continued from previous session-

Lo seemed to consider the options. "Well, if we are lucky, though im usually not, this one isnt fully grown." Lo let the idea that this could be considered a small one to sink in. "The ones that arent mature can usually be killed by just severing their wing joints from below....but ell have to be really really carefull if that wasnt obvious. If we arent lucky..." the drake had managed to turn arounds and was now spiraling towards them.

Eric nodded curtly and braced himself as the creature came spiraling towards them. He smirked and gripped the blades in his hands until his knuckles were white. He was going to play a little game of chicken with this thing and he didn't count on making it out without bruises at the very least. When the drake was close enough, Eric dropped a few feet very suddenly, the remaining six blades behind him all rolling forward like a circular saw and carving two rows of deep gashes into the Drake's underbelly. He hadn't hit its wing joints, but he had caused enough damage for the thing to wobble in the air and let out a deafening screech of pain. Eric tumbled backwards, falling from his previous stance until his blades caught up with him. He cast a sideways glance at Lo, who was a little ways away by now.
"It's unstable, hit it now!" he shouted. It was pretty apparent that Lo could handle himself in battle and that he knew where the most vulnerable points of the wing joints were, so Eric hoped that he had slowed the Drake enough to make Lo's job a great deal easier.
There was a second deafening roar as the other Drake barreled towards Eric, who turned around just in time to notice this and flail himself out of the way.
"Ah shit..." He readied himself to do it all over again...

Lo grinned, Eric caught on fast. With a swooping dive, Lo baited the drake into following, and then, with its slight wobbling flight, lo spun around in midair, floating mere feet under its gaping jaws, the world seemed to slow down for him as he took aim, and then, as though to make up for lost time, the spear of pure metal that had just pierced the nerve cluster under the wing joint, of the drakes shoulder had sent it spiraling down, screeching its pain and fury.

Lo allowed himself a brief moment of self-satisfaction, before turning to eric, who, he saw, had drake problems of it's own. "Uh oh." he muttered. This one, though not fully grown, had grown its hard underscales...it looked like it was going to take pinpoint accuracy to get through... Lo withdrew the razor sharp point of metal back into his arm, as he flew cautiously behind and above the drake, aware that if it turned its attention from eric, it would have no issue snapping him up like a small, and very crunchy, bird.

Eric, having dropped below the Drake, looked up at it's well-guarded underbelly and cursed under his breath. Tiny, tiny little slivers of space separated the scales and Eric had a feeling that unless he could get through those he wasn't going to win this battle any time soon. As the beast made a wide turn and came back at him he straightened himself out and growled. The idea forming in his mind was extremely stupid and extremely dangerous, but he didn't have the time to think it through anyway. "Oh fuck it..." He muttered, charging head-first towards the Drake.

The events following this action unfolded so rapidly that Eric wasn't really sure what he had done when it was over. Just before he hit the beast he shot up just enough to glide over its back and cling to it. The beast immediately began to writhe in the air, trying to throw him off. Eric's blades had seemingly abandoned him, but with a quiet whisper that couldn't be heard, they flew upwards from below, 5 out of the 8 blades digging into the spaces between's the Drake's scales. As the beast lurched violently in mid-air, Eric lost his grip. The beast lashed out, one razor-sharp talon slicing cleanly across Eric's torso, starting at his right shoulder and ending at his left hip. He let out a little yelp and began an extremely terrifying fall. "KILL IT!" he yelled up to Lo as he fell. The 3 blades that hadn't been stuck into the beast's belly plummeted down after him, catching him just before he crashed into the jungle canopy.

Lo paused as he looked down with concern at Eric's predicament, but almost immediately, he decided that he would have to deal with it after he had gotten rid of the giant feral lizard trying to kill them both. Gritting his teeth, he dived.

The drake noticed him a moment before he smashed into it's back, driving two spears before him. The hard metal bent like taffy on impact, Lo cursed. Expected, but still discouraging. The beast roared at him twisting its flexible neck back to snap at him. It was what he was counting on. It was still going to hurt.

