how's the crossbow doing?", Amalia yelled upon entering. "Nicely!", it came back from behind a shelf. "I'm just trying to figure out how to-- ow!" Aodh and Amalia snorted and walked around the shelf. "Let's see", said Aodh, "you got all the parts? And have you actually shot it already?" "Ummmm", said Dana, making a gesture to a small bolt stuck to the ceiling, "I-shot-it may be less accurate than it-happened-somehow-and-I-almost-shot-myself, but yeah, I think it's working!" The warrior facepalmed. "Oh god, kid, don't kill yourself. That's the last thing we need." "I've only ever worked on machines!", Dana went into defense, "and they don't shoot at you! Well, not like that, anyway. Also, this one isn't that bad. I made it small enough for me to hold for a while without wavering." Aodh grinned. "Okay. Let's just go outside and I'll show you the basics - I prefer a bow myself, but I know how to use this thing." "Nice! I think I'll be going back up and take a nap, who knows when I'll get one again", Amalia said and went upstairs, while Aodh and Dana gathered a few things from the workshop and went towards the training place, where they had seen Larianne earlier.

Almost too soon, it was time to go. Everyone was packed up with energy bars, water and other miscellaneous supplies in their saddlebags, although Gavin's were filled almost exclusively with potions. He had been generously giving them out to the team, and everyone had a few different potions with various functions. The group had their fighting gear and game faces on. Dana’s crossbow was strung across her back along with a quiver full of fresh arrows. The Catnip Thieves looked back at the Squirrel Crew standing in front of the Gearloose Goose. "Bye, everyone! Wish us luck!" Reyna waved. Dana gave the start signal. "Let's go!" With that, the crew roared off on their upcycled motorcycles.

The maze stretched on as far as the eye could see. “It’s big”, Lizzy thought to herself, realizing this was the real thing. A real, almost mythological maze. And it had an overbearingly ominous feel. Celeste shuddered and drove closer to Lizzy. "I feel it too. I don't know if it's the maze itself or the Bone Riders within, but something gives me a really bad feeling about it." Her knuckles were white from gripping the motorcycle handlebars so tightly. Amalia pursed her lips. “Keep on the watchout, guys. It’s Bone Rider territory from here on out.” A few moments later, they arrived at the remaining East entrance of the maze. It was narrow, and darker than they thought. Celeste broke out in sweat, already feeling claustrophobic. "I'll go first", said Amalia. "If a bonehead tries to fight us, he'll feel my sword." "I'm right behind you", added Reyna, "Kelian spoke of two, after all, and they might wait for us." She adjusted the rifle strapped onto her back. “I’ll ride in the back. That way I can drop bombs on enemies from behind with minimal damage to you.” Gavin spoke up, dropping to the back of the line. “Me too. I can cover you better if a nasty Bone Rider shoots at you.” Celeste smiled, waving her shield braceleted-arm in the air. They changed order and slowly worked their way forward. Amalia, tense like a watchdog, was in front, while Reyna, directly behind her, had taken the lead for the right path. She let her ranger orientation keep them on the right path, sometimes choosing her way almost instinctively. This was no time to swoon, but Dana was honestly impressed. To her, these ways and dead ends looked all the same, and she could tell from Gavin’s and Celeste’s faces behind her that they weren’t feeling much differently.

The Catnip Thieves had already made it a good piece of the way in when the first Bone Riders attacked. They had about a moment's notice. Amalia was just turning the next corner when bones rattled, engines screamed, and two heavy bikes came out of an entrance and drove head-on towards the crew. The owners were grisly. They were garbed in dark and torn clothes, revving up what seemed to be bikes made out of real bone. In their hands were weapons stained dark with what looked suspiciously like old blood. "Yaaaahhhhhhh!" Amalia's battle cry echoed off the walls. She drew her sword in one swift motion and swung her weapon hard over her head. It clashed with a mace and was thrown back. The Bone Rider’s mace swung back and almost hit its owner's greasy head. “‘At all yer got?” The Bone Rider grinned, revealing a mouthful of cavities. His eyes suddenly widened as a net came flying at him. He tumbling backwards, barely missing it. Reyna was still in motion when her net was slung around arms, head and mace of the first rider. He toppled. The boney bike tilted and crashed with an awful, metallic screech. “Ye’ll pay fer that!” The other Rider roared, racing towards Amalia with his sword extended. Amalia smirked. “We’ll see about that!” She hollered, speeding straight at the second Rider. Lizzy would later recall that their fight vaguely resembled a knight’s duel. The motorcycles charged at each other. The riders had their swords drawn, ready to slay. The swords clanged, and met each other time and time again. Amalia furrowed her brows. “It’s no use,” Amalia thought, “This fucker is good. I’ll die first.” She short-stopped. The Bone Rider swung his sword, barely missing the warrior. “Shit. What can I do?” Amalia growled internally. “T’day marks ye funeral!” The Rider cackled maniacally as he came at her again. Amalia suddenly knew what to do in a moment of clarity. She recklessly sped forward. Her sword was not aimed at the rider-- it was aimed at the bike. The rider’s eyes widened in realization, but it was too late to react. “Eat this!” Amalia viciously slashed both tires. The air escaped with a hiss, and the bike, out of balance, tipped. With surprising elegance, its rider jumped off before it crashed. Once again he readied his sword and ran towards her, but now she had the advantage. The warrior u-turned, sped up and welcomed her foe with a swing that would’ve made a Jedi proud. The rider’s sword clattered to the ground as her bike hit him head-on. He twitched once, then fell still. The other one needed a bit more work. The net had slowed him down, but it didn’t last long. He pulled out a machete and frantically hacked at it. Reyna scowled, frustrated and pissed. “I just made this one, dick!” She drew her rifle and struck the rider’s temple with its hilt, hard. He put his arms up in defense, trying to fight back. Unfortunately for him the net had been sturdy, and she had aimed well. He twitched, and with her second hit, his eyes rolled back and then closed, unconscious. His big body slumped down to the ground besides his bike.

Reyna and Amalia faced each other, then the group, only to be greeted by admiring stares. Celeste cleared her throat. “Wow, Amalia. You are - that was amazing.” The warrior smirked. “Of course! The world’s best warrior, at your service.” She mock-bowed. “Don’t let it get to your head.” Celeste rolled her eyes. “Too late, Miss Mage, I’m basking in my glory.” Amalia struck a pose. Laughter ensued. Gavin sighed in relief. Close range was not his kind of fight, and as relieved as he was that it had gone so quickly, almost elegantly, he couldn’t help being afraid in retrospective. What else would wait for them in this maze? Would he be able to make himself useful? “Well, do we just let them lie around here?“, asked Aodh, interrupting the horned boy’s thoughts. “As unconscious as they look, I don’t want to take any risk.” Dana nodded, silently appreciating him being so calm and collected. Her own knees had trembled when Reyna got close to that rider… oooh no, no good thoughts there. “Let’s slice the other bike’s tires too. They can’t get us on foot.” “I’ve got some rope left. Let’s just leave him in the net, and we’ll bind the other one.” Lizzy chimed in. “Reyna, is that the dead end they came out of?” “I think so. Let’s throw them back there.” Reyna agreed. “Shit, these weigh a ton!” Dana yelped, dragging a bike with Amalia’s help. And sturdy, she noted. Not bad work on the mechanic’s part, but the fact that it was made from suspicious bones hadn’t helped the tires a bit. Their own bikes, although made from scraps and pieces, had another quality the group simply considered trusty non-creepiness. Thank Shinwa and Ms. Miranda. When everything was said and done, the Catnip Thieves resumed their way towards the center. Amalia and Reyna were convinced into resting for a bit, so they switched to the back of the pack and let Lizzy and Celeste lead.

In Gavin’s humble opinion, the

[Spoiler=Silver Legends wrote a long rp!]Standing at the entrance of the maze Silver Legends just stares blankly.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," says TerrenaAnimula.

"I'm feeling pretty good after the concert and all the hot young pork chops," Witchy grins and puffs on her pipe.

"Haven't any of you read the story of the Minotaur and its labyrinth?" Lovecraft asks shaking her head.

"That reminds me of the babe," Fresh says absently.

"OHHH what babe?" Gryffindor asks hoping to hear more.

Suddenly grinning ear to ear Witchy says, "The babe with the power."

Ignoring the others, Terrena goes, "Is that the story where a half human-half bull lived in a giant maze and people would go in and never come out because he ate them?"

"About sums it up," Lovecraft agrees. "I think THAT is where we have landed. And I am telling you right now IF I get ate by some bull human creature thing I am going to be very upset."

"Don't worry, Love" says Witchy, "You got the power."

Gryffindor, wondering what "babe" they all kept talking about, asks "What power does Lovecraft have?"

Witchy grins broadly, nudges Fresh in the side with her elbow. He looks at Witchy and immediately starts grinning also. Both of them look at Gryffindor, and yell "THE POWER OF VOOODOOOO!" Making Terrena and Lovecraft jump, and glare at them. "Voodoo? The warrior has the power of voodoo?" this group is SO strange, I just know I'm not going to survive this adventure, thinks Gryffindor.

Lovecraft glares at the Silver Legends, and says, "All Right everyone! Mount UP!" Gryffindor, deciding she's going to be "one" of the Legends yells out, "RAAAAAWHIDDDDDDDDDEEE!" The rest of the Legends, look at her, all with confused expressions on their face, "Rawhide?" mutters Witchy, "are there cows around?" She looks over her shoulders behind her, but sees nothing unusual.

Gryffindor just shakes her head, "Figures, guess they don't watch old western tv shows".

Fresh looks at Lovecraft, and says, "You lead, since I know you're anxious to fight the Boney's"

"Boney's?" says TerrenaAnimula, "BONEYS?!! omg Fresh, move away from Witchy."

Fresh just grins at Terrena. Then glances over to Gryffindor. "You and the boys, did a good job on these little speedsters, Gryffindor. Hope they work a little better than the car."

"Hey! What do you mean? That car was Great! I can't help it, if you forgot to include an engine in the plans" says Gryffindor.

"STOP" says Witchy, "Love and Terrena are already started, LETS GO! WE GOT BONEYS TO PICK!" Laughing wildly, off into the maze she goes, Fresh right behind her laughing.

Oh Geeze thinks Gryffindor, We're all gonna DIE! and she takes off after the rest.

After a few missed turns, and having to turn around a couple of times because of dead ends, the Legends feel like they're moving through the maze at a good pace. Lovecraft wonders where the Bone Riders are, not hearing any other engines but the soft 'puff pitth puff rumble rumble puff' of the cycles they are riding.

"You know, I really expected a little more, this is getting boring" says Lovecraft.

"OMG! LOVECRAFT!" yells Witchy behind her, as Terrena rolls her eyes and tells Lovecraft to shut up. "You Just jinxed us!" continues Witchy.

TerrenaAnimula rolls her eyes again, and yells at Witchy over her shoulder "Oh Witchy, Hush! Everything is going to be ok." But of course, no sooner does she say that, then going around the corner, they all screeched to a halt. First, because they were at a dead end, and they were going to have to turn around, and second, because across the maze, getting ready to zoom right at them, were two bone riders.

"SEE!" yells Witchy at Lovecraft. "SEE! I TOLD YOU!"

