Qishan

[Bloodedge]

Qishan (チーシャン, Chīshan) is one of the city-states scattered throughout the Central Desert and an important merchant outpost of the region.

[Apollymi]

A redheaded woman in flowing robes was moving through the merchant down of Quishan. As she did she was followed rather closely by a short dark haired girl who was dressed in baggy pants and a white and black vest covering her chest. Small black shoes and a golden bangle around her upper arm completed her outfit. And as she walked she spoke. "All this travel to reach an outpost.... I really hope it's worth it." the redhead woman with her smiled. "Of course it is. You are quite impatient... I suppose I understand though. It has been a long time coming right? Any thing I can fill you in on before we get there, I wouldn't want there to be any confusion before you take the dungeon."

[Bloodedge]

Alongside the two wandering women, there was a tan male figure with teal hair down to his shoulder-blades. He was apparently born with the mutation of the eyes, heterochromia, as his left eye was yellow in color, while his right eye appeared purple. What this man wore was nothing more than a pair of baggy white pants, much like those worn by the dark-haired lass in his company, and an orange top which wrapped around his lower torso and left shoulder alone. And yet, the way he carried himself was not like that of a commoner, which he was liable to be seen as in this manner of dress. His demeanor was more regal, as it were. "The seventh dungeon, Amon. What sort of claim should I expect?" was the man's question after the red-haired woman opened up the proverbial floor to any curiosities.

[Apollymi]

The woman with the regal lad and the black haired lass, heard out the only question apparently offered up. She then took a moment to think about what the Seventh Dungeon would actually be like. After a few seconds she began speaking on this subject, "Amon is an interesting Djinn, he's one of the Heat element so I would expect a decent bit of fire to be around." she mentioned with a flick of her hand which moved a single out of place strand of hair from her face. "He's also a reasonably loyal individual, so you might need your friend here to help you out a bit. Some things could require a helping hand." she finished with a nod. She couldn't think of anything else which was exceedingly pertinent.

[Bloodedge]

"Fair enough. I wouldn't do this without Nasira's help anyway," the man replied. For a large portion of his life, he had the black-haired female alongside him. If she wasn't along for the ride here, he would not feel at all comfortable approaching the seventh dungeon. The fact that she was likely to be necessary only solidified the idea of companionship this man already had toward the lass. "Let's capture ourselves a dungeon."

[Apollymi]

The black haired girl who was apparently named Nasira smiled when she thought about the friendship the pair of them had. She was officially the person in charge of making sure this young man didn't steer off the path of rightness, but they'd become friends a long time before she'd ever realized that particular goal. Even so, she thought for only a second. She was along for this, because it was on the males list of things to do, and it wasn't in her nature to let him do anything alone. Beyond that, she respected him a great deal, so she could only agree to what he aimed to do here. "Sure, Fudo. Let's do this! " she finished looking to the young man.

The redheaded woman accompanying the pair could only giggle. They were such nice people, this one was definitely the right kind of candidate for King. She couldn't wait to see what he and his household came up with to change the world. This woman was almost giddy at the prospect. "So, then come along, the Dungeon is just over this ridge." she mentioned as they would soon come into sight of the Seventh Dungeon.

[Bloodedge]

Soon enough, the seventh dungeon was within eyesight. It had the appearance of a Persian palace from outside, but it had a strange, glowing gate at its front. Stepping forward ahead of the other two, reaching out to the door to touch it. In this moment, the man called Fudo was absorbed into the dungeon and flung down a corridor of golden light. At the end, Fudo found himself standing in a cave with a floor covered in oily water. The walls of this cave appeared to be covered in naturally-occurring pockets of some sort, and they began to light ablaze layer by layer. "Move!" Fudo said to the others whom he trusted to be inside the dungeon along with him already. Darting forward, he extricated himself from the water just before it began to burn intensely.

[Apollymi]

The glowing gate was one which Fudo arrived at first and after he entered both Nasira and the yet to be named redhead woman appeared inside as well. Though she seemed less than impressed by it initially she supposed it was something wondrous to those who rarely saw such a thing. Within this place the pockets on the wall began to ooze and once they had Nasira didn't have time to properly speak though she'd started a sentence just before Fudo had proclaimed they should move. "Fudo you..." she started only to immediately take off running and looking back and finding that the redhead was running with the pair of them as well. Once at the other end where the oily water behind them had been set ablaze Nasira looked to find the other woman with them and looking a great deal less winded. Nasira was surprised and took a few seconds to catch her breath. "As I was saying... you shouldn't just barrel in without thinking." she finished and sighed. It would be the redhead who spoke again. "That was pretty good. Amon must be pretty picky... trying to kill people off from the start like that." she mentioned seeming to be rather amused by this situation as if there was no danger involved at all.

[Bloodedge]

As the fires burned behind the trio, Fudo exhaled a deep sigh, finding solace in the fact that all present had come out unscathed from the first trap. Though, Nasira seemed dissatisfied by his sudden entrance to the dungeon. "I did think. The thought I had was that there is no point hesitating. I'll take the front; let's go," he said. True to his word, Fudo took the initiative in moving forward. The next challenge came sooner, rather than later, in the form of Slimes. These were a type of shapeless organisms being birthed from sacks in the walls, only to give themselves form as bear-sized scorpions while approaching the group. "This Amon seems like a fun guy. Obviously he's gotten lonely over the years," Fudo commented as he unveiled a short sword that had previously been kept under wraps at his side. "What do you say we push through these and keep going? They're coming from the walls, so we may very quickly find ourselves out of energy if we stay to fight until they're all gone."