The drake wouldnt understand the concept of metal, after all, it was a bit of a rarity on Zix, where things were fasioned out of ironwood and the various volcanic stones of the burn. This was important for two reasons. First, it would mean that should it encounter metal, the drake would pause to figure out what it was, and second, it meant that the drake was used to having living things crunch nicely in its mouth. As it bit Lo, he did not crunch nicely in it's mouth. The teeth sank in, and lo let out a stream of cursewords from languages both in use, and mind meltingly old, and then, jammed his arm straight up it's nose.

The drake looked mildly shocked for a moment, even a bit offended, then with a look of mild unhappyness, its head exploded, as a large construct of metal had pushed open its cranium, quite effectively braining it.

Lo felt the drakes body begin to fall. He stayed suspended in midair, trying resolutely to ignore the rows of two inch deep punture marks across his body. He reflected for a moment that if there were a prise for stupidest idea to actually work, he would have won it several times over.

He gave the thumbs up to Eric, while internally screaming loudly in pain.

The remaining blades returned to Eric as the drake plummeted. He rose slowly, shrugging off the tattered remains of his coat and shirt to assess the damage. There was a massive gash cutting across his body, exposing a small piece of ribcage and leaving his right shoulder only 3/4 of the way attached to his body. Frowning, he began to wrap his shoulder with the remains of his shirt. Eric drifted over to Lo and glanced up at him with a weak smile.
"Well, we win the stupidity contest, eh?" He noticed the bite marks on Lo and sighed. "So we're both pretty fucked up and you're trying not to scream. Go ahead, that looks painful and I already did my violent profanity-filled screaming on my way down." He smirked, then winced as he moved his shoulder a little.

Neither of them were in any condition to travel now, but he had a feeling that heavy bleeding + standing still + Zix = Death on many levels. With his good arm he rooted around in his satchel for a bit before pulling out a needle, some thread, disinfectant and some gauze.
"So what's our game plan now? Hobble to the Pile and try not to die before we reach relative safety?" He asked before threading the needle and beginning the painful process of sewing up his wounds.

Lo nodded "Yeah, he said weakly, thats pretty much it. I know a guy in the city who will patch us up....actually, hes the reason we started by coming here to zix. Anyway." Lo finished his sentence, then let out his long stream of pained noises, before settling down. He was breathing hard, but it was obvious that the punctures in his chest were more like dents than wounds. As the two flew onwards (avoiding any more possible drake spots, under Lo's carefull eye) the dents began to slowly pull themselves back into shape, though the metal still looked ragged.

Soon they were at the city gates. They were, to say the least, rather large, with trebouche every few meters, likely to discourage any hungry drakes...and whatever else would like to have a citizen snack.

Lo touched down, a little harder than intended, on the stone walk up to the gigantic porticullus. He waved to the guards, speaking as he did.

"Friends, we have just arrived on city grounds, and are now seeking entrance for medical care." he said...it was half true anyway.

The guard on the left raised an eyebrow. "Well you dont say." he quipped sarcastically. "You may enter, but stir up any trouble and well throw you to the drakes." he said, jerking his thumb at the gate, which began opening.

"Thank you, but we just came from there." Lo said tiredly, and walked on.

Eric was deeply involved in the process of stitching his wounds as best he could while flying and when Lo stopped at the gates he didn't notice immediately. He was holding the sewing needle in his teeth and fumbling with a line of thread when he heard Lo speak. Upon looking up he nearly swallowed the needle and dropped the thread he was holding. In the Falls there were some impressive buildings and architectural designs, but he'd never seen a gate quite this massive. He gathered up the thread quickly and pulled the sewing needle (which he had narrowly avoided actually swallowing) free from his tongue, spitting out blood and profanity as he did so. The gates opened and Eric glanced up nervously at each of the guards, who were looking at him with raised eyebrows, as he followed Lo into the Pile.

With his wounds loosely stitched shut and a piece of ace bandage holding his shoulder in place, Eric entered the Pile and was absolutely sure he had made the right decision when he decided to follow Lo.

If there are worlds out there just as diverse and strange as this...I've been missing out on the best of life for way too long!

As the two strode into the city, Lo stopped for a moment, and smiled in satisfaction. He had always liked the pile, it's gigantic, multicolored walls reminded him of home. He sighed. not that he could go home as it was, he reflected. Shrugging to himself, which probably looked a bit wierd to eric, lo pointed to a high stone building in the distance, which seemed to glimmer, with its bright emerald coloring.