Lovecraft just grins. "FINALLY!" and she pulls out her double swords from her back. "All RIGHT you bone riding fraggin' aardvarks, Come and GET IT!" and she jumps into the middle of the bone pack, swords flying. (along with pieces of bone and what not) /we are NOT talking about all those extra 'pieces of what not'/

Immediately TerrenaAnimula has her bow strung and arrows flying. Gryffindor is doing stunts on her cycle, (or that's what it looks like to the Legends) going in and out between the two riders, chopping off any thing she can as she zooms through, burying knives into the backs (between the bony ribs) of the riders. She's moving so fast, that the Bone Riders can't hit her.

Witchy just seems to be standing there, puffing away on her pipe. Fresh yells at her, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING THERE, WITCHY?!" as he throws cake in the Bone Riders faces?

"Don't worry Fresh!" yells Witchy back at him. puffing puffing puffing as hard as she could. She starts stomping her feet and going around in circles as a cloud of rainbow encircles her head. She starts chanting... "Down in the underground; a land serene, underground, nothing ever hurts again, please take me down, underground. Daddy, daddy, get them Bone Riders out of here, Heard about a place to stay, underground, underground those Bone Riders say, Wanna live underground. Wanna live underground. Wanna live underground. Send those BoneRiders THAT WAY!"

With a final stomp of her feet, witchy yells out "MOVE IT EVERY ONE! GET AWAY FROM THE BONEYS!" as the ground rumbles and cracks and gives way underneath the bone riders feet.

Gryffindor has to gun her cycle hard, as a hole opens up underneath the bone riders, her back tire starts sliding into the hole, she's not moving the bike fast enough.

As she's sliding into the hole, arrows appear in the ground in front of her, quickly she grabs them, and using them as handholds/steps she pulls herself up out of the hole.

Grabbing her arm, and pulling her towards the cycles, Fresh runs. Lovecraft yells at witchy, "I Wasn't FINISHED Chopping!" Terrenaanimula grabs her arm, as she runs pass, "Come on, Come on, I don't think that hole is going to stop getting bigger!"

As Witchy runs pass Lovecraft and Terrena, and jumps on her cycle, you can hear her mumble, "Ooops."

Speeding down the maze, they could hear Gryffindor on the back of Fresh's cycle, "DID you see that!? I shoved those knives into those old bony's backs! AND WITCHY ALMOST KILLED ME!"

Truthfully, Gryffindor did look a little worse for wear.

After taking a breather, and muttering and complaining about one another, and bragging about how they themselves did so well, they each helped each other patch themselves up, and start off again. Of course, the Legends optimism was as high as ever, even though they had had a close call, and they weren't in any great shape any more.

"I'm getting bored again!" mutters Lovecraft "NO!" this time, it wasn't just Witchy that yelled that, TerrenaAnimula and Gryffindor yelled it also. Sure enough, making another turn, they come across 3 giants blocking their way.

Lovecraft takes off towards them, as Fresh yells "NO NO Love!" just as one of the giants let's loose with a metal spike. By some miracle (or really good skill, nah, it was a miracle) Lovecrafts swords flew back and forth, all you could see was a blur. But she knocked every one of those spikes to the sides. Well, all but one. But thankfully she ducked and rolled at the last minute, and instead of impaling her, it lodged in her shoulder. Not able to lift her arm, she yells, "Some one needs to DO SOMETHING!" "Don't worry Love! I've got this" yells Fresh, and with that, he pulls out his Cupcake Bazooka.

Looking over at him, Terrenaanimula, says, "CAKE FRESH?! OMG! We don't have time for a cake party!" (while she was shooting arrows as fast as she could load her bow)

But Fresh just looks at her, and says, "Watch! Tea fixed this up, Just for ME!" and he starts shooting the cupcake bazooka at the giants.

Out spits the cupcakes, faster than an AK47 could shoot. First there were a whole series of poison cakes, every one of them, hitting the giants in the middle of the forehead.

"GO FRESH GO!" yell the other Legends

Next came a series of honey cakes, only when they hit the giants in the middle of the head, a honey badger exploded out of it, and started tearing at the skulls of the giants with those razor sharp claws and teeth of theirs.

"Oh geeze" says Gryffindor, "Badgers? Look at them ripping into those giants."

"Just stay back" pants Fresh, "if those giants throw them back towards us, those badgers aren't gonna care! All they care about, is that they were disturbed"

Meanwhile, the bazooka was still shooting out cupcakes (rolled pancakes with fresh fingers) that gorged into the giants eyes, and last of all, 3 in a row, hitting those giants almost at the same time, Exploding Pop Cupcakes.

KA-BOOOOOM the heads blow right off the giants.

"Whaaaa?" says the rest of the Legends. "What was THAT!" says Witchy.

Grinning, Fresh says, "oh. A little present from before we left. She says she did a little experiment with the regular exploding pops, and made them into cupcakes to store in my bazooka. Aren't they great! Don't you just Luuuuuv Tea!"

Lovecraft and Terrenaanimula just shake there head, get back on their cycles and start putt putt putting off. Gryffindor was eyeing the bazooka, and wondering if Fresh would let her take it apart to examine what Tea had done. Witchy just puffed on her pipe, and wondered what was going to happen to the badgers. Gryffindor thinks, "We are ALL gonna DIEEEEE"

A long while passes. The Legends wonder if they're ever gonna make it out of the maze.

Lovecraft sighs, opens her mouth and starts to say, "I'm getting..." But before she could get any farther, they come upon an ambush. Five of the Bone Riders rushing towards them.

Gryffindor yells, as they're all trying to combat the riders, "Lovecraft, if you ever say, or even START to say you're bored again, I swear I'm gonna run you over with one of these cycles!"

Lovecraft hollers, "We need to figure out a plan! I'm not up to my usual, with only 1 arm. We all have injury's, we need an edge. These 5 riders are faster than all the others we've come across."

"They must be the ones that have the help from the Mage, that Kelian told us about. The Mage must be hiding some where behind the riders." says Terrenaanimula, as she shoots her arrows at the bone riders. At least they're distract them some, if nothing else, by having to bat them out of their faces.

Gryffidor, riding Fresh's cycle (while the rest of the Legends had gotten off their cycles to fight a little better) was again doing her 'trick riding'. "I've run out of knives!" she screams, rushing back behind Witchy, who again, seems to just be standing there, puffing away on her pipe. (Except this time...was Gryffindor imagining it? But it looked like she was blowing...Bubbles)?

"Every One! Get BEHIND ME!" screams Witchy, as she puffs puffs puffs on her pipe. More and more rainbow colored bubbles infesting littering the air in front of her.

As the Legends all run behind the Witch, and the bone riders all turn, and start gunning their bikes, grinning and making rude comments. You could tell they were getting ready for a huge rush.

But suddenly, the rainbow bubbles come together and formed a shield in front of them.

Fresh, Lovecraft, TerrenAnimula and Gryffindor all look at one another. Gryffindor leans over to the other Legends, and whispers, "Are we really going to believe that a huge rainbow bubble, is going to shield us?"

Fresh, looking in wonder at being inside of a prism, just grins. Lovecraft and Terrena look at each other and, almost together says, "Remember what she did with her cauldron and the candy?"

Gryffindor asks, "What happen with Witchy and her cauldron and candy?"

Fresh starts laughing, "Hahahahaaaa"

Terrena looks at Gryffindor and says, "Well, Witchy hasn't always had white hair."

Lovecraft frowns at the Witch, and says "WITCHY! What Are You DOING?" as she watches witchy spinning her pipe around her head, like it was a lasso, faster and faster.

"Well, I AM Queen of the WIND!" yells Witchy. As the wind starts getting stronger. Strong enough, that the riders, finally gunning their bikes hard, took off towards the Legends. The problem was, the wind had gotten so strong, that it look like they were almost standing still.

Then from behind the Legends, there was a rumbling sound. A very LOUD rumbling sound.

Witchy quickly starts pushing everyone against the maze wall. "Hold on to one one another. Don't let go! The bubble shield will protect us, as long as we're stay as close to the wall as we can!"

AS the legends looked behind, they could see a tornado coming towards them. And going Right Past Them! Shocked, Gryffindor says, "It held up. A Rainbow BUBBLE SHIELDED US!" astonishment in her voice.

Hearing her, Witchy glances over to Gryffindor and says, "As long as there isn't any house in that tornado, we'll be safe."

House? Gryffindor thinks? House? But she's quickly distracted, by the force of the wind of the tornado, picking up the bone riders and carrying them down the maze. Blurriedly you could see it pick up, what looked like the mage, as the tornado disappeared in the distance.

Lovecraft, seeing the tornado picking up and carrying off the bone riders and mage, grins says "and Woe is the one that gets in Witchy's way."

"Well" says Witchy "That was exciting, but I'm going to have to take a nap now." and with that, Witchy collapses on the ground.

"Oh Great" says Lovecraft, "She smoked to much rainbow, and has now passed out. Who's gonna haul her around? I'm not" and with that, she stalks off to her scooter.

Terrena and Fresh pick up Witchy, and haul her over to Terrena's scooter. Fresh helping her to tie witchy arms around her, so she doesn't fall off.

Gryffindor gets on the last scooter, waiting for Fresh to get on behind her, and thinks, "Can't be much longer now. We're all gonna DIE for Sure, because No One is That Lucky."

As they continue down the maze, Lovecraft, who's leading the way, says, "Hey! I think I see some light ahead! We may be near the end!" and she guns her scooter a little faster.

"Wait Love!" shouts out Fresh "Kilien said there's a group of riders around that rock bend up ahead."

Terrean looks around, and asks, "Do you hear TeaRoll?" Lovecraft and Fresh, who had stopped in front of her, turns and looks. "Tea?" says Lovecraft.

Terrean glares at Lovecraft, and says, "YES! I swear I hear Tea. Or a tinny tiny voice of Tea."

Witchy lifts her head up from Terrena's shoulder, drool hanging out of her mouth, mumbles "TEA!" and falls back against Terrena again.

"You better cut her off me, Fresh" says Terrean "if we're gonna have to fight, I can't have her on the back of the bike" (then she thought, of course, if they happen to stab me in the back, witchy Would make a nice shield but she shakes her head to dislodge the temptation of leaving the witch tied to her back.

"I swear" says Terrena again, "I swear I can hear Tea yelling"

As Fresh is untying Witchy, and pulling her off the back of the bike, he says, "You know something Terrena, I can her TeaRoll, too."

Looking down at the Witchy lying on the ground, he notices a glow coming from around her neck. Bending down and pulling on a chain, he finds a small crystal ball, about the size of a large shooter marble. Inside, he can see TeaRoll. She was yelling something.

"HUSH!" Fresh yells out, "We're not imagining any thing, here's Tea in this marble! WHAT CHA DOING TEA? HOWS JAIL?" he asks.

"NOT NOW FRESH!" shouts Lovecraft at him. Still screaming, she grabs the crystal from Fresh, jerking Witchy into a sitting position. "WHAT DO YOU WANT TEA? WE GOT TO GO FIGHT!"

You really couldn't make out what Tea was yelling through that little tiny crystal.

Gryffindor, standing there watching the team, snatching the crystal back and forth between them, with it still attached to witchy's neck, thinks, "Poor Witch. Her neck is gonna be SO bruised and hurtin'. If they don't break it."

"It sounds like she's trying to say something about Flamingo. And Rock People?" says Terrena.

