Adventure! Part Two [Castle, Elrick, Lillian]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

But men never want to ask directions...
--

Pleasant. Haha, Emi thought, the sarcasm coming through on her face. Despite the hear, she still crossed her arms. Elrick had the map out, and she leaned over to examine it. This was her first time on this world (she was pretty sure) so the map made even less sense to her. She'd never been good at reading maps, anyway. She looked over her shoulder. Open desert as far as the eye could see. It seemed to her that any kind of landmark at all would stand out in that barren environment. Wandering around just looking for something wasn't an option though.

She sighed. "I don't even know where we ought to start. Maybe track down a local and see if they can help us?[/color]" she half-heartedly offered. She wasn't really trying her hardest because she wasn't really at her best. She couldn't even bring herself to look at Castle much less think about spending the rest of the day with all of these people. But, she had gotten herself into this mess so she was going to have to deal with it.

Unfortunately, asking for directions was the only solution she could come up with.

[Fate]

Wait a second... what?
--

Maybe she should get a look at the map now that Elrick had it out. Though, how much help was this thing really going to be if the place was just sand? Sand moved every single day, and traveling across this desert in it, even if they had an idea of where they were going, was going to suck. The treasure had to be in a desert, didn't it? It couldn't be on a tropical island with a nice beach and palm trees. Yeah, why couldn't the treasure be on Costa del Sol, eh?

Either way, she had to look at the map. Unfortunately, it wasn't as nicely done as her maps were back when she flew. She could read those maps just fine, but this one just... ugh. Maybe if she looked at it longer, she could figure it out-- yeah, like something magical would happen and make her know where the hell they were supposed to go. Emi suggested they track down a local to see if they could help. Lillian raised an eyebrow.

"Don't know if that'll go over well," she said, "Once they know you're looking for treasure, one that they didn't find already, they're gonna want in on it." Seeing as how Emi didn't even really want her here and hunting for the treasure with them, she doubted she'd want some local guy joining them. But, what else were they left with? Staring at this map was only giving her a headache. "I guess if you leave out the treasure part, it'd work. Maybe?"

Oh yeah, off to a good start already.

[Castle]

Well, this was starting out... boring. At least focusing on the task at hand let him temporarily forget how he woke up that morning. Castle leaned over to peer at the map, even though he really wasn't any better at reading it than anyone else. He just needed to give himself the illusion that he was helping.

"Hey, didn't one of us say earlier that the first landmark's in the city?" he recalled, actually getting an idea. "Maybe we should just walk around until we find it."

The people wouldn't let the places inside the walls get too covered in sand, right? Maybe if they found the landmark, it would give them a clue or something.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Whatever, let's just do SOMETHING, people!
--

Emi groaned loudly, and buried her face in her hand. Of course the locals would want a cut of the treasure, too. Why hadn't she thought of that before she'd opened her mouth? Now, she felt stupid but kept to herself except for a slight burning in her face.

Now they had lots of opinions about what to do and where to go. Emi didn't see why they couldn't just mix them all together. "Why not walk around the city like Castle said, ask locals like I said when we inevitably get lost, and leave out the whole treasure thing like Leslie... sorry, Lillian said? That way, we even please Eric... Erin... whatever the hell your name is, because we won't even be in the desert yet. Sound like a plan? Good, yes, let's go.[/color]"

Without waiting for a reply from her fellow treasure hunters, she turned sharply and started to storm off with no particular direction. Of course she was just going to head into things without thinking them through. It wasn't an adventure unless someone was the reckless one.

[Lagunamov]

Sure, lets go ask people. I'm sure they won't be assholes or too inquisitive on the subject.

They were off to a slow start. Emi had suggested asking the locals for some help with finding the landmarks, while not mentioning the treasure as an obvious way to avoid unnecessary attention. Elrick had a hunch that would somehow... not work as expected, but decided to let them play along. "Alright. I'll take to the roofs and check from there. I don't do well with keeping my mouth shut, so you are better off without me," he joked as he took his leave.

Quickly after entering the city he disappeared into an alley to the side, climbing up some crates that had been thrown there and then up the wall, reaching the first roof relatively quickly. From it, he jumped onto another one, following the main street, and then climbed onto the following one, a couple of feet higher. "I was hoping I would get to use this," he smirked when he noticed that the following structure was much higher than the small houses onto which he had climbed, and too far for him to simply jump and hope to grab onto something.