"That's where we are headed." Lo said. "Now the only thing you are going to have to remember here, is that most people are friendly, but if you see anyone dressed in bright red, or all black, get out of their way." he said.

Eric looked up to where Lo was pointing and nodded. The building was a blindingly bright emerald color and the longer Eric stared at it the brighter it seemed to become. It glistened in the daylight, sending little tendrils of reflected green light dancing over the rest of the city. The building reminded Eric of the Crystal Palace in a sense...Something about the way it demanded everyone's attention and flaunted its superiority in the form of a colorful display. He tuned in to what Lo was saying around the point of "anyone dressed in bright red or all black, get out of their way".

"Uh-huh." He said absentmindedly, nodding and following Lo deeper into the city. He had certainly heard what Lo said, but the emerald centerpiece of the city was pushing most other thoughts out of his mind. It was shiny, a beautiful color, and as far as he could see it was well-constructed. Eric was busy re-modelling and improving the building in his mind's eyes and wasn't at all paying attention to the world around him.

Lo suspected that he was being partialy ignored, he also had to aknowledge that he didnt care quite as much as he probably should have. He figured that as long as Eric had heard him about not pissing off the Elite Guard or the noble houses, he should be fine. As it was, he was also being distracted by his wounds, which, much to his chagrin, were still quite ragged...

"Ive been like this too long..." He murmured to himself.

He sighed and continued walking. All around, the streets has a nearly surreal quality to them, as even the road below seemed as though it was a patchwork of mismatched, but somehow beautifully blending parts, the cobblestone desighn composed of myriad colors that wound around eachother like serpants. It was all Lo could do to avoid just looking around and enjoying the sights. He predicted that Lo was not trying as hard, and so, was subtly guiding him away from figures that were likely to be unhappy with him for getting in their way.

The blue tower in the distance was getting ever-closer.

Eric had expanded greatly upon the tower in his mind and he figured that he should stop doing so before he unintentionally changed it in reality. He became hyper-aware of surroundings very suddenly and although this could potentially have sent him into a panic he settled for tucking his blades closer to his body and actually paying some amount of attention to where he was going.

"Yes," He turned very suddenly to Lo, navigating the crowd backwards and with surprising accuracy. "you have been like that for an awfully long time. My stitches are just starting to dissolve. I'm easy like that. Unfortunately my shoulder is going to require stitching as well so next time we stop..." He paused. He turned around again and stared up at the massive building before him. "Lo, where in the name of the Eternal Fall are we?"

Lo chuckled ruefully. "Well, I usually dont have much of an issue with healing...but....well, anyway, we're in Zix. It's a plane semi paralel to yours...though, quite a bit different. Main thing to know about zix is that everything is an extreme. Theres no warm or cool here, only searing and icy, theres no middle ground...so watch it." he said with a shrug.

He twitched slightly, and for a split second his wounds rippled and sparked as though something was trying to assume a different shape before Lo quickly took a breath and the reaction ceased. He looked around for a moment, before seeming to satify himself that no one had seen.

"In any case." Lo said hastily "This building is the tower of a friend of mine. A zix native. Hes a little...uh...abrasive, but he'll help us with some supplies and healing, so that's a good thing.

Straight ahead the tower in all its splendor seemed to stretch up into the clouds, though, having been up high themselves, lo and Eric could confirm that this was just an optical illusion. Nonetheless, the pearlescent marvel of architechture seemed to be almost drawing the two in.

Eric eyed Lo suspiciously. He was hiding something. He had been from the start and Eric knew it.

"Can we go to the extremely cold extremely sterile side?" He said jokingly. He knew there probably WAS a part of Zix like that, but regardless. He paused and tilted his head slowly as Lo's body did weird things. "Are you okay? I could-" Lo cut him off. Eric glared at him indignantly.

He turned and looked up at the tower. He was a little nervous about meeting Lo's "abrasive" friend, but he figured this was another part of adventure. Eric knew to a certain degree that being naive would kill him one day.

"Shall we?"