"Well, it doesn't matter WHAT she says, we don't have time for visiting and catching up, we got to go and FIGHT OUR WAY OUT!" says Lovecraft. With that, she grabs one of her swords and starts to stalk toward the rock pile. (You could now hear the ride

[spoiler=Entering the Maze]

"Well here goes nothing!" Atrueheart mutters as she motions her Fallen Angels into the maze. Side by side Laurie and Webby enter first, followed by Calie and Talli, and bringing up the rear Atrueheart and Jeice. "Can you feel that tingling?" asks Webby as she looks around fearfully. "Remember we were told the walls are enchanted. Must be the power emanating from the walls we're feeling." Laurie replies as she eases her cycle slowly into the maze beside Webby's cycle.

"Look sharp Angels!" Atrueheart calls out. "The Bone Riders can be anywhere inside here." Suddenly a Bone Rider shoots out of a side corridor just behind the Fallen Angels with a loud growl. Jeice quickly pulls an arrow from her sheath and lets fly, her aim straight and true, piercing the Bone Rider right between the eyes. The Bone Rider's bike smashes into a wall behind them as the rider himself drops dead. "So they did have a guard on all the entrances!" She exclaims as Atrueheart gives her a thumbs up.

The Fallen Angels continue to move deeper into the maze slowly. "Check those corners." Atrueheart calls out as they round the next corner. From out of a side corridor two Bone Riders came barreling toward them and Atrueheart yells "To the right!" The Angels quickly form a single line to the right and Jeice and Atrueheart move up to the front on the left. Quickly aiming down the site of her crossbow, Atrueheart lets fly a bolt hitting the first Bone Rider in the chest. The stunned Bone Rider flies off the back of his cycle as Atrueheart slides over to her right in line with the other Angels in order for Jeice to get a clean shot at the second rider. The first Bone Rider's cycle veers into a wall and the Angels weave their cycles around it. Pulling a bola out of her saddle, Atrueheart flings it out as the second cycle passes by her, tangling the bola in the wheel spokes causing the Bone Rider's cycle to come to an abrupt stop and flinging the Bone Rider through the air. "Just like skeet shooting!" Jeice calls out as she takes aim at the flying Bone Rider and let's fly her arrow. The Bone Rider's momentum carries it past the line of motorcycles to crash into a wall, where it crumples dead at the base of the wall. A ragged cheer goes up from the Fallen Angels.

"Scratch three!" Jeice calls out as Atrueheart calls for a halt in order to study the map. Motioning Laurie up to her side Atrueheart asks "How close are we to the giant Bone Riders we were told about?" Poring over the map Laurie points at the x marked on the corridor where the next encounter would be. "Giants are here and we are here!" Laurie explains pointing at their current position. "There's a few hairy corridors before we reach that point." "Right!" Atrueheart says. "We need to keep a lookout for any stray Bone Riders that might be lurking around as well. Now what do we know about the giant Bone Riders?" "They are non-magical" Talli speaks up behind Atrueheart and Laurie. "One of them throws spikes!" squeaked Webby.

"Okay, here's the battle plan: Remember how big they are, so they will only be able to come through the corridor in single file. Talli and Webby up front. Talli you have that immobilize spell ready and let it fly as soon as they come into sight." Talli nods in agreement. "Now Webby, have one of your mythril balls ready in your slingshot. We're gonna pull a "David and Goliath" on the first one so as soon as he's immobilized let her rip! Don't forget the spell will only last seconds, so aim true." Webby pats a pocket assuring herself which one she needs and nods. "As soon as he falls everyone to the right, clearing the line so Jeice and I can take the next one out with our arrows." Nodding at Jeice who gives the high sign. "Coming up from behind, Calie you do your thing with the acorn bomb and Laurie you clean up with your sword. Everybody got it?" Looking over her team they all nod in agreement. "Okay, let's go! Mind those side corridors people. There may be some nasty surprises before we get there. Be prepared for anything."

Motioning Talli and Webby, to the front the Fallen Angels pull out at a slow speed. Swiveling their heads and checking every cross corridor. Suddenly Calie gives out a whoop and throws an acorn bomb into the cross corridor to the left. Bones fly out of the corridor as another Bone Rider bites the dust. Signaling all clear the Angels move on keeping the map of the maze firmly in their minds so as not to get lost. Two corridors over Laurie lets fly her sword at another Bone Rider sneaking up on the team. It sinks into its chest and the Bone Rider and his bike fall over blocking that corridor. "Won't have any problems coming from that direction at least." Laurie calls out as the team halts their bikes. Laurie quickly jumps off her cycle and runs over to the fallen Bone Rider and pulls her sword out of his chest. The stench of the disgusting thing has all the Fallen Angels covering their noses and attempting to breathe through their mouths. "Is that flesh clinging to that arm bone? Ewwwwww! That's nasty!" Webby cries out covering her mouth and turning her head away. "Hold it together Angels!" Atrueheart cries out as Laurie gets back on her cycle.

Easing up on the corridor where they will find the giant Bone Riders, Atrueheart checks her team to see if they are ready. Hearing the roar of the giant Bone Riders’ cycles makes Webby shiver a bit but then she visibly steadies herself and nods. "Fallen Angels ride!" Atrueheart calls out and they round the corner. A roar rises up from the giant Bone Riders as they sight their prey; they rev their cycles as the spike thrower in front lets fly with his metal spike. Ducking, the Angels advance and Talli cries out "Immobilati" freezing the spike thrower just long enough for Webby to let fly with her mythril ball. The ball sinks into the forehead of the first giant and he falls off his bike dead, another spike held in his hand. This causes a log jam for the giants behind but only temporarily as they gun their bikes and roll over their fallen comrade and his bike.

Webby and Talli move to their right, giving a clear shot for Jeice and Atrueheart to let fly their arrows and bolts. Firing rapidly, Jeice sinks three arrows in the next giant's torso, piercing his heart and Atrueheart shoots the coup de gras, sending a bolt through the giant's left eye. As the giant is falling Jeice and Atrueheart swerve to the right and fall back allowing Laurie and Calie access to the last giant.

Flinging an acorn bomb toward the last giant, blowing up his motorcycle and doing considerable damage to his lower body, Calie then shifts right and Laurie's motorcycle shoots forward as she swings her sword. With the first swing of her mythril sword she cleaves the giant downward shearing its arm off. Then with her second swing lops off his head cleanly. Enraged, Laurie leaps from her bike. The stench is almost unbearable but she fails to notice as she snatched the necklace from around his neck yelling "Who's your dentist now freakboy!?" Snatching the necklaces from the necks of the other two as well, she kicked the one beside her bike for good measure, shoved the necklaces into her pocket and got back on her bike. Seeing their timid Laurie in action the other Angels exchange worried glances. "Better now?" Jeice asked and Laurie smirked. "A little, Ranger girl. A little." as she fell in line behind her. Atrueheart catches Laurie's eye. "You good Laurie!?" she asks. "Never better!" Laurie replies.

Checking over the rest of her team for any injuries, Atrueheart signals to mount up and move to the right to get around the fallen Giants. The first giant and his bike that had fallen was still blocking the corridor so they had no choice but to ride over them, though unlike the giant's fellow Bone Riders they rode over the bike only avoiding the giant's bulky form. The Fallen Angels wearily stop their bikes to consult the map yet again. "Can we move on a bit ladies?" Calie moans. "The stench from these foul beasties is atrocious!" she exclaims holding her nose. Noticing the smell for the first time Atrueheart motions her team on with one hand while pulling a bandana up over her nose and mouth blocking the scent. "Oh man... that's just gross!" Jeice moans as the rest of the team pulls up their bandanas.

[color=green]After consulting the map and figuring out where the next five Bone Riders will show up, the Fallen Angels move forward. Atrueheart can see the tiredness in her teams’ eyes but encourages them to keep moving and stay alert. Hearing the growl of a bike engine as they pass another cross corridor, Webby reaches into her pouch and tosses an acorn bomb inside the corridor, never slowing down. Then from around the next corner a lone Bone Rider came barreling at them and Atrueheart shoots a bolt from her crossbow and knocks the rider off his bike dead. "Right!" Atrueheart yells and the Fallen Angels form a single line right and pass by the fallen Bone Rider.

Just ahead of another turn in this maze of madness the first of five terrifying bone clad riders come ripping from their hiding place. "TALLI!" Atrueheart screamed as their bikes screeched to a stop. As Talli chants an ancient freezing spell, Webby is already utilizing the bone melt bomb she had helped Calie make, firing them as fast as she can with her sling-shot. Everywhere the bombs hit, bone begins to melt off of the Bone Rider exposing his more vulnerable human self to their weapons. Talli's spell is strong enough to slow the bone clad riders, but not stop them.

Even with one of Atrueheart's bolts protruding from his chest, the first Bone Rider in the pack races forward. Jeice realized if she didn't do something quick, they would be on top of the Fallen Angels in a matter of seconds. Realizing they could be in serious trouble, Jeice bellows "RIGHT!" as loud as she could while cranking the handle bars of her bike. Giving the bike a powerful shove, they both vanish into the corridor.

As Jeice vanishes from view, Laurie realizes if she sacrifices her bike, it should give Jeice enough time to do what she has to do. Holding the throttle wide open she leaps from its seat and lets go, sending her bike hurtling down the corridor directly in the path of a Bone Rider bearing down on them. The maze is filled with a resounding CRRRASH as the bikes connect, sending a shower of shattered bone into the air. Shaking the bone fragments out of her hair, Laurie looks over to the corridor that Jeice had disappeared into.

Shoving her bike into the maze wall, Jeice spins and drops to one knee just in time to feel the breeze of Laurie's bike flying past. Undeterred, she takes her position and begins firing her bow at the hideous beings bearing down on them. The armor of the rider closest to her crumbles as her arrow strikes true, giving the one whose bike imploded the honor of being t

"Well I s'pose we should figure out this mess, that makeup girl left us a clue..." Valera mumbled.

We can go into the part where we solve the band puzzle and are explained to send Tony and Jedro after people

After the team put their heads together they notified Tony and Jedro who they thought the pair should each go after. With a sigh of relief that the puzzle was taken care of, The Chimeriads make their way back to the Gearloose Goose.

‘What a terrible development.’ Verrek thought to himself. He sprawled in a chair in a shadowy corner of the Gearloose Goose, witnessing the agitated hubbub of the milling groups around him. He twirled a lock of his long black hair, freshly regrown from his "Rembrandt and the Artists" fan hawk to its original length thanks to a hair-growth potion. ‘After spending hours scouring Bordertown for an outfit and hours more tailoring it to perfection that this is how our time at the festival should end?’ The Shade had been looking forward to the festivities, even if they had been attending in order to locate this prince his new companions had been tasked to find.

Cursed to feel only the pain of his mortal vessel, Verrek could experience pleasure solely from that which transcended the physical. Music being one of these.

He knew he was being self-centered and petty, but hadn’t he also been unwillingly wrenched halfway across the world away from the life he had built for himself? Shouldn’t he be allowed a bit of comfort for his troubles? Even the pleasure of food and smells couldn’t reach him, only a reading of their origin and make were delivered to him from his host body, like an intern’s report.

Back home he had set himself up a life filled with stimuli that he could actually enjoy. The challenge of climbing mountains, the thrill of looking down from a great height, the ecstasy of winning a race on his speeder, the mind-bending intrigue if repairing his speeder after a loss, conquering a fierce opponent in battle, the delight of a good book, passionate music, and cherished friendships.