[Apollymi]

Nasira seemed to shake her head and palm her face. Obviously her friend was taking advantage of this particular situation. A roll of her eyes would follow though she'd move right along rather quickly. "Sure, whatever you say." she chimed before following along behind. All the while the redheaded woman seemed to walk through without so much as a single care in the world. "Aww... you guys are fun to be around." As they progressed the found a room which had walls covered in sacks which produced from them formless creatures. A bit of a smirk came to Nasira's face as she saw the trio of them become surrounded by enemies and Fudo unsheathe his sword. At his words nothing but a laugh came from the girl.

"Well, that sounds like as good a plan as any." she mentioned though she didn't have a weapon in hand to speak of. Instead, she made a movement forward slamming her small body into the nearest of the Slimes and doing a flip which would put her on the other side of it. Such a barrage would continue until the reached the other side of this room where hopefully they would find an out to such a plentiful enemy.

[Bloodedge]

"I knew you'd agree," Fudo said as he dashed into the fray. Each time Nasira hopped over one of the Slimes, Fudo followed suit from the ground, cutting through the creatures with his sword. Though this didn't seem to be accomplishing anything against the Slimes, but it allowed him to progress without taking any unnecessary damage to his person. Eventually, he was at the end of the cave with Nasira, choosing one of many corridors to traverse next. All seemed to converge on one location; a room with a dragon motif and several flaming tornadoes between the travelers and the end of this route. "It's flashy; I'll give it that."

[Apollymi]

A smirk crossed Nasira's face as she continued on her journey across this room. While she moved she knew that Fudo would be with her without having to look and check his progress. Soon enough she was all the way on the other side of this room pausing when they finished as Fudo would be the one to choose the path they took after. She had no issue following along but the redhead with them seemed content to take another path. And though she hadn't been seen fighting she'd made it through the fray without so much as a smudge on her attire. After a while, she'd find herself aligned with Fudo and Nasira and smile to the pair of them as she emerged from a different path. "Oh, fancy meeting you two here." she mentioned amused beyond all reason. Even so, it seemed they were at a new place and as such this woman would offer her help if it was needed. But it would be Nasira who spoke first about the first thing this young man had said.

"Flashy indeed. Any idea how to get to the other side without being roasted alive?" she questioned of the man. The redhead would chime in after this to ask a question as well. "Well, the answer to that is all around you... I know you can't read it little one, but I wonder if he can." she said referencing the puzzle which this room seemed to be focused upon, while apparently fearing nothing from the fires here.

[Bloodedge]

Fudo took a moment to wrap his sword again while listening to the words of the two women in his presence. The next challenge was an interesting one, as it involved a strange written language with clues to the challenge. "It's written in Torran. It says: 'Dance with the tornado... The truth lies inside the jaw of the dragon... You will find everything before you reach the dragon's tail.' I learned to read Torran language years ago, but I never thought it would be useful for anything. How wrong was I?" Without further ado, Fudo walked toward the path of flaming tornadoes, taking a deep breath while mentally preparing himself for what was to come. "So... May I have this dance?" he asked rhetorically of Nasira. With only the smallest amount of hesitation, he ran forward, weaving around the moving flames at high speeds while making his way toward the end of the chamber. En route, he called out to Nasira. "Full disclosure... this is pretty fun."

[Apollymi]

A smile which hid a lot of pride covered the face of the redheaded woman, as it became obvious that Fudo could indeed read what was written here. It was kind of good, he puzzles like this one which required some knowledge beyond what was normal were the sorts which usually ended the lives of potential Dungeon Capturers. As it stood, this one and his friend likely could have completed this task even without the sprightly redhead tagging along. As it stood though the little black haired girl only found it in herself to chuckle. "Yes, well there are lots of lessons taken for granted... I believe those lessons were before we were friends at least." she commented as she stood and as he asked for the dance she took off after him, while cheekily replying. "Sure, why not..." she mentioned following along after her friend and taking a different set of graceful motions which would also lead her to the other end in his foot-steps. As he mentioned that he was rightly enjoying his adventure though this dungeon she couldn't help but agree.

"I'd argue but I have to agree~" Nasira chimed happily.

[Bloodedge]

"Alright... here we are." Upon reaching the end of the trail, Fudo slipped his right hand into the mouth of the dragon statue sat there. Inside, he found a lever of sorts, which he used without so much as a second thought. This caused the flames behind them to subside, though the follow-up to this was a single pillar of flames which would surround all in the vicinity immediately surrounding the statue. As this happened, the wall around the statue opened, essentially allowing a passage through what would be the body of the dragon. Continuing down this path resulted in an arrival at what was known as he Door of Truth. It was marked with the eight-pointed star, and without a handle. Instead, there was an indentation on each side of the door, each carved out into the likeness of a right hand. "This is what she meant," Fudo said upon finding the door and seeing its locking mechanism. "Two right hands. I think I'm short one."