Raising his left arm and aiming, a small but sturdy hook was launched from the lower side of his arm guard, landing on the roof of the building. After pulling to make sure it got stuck on the surface, Elrick activated the retractable system to pull himself upwards, reaching his destination within seconds. He grabbed onto the ledge, he looked down at the fall that would kill him if he slipped, and climbed onto the roof. He brushed the dust off his clothes after the hook finished retracting back to its compartment, and walked over to the edge. Maybe from up there he could spot something.

[Castle]

Castle followed Emi into the city, wishing that Elrick hadn't taken the map. He sort of needed the reference to really know what they were looking for. A photographic memory was not on his list of natural skills.

He jogged to catch up with her. That happened a lot, considering that she had much longer legs than him (legs that happened to be exposed at the moment, like they were yesterday, but he decided not to repeat the comment he made the night before...). Even though it was early morning, the streets were already lively, and the people mainly ignored them save for a few passing glances. The place seemed to be divided up into sections, and it didn't take long to get through several of them.

"Well, I hope this gets fun at some point," he remarked, looking around. "This place looks pretty interesting by itself though. Maybe there's..."

He trailed off as the side of one of the city walls caught his attention, causing him to turn his head and stare at it even before he slowed to a stop. More specifically, it was the weathered and faded picture painted on the wall that made him pause.

"...a flamingo?" he continued. "That... was on the map, wasn't it?" He turned to Emi and pointed at the old painting. "Right?"

Maybe his memory was a little better than he thought.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Good, good, good. Ahhhh, great... what is it?
--

Emi came to a stop and then walked backwards. She stood next to Castle, tilted her head and stared at the flamingo on the wall. "How the hell am I supposed to know? Flamingos are kind of random, but I guess it would have to stand out, wouldn't it? Dammit. Elrick has the map so we can't even check.[/color]"

She looked around, and over her shoulder. "Where is he? Ugh, whatever. Let's investigate this.[/color]"

She took a step back and put her hands on her hips, staring at it. "....what do we do now?[/color]"

[Lagunamov]

Well, that was convenient. What if I had been on the roof next door, huh? We'd be screwed.

Pulling the map out and inspecting it from such a height seemed to lead to... nothing. What was a flamingo doing on the markings? Those weren't birds that you could usually find around these parts... as far as Elrick was aware of. Maybe some idiot had introduced indigenous fauna to the world, maybe exterminating another species in the process. Regardless, thinking an actual bird was extremely unlikely. What would a flamingo do, point him towards the treasure?

"Why does the most recognizable thing on this damn thing have to be a fucking bird?" he complained, strolling around the roof, looking into the distance as he tried to slow down a tad. And then, something caught his eye, further into the town. Taking a slow step back, he watched to his side as he saw how the buildings several blocks away lined up, the shape of the condemned bird drawn by the spaces left between them, the alleys and streets that traversed in the area.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," he laughed as he saw that, also spotting a rather unusual building in the 'head' area of the drawn out bird, looking slightly out of place considering the rest of the architecture of the city. "Ok, now were are the other... Oh, there they are!" he had frantically started looking down at the streets to find the others, noticing first Emi and Castle not far from them, close to the city walls, and then Lillian outside the walls, walking back to the ships. Elrick shrugged, deciding to continue the hunt either way.

"I think I found a lead!" he yelled as he jumped down from roof to roof, standing on the one next to the pair. "There are streets that shape a flamingo a couple of blocks from here, and a building that looks out of place. Might be where the treasure is stored, on another step in the hunt," he knelled down, looking at them, map in hand.

[Castle]

Ah, there was Elrick. Castle had almost forgotten that he was running around on the rooftops. Showoff. But...

"Great, let's do it," he called back, and then turned to Emi and gestured to the painted wall, shrugging a little. "Well, I knew it had something to do with flamingos."

Subtly positioned streets and weird buildings definitely sounded like more of a lead than an old painting. Maybe they were finally getting somewhere.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Mmmmchocolatecoins~
--

Emi didn't look away from the painting. "Of course,[/color]" she echoed, but rolled her eyes.

So far, this was the stupidest treasure hunt ever. She was half expecting their "gold" to be chocolate coins, at this rate. Not that chocolate would survive a second in this heat.

"Well, then, lead the way, master treasure hunter,[/color]" she told Elrick.

[Lagunamov]

I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?

"Very well," Elrick jumped off from the roof, landing next to Emi and Castle. He looked around for a second, noticing the painting of the flamingo, which he figured was probably a misdirection from real treasure. If not, they could always come back there.