All these things were now a world away. Verrek was happy to help his new companions with their task, but he still mourned that his disconnect from the physical realm meant he could not silence his homesickness with tangible elements of this new place.

SilentOne was perched on one of the ceiling beams of the Gearloose Goose, warming himself in the glow of one of the lanterns hanging above. The crow’s contentment in this simple pleasure felt as comforting as the lantern’s aura through their Telepathic connection. Verrek’s mood was lifted a bit. While it was not as real as feeling it himself, his connection to the crow meant a strand of physical comfort could indeed reach the Shade’s tortured soul.

Verrek basked in his friend’s pleasure for a minute, and his mind wandered to the fate of that poor girl dead in the dressing room.

He rose from his chair. There was injustice in this world, nobody can ever wipe it out or make amends. So what if he could feel no physical pleasure from food nor sunlight? His lot was no worse than most, so best he devote himself to make things better for those he could reach.

Without another thought he cast out his self-pity and strode over to stand with a few members of the Chimeriad where a number of leaderish-looking individuals were discussing some item the pianist had dropped into one of their pockets before she had been killed.

As the story unfolded Verrek grew more and more intrigued by this mention of keys and mazes, but at the mention of bikes the whole room seemed to brighten.

A huge map of the maze was rolled out before them and while Nancy went on to describe the terrible bone riders there-in the Shade was hanging on to the flow of the discussion rather than the actual words.

Were they going in on bikes? Please say they were going in on bikes! Verrek was already set to steal and remodel a bone-rider’s bike if it came down to that, there was no way he was missing this opportunity!

Nancy went on to describe the riders as wearing bone armor. The shade almost snorted out loud. ’Bones that Crack indeed. Bone makes dreadful armor, better off with wood, bone splinters and causes more damage to what it was covering than it blocks. Maybe they wear it to protect from blows of unarmed victims? Either way, it takes a lot of work to make armor out of something that cant protect you from much!’

Verreks scoffing thoughts were cut off as Nancy called out to Tony and Jedro,

"Hey, Tony! Jedro! You've got 48 hours to make us up a fleet of the best bikes you can make out of Miranda's junkpiles. The guys in here'll help you. You wouldn't want to disappoint little old me, now would you, my handsome hunks?"

"No, M'am!" came a chorus back.

Verrek almost whooped aloud at her announcement, but he caught himself, only exerting a small half bounce in his glee. He looked about in bewildered joy and found himself chatting with the pirate Val who had a mischievous look behind her own riled up excitement.

The shade felt his old competitive nature rise up within him and spider-webbing out into his host body. He felt the vessel’s muscles activate and go into standby, every fiber ready for action. He knew it was silly, there was no outlet for this energy, but if the ridiculous body wanted to believe there would be a race tonight then he would let it. He might as well get into it himself anyway!

Verrek wound up making bets with the Valera about who would reach the center of the maze first. The shade knew it was foolish, but he had already picked enough pockets throughout bordertown to know that he could easily get back whatever he might lose to her. Besides, after how many races he had been in over the last 200 years, how could he lose?

Valera had a smug grin on her face, Verrek better be ready to have a race on his hands. The one thing this pirate hates more than anything, was losing. This was from experience considering she had already lost so much, her crew, her airship to even her freedom since now she was bound to Feng.

Rusty really liked hearing the music at the festival as well as Matthew both dancing to the beats on the dance floor. So sad that shortly after the piano player named Sunny died. Matthew was still thinking about it and that the murderer was still at large. He paced back and forth inside the Gearloose Goose. He heard something about keys and perked his head up. He turned his face towards the sounds listening attentively. When he heard about a maze and bikes his mouth began to smile. Something fast would be nice to wiz past those boneheads in the maze thought Matthew to himself. I can crush them easily with my hammer, no hard work there. ..but what about the others? Would their talents be able to send themselves threw the maze? Would there be damage.. He didn't want to rethink of what he saw when he remembered their last battle, what happened to Valera, Lilith and Kir..he shivered. He walked over towards the voices still listening in.

Myra sat on a wooden bench in the Gearloose Goose, deep in thoughts about the the adverse events she and her friends had to encounter. She twisted a braid into her silvery hair and tapped her toes, feeling on edge. To her astonishment, she had enjoyed the atmosphere at the concert, she felt lively and spirited there, yet only until the worst happened. A young girl died and she couldn´t help bring her back. She saw the old mage trying yet to no avail, the piano player was already gone too long. Vividly, Myra remembered the scared, bug-eyed expression in the face of the pale young girl who died in the dressing room of one of the lead singers. A faint hint of blood tickled out of her pink painted mouth and her limbs looked limp and marionette-like. Now it would be even harder to find out who and where Caniel was! Myra bit her thumb, a bad habit out of childhood days which she actually had discarded long ago. And now they had to battle some fierce warriors in a with dark magic enchanted maze on motorbikes! She shuddered and took a deep breath. What to do with Shimmershadow? He was way to young for such a dangerous situation. On the other hand, when she would be separated from her friends during a battle, Shimmershadow could sense the auras of the others and tell her where to go by using their telepathic bond. Myra reached out to Shimmershadow through their very own connection and felt his soothing thoughts. He wanted to go and help and she was not his mum, so time to let go of her fears. "Well, all right then!" she murmured under her breath, yet also time to procure all the help they could get! Myra looked around and noticed most of her friends already talked animatedly to Tony and Jedro about bike alterations. Valera and Verrek seemed to be real experts, bright-eyed they fired ideas to and fro, already betting with one another who would be the fastest driver. Myra approached the two friendly strivers who talked to Tony and Jedro about whether a single-seater or two seater would induce key advantages in battle. The quartet saw Myra slowly heading their way, clearly wondering if the girl would be afraid of her maiden flight on a hopped up bike. "If we go with motorcycles," Myra smiled, "I would like to have a little box for Shimmershadow attached. It can be a simple one like this basket which looks worn out yet snug. A blanket for cover like this towel to see to his comforts would be nice, too. Also, it´s an item well-suited for protection magic. Additionally, I need two of these moon emblems to be enchanted by Krios so they become fins which are able to transform into deadly blades.

Then, around a dozen of these light orbs for the magical power source of the bike and each one of these moon and stars so a protection spell can be cast over the whole vehicle. I am not sure if it´ll work out yet we should try!".

The boys looked impressed and Valera high-fived Myra - who would have anticipated this gentle girl getting used to the idea of driving a bike at all! Myra chuckled and turned around, looking for Krios who was hopping down the stairway, singing an odd little battle song.

"Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones.....Get up! Cut the hands to the left, torch the hands to the right, throw the fiends in the air, behead the foes in the fight!" And with a last "Get up!" and a half pirouette which ended in a stabbing motion, he landed on the last step, nearly tripping over a broom one of the maids had deposited there for cleaning.

Krios slithered over to the group, curious to hear about the new vehicles. Rhea uttered a soft squee and Kronos wailed, both not being very fond of Krios´ interlude. Naturally, Krios mused, he as the vastly superior mage of the group had to straighten out the upcoming battle once again, there was no denying that. However, it was always good to keep up with the plans and ideas of his minions, perhaps something good came out of it. "Ah, motorbikes! The crown of creation and transportation!" Krios exclaimed and rejected Shimmershadow´s neighed demur with a shrug. "I enchanted a walnut shell once to make a carriage for a mice wedding. It was splendid, I even added a compartment for the champagne......" "Clearly, I am the most experienced master builder here in constructing vehicles!" Krios decided and added "May I see your dire drawings, then, I am sure I can be of help here!"

"You can be my pillion passenger, Krios!" Myra suggested and smiled angelic, assuming that Krios would rather die than riding shot-gun. Krios looked flabbergasted, then glared at her. Or was she kidding? You never know with women, even when Myra was a pearl among them. He decided to skip her quixotic contribution and turned his attention to the really important matters at hand. "Did you built us some blisteringly fast and bulletproof bikes already?" he asked eagerly and with boyish enthusiasm, admiring Tony´s and Jedro´s work with bright eyes. "I really would like to test-drive mine, add some magic touches here and there, try a little stabbing and shooting, perhaps there is some vermin here which needs running rings around...... what do we have for supper today?" Krios pondered yet blushed immediately when seeing Myra´s look of reproach. Oh yeah, that´s right. No more killing, not even bugs. Krios sighted. There was a limit to endurance.

Verrek had been impressed with Myra’s forethought into the design of her vehicle but at the sound of Krios’ exclaimations both he and Val hurried over to join the mage and alchemist. Wasting no time, Verrek jumped right in and began throwing them ideas.

“Here, Krios, Myra, I had some thoughts…”

With a scarred and sallow-skinned hand the shade pulled some paper toward himself then went to work with a pencil. His sketches were sloppy but loose and practiced, the work of a man who rather get across a clear idea rather than win an art contest.

“So you see,” Verrek said, his low voice contrasting humorously with how quickly he spoke in his eagerness.

“underneath this is the chassis of a standard low-flight speeder bike with seelic influence due to the magical power source, but we can design the outer body however we like to fit your needs. See? I have a crystal container on the back for the young unicorn, I saw some perfectly good old diner benches in the junkyard with plush diamond-form padding that we can uses to cushion the interior for him!”

“And here,” He pushed the second drawing before them and tapped it with the end of his pencil.

“this is a standard speeder, again with some seelic influence due to the magical power cores, but without the crystal container and extra embellishments. I put crescent-moon fins on both designs due to lady Myra’s suggestion, and they can indeed pivot around to face forward to become deadly blades. You see here the standard speeder is very versatile with the wide empty back, so you can have passengers or carry supplies.”

“Oh!” Verrek poked the end of his pencil toward the power cores, his excitement evident.

“Also, the power cores tend to build up excess energy when they move so we can install a meter on the console indicating energy levels and when you have enough stored up you can fire off light energy bolts from the front power cores, and all this is true also for the side power cores as well!”

The shade stepped back from the table and stood beaming down at his work. He was indeed proud that he had been able to transfer his ideas through the hands of this mortal shell, it had taken a long time to learn how to write, much less draw in this gangly body.

"A crystal container with padding for convenience! That´s genius! Krios should be able to enchant the crystal so it doesn´t break in pieces when hit yet that´ll be no problem, I saw him performing such nonbreakable spells before with ease!" Myra recounted with glowing cheeks.

After going over the bike drawings and ideas everyone came up with, Valera snatched up the blueprints Verrek made and made a copy in which she scribbled furiously over top. The vehicle she would end up with needed a bit more oomph to it because it had to carry a giant beast made of stone. As Valera was fine tuning the design Matthew approached her.

"I was wondering if you could take me and rusty to the finish point in the maze? or do you guys want me to walk there with Rusty?" He asked, wanting a bike secretly. He knew he couldn't force anyone to take him. If he walked it would probably be boring and not as exciting. All he could do was wait and li

[spoiler=Final stretch] The team was prepared more than ever now to take on whatever bone rider may appear before them, it didn't take much to get into a groove to weave around them and having a specific team member finish them off. There were a bunch of small packs to drive through that shared the same sad fate as those who stood in their path to the center of the maze. Quick work.

Valera glanced over at Verrek and smiled, "I think you n' I need to finish this race o'ours!" Laughing aloud she pumped up the accelerator and raced off. Verrek resumed pursuit and was able to catch up to the speedy pirate.

