Iadanna Iktomi rose from the pilots seat, arms raised high and taking a deep breath. "To think, most of that was free-fall and one aft thruster. Then again, it's easier with a water landing than a mountain. Takes some of the thrill out of it though. Oh well." He says to himself, for all to hear.
While Llyr had taken first to leave, his bravery out shining them all, Iktomi was resigned to last off. Furthest away from the door and all.
@Uriel1339
There at the boarder of the Chance's portal, Yareli waited for him. Giving advice and council to all. 'Must always have a plan.' Iktomi thought.
"The Chance can be disguised from the fauna and those lacking in cunning. Make no mistake beloved, it won't be smoke signals that gives us away. It will be their World-Spirit." Taking her hand, Iktomi lead into the alien world. "These 'Dragons' are proof enough of our species handy work. Stories go, the maiden worlds were originally dead rocks, cosmicly lacking what life required. Our ancestors seeded such worlds with what they needed to thrive for future generations. Those of Beil-Tan would argue that these worlds are solely the Eldar's to claim. However, there's no shortage of species who would say otherwise. The foolish upstarts or the greenskin mon'keigh. Luckily, if they had taken up residency they're hard to miss... Unless." The Felarch trailed off in thought.
Talk of taking up camp in the Shuttle and foraging for local edibles brought Iktomi back from his concern. "Waiting around here won't get us any closer to our quarry. The sooner we find more than rocks and aquatic avians, then we should speak of camp. Daylight is a better time to face a foe then waiting in the night to be found. Who's in favor of a little wanderin.... I mean, reconnaissance?"

"Reconnaissance sounds better than waiting around here. There is little enough fallen timber to do anything about fortifying this place, and we don't have the time to do anything with the dirt, and I would be loathed to disrupt the ecosystem for such a thing."

Left unsaid was that the standard Eldar fortifications had not been brought with them. Perhaps an oversight on his part? Not that it mattered much, the warriors they did have were no Aspects, indeed, Eldar warriors, in general, were ill-suited to a defensive fight. They liked to keep it mobile, using their superior skills and firepower to get the advantage on the enemy, hit them where they weren't and strike them where they weren't looking.

"Aye, reconnaissance would be good."

@DaKaptin

Yareli gladly took the hand of her captain, stepping together onto the planet's surface. "Only if they are attuned to said spirit. I would not be surprised if Morvan could be sensed by their shamans, druids, or however they choose to call their psykers." The Diplomat noted, smiling on the warm of Iktomi's hand, along with the cold breeze hitting her face. She missed the cold, it made her feel a bit home.

"My aunt would approve of reconnaissance, and it seems Morvan is a step ahead of us." With her free hand she gestured towards said Warlock, already marching off. "We are best to stay together, but at least one of us, perhaps two, should stay back with the shuttle, in case the ground breaks away and our vessel thinks into the lake beneath, or in case a local finds it and may think to sink it, or any such scenario." There was a slight shrug, it was more being prepared for unknown events of this world, rather than pessimism.

Though her voice was guiding, her feet fell parallel to Iktomi, not dragging him away but following at his side. It was as much a symbol for their relationship as it was a reinforcement of her promise that she would not take his freedoms and never anchor him to herself, or a home. They were wanderers of stars. And it made her smile to be able to admit that full-heartedly and truthfully.

Though Llyr may have honoured lost Kurnous this day, alas he did not emulate him. The wildfowl settled back into a raft offshore, their eerie cries sounding a little like grating laughter as they pecked and preened amongst themselves.

As Morvan approached the ruins, his furry companion ran up beside him and walked along with a more sedate pace once he was close. The Warlock could see that the walls were low, worked from the same stones of the lakeshore and cliffs, and expertly made so that they would trap a reservoir of water even in the highest of summer droughts. Fish swam in the deepest parts, but with time the walls had worn low and they were no longer captive. Llyr looked, but with a glance at the Seer he remained stoic, sitting beside him on a stone. To have worn away like this - the touch of the stone under his gloved hand was resonant, still, but so very faintly - many long years had passed since anyone had maintained the fish-pond. But it had the trace of Eldar psyches upon it. Rustic, perhaps, compared to the Craftworlds, certainly less constrained, but in its own way even more disciplined. Exodites.