Either way, he signaled at the pair to follow him as he showed them towards the building he had spotted from above, walking through alleys to get there and avoid attention. The structure was two stories tall, had several markings and decorations not fitting anything around it, and was probably a couple hundred years old. He walked up a short flight of stairs towards a large wooden gate, and tried to push it open to no avail. Elrick tried several times, even kicking at the door to see if it would budge, but nothing.

He sighed, turning around and looking at the other two. "Ok, who's up for breaking and entering? I already have other charges on me, including high treason, so a misdemeanor ain't a big deal."

[Castle]

"Move," Castle said simply, motioning for Elrick to get out of the way so he could take his place in front of the door.

No passerby were around, so this would be a good time to do some property damage. He studied the gate for a second, pulled on it to make sure it didn't actually open that way, and then stepped back and turned so his right side faced the structure. After a moment of concentration, he planted his left foot and used the other to deliver a side kick to the part of the wood near where the latch would be.

The door shuddered violently and cracked from within, but didn't break. Undaunted, Castle paused to regather his concentration before he fired another kick. The several-hundred year old wood finally snapped around the latch and swung open, unleashing a cloud of dust motes and probably sand.

He stepped aside and gestured to the opening, smirking triumphantly. "After you guys."

[Oathkeeper Emi]

._.
--

Emi had been just about to state that she, in fact, was no good at breaking and entering and they were going to have to find an alternate way in (as if the whole operation relied on her ability to break in a building) but she was interrupted by Castle's showing off. She stood completely still and watched up, her eyes widening a little.

Well, okay that's one way to break into a house. She coughed and waved the dust and dirt away, trying to get the air to settle quicker so that they could actually see what was inside. Which, to be honest, didn't look like much of anything. Slowly, she walked in, looking all around her and soaking in details.

"Hmmph. I'm hoping this isn't a dead end, and this isn't really one of those treasure hunts where the treasure is friendship or some bullshit like that,[/color]" she muttered. "Friendship is great and all but it's not going to fix the hole in my kitchen ceiling.[/color]"

Speaking of ceilings, she looked up. "Maybe there's something upstairs. How do we get up there... oh. Ladder. Convenient.[/color]" She walked over to the ladder, tested her weight on it and then started climbing.

[Lagunamov]

Are we done yet?

Impressive. Castle managed to kick down the door, and so, the secrets of the odd building would be revealed as soon as they entered it... or, not. After setting foot inside, there didn't seem to be anything of particular interest in sight. After some asinine comments, Emi had decided to inspect higher up, taking a ladder up.

Elrick, on the other hand, decided to inspect the ground floor. The door was not impregnable, as proven by Castle, so if there was any treasure close, it wouldn't be within their grasp so easily. There were columns holding the structure from within, forming a circular patterns around the center of the room, and a large golden chandelier hanging high above from it. It hanged... precariously above it.

"Hmm... I wonder..." he stepped forward, lowering himself and knocking on the wooden tiles on the floor, closing in on the center. As he got closer, the sound changed radically, indicating a change on the soil below it. Or rather, the lack of soil below it. "Emi, would you be a dear and see if you can have the chandelier drop?" he yelled as he moved away from the center of the room. If his theory was correct, the fall would break the tiles and reveal a chamber below. It certainly seemed like a good way to keep the secret treasure from being found by people not looking for it in the first place.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Reaction Command: Bust through ceiling!
--

Of course, this was Emi so she had to do things the hard way. It just wouldn't be the same unless she did something reckless. Plus, she wasn't really sure how else to make a chandelier fall, so she walked until she could hear the tinkling glass get louder.

Maybe that chandelier is worth something? she asked herself, and then shrugged. If it was, and they didn't find anything else, maybe they could come back and sift through the wreckage she was about to create. She stomped on the wood a few times, hard, and then started jumping up and down right above where the chandelier would be. Below, they could probably hear her jumping and see the ornate light fixture shaking.

The floor was thin, and old, and weak. It didn't take long for wood to start splintering and before Emi realized this wasn't going to be the best position for her, it collapsed. She and the chandelier crashed into the ground and through the first level floor.

Thankfully, it really wasn't that far of a fall from there. She sat dazed among the settling dust and broken wood for a few minutes, and then looked up through the hole.

"So uh...[/color]" she called out to her companions above. "I survived. You guys coming or what?[/color]"