Elia sighed as she watched the pair fly off ahead of them again. "Won't they learn...? Wouldn't it be easier to stick together?"

Pressing onwards the V-team came to a screetching halt as they were faced with 3 massive foes. "What in seven hells...?" Valera looked up at the lumbering figures and swallowed hard. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way! FENG! GIT EM!"

Feng leapt off the speeder towards the closest creature, Valera wasn't far behind with rapier and pistol in hand. "Need ta make quick work of these!!" The viera added in, hoping that one day they might be able to finish the race.

Feng was able to body slam on of the creatures over, it gave Valera a small opening as she shot it in the chest leaving a gap now in its armor to plunge her rapier. Quickly dodging to the side to avoid an attack from a second figure, Valera ordered Feng to go for the throat. And so he did, the stone creature lunged at the neck of the toppled over giant and ripped out a chunk of flesh and muscle. One down! NOW TO DEAL WITH THE OTHER TWO!

Valera continued to dodge the second monstrosity and Feng distracted it in hopes of finding an opening. In no time Verrek was there to her aid and the two combined forces to take down the second one.

Matthew heard a loud screech and yelled Rusty's name until he heard Rusty screech he was okay. Matthew could hear Rusty's voice different, like he was hurt. He smashed his hammer against the third riders body hard, then felt a little tug on his pants. He heard Rusty kind of wobbling towards him. Rusty screeched he only had a little scratch, but Matthew knew better. He ripped off a large strip of the lower part of his shirt and told Rusty to tie it around the area tightly. Rusty did so and sat behind Matthew telling him the directions as Matthew hit the rider harder again shattering the bones again and again until the bones looked like dust. Once the last command was said by Rusty, Matthew went to Rusty's voice and picked him up holding him close.

There was a blockade ahead of them. One more incredibly giant obstacle to get through. It was almost impassable by speeder at this point. "We need to get over the hill!" Verrek shouted at Matthew and Valera.

A rider came over the hill by bike at them, Verrek was able to hit one of the front tires to throw the rider off. Out of anger and rage for Rusty, Matthew swung hard and crushed the rider's ribcage in.

Myra and the others were able to catch up and saw the trio at the base of a blockade. Elia's eyes centered on a second rider to come up over the top of it, with great precision she was able to shoot an arrow directly through its eye socket and into its head. The limp body fell from the bike and rolled down the hill with it.

"From here it looks like we go on foot..." Lilith pointed out as her and Elia dismounted and joined Verrek's side.

"I'm going to push forward! Feng! With me! We ride together!" Valera shouted as she mounted on Feng's back with her rapier and pistol ready. "Be ready for my call, I'll try n knock these wankers off their bikes, you guys either clear me a path or provide me an opening of some sort."

"Let's finish this!" Lilith added enthusiastically as she watched Valera ride off towards the top of the blockade.

Fireballs, spells, bolts, arrows and knives flew past Valera as he continued onwards. The ranged members of the team were able to hit a few of the bikes and riders, Valera was able to slash a few tires in her path as well which sent some of them rolling down the hill.

Bone rider after bone rider fell after the dark magic wasn´t able to help them in the fights anymore. Myra and Krios worked hand in hand. The lady of the fireballs hit carefully targeted and her special mix of ingredients threw the riders flat on their backs. Krios finished the riders off with a careless flip of his staff and he worked through a lot of spells for practicing. So there was stabbing, beheading, choking, amputating, electrifying and even drowning. Myra never looked back.

Matthew crushed all riders that he could with Rusty now perched inside his shirt looking out saying directions to hit. When it was all done and the the riders killed, Matthew sat down and asked Rusty if if he needed another bandage or if anyone else was hurt. Rusty screeched in a whisper he could take anything they threw at him and then some, which made Matthew grin.

Valera called the team with the stone, she had made it over the blockade. She ran into 2 more riders who came running to the sound of battle but Feng's rage was enough to dispatch them. They had to be getting close to the middle!

THE RACE! Valera suddenly chimed in on the race that still needed winning! Verrek sprinted past her with a

[spoiler=The Fellowship masters the Elder's Maze] Jean grimaced at the mention of the Bone Riders. Their bikes were not equipped for serious combat like what they would probably face in the maze. Fortunately, she had some time to make modifications while Tanaka and the others worked on their own bikes. And that would give her time to put together some traps and countermeasures they could deploy as well. First, however, they needed to solve the puzzle of Seelie and Unseelie, as well as plan their course through the maze. She left the maze alone -- solving it would be trivial, if none of the others got to it first. What she focused on was the statements from the singers. It was like Knights and Knaves, but with humans added to the mix it would be much more difficult to solve. Especially since she couldn't ask them any further questions.

Half an hour after she began, Jean thunked her head on the table with a groan. "I've got it narrowed down," she said, "but determining who is what? I don't know if I can with just this. Why can't we go and ask them questions? That would make this so much easier. Or better yet, just dump some of that powder on them!" She heaved a sigh. "I need a break. I'm going to make a few adjustments to our bikes for combat." She took various requests from the rest of the team before heading off to make preparations. "If you guys haven't cracked it the rest of the way by the time I get back, I'll take another look. But for now, my brain is going in circles. Later~"

"I'll come too for a bit," Quercus said. She’d had an idea and wanted to practice her aim with her sling. Her bow wouldn’t leave her side but the yard was full of shards of metal that could be used to devastating effect if needed. She spent a little time gathering supplies and crafting a few arrows with extra surprises.

Spring yawned. The first glints of the sun were peeking over the hills. She'd slept solidly, but processing the battle had kept her up late. Now she wanted to check on Quercus. She hated that Quercus had been in so much pain and hoped all her friends were feeling better after a good rest.

Having gone over the maze time and time again, eventually Venom was able to determine what he thought was the best course of action. This was going to be a tedious endeavor, but as long as they stuck to the correct route there shouldn’t be any serious trouble… Well aside from the horrors that lurked around every bend as described by Kelian. Flexing and un-flexing his right hand Venom quietly anticipated getting back out into the field.

Quercus felt better after the concert, even with a dead piano player on their hands and no sign of the price who was upsetting things. She rose at her normal time and headed down for breakfast with the Fellowship. She was happy to see a new face among their number. Lirien was clearly of elfish decent but the hardness around her eyes and ease that she had in her surroundings marked her as one of the Borderlands. “Good morning.” Quercus greeted her respectfully but with an easy smile. She hoped she could learn a bit more about this new comer when things were calmer. For now, she just hoped she could handle the next challenge.

"Quercus, how's your arm?" Spring asked as soon as her friend appeared. The clatter of breakfast soon absorbed everyone's attention, and somewhere between bites of hashbrown and eggs, she managed to follow Venom's tracing of the maze and the route they needed to take.

Spring’s question distracted her from Lirien. “My arm is okay. They’ve fixed it up and any remaining weakness will be taken up by these.” She gave one of her vines a pull. She’d tied her hair back as best she could. She wanted to cut it but just didn’t have the time to recover from the pain cutting her plants caused her. “Trust me, I can shoot as well as ever and punch just as hard.” She gathered breakfast for herself, Star and Tipper. The vixen was so happy to have Quercus back to normal and Star could fly again. They were content for now and Quercus left them alone. She knew the next few hours would not be so pleasant.

Glancing around the table where the Fellowship was finishing up their breakfast Venom cleared his throat. “If we could just go over the route one more time…” At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it was imperative the entire team be on the same page. They still had to decide who would be leading the team into the Maze. With a party of six only two could pass side by side, even then it would be easier to maneuver if they traveled single file.

"Whatever we face, let's just be sure to play to all our strengths," Spring added to Venom's appeal to make sure the maze was clear. "I'm not exactly sure how to set up our defenses. I can aim a bow while in motion, but I can't steer a bike at the same time. What do you suggest?" she asked her team.

"Want to ride with me?" Quercus asked. "You can use your sling one-handed, and we can fire in all directions if we cover each other on out blind side," she suggested. She hoped she might be able to help Spring get a better feel for the bike too before they reached the maze by being close to her friend.

"Alright." There were so many things to figure out. And of course, there was the problem of who killed the pianist too. Spring knew it was going to be another very long day. "Selawick," she said to her mouse. "Best eat up. Our next meal could be a long time from now." Selawick, wide eyed squeaked as he stuffed his mouth with bread and cheese. There were few things worse to Selawick than a missed meal and he knew how to pack it away when he needed to.

Jean revved the engine of her sleek hovercycle, thrilled by the loud purr it made. She knew the maze would be dangerous, but she was still excited. She looked at the others, a smile playing across her face. She had a copy of the map, as well as a list of the turns in order, taped securely to her dash. Sihr was not in her hair, for once, but instead sitting inside the pouch at her hip, ready to help find and deploy countermeasures as needed. "Are we ready?" she asked, grabbing her helmet as it threatened to slide off her thigh. They'd already checked the short-range radios inside the helmets, making sure they worked properly. After receiving responses in the affirmative, she nodded sharply. "Right, here we go!" Jean pulled her blue helmet on and shifted into gear, heading for the road that would take them to the Elder's Maze.

All too soon, it was time to go. Spring wasn't fond of loud noises, and she worried about her team and what exactly was hiding in that maze. But she did know she could shoot and had no doubt Venom and Jean knew exactly what to do with the cover she and Quercus could provide.

"Right behind you, Jean!" she called and took her place with her bike in the lineup. The road was going to be narrow and only two of them could ride at a time, and she hoped they could go as fast as possible and fight as little as possible to get everyone safely through.

Snapping a pair of tinted goggles to his face as opposed to an entire helmet, Venom adjusted the shortwave radio in his ear and checked the route on the map one more time. Positions decided and weapons mounted, the Fellowship revved their engines and made haste toward the Elder Maze. As soon as they were out the door, Venom had an irresistible urge to test just how fast his hover bike could go. Pushing the throttle there was little he could do to retain any dignity and keep his tongue inside his mouth. Secretly a speed demon Venom made the conscious effort to focus and remain in sight of the team. They had a mission to do, later on there would be plenty of time for joyriding.

As the Maze came into view Lirien started to have doubts about having agreed to come with the Fellowship. She held on to the sides of the bike she was currently mounted on. Somehow she’d ended up with Venom as her partner in this instance, which was honestly the best thing that could have happened to her, because she didn’t know the first thing about piloting one of those things they called a bike. She took a calming breath as she took adjusted the googles about her face, having bound her hair back to keep it from being used to pull her off the bike.

Lirien relaxed a little as she carefully ran her hand against a small handheld explosive she had. It was a last minute addition to her small artillery. She current had a slingshot in her left hand, which she would use to defend the rear of the bike. The explosive was for that blockade that Kelian had spoken of. She was going to enjoy watching those undead monstrosities burn, and hopefully never come back.

She gave a small smile as she touched the earpiece embedded into her right ear opening a line of communication with her team “Hey, is it bad that I’m actually excited about blowing some of those things sky high for what they did to Kelian?” Lirien might act like a lady when she was around other elves and when her role required it, but she was still born within the Borderlands in a world where weakness was stomped out because of the need to survive. She would never forget that fact and that meant do whatever it took to stay alive and keep those you care about alive as well.

"Explosions can be a lot of fun," Jean quipped. "I just usually prefer them a little farther away, is all." Her voice held a hint of laughter. She was trying to focus more on the goal than on what they had to go through to get there.

