[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: The group jumped at the chance, however foolish, to get off that first world. They went to the department of Dimensional Magics, which apparently only had one member, and were shifted away. Something went wrong, though, and something, or some_one,_ interfered. They ended up in the middle of a desert, with an oversized red sun overhead. Amy sensed water somewhere to the south, so they headed that way.] [Session Start] It's hot. * Various people start glowing, and strobing with the now all too familiar light. * A moment later, there is a massive shift change, Shiho and Daphne having reappeared and Cara lying in the dirt as a plushie. Hi guys. Welcome to the nasty hot place. * Amy picks up the Cara plushie. * Daphne looks around. "Uhm. What happened to me room in Colorford?" Hi, welcome to the desert. We went to a place, and the man and his cute pet said they'd send us home, but they didn't. * The oversized red sun has set, and the moon has risen. Oh. How nice of them. How long have I been out? * Daphne turns to Rocky and blinks. * Rocky turns to Daphne and blinks. I wonder why cute widdle Rocky turned into a plushie too? Uh. A while. Most of today I think. * Shiho looks at the surroundings. "Probably because I did." Oh. Ok then. * Daphne looks at Shiho. "Is he yours, then?" * Rocky climbs onto Shiho's shoulder. Yeah! He's cute, isn't he? * Shiho nods. "He's my familiar from the magic school." Ah. I see. I think. * It is roughly 20 degreed Fahrenheit in temperature right now, and you're all dressed for spring and summer. * Luckily, there's no wind chill. Hm. Rather cool out. Anyone have any idea where we are? Not one... We'd better get moving. Best thing to do when it's cold out. Alright. Which direction? Um... Which way have we been going? We were going where Amy said the water was. This way. * Amy points. Alright. Let's continue that way, then. * Daphne digs in her backpack and produces an ugly flannel jacket, which she puts on. With any luck, we'll find an oasis. Then we can build a fire. Let's hope so. * Ichi and Amy have been walking all day, and are quite tired. Can we rest for a bit or somethin' first? I'm tired. ;_; Yeah, We've been walking this whole time. I guess so. Just try to keep moving. * Shiho looks around for something to build a fire out of. * Daphne checks to see how much alcohol she has on her. * There's some dead scrub, but not much. * Amy tries to figure out how to rest and keep moving at the same time. * Daphne has only her main flask full. * Shiho gathers the dead scrub and tries to set it alight. "This won't work for long. When it starts dying down, we need to move." * Ichi starts pacing slowly. "rest...and move?" * Shiho, being trained at this sort of thing, easily lights a small fire. It begins eating hungrily through the available fuel. * Daphne licks her lips and frowns. "Damnations. What a place to run out... gives 'dry county' a whole new meaning." * Ichi sits near the fire and continues to try to think. * Shiho sits down and sighs. * Amy sits near the fire and tries to get warm. "This place is awful. Why arn't we home?" Because it didn't work. * Daphne sits as well. "Probably because someone doesn't want us to be home. The bastard." Maybe if I roll over a lot?...Something went strange. * Ichi stands and walks around to the other side of the fire and decides it's not any warmer there, but sits back down anyway. * Daphne glances around a bit, trying to pick out any landmarks at all. * There isn't much in the way of landmarks that you can see. Just desert from horizon to horizon. * Daphne shakes her head and sighs. Nee, Amy, can you tell if we're closer to the water? * Daphne blinks and looks up. "Beg ye' pardon?" One second * Amy focuses and mumbles under her breath. It's closer, but not by much. Can you tell which direction it's in? Well, at least we're making progress. * Amy points the direction they've been walking. That way. It's been bothering me that there hasn't been any wind. * Daphne nods. "Alright. So we have a good direction to walk in." Wide open spaces like this usually have a great deal of wind. Something is wrong with Nature on this world. Something is very wrong. I donno if we can make it there.. * Daphne frowns. "I don' like the sound of that much." We don't have a lot of water either. * Shiho stands. "Well, we're not getting any closer by just sitting here. Right. Let's get moving. * Ichi sighs and stands back up. OK.. * On through the night the group marches, and on the horizon there appears a dull red glow. * The air begins to warm. * Daphne frowns. "Hm. Sun's comin' up." * A tumbleweed blows past, and you begin to feel the rising breeze. Now it'll be hot again.. * The breeze is not at all comfortable, being hot and dry. * Daphne frowns and takes her jacket off, tying it around her waist. * Ichi watches the tumbleweed and then goes back to plodding forward. * Shiho keeps going forward regardless. * Daphne marches bravely on. Right. * The wind picks up. It's beginning to blow dirt and sand into your faces. * Shiho shields herself with her arms, not having much of another option. * The wind keeps picking up, and visibility goes way, way down. * Daphne frowns and does likewise. "Please tell me this isn't a sandstorm." I hope not. ... Great. * Shiho looks for cover. * Why yes, Daphne, this is a sandstorm. Though given the relative lack of sand, it's more of a duststorm. * Ichi puts an arm up and squints. * Daphne unties her jacket again and uses it in an attempt to shield her face. We should stop and find what shelter we can :P * There isn't much in the way of cover available, unfortunately. * Amy falls over choking on dust. * Amy falls over choking on dust. "Gah" Amy? There's something up ahead. Let's get there before this gets much worse! * The storm apparently doesn't want you to get away, because it gets even _more_ powerful. * Amy is nearly buried under dirt now. * Amy struggles to get up. * Ichi tries to help Amy. * Daphne glances back in Amy's direction, still using her jacket to guard her face. * Shiho moves back to help Amy. "C'mon! A bit more!" * Daphne moves to help Amy as well, because that's the in thing to do. * Amy fights to move. "I'm trying!" * Together, the other three manage to get Amy up and moving again. Pfew! Thanks guys.. * Shiho grabs Amy's hand and begins fighting her way forwards. * Daphne trudges after Shiho and Amy. * Ichi fallows Daphne. * The wind fights mightily, but is slowly overcome, and the group makes its way to a small gully. * The gully is perhaps four feet deep, and about three feet across. It'll be a tight squeeze to get everybody in, and you might end up buried, but it's the best cover you have. * Ichi gets in the gully, the quick way. "Itai..." * Shiho climbs in, 'cause it sounds like a better deal than walking through the storm. * Amy gets into the gully, following Ichi's lead. * Daphne gets into the gully. * Rocky clings to Shiho. Betcha forgot about him, huh? * Shiho reaches out and grabs poor Rocky just as his grip gives out and he is lifted by the wind. ...so. While we're sitting here trying to wait out a storm, how did we get here again? Thought we could get home. I should've known better. * Daphne nods but doesn't say anything. * Seeming to have realized that it can't get you, the storm quickly blows out as you talk. You have to brush of rather a lot of dust that has collected around you, and you have dust in places you don't even know you have yet, but you're alive. Well. That was pleasant. I'd like a long bath, and a long nap. * And just as the storm blows out, Amy plushifies in a shower of industrial light and magic. We don't have time. Gotta keep moving. Sounds good to me, too. I don't think we're gonna get either of those soon, tho. * The main problem facing you is that Amy had most of the water with her, in the Belt. * Shiho crawls out of the gully, taking Rocky with her. "Someone grab Amy." * Amy is also the one who knows the direction to water. * Daphne grabs PlushAmy, sighing. [Session End]