The Way Back

Derek: <Dang it... I'm sorry, Kelphy...>

*He sighs, then runs a hand through his hair.*

Derek: <Kelphy, there's something I need to ask you.>

~Kari & Kentaro~

*A group of three sexy young women wearing only towels walk out of the inn giggling and go to sit by the hotspring. One of them winks at Kentaro and the other two start giggling louder. A middle aged man in a black kimono walks up to them from behind.*

Staff: <Hello! Is there anything I can do for you?>

=====
~Derek & Kelphy~

*She widens his eyes and turns to him.*

[He's... calling me Kelphy?]

Kelphy: <Y-Yes?>

=====
~Crowley~

Spade: <We need to find someone that can examine that for us, check if it's the real thing.>

*He staggers to his feet.*

Fat Bandit: <Fahrenheit ooold wizard elf of Sephira. One of best wizards in Verte, everyone know him.>

Blonde Thiefess: <I've heard of that Fahrenheit dude. People say he was the tutor of that guy Crone, the one who kidnapped princess Kelphy and attacked the capital of Sephira.>

=====
~Creed~

Crone: <There. Brace yourself.>

*In the horizon they see an island. Creed feels something push against his whole body and the horse seems to as well, as he neighs loudly. A giant bubble-shaped blue barrier aroundt the island becomes visible for a second. Crone waves his arms and a whole opens in it to let them through.*

Crone: <You hadn't forgotten about the magic barrier, had you?>

=====
~Lucien~

*An intense white light comes flying towards him in the shape of an arrow, breaking through the water and freeing Lucien. The horse roars and looks around before tackling Lucien.*

Lucien pretty much throws the kitchen sink at the horse at this point. Forget hands of shadows. This time he goes with arrow headed tendrils that shoot upwards and attempt to impale the horse from every single direction imaginable save where Lucien was pinned down.

---

"I did not" Creed remains composed though shaken by the impact of the barrier as part of natural human bodily reaction.

Derek: <We've been through a lot together... And I've felt like I've grown close to you. So, I ask you: If I said that I loved you, how would you respond?>

Crowley: <Then he's our best bet at this time.>

*Crowley sighs and puts it in his pocket.*

Crowley: <Still, this is going to be a reeeaal pain in the ass. I hope it's worth it.>

Kentaro:<Telling us a bit about the place would be nice.>

~Kari & Kentaro~

Staff: <Ah, yes. The lake behind you is our exterior hotspring. We have an interior one as well, in the inn's basement. Inside the inn you can also request a bedroom for the duration of your stay. The inn also has a massage service available to all guests and a restaurant. You can request a free meal for every 2 hours paid here. Hope you enjoy yourselves! Anything else?>

*The girls start whistling at Kentaro and the one that winked starts waving. One of them seems to bark twice, seemingly in an attempt to roar.*

=====
~Derek & Kelphy~

*She turns red and a guard draws near.*

Guard: <Your Ladyship, what should we do now?!>

*She abrupty turns to the guard and stares at him for a second with her eyes wide opened.*

Kelphy: <Hum...we-well... I...I-I... Go and... try to find them, please! I m-must... continue m-m-my research.>

*She rushes into the palace.*

=====
~Crowley~

Spade: <You're the pain in the ass.>

*The blonde thiefess and fat bandit kinda just look from Spade to Crowley and back a few times.*

Blonde Thiefess: <So it's back to Sephira. On foot this time?>

=====
~Creed~

*Soon they arrive at the grassy island. Besides Crone's burnt down manor at the top of the hill to the right and the small village in ruins to the left there isn't much to see. Crone glances at the manor ruins and heads towards the village.*

=====
~Lucien~

*The horse roars loudly as its body is being pierced and some blood splatters off. The monster bursts into water and appears far above Lucien, hail about the size of himself falling down towards him in great amount.*

*Derek closes his eyes, then decides to follow Kelphy without saying a word or bothering her.*

Kentaro:<Thank you.>

*He looks over to Kari who doesn't look too thrilled by the going on at the spring.*

Kentaro:<Shall we go inside.>

"Yes."

*Kentaro takes her hand and the two go inside. Once inside he exhales as he'd been holding his breath the whole time they've been walking inside.*

Kentaro:<That... Was uncomfortable.>

Crowley: <(Yeah, you're a pain in the ass.)>

*Crowley looks to the blonde thiefess.*

Crowley: <Unless we have a better option, that's our only one.>

"That's some big hail!" Lucien back flip dodges out of the path of the hail before firing another volley of shadow tendrils at it.

---

"Lead the way."

~Kari & Kentaro~

*Inside there is a counter with a girl, a door to the restaurant, stairs leading to the second floor with a sign on the wall reading "Bedrooms" and more stairs leading down with a sign that reads "Restaurant".*

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~Derek & Kelphy~

*She walks into her library and takes a couple books out of some bookcases, still extremely red. She lays them down on the table and opens the letter Derek gave her.*

[Just like I expected... I'm probably close to discovering it...]