Tensions were high as they raced their way into the stone wall maze. With the sun hot on their backs the sandy arena reflected so much light it caused Venom to curse under his breath. Even with the tinted goggles this much direct light was less than ideal. Planting his left hand firmly in the center of the steering column with his right hand he pulled his black katana from its sheath and rotated his shoulder a few time to loosen up.

They weren't very far into the narrow and winding paths between the high stony walls of the maze before Sihr called a warning. <I can sense them nearby,> she sent. <Very close! Watch out.> No sooner was her warning given than the roar of bone bikes could be heard. Jean pulled skyward to let Venom past, patting the harness that held her to her hovercycle more for reassurance than to check that it was secure. "I want to save our resources if at all possible," she said, voice crackling over the radio. "We've barely entered this thing, after all."

Sihr's warning meant it was game time. Venom pulled ahead and Spring reached to touch the stones in the satchel at her waist. If they had to stop, she would use her bow. But the less they stopped the better, and steering a bike, she would have to use the rocks and a sling. "At your mark, Venom," she said.

Just as the team came to a set of dead ends marked on the map, one on each side of their path, the rev of polluted engines was detected roaring to life alongside them. As if the black smog pouring from their tailpipes wasn’t enough to pinpoint the location of the foes, soon enough Venom found himself side by side with the first pile of armored decay. Narrowing his focus Ven ducked a sloppy swipe from a gristly machete and with a subtle flick of his wrist, punctured the front tire of the offending skeleton’s motorcycle. The sudden deflation caused the unprepared skeleton to swerve into the maze’s wall and the force of the collision flung the creature easily from its seat. Bones and chunks of armor scattered as they hit the ground at high velocity.

Lirien kept her hands tightly grasping the bike she was mounted on. Watching as Venom maneuvered the bike without issue, she mentally wondered if the warrior wasn’t a little unhinged, but shrugged the thought off. Who was she to judge? It wasn’t as if she didn’t have her own demons to deal with. When they came up to the first of the Bone Riders, Lirien ducked, avoiding the swing and shifting just enough to avoid it touching her. Taking out the harp she always had at her hip already unstrung in preparation for a fight, Lirien quickly activated the internal mechanism so two large blades came out of the instrument. With practiced ease she unfolded it, small hinges allowing the instrument to fold and unfold at will, and lengthened the handle, extending the blades so they stretched out to either side of the bike. The sharpened blades would serve her well, and she'd be able to reach any rider that strayed too near. She smirked as she called to Venom, “Let's go clean up the trash, we can send them to their forever sleep in pieces.” The fighter grinned in reply.

The second of the riders pulled alongside them, and started exchanging blows with the pair, despite them having the advantage of height. He had more experience fighting on a moving vehicle than they, but they managed to hold their own, fending off the worst of the blows. But Spring wasn't content to leave them fighting on their own. She grabbed one of her stones and set her sling to whirling. "Going to drop this guy," she warned the others. "Don't let him take you out when he goes down." The projectile arced forward and hit the rider squarely in the head, disorienting him enough that he lost control of his ride and went down.

With the first sorry pair of boneheads behind them Venom was overcome with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Those two had been dealt with easily enough, but the thought of the three hulking monstrosities that awaited them further in caused Venom’s skin to crawl. Kelian had described them as being huge and very difficult to approach. If possible Venom planned to slice at their legs and whatever tendons remained, but he had the sneaking suspicion that they wouldn’t be so easily felled.

At the sight of the creatures, however, Venom began to rethink his original plan. “We don’t need to bring them down, just get past them without getting yourselves hurt!”

"Ven's right," Jean agreed. "Archers, you're up. Everyone, ride high!" She nosed her cycle upwards, so she was racing a couple yards off the ground.

Even at their current traveling speed Venom could swear that he could smell the rot rolling off their bodies. Holding back the sudden almost unavoidable urge to throw up his breakfast, Venom slowed so that his ranged teammates could take the first pass. Taking advantage of the cover Ven attempted to maneuver into a position where he could swoop in as a distraction if needed without sustaining bodily injury. Getting hit with those rotten fists wouldn’t only hurt, they would probably make whatever they hit smell terrible for an eternity.

The sight of the giant monstrosities awaiting them made Quercus growl in frustration. This was going to require a lot of effort. Venom’s idea about getting passed them sounded good but it would take some skill, timing and more than a little luck. “Spring? I think a combo of arrows and stones for this.” She pulled out a few of the bundles of shrapnel pieces, judging the distant before using the sling to shoot them directly under the riders and their bikes. Spring did the same, and as the three hulking beasts rolled towards them, the packets burst, scattering a mass of sharp twisted metal. The tires rolled over them, picking up the metal. It looked like nothing had happened but to the trained eye the tires were suddenly looking less solid. Before long some of them were completely deflated, and the Fellowship whizzed overhead unimpeded, to the furious shouts of their foes.

Cream, currently bringing up the rear, glanced over her shoulder to see if any of the giants had recovered, and pulled even higher to avoid a spike that flew at her so it only dented the rear of her machine. One rider still hunched on his bike, the engine growling fiercely as he gave chase. "Two are down, but not the third," she reported, hurling a fire sphere behind her. It burst when it hit, unleashing a ball of flame. The rider emerged singed but still grimly determined.

"Time to get creative. I need a clear shot, please," Quercus said. As the others moved to get out of her way, she nocked an arrow with a bundle tied to the tip and aimed for the last rider. She fired for the center of mass and it hit, rel

: [spoiler=Stone Cold Rogues Traverse the Eldar's Maze (part two )]

Dace the Vagabond Lands a Few Big Fish

Dace was quite familiar with two-wheeled contraptions, she kept a street-bike on her barge back at home and used it to puddle-jump around the docks and small towns where she plied her trade. She also had a powered scooter that she used for longer treks into the bigger Delta cities. But she hadn't ridden a bike like the one Jedro and Tony had constructed for her. It was a large 650 cc four-stroke contraption that looked like it had been cobbled together with everything from old aircraft to busted-up lawnmowers. Frieda's small bike was a svelte 125 cc two-stroke job that looked fast and extremely maneuverable. The warrior's bike could have passed as a biker-gang member's hog, it was massive. In a way, she was envious of Frieda's bike, but then again, 650 cc's was pretty stable and comfortable. Frieda's kidneys and bladder might take a beating on her bike, but Dace would be able to ride her bike for hours before she would need a rest stop. Dace spend some of the early morning getting used to the shifting patterns and handling of her bike before they set out on their quest. She became quite attached to it by the time they were ready to leave and she took out her water skin, poured a little water on the headlamp and spoke affectionately to it, "I shall name you Brown Trout, for you are rare, strong and beautiful." Dace liked fish.

A. Starting the Maze

Dace looked at the line up and was satisfied with the way the Warrior had laid things out. She wasn't thrilled at being diagonally behind Aicha, but the Mage had been strangely quiet around her the last couple of days. She hadn't called her a cow for a week now. Her riding partner was Shasa and she liked that arrangement. She had taken a liking to the Bard and felt a kindred spirit in her. She smiled over at her, winked and gave her the 'thumbs up' sign. "Shape-shifters rule...weasel-girls drool." She glanced over her right shoulder and also winked at Frieda. "Isn't that right cousin?" When Frieda stuck out her tongue and grinned, Dace knew her little remark had been appreciated by both girls.

Dace wasn't much for weapons, she had her trusty Bowie knife on her belt, but it really wasn't a classic weapon like a sword. She had spent several days collecting rocks though and had several pouches of them lashed to the sissy-bar and handle bar of her motorcycle. Inside one of the pouches was her favorite weapon, a wrist-style slingshot that she had made from one of the long push-rods on the engine from her barge that she had replaced herself. She had found some surgical tubing and made a leather pouch for the projectiles out of the tongue of an old leather shoe. She was a crack shot at 25 yards and could kill any medium sized animal. She had no idea how she would fare against bone riders, but this was her weapon and she would give it the old college try.

B. The First Attack Of The Bone Riders

It didn't seem long before there was a commotion ahead on the maze. She looked over at Shasa and then over at Frieda and was comforted to see that they seemed to be handling themselves. Her comfort level plummeted when she noticed a severed head and then a wrecked bike loom up in the dusty lane just ahead of her. She shouted for those near her to swerve to avoid hitting the mess. She noted that Shasa had swerved, but Frieda had run up and over the wreckage, nearly crashing in the process. She yelled over her shoulder, "Freddie! Go around! This isn't a motocross!" She turned back to the road when another head and smashed bike appeared out of the dust ahead. Dace barely missed this one and chided herself for not paying enough attention to her own safety. "You'll be no good to anybody if you don't watch out for yourself Dace."

When is was apparent that there were no other threats Dace accelerated to catch up to Alphonse and Aicha and was pleased to see that Shasa, Frieda and Teislyn were right in formation. She was tempted to swear at the bone riders 'is that all you got?' but thought better of it. Nothing like bringing down a whole crap-tonne on their heads by questioning the gods.

C. Surprise Attack of Three Bone Riders

Dace readjusted her goggles for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes, she hated goggles, she hated anything that covered her face. She hated the scarf wrapped around her nose and mouth even worse, but realized it was keeping all this fine dust and ancient silt out of her lungs. This part of the journey was taking forever and she was feeling claustrophobic from being enclosed in the high stone walls, trailing behind Alphonse whose bike was throwing pebbles and grit in her face. Weren't they there yet?

Suddenly, there a commotion immediately ahead and Alphonse gave a sign for Dace and the others to back off as he and Aicha roared ahead. There were several powerful blasts and flashes of light and Dace figured that the Mage was probably the cause. "Probably shooting roman candles out of her butt at some poor bunny or birdie." She muttered.

When they passed two smoldering heaps of melted steel, bone and rubber, Dace almost gagged at the smell. "Good god Aicha, does your damned magic have to stink so bad? Couldn't you just kill an enemy with a Subreeze ray for once?" When they passed the wreck of another headless bone rider, she muttered. "See...like that. Quick, clean, no smell...easy clean up...like cleaning a fish." She glanced over at Shasa who was holding her nose. "We're going to have to confront Aicha about stinking up the place...you wanna give it a go this time?" She giggled when Shasa shook her head vehemently no.

D. Five Bone Riders Begin To Wear Down The Rogues

After what seemed another prolonged leg of the journey, Dace was sort of relieved to see Alphonse give the signal for everybody to dismount. They were at a crossroads and their intelligence had warned them that the bone riders could be up some dead end and possibly ready to sneak up from behind. Dace took down one of her pouches of rocks and dug out her slingshot. Frieda had taken up a position on the south side of the intersection, Alphonse on the north and Aicha was on the west end. Sasha seemed intent to do her own thing and Dace decided that the fox-girl had a plan of some kind, but she couldn't figure it out for the life of her. Dace decided to take the east side of the intersection and scurried to find a place to hunker down behind where she could get a clear shot.

Sure enough, the Bone riders appeared from behind where they had been riding. The Rogues must have just passed by the place where they were hiding. The bone riders came into the intersection fast, their bikes seemed supernaturally fast. Dace had loaded up her sling shot with a nice big rock, but was so stunned by the speed with which the bone riders sped through the intersection that she just hunkered there with a stunned look on her face.