"Do we have contact with Arcadia?" Morvan asked Lysandriax, their de-facto shuttle captain.

"We can get contact through the shuttle, I think," she said, looking to Iktomi. "I have not sailed with the Arcadia long. You would need to ask the Captain."

She loped across to Talshin and the other Aspects. "I am Lysandriax," she said, "and I believe that the good Void Dreamer left me out of her introductions. Or at least, in any detail." She smiled. It was friendly, but her body language carried a martial edge at all times. "I am not trained in the ways you train, but I am a warrior. I will take a watch if you will." She looked at them all, her eyes appraising: Astarielle, Valandil, Talshin, Amriel. "Or perhaps we may spar, if wer

"Waiting around here won't get us any closer to our quarry. The sooner we find more than rocks and aquatic avians, then we should speak of camp. Daylight is a better time to face a foe then waiting in the night to be found. Who's in favor of a little wanderin.... I mean, reconnaissance?" Iktomi asked, keen to get along with the mission. Amriel seemed in agreement. At this, Lysandriax tilted her head in curiosity.

"That sounds good. I'll come. Or shall we all keep together?"

"I can raise the Arcadia if we need to," Avrielle said, holding up a hand, overlooked in all the excitement. She glanced to Yareli, to see that her friend was walking side by side with Iktomi, obviously enjoying the invigorating climate. The little radiotech smiled at that, though she soon dropped her gaze and returned to fastening up a coat she took from her pack.

If a way was wanted out of the lakeside, then Talis' keen eyes could see a couple of places that would be easier to climb, but one caught his attention: it might be a path, though a long-eroded one. It passed by one of the pterosaurs' eyries, but not so close as to pass through it. Valandil and Faenkon could see the traces too, the Ranger Path teaching how to find nearly lost ways.


@Uriel1339 @kanila @MetalDog4 @DaKaptin @BadDo9 @Avenging-Angel @High_Adept_Zeth @matt23 @Valonox

< @Jorimel and all the others too :3 >

Talis plopped onto his bum and looked around a bit as everyone seemed to be thinking about moving along. The plants he found lay there still for inspection, but he stole a single berry from the bunch and chewed on it. The juice that burst inside his mouth was sweet, but the bitter skin balanced that nicely. And it seemed like it could be good for water in a pinch. "I don't know if we want to move out, but if we do, there's a path over yonder." he pointed out what he was seeing. "It goes near what I'm.. pretty sure are the eyries of these creatures." a point up. "But.. I'm sure as long as we do nothing against them, we'll be left unmolested. You're quite an intimidating bunch."

The Exodite chuckled and then laid himself on his back, beginning easy to sketch said pterosaur. "If the Eldar of this place did often come around here, I don't think we'll have issues either." the lazy paths of them did say that to the observer. Watching new arrivals to make sure no threat was made, but nothing overtly threatening either.

@Jorimel | Astarielle had shaken her head when the female Corsair had pointed out Talis, glancing over at the Exodite.
"He is much more at home than any of us." Tilting her head when Lysandriax introduced herself, looking at the Corsair from head to toe and taking in her stance and bearing, Astarielle slowly nodded. "More people will mean less strain. If you are up to it you are welcome to aid us."

"I agree with the scouting idea. It should be fairly simple to find where they are or were. The thing that strikes me as odd though, is why they would build the stuff they have here just to abandon it?" Faenkon jestered towards the crumbling works that had not been used in some time. The whole place seemed too peaceful to him and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Was he perhaps being over cautious? Or was this something worth merit?

Artarsi Kal'Varek was not an Eldar averse to a good laugh. He could see the funny side of many a situation.