*She then takes a deep breath and speaks without looks away from the books and the letter.*

Kelphy: <...I-I need to go see my uncle. He's the owner of the White Paradise District downtown. Today's his birthday. Are you c-c-coming with me, Your Majesty?>

=====
~Crowley~

Blonde Thiefess: <Well, we're a big group this time. GUYS!! We're going back to Sephira. Start walking.>

*And so they head across the frozen plains and woods. About an hour later they're crossing some snowy forest. It is particularly chilly there.*

Blonde Thiefess: <C-C-C-C-C-oooold!!!>

Fat Bandit: <If I h-h-have food I wa-warm.>

=====
~Creed~

*As described dozens of pages ago, the village is made up of small metal houses with a larger one at the center. Crone stops before it.*

Crone: <The passage to the labs I knew was in this building's basement. But if I open that door now all we'll see is the ocean.>

=====
~Lucien~

*The horse swiftly dodges the tendrils, diving down towards Lucien. He bursts into water as he's approaching him, but doesn't seem to appear anywhere nearby. Suddendly, the ocean water starts revoling and a giant whirpool starts forming. Wind and water alike are sucked in, and Lucien starts being pulled in with great strength.*

*Crowley drops to one knee, worn out from everything.*

Crowley: <Dammit, how much further is it until we can rest?>

Derek: <Sure. We can go whenever you're ready.>

"Do you want to go to the underground spring?"

*He looks at her surprised while she stares at the floor, embarrassed.*

Kentaro:<Sure?>

"I could always try freezing a passageway with the help of Celsius" Creed suggests.

---

Lucien anchors himself as best he can with his shadow hands digging into the ground and into trees. "Shit... Shit... SHIIIIIT!!"

~Kari & Kentaro~

*The door opens behind them, and Kelphy and Derek walk in looking mighty awkward. Kelphy is carrying a couple books and the letter. She smiles to them and bows slightly.*

Kelphy: <Kari, Kentaro. I d-didn't know you were in capital Alda.>

=====
~Derek & Kelphy~

*Out of the castle and down a couple streets they arrive a large stone staircase that leads to a small district made up of a few ancient japan-y houses and a patch of snowy woods. Walking through the woods they come to an inn and a large hotspring. When they step into the inn, they find Kari and Kentaro standing by the door. Kelphy bows to them slightly.*

Kelphy: <Kari, Kentaro. I d-didn't know you were in capital Alda.>

=====
~Crowley~

Spade: <It's only been an hour.>

Fat Bandit: <I agree rest. And food. Rest and food.>

Blonde Thiefess: <Guys! We're stopping for a while!>

*The bandits all nod and sits down in groups, chatting and shivering.*

=====
~Creed~

Crone: <Using ice magic under the sea doesn't seem like a very good idea. We should try finding another passageway and see if there are intact areas of the underwater laboratories.>

=====
~Lucien~

*The horse appears in front of him and hammers its hooves down onto the shadow hands, the whirpool gaining suction strength.*

Derek: <Greetings.>

*He nods to the two of them, then looks at the door.*

Derek: <Why are we just standing?>

Kentaro:<Neither did I.>

"Hello."

Lucien headbutts it, hard, forgoing subtly and going with brute force. Lucien's forehead, ether from the hardness of the horse's head or from the sheer strength of the impact, was now trickling blood gently.

---

"Or that... that works too..."

*Crowley sits down on the ground in a heartbeat, extremely tired. Mostly from stress, but still. He had never actually come that close to getting caught before, nor that close to losing a member of his gang.*

Crowley: <(Ah, feels so nice to finally sit down and relax...)>

*Crowley looks at the ground, recovering.*

~Kari, Kentaro, Derek & Kelphy~

Kelphy: <Are you guys... are you guys here to go to the hotsprings? They're quite amazing, my uncle owns this business.>

*The three girls from before walk in all wet wrapped up in their towels. They walk towards the stairs leading to the floor above, whispering and looking at Kentaro. One of them then notices Derek and starts giggling. Kelphy looks at Kari like "What. The. Fuck."*

=====
~Crowley~

*Spade leans against a tree and closes his eyes.*

Fat Bandit: <Feel nice but no food!>

Blonde Thiefess: <Eat snow.>

Fat Bandit: <Snow eatable?!>

*He starts shovelling snow with his mouth.*

Blonde Thiefess: <No, it's not edible, stop, I was kidding!>

=====
~Creed~

Crone: <I'll look on this side of the village.>

*He heads left of the center building.*

=====
~Lucien~

*The horse whips his own head at Lucien's afterwards, and roars right in his face, his bones seemingly freezing again.*

*Kari shrugs.*

[They're probably succubi.]

Kentaro:<It seems like a good plan.>

*Crowley watches the display, putting up a tough guy front as if he didn't care and wishes they'd stop the idiocy, but he was laughing inside.*

Crowley: <(Geez, being the leader is so much pressure. Speaking of that...)>

*Crowley glares at Spade for a second before returning his gaze forward. He remembers the conflict the two of them had before this heist started.*

Crowley: <(I can't let my guard down, who knows what he's planning behind that face of his...)>

Lucien responds by headbutting it again, harder.

---

"I'll cheek the other side then" Creed heads to the right.