The riders could be heard turning around for another pass and Dace prepared for another try. There were explosions, flashes of light, clattering of steel agains steel and bone and finally, a rider came into view heading right for her. She let go of her projectile and the rock plowed a large dent in the forehead of the bone rider, who lost control of his bike and crashed. The rider wasn't dead, and his injury, which would have killed a large animal didn't seem to phase him. He was screaming as he crawled out from under his wreck and Dace could see that one of his arms was dangling uselessly from his shoulder. In his other hand, he had a firearm and he was attempting to bring it to bear on Dace. She loaded another rock and let if fly and hit the rider directly in the eye, but the enemy didn't halt. Dace had seen similar things at home, humans who had taken large doses of recreational drugs often appeared to have superhuman strength even when severely or mortally injured. Such appeared to be the case with this fellow.

The bone rider started hobbling toward Dace and she could see that one of his feet was missing a boot...and a foot, yet he still approached and it creeped Dace out. "What you need big fish, is a whack on the head and your gills cut. She shoved the slingshot in her back pocket, drew out her Bowie knife and approached the bone rider. He had brought up his weapon to level, but it was obvious to Dace that his aim was off, perhaps he was aiming blind. She jumped up from her position, got around behind the rider, yanked his head back and slit his throat. In an instant, the rider died at her feet. "I'll be back later to clean and gut you. Just stay cool, OK?" She couldn't imagine the bone rider as a human, he was some kind of slime, or trash fish to her. Best to be rid of them. There was no such thing as catch and release in these waters.

E. High Noon At the Bone Rider Barricade.

It was nearly noon by the time the Rogues approached the end of their quest. The problem was that there was a huge barricade barring their passage and there were severn of the nastiest looking bone riders they had seen yet. Dace clucked her tongue, "Damn, sharks." Everybody drew up around Alphonse and listened for him to outline the plan. It was Frieda who offered to initiate the attack plan by setting up a smoke screen and diversionary explosives. Dace caught Frieda's attention and gave her a quizzical look, "Are you sure sweetie? I mean that's quite risky." Frieda reassured her cousin and told her that she had an insurance policy in the event she got in trouble and Dace shrugged her shoulders. "Just don't do anything silly, you know, like me."

Dace's roll was to flank the extreme right side of the rock barricade and keep up a steady barrage of rocks to badger and distract the bone riders. Eren, Aicha and Alphonse were going to use projectile weapons to pick off the bone riders. The bards would also offer distractions in their own ways, which Dace couldn't fathom, but she was going to be supportive. Shasa had already proved useful with a knife.

After the smoke screen had started, Dace moved into position as did the others. Once the smoke cleared, she used the rock barricade as a shield and shot rocks high into the air at an extremely acute angle to drop the rocks down upon the riders, which confused them because they couldn't tell where all the rocks were coming from. She was more then lucky in hitting several of the riders, she had learned this trick as a youngster and it was one of her most favorite games. Her efforts caused several injuries and resulted in the archers getting several kills almost immediately.

Things changes when the bone riders changed their tactics from stationary targets to charging weapons. At one point, one of the riders managed to ride through the opening in the barricade and empty a full clip at Dace before one of Eren's arrows severed the rider's spine through his mouth.

They were down to two bone riders when dace suddenly felt weak. She stumbled and fell to the ground with a pain in her side. Shasa came over to Dace's side and helped carry Dace to a save location near where their bikes were. Shasa looked at Dace with a worried expression. "Dace, honey...you've been shot."

Dace felt her side and rolled her eyes, "Oh great! I knew that I needed gall bladder surgery, but this isn't exactly how I wanted it performed."

Dace suddenly heard a commotion on the other side of the barricade, the roar of a bone rider bike, screaming and screeching of tires. She looked at Shasa, "Where's Lady Frieda?"

Her question was instantly answered by a loud 'pop' and the sudden billowing of a dark red cloud of gas. Dace clamored to her feet, "Everybody get clear of that gas! It'll kill you!" She staggered as she waved Alphonse and Aicha to get away from the barricade and watched in horror as the cloud continued to grow. Eventually, the cloud dissipated and Dace shouted that it was all clear. She had Shasa and Alphonse help her over the barricade where she found a grizzly sight. A bone rider lay dead, blood oozing from every pore and orifice of his body, his face twisted in an unholy grimace. Only a few feet lay Lady Frieda, motionless. Dace's heart stuck in her throat, had Frieda sacrificed her life for the others by using her chemical weapon? Tears erupted involuntarily and she choked back a scream. How could this have happened. Why wasn't she there to protect her beloved cousin. What was she going to tell Weldon?

F. At the End Of The Maze.

Dace stood there as the others gathered around her and surveyed the scene. Shasa put her arm around Dace and began to cry softly. Suddenly, Dace noticed something that just didn't fit the picture. There was no blood on Frieda like there was on the bone rider, had she been shot? And what was that sticking out of her neck? Dace bent to have a closer look and noticed that it was a syringe of atropine. And there was another thing...Frieda was breathing, rather regularly. What? Dace kicked at Frieda's bottom. "Hey sleepyhead, wake up, the rest of us want to get out of here and your beauty nap is holding us all up."

Within a half an hour, Frieda was fully alert and patching up everybody's wounds, passing around water and cleaning up Dace's injury. It wasn't as severe as everybody had suspected it was, a simple in and out wound through the muscle layer. Frieda was convinced it hadn't entered the abdominal cavity and she was able to stop the blood loss with a couple of stitches. Frieda also had some powerful herbs for Dace to chew that would numb the pain, but not affect Dace's driving. It was only a few moments longer before everybody was back on their bikes and finishing the maze. Dace was the first to complain. "I hope that there's a secret tunnel back to Bordertown in the middle of this maze because I sure as hell don't want to have to ride all the way back."

Shasa the Bard Plays A Foxy Role

So much for a nice concert... the fox was sulky- and rather scandalised at the nasty end to the music programme. This was not how a concert should end! Not with a murder. And she had liked the piano player's skill. And they hadn't even found her murderer, and Caniel had never been there at all. At least the music had been nice. But now she heard about the maze, and her heart sank as she heard that they would have to ride bikes. Shanks' mare was her primary form of transports and while she had ridden the odd regular bike, she had no idea how to ride a motorised one. Neither did Kiska, who disapproved of their very existence. "Noisy, smelly, ugly..." the snake had hissed, slithering away from the junk-pile and heading back to the Squirrel. There would be no help from him. Watching Tony and Jedro build one for her did not give her much confidence either. There seemed to be far too many fiddly metal parts. And that was just the engine. Eventually, she had approached Jedro as he took a break and asked him if he could give her some lessons. He had grinned from ear to ear, but had cheerfully obliged, chuckling as she fell over backwards when the bike started. "You might want to hold on," he told her, helping her up. It took a few hours before she worked up the nerve to turn the bike in any direction, and a few more spills until she could reasonably manoeuvre the makeshift course. She continued to practise for a while longer before heading inside, hoping for a shower, her limbs aching from the tumbles she had taken.

A. Starting the Maze

Shasa knew the maze was trouble well before they reached it. She could smell it quite a way off, a strange mix of tremendous age, ancient magic, close, stale air and dead rocks. The sensation got more pronounced the closer they got, and it felt almost solid by the time they reached the entrance. Alphonse placed her second in line, behind him and Aicha and beside Dace. Baffled by his unfriendly expression, she returned his glare and stomped off to stand beside the Vagabond. At least she was partners with Dace. She would help her friend in any way she could. She put on her goggles and mask as they went in, two by two, and grimaced at the musty smell of the air. She had been raised in a den, but the air had never actually smelled de

OMG! I am so sorry! I forgot to ping you [spoiler=Nightowls Venture Into The Maze and Encounter Some Resistance]

[quote=Toussaint L'Underpass aka Prof] Chere the first place you ride upon a moto je vous en prie beg a place on the seat I tell you! Alas, that luck was not mine!!! I have the weapon and a heavy sloshing cask of distilled vinegar to balance, and to boot-I must take many cares that poor Dantou is not harmed!!! For today, she is gorging on rum and honey in my pocket-that is not as safe as riding in my ear. But even for my dear Dantou, I will not pour the honey in my Ear, chere!

I balanced as best I could on the combination of pegs, fender, and the rear of the seat. The takeoff of Aria was wobbly, and I felt we would fall to our deaths before we truly entered the maze! But she learns fast that one, and soon we were bouncing into the maze!

I am worried for our little ragamuffin and we could not gain speed fast enough to overcome my mal de nerfs! What to say of the Elder's Maze, chere? Mostly it flashed by too fast to note...it was darkened preternaturally, the walls and borders of thick vines that I perceived to be full of thorns. I could hear nothing above the roar of the bike's engine! But somehow, I had the impression of large creatures moving just out of sight.

As Aria throttled the big bike down to make a turn sharp We encountered Cali bravely trying to hold off two Bone Riders who were circling her menacingly! They were as terrifying as promised! Huge and truly intimidating! I turned the nozzle of my weapon upon their bikes. A thought of gratitude for my weapon flashed through my mind! At least the broad nozzle did not require the aim precis!!!

At first, my heart began to fall into my sabots!

[spoiler=Nightowls Face Five]

[quote=Cali]"Whee!!!" I whizzed by a Bone Rider The Prof was fighting and shot a rock into his eye with my slingshot. Mr. Whiskers complimented me on my great shot as we zoomed away, I couldn't help but chuckle as the Rider roared in pain and covered the injured eye with his armoured hand. I waved at The Prof as he shouted out his thanks and swung a chain at the distracted Rider.

"Where are the others, chere?" He asked when he was finally finished, panting a little as he fished in his pocket for a handkerchief.

"I don't know." I replied. "Looks like we got separated again when you got walled off by those five."

Mr. Whiskers meowed and I looked around. "Mr. Whiskers said someone is close by."

"I don't see anyone."

"Wait! There! That looks like Brynna!" I pointed to

[spoiler=Stone Cold Rogues Part Three]

Teislyn the Bard Desires Some Relief From Fighting

She felt the tears come up fast and she dashed them away before anyone saw them. Last night was horrible with the death of the piano player and now they had to go into this stupid maze and hopefully come out alive! She was tired of fighting and just wanted to someplace familar to relax. "Someone help me with this contraption." she said while glaring at the bike. After some lessons from a few people, Teislyn had the bike somewhat under control. She put the goggles, gloves, and helmet on and got into place besides Freida who gave her a quick smile of reassurance.

A. Starting the Maze

Teislyn hated the look of this place, the feeling of forboding washed over and sent a chill through her. She carried no weapons on her since she didn't fight except with her brains, but this time, her smarts might not be what was needed. She'd help out with distrubting weapons if someone left something behind on their bikes, hopefully no one would. Her mind was still in flight mode, but she hunkered down behind the handlebars and continued on with the team.

B. The First Attack of the Bone Riders

Since she and Frieda were behind the rest, all that was seen was a cloud of dust and a lot of noise was heard coming from the direction of the cloud. She was wondering what was happening when she realized that Frieda was riding irradictly and braked quick enough to get out of the way when she saw Frieda come toward her. Once they were under control again, she followed behind Frieda to avoid any other mishaps. While passing away from the scene, she stole a quick glance back seeing patches of white showing through the dust as it settled. She turned back to the front knowing it wasn't over yet.