At this point, however, the myriad turns of the webway had grown from a challenging puzzle to a labyrinthine tangle, and he was starting to wonder if a way out could be found. It was wearing to the good humour. It was a concern, if only because of the legends everyone knew of the place. But he had martial training, and a strong Will. All the matter needed was discipline. Discipline, and focus. Both things provided by his Shrine and possessed in abundance.

He stopped. Sharp hearing alerted him to the sound of footsteps, patient, as methodical as his own. He paused, taking in the sound, analysing it. Ready to react.

* * * * * * *

Alo Winterheart strode the webway. His stride was confident, his cloak swirling out behind him like a flurry of storm-borne snow. Runes could be read here and there, telling of his deeds. He would have to admit, though, even if it was only to himself, that Finder of Lost Ways was not among them. Alo was lost.

The webway curved and twisted here, each passageway just about large enough to admit a single Eldar in file formation. It wasn't good defensively, this lack of visibility, and his hearing was keyed up, making up for the lack of sight. One could not rush in such a situation, but his patience was taxed. Still, he maintained his composure. Such were the teachings of Asurmen. The Phoenix Lord had gifted the Eldar with the Path, and Alo was not about to stray from it.

He could hear distant footsteps - light, methodical. The tread of a warrior. Alo paused, alert.

* * * * * * *

Just as the two Dire Avengers were poised to meet, a third set of impressions blurred the scene around them. At once, the chamber opened out into a wide, broad place, the narrow walls vanishing and being replaced by an oval space. Colourful curtains hung on one side, shrouding the webway there from mortal eyes. And in the centre of this space, there was a whirl of glittering movement.

It resolved itself into a figure: lithe, colourful, Eldar, and upside down.

The Harlequin sprang upright from his hands, landing lightly on his feet and standing poised exactly equidistant between Alo and Artarsi. He was wearing a brightly-coloured coat, principally red and blue with purple here and there and green stripes spiralling around one arm. His hair was worn in a high crest, shades of red and orange, coming down to between his shoulder blades. The rest of his clothing was similarly colourful, all of it bright and much of it paired in shades that would make an artist wince. His face was masked, a porcelain white impression of an Eldar male, one side of the mouth slightly upturned in a smile. The eyes that regarded the two Avengers from behind it were mismatched, one green, one blue. He bore no visible weapons, though there was a scarf wound around his waist.

"Greetings, World-borne cousins, and welcome to the webway," the figure inclined his head, "I hope that you will forgive the manner of my waylaying you, and the redirection desired, likewise!"

"This direction, that direction, misdirection, it's all the same really. Watch the hand you can't see."

"Your task was to ask," said a figure resolving from the shadows near the curtains, laconically. She was tall, skeletal clothing marked in black and white in the manner of a suit of bones. A skull-mask covered her face. "Not to talk them to death."

"That," she added, dryly, "would be a demarcation issue."


@Wata @ItsTime

Alo's face was twisted in confusion under his helmet, his hands tight around his shuriken catapult. Ready to unleash a volley of shuriken.
"By Khaine! A Harlequin? And let me guess, here come advice disguised with jests and riddles? I warn you I'm in no mood for your childish games."
As if only now Alo had noticed the other two in the space. He eyed the skeletal woman for a little bit too long, intrigued. Alo darted his gaze to the other avenger. Nudging a catapult barrel in his direction.
"Who are you? What is the meaning for all this!?"

@Wata @Jorimel

Unlike his fellow avenger, Alo, Artarsi was less puzzled by the situation and as always saw the bright side of the situation, his eyes locked onto the figure in her- unique suit of armor. Yet he immediately disregarded the existence of the Harlequin that had lead him into here, after all he was all but a deadly jester, condemned to meet an ugly fate that awaits him at the end of his life, as all harlequins.

He reached for the barrel of Alo's cannon and slightly pushed it down. "Artarsi, well met. It is no time to aim our weapons at our kin, we are here for a reason-", he turned to the figure clad in the skeletal-like armor, "Are we?".