C. Surprise Attack of Three Bone Riders

They rode for awhile not encountering anything, so Teislyn decided a poem would help cheer them up a bit. This place was just bearing down on her and she was sure the others felt the same. Taking a breath she began to speak

Two by two they wandered down The pathway so narrow. No breath of air, no sun anywhere Gloom and doom all over

They soldiered on shoulder to shoulder Fighting the night with the light of their valor Raising the sword and the mightest magic Fighting till the night died away.

Ahead is the day, the fight is almost done Shoulder to shoulder they march on with heads high Courage commardes, courage....

A loud bang came out of nowhere and the last word caught in Teiyln's throat. She looked around wondering where it came from and finally saw what caused it. She gasped and almost let go of the handles causing the bike to wobble a bit. She got herself under control and tried not to stare at the carnage that was off to the side. The only person she knew that would cause such a mess was Aicha. Hopefully the mage would be able to rest a bit until the next fight, she wasn't sure if anyone else would have it as easy. Teislyn put some more gas to the bike and caught up with the rest of the group. She would have to be more alert and not lose focus anymore.

D. Five Bone Riders Begin To Wear Down the Rogues

Before they got to the a crossed interesection, they got off the bikes to take positions before any more Bone Riders came into view. They were loud and from what direction they were coming, who knew. Teislyn quickly ducked behing a rock that was big enough to shield her from any carnage, which she knew would happen. She didn't want to be in the path of any of that. Knowing she couldn't fight and it seemed that everyone had their weapons on hand, she sang a song of prayer under her breath to whatever gods or goddess were listening to help them all through this.

E. High Noon At the Bone Rider Barricade

Finally getting everyone situated and back on the bikes, they took off for the final push. They came upon a rock barrier and heard the Bone Riders behind it. "The Bone Heads know we are here", she said a loud to no one in particular. Alphonse had a plan and Frieda offered up to start it.

Somehow Tesilyn had to help, but how? Ideas ran through her mind and she finally settled on one as she got into postion beside a large rock off to the side. Once the smoke bombs went off and the Riders came over the barrier, she opened her mouth and yelled "Over here, hey over here!" .The words echoed around the area since the barrier acted like wall, so her words bounced off and thankfully it was working. The Riders were confused about where the voice was coming from and the rest of the team was able to dispatch them easily enough.

She heard something pop and saw clouds come up in front of them. She started to say something when she saw Dace stagger by saying something about gas and it'd kill them if they breathed it. Teislyn waited with the others until the cloud clear and it seemed the air was breathable again. She looked around to be sure everyone was there, but couldn't see Frieda. They went back to the barrier and saw her lying on the floor. She looked dead, but according to Dace she wasn't, she was only unconscience and would be fine after awhile. A breath of relief went through the team and they settled into getting cleaned up.

F. At The End Of The Maze

"I'm ready for a hot bath, warm food, and some drink!" Teislyn said once they had reached their destination. "Done with everything and like Dace said, hopefully we don't have to ride back through all of that." She slumped on her bike and let herself relax.

Lady Frieda the Alchemist Gets Really Peed Off

Frieda had never ridden a bicycle before, much less a motorized bicycle. While her bike was being prepared, she asked Alphonse if he could help her learn what to do and he was eager to help. The first thing she had to master was balance. His bike was already finished and he used it to teach her the rudiments of riding a two-wheel vehicle. They found a gentle slope that made it easy to coast down at a slow speed and the Warrior ran along side the motor bike as it coasted in neutral with Frieda clutching desperately at the handle-bar.

At first, she got nervous as the bike picked up a little more speed and she panicked, leaped off the bike and halted the spinning of the earth by colliding with it with her face. Though embarrassed, she none-the-less determined that she wasn't going to let a pile of steel and rubber get the best of her and she demanded to try again. She was reminded of how many times her Weldon had crashed his ultralight aircraft during his training as a pilot and took comfort that in none of her crashes did she end up hanging upside down by her underpants around her ankles like he had.

Eventually, she progressed throughout the day to the point where she was traversing the streets of Bordertown comfortably, albiet a bit wobbly. Alphonse assured her that it due to the fact that she was riding his motorbike which was built for his large frame and that she was of a diminutive stature. Her motorbike would more then likely be built to her size and therefore more stable for her to ride.

A. Starting the Maze

Frieda took her place in the line up. Her motorbike was indeed smaller and lighter then the Warrior's massive hog. She was very comfortable behind the handlebars of her bike, it's snappy engine growled under her seat as if it were a war-horse edgy to enter the battle. Alphonse had made the line up and taken the lead, she was relegated to a position near the rear, just in front of Eren the ranger. She had brought along her bow and arrows, her short pirate sword and her healer's satchel. On the handlebars and the back fender of her bike, she had asked for a couple of baskets to be installed. Here she had loaded up some 'surprises' that she had concocted in her small laboratory aboard the Terrapin Glider. When asked what they were by Alphonse, Frieda was hush hush and just smiled. She had discovered that her smile could easily disarm the Warrior and he quickly forgot his question. It wasn't that she wanted to fool or trick Alphonse, she just wasn't quite sure if her 'surprises' were going to be effective.

The Stone Cold Rogues pulled out of Bordertown and headed directly toward the Eldar's Maze, following the directions that they had gotten from Lucien and Kelian. Frieda struggled to keep up with the others ahead of her, the dust and pebbles tossed up by the lead bikes made visibility difficult for her, she was thankful that she was well protected with goggles and a mask.

The maze was narrow and high, carved out of stone by some unknown magic. The walls seemed unusually thick and Frieda sensed lingering emotions emanating from the walls as if they were alive with the spirits of those who had crafted the maze. They would not be able to blast through these stones and Frieda felt that mage-magic would be no use against the walls either. The whole place gave her the creeps and she stared straight ahead to keep her imagination from getting the best of her.

They had gone through several twists, a long straight path and several more turns when Frieda sensed other emotions in the immediate vicinity; evil, hate and bloodlust. She turned to her riding partner Teislyn and noted that the Bard had hunkered down lower behind her handlebars. Frieda did likewise and held her breath. Boneriders were near.

B. The First Attack Of The Bone Riders

Frieda couldn't see what had happened ahead but she saw Shasa and Dace swerve suddenly ahead of her and she clutched her handlebars tightly. Suddenly a spherical object appeared resting on the path in front of her and she swerved to avoid it-- was it a head? She didn't have time to ponder what it was that she had seen, a crashed bike was suddenly right in front of her and she didn't have time to miss it. She hit the crashed bike's back tire and rode up then down the wreck, and nearly lost control of her own bike in the process. It was only a few seconds after the encounter that her mind recalled seeing a body, sans head, crumpled under the wreck. Almost immediately there appeared another wreck ahead and Frieda was able to follow Dace's path to avoid hitting the second bone rider crash. This one also was missing a head. It seemed that Alphonse had made quick work of the first two enemies. Frieda didn't waste any emotional effort on self-congratulations yet, she knew that things were only going to get worse.

C. Surprise Attack of Three Bone Riders

The Rogues rode for quite some time unmolested by bone riders, there were several lazy switchbacks, many long straight passageways and their path seemed to have turned in a general 'south' direction. Frieda was beginning to think that perhaps the reports of many bone riders was overstated when the lead bikes slowed and there was a sudden flurry of activity. Frieda sensed more hate and evil emotions again and she knew that they were under attack again. She chided herself into letting herself become lulled into a false sense of security by the apparent ease of their passage.

Frieda was shocked out of her random thoughts by a crashing sound followed by a pair of brilliant flashes. She sensed that the riders in front of her had picked up speed and as she accelerated, she passed by three wrecked bone rider bikes. Two of the bikes were twisted and partially melted heaps of metal and smoking rubber. The only remains of the riders were smoldering, blackened skeletons. Frieda gulped and realized that Aicha must have used some powerful magic to inflict so much carnage. How long would it take for her to 'recharge.' She began to run scenarios through her mind and thought of how she was going to be useful in the next battle. She took a quick glance at the weapons she had in the basket on her handlebars. Would her 'surprises' be enough to stop a bone rider?

D. Five Bone Riders Begin To Wear Down The Rogues

Frieda's mind was sharply focused on how she would handle riding and brandishing the weapons that she had brought along. It was extremely difficult work using two paws to control her bike, how was she going to use her paws to fight with? To make matters more difficult, the maze had taken more and more twists and turns and the tension among her friends had escalated to near frenzy. The had come to a straight section of the maze when hand signals from the forward riders compelled her to stop her bike.

She observed that the others had dismounted and propped their bikes against the walls of the maze and were following the Warrior and the Mage toward an open area of the maze where four walls made a cross-shaped intersection. Everybody had weapons drawn. Frieda also dismounted and quickly filled her satchel with the contents of the front basket. It was time to try one of her 'surprises.'

It didn't take long for the roar of bone rider bikes to descend upon them, it sounded like an unholy thunder that echoed along the walls of the maze and made it difficult for Frieda to tell from which direction their enemy was approaching. Frieda took up the southern wall of the intersection and hunkered down behind a small pile of rubble. She spotted Aicha, Alphonse, Dace and Eren, but she had no idea where Shasa and Teislyn were. She prayed for their safety as she took out one of her weapons and fondled it.

It was an ingenious device really, She had realized that she was going to be very little good with her short sword on a motorbike, her arms were short enough that she would have to practically crash into a bone rider in order to get close enough to hit him with her sword. There was no way she would even be able to use her bow and arrows either. Mixing trinitroiodide on the road was suicide. Flinging bottles of acid was just as dangerous as she was likely to be hit by any blowback as she passed an enemy. No, she needed a weapon that would work without harming her or her friends, was easy to deploy, difficult for the enemy to be rid of and effective in eliminating a threat. She took out her sticky bomb and judged it's weight in her paw.

The sticky bomb was a small explosive with a match fuze very much like those found on railroad flairs that could be ignited by striking it on any surface. The explosive was coated with a very thick layer of gum tar, hence the 'sticky' part of the bomb. Once the bomb was deployed, there was very little anybody could do to pry it off before it exploded. The entire device was wrapped in seven feet of waxed fabric that unrolled as the bomb was thrown by holding the loose end of the fabric on one's other paw. As an extra precaution, Frieda had brought along several pairs of cotton gloves, just in case her paw accidentally touched any of the tar, she could peel off the glove and bomb and survive. It wasn't a perfect system, but it was what she was good at.

The battle was intense, it became immediately obvious that this particular group of riders seemed to have some protection on them as they easily shot past the warrior and mage virtually unscathed. They spun around and attacked again and Frieda began to worry that Aicha and Alphonse might not make it. She kept her eyes focused on one particular bone rider, the one at the rear of the pack and she saw an opportunity to attack. She pealed the tape off the end of the fabric on her bomb, pulled the cap off the match, struck the match on the wall of the maze to light it and leaped from her hiding spot toward the pack of bone riders, whose backs were facing her. She got within thirty feet of them by the time she had counted to five and she heaved her bomb toward the closest bone rider, but she tripped and accidentally lost her grip on the tape and the bomb sailed without unrolling or exposing the stick tar. The bomb bounced off the back seat of the bone rider as he sped away and exploded impotently behind him.

Frieda quickly ran back to her hiding place and took out another bomb. She rightly figured that all she had done was to alert the bone riders to her presence and that they had wasted no time splitting up and were heading her way. When they had turned around, she lit the next bomb, counted to five, hurled it at the nearest approaching rider and held the cloth tightly in her other paw. As the rider pa