680/Siege of the Ghost Spider: Extreme Glamping

Siege of the Ghost Spider: Extreme Glamping
Date of Scene:	20 March 2020
Location:	Alice Springs, Australia
Synopsis:	Team Siege Perilous goes out in search of the location - and are shot down!
Cast of Characters:	Zatanna Zatara, Gwen Stacy, Lara Croft
Tinyplot:	Siege of the Ghost Spider

---

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Alice Springs is the closest city to where Lara's research had pointed the group towards. The Siege is somewhere in the MacDonnell ranges, which means they will need to find a way to search. Arriving at the airport in Alice Springs, the private plane that Zatanna chartered touches down, taxiing to a small terminal, wear stairs are rolled up to the aircraft as the door opens.

Stepping out first, Zatanna looks every bit the financier of this expedition. Dressed in a billowy white browse that mutes her chest, the shirt is tucked into a pair of khaki pants and fashionable boots as she makes her way down the stairs and on to the tarmac, where a jeep waits for them to ferry them to the airport.

Glancing behind her as she looks towards the other two women to come down, Zatanna laughs. "I've never been here. I have been to Sydney?" she asks, looking around. It's hot, dusty, and windy. This is not the cool shores of Sydney.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen is a nervous wreck for most of the flight, sticking close to Zatanna with infrequent conversation except that which is thrust upon her. Even then she answers only in the bare minimum, fidgeting frequently and checking, and rechecking, their supplies. Something to do with her hands.

When the plane taxiis in, she follows Zatanna down the stairs, herself wearing a pair of mauve green cargo shorts, dark brown hiking boots, and a short sleeved button top. A pink/blonde ponytail sticks out through the back of a baseball-cap. She's also wearing the heavy pack carrying their all their supplies and moving as if it weighs nil.

Fixed on her wrists are her webslingers. "I've never been out of the states..." She murmurs to Zatanna, looking around at the dusty area.. "My webshooters wont last long in this weather."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had been lost in her research inside of the plane most of the trip. Dressed in a light blue tank top with a off-white button-up shirt tucked into a pair of slim fit cargo pocketed trousers, Lara leaves most of the buttons on the top undown down to her stomach. On her eyes she wears a pair of dark brown aviator sunglasses and her matching dark hair is tied back into a pony tail. On her wrist is a rugged sport watch that she's checked fairly often throughout the trip.

Once they arrive, Lara had her notes and journals packed up again and was ready to disembark... she's an expert traveler and has been quite a few places. Once out of the plane and she hears Zatanna's words, Lara raises her sunglasses up to peer around the airport. "I was here for a day on my 18th birthday sojourn here in Australia." She smiles, fond memories of those days. She glances to the others. "I came here via The Ghan, a train that runs along this region. This is a wonderful town though, with a very interesting history."

Lara adjusts the strap of her leather backpack on her right shoulder, holding a leather duffle bag at her side in the other hand. "A great tourist town, if you're looking to unwind."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"I'll keep that in mind, Lara." Zatanna offers, pulling her sunhat on and tieing it down with a lacy scarf. "Would it be better to check for the area we're looking for by helicopter or jeep?" she asks curiously. She's not mentioning the touristy part of this. If Gwen goes home from here -- Zatanna is never going to want to visit here again.

Hearing Gwen's complaint, Zatanna sets a hand on the the younger woman's back. "We'll pack some extra canteens, I'll make sure you get the moisture you need." she promises her with a small wink and encouraging smile as she waits for Lara to make the choice. "Or would you rather find a hotel for the night before we head out? I made sure we packed camping gear."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Helicoptor would be easier.." Gwen says, but she is looking around as Lara explains the tourist attractions of the city where they've landed. She is, by no means, in a hurry to go home.. but every moment she spends here is one that may see the entire collapse of reality or whatever other horribleness follows being trapped out of universe.

Standing in the stiff breeze, she tugs at the straps of the heavy pack she's wearing and looks to Lara for decision whether they should set out now or spend the night.. but she ultimatley comes to a conclusion herself. "We should probably head out.. It's too early in the day for us to be considering resting.." Even if the thought of one more day with Zatanna is a pleasing one.

Everything is happening too fast.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara draws in a light breath and lowers her shades down to cover her eyes again. "Helicopter will allow us to get there now and save quite a bit of time. If we go by Jeep, we will experience more of the area, but... it would chew up a lot of the daylight left." Jeep is honestly the way Lara expected to travel, she hadn't thought that they would rent a helicopter.

As she pulls a water bottle from the pocket on the side of her backpack, she twists the cap on it and takes a sip. "If you do want to go the helicopter route though, I can save you a bit of money and fly it for us. One of my... side hobbies as a teen was to learn how to fly them. Somewhat based in my own desire, somewhat based in the pushy nature of my mentor." She recaps her water bottle then and holds it down at her side by it's cap.

"I'm ready for that though, if you two are." She adds. "You both look a little... anxious and well, I'm not sure this town would really be one either of you would enjoy /too/ much. It has a rougher said to it as well."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Anxious? No. The whole reason that Zatanna put the hotel option on the table was to see if she'd have one more night with Gwen. Alas, fate is not on her side today. "Helicopter's fine, if you want to fly, Lara." the young sorceress offers. "I can't teleport us there, unfortunately, we can't pinpoint it, and I could randomly teleport in the canyons forever and not find what we're looking for."

But the decision is made, and Zatanna nods. "Give me a moment to speak with the hangarmaster, and I'll get it set up!" she offers. Her smile for a moment is sad, bittersweet, but she sucks it up as she heads for the airport terminal to find the man to talk to about renting a helicopter, and giving Lara and Gwen a moment.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen is staring down at the dust strown tarmac with a sad smile as well. Her hands are hooked behind the straps of the pack, but only to give them someplace to be, that's out of the way. She's listening to the two women, of course, but her thoughts are on the last few weeks.. That they're about to end. And while she's excited to see her father, to see her friends, she cannot help feeling she's leaving behind something better.

It's heartbreaking really.

When Zee makes clear her intentions to charter a copter, Gwen glances up to watch her enter the hanger, then looks over to Lara. "How likely is it we actually find this thing?" She wonders. She might note there's a hope in her voice that doesn't match her expression and general demeanor. Maybe it's impossible? Maybe the expert doesn't think they'll succeed.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara gives a nod and a soft smile to Zatanna, she can tell the woman is pretty busted up about this. Torn in two directions on what she really wants to have happen here. She'd seen that over the course of her research on this matter, and the little extra time she'd spent at Shadowcrest Manor since their initial meeting.

When Zat goes to inquire about renting their next ride, Lara's eyes go out to the horizon beyond the property of the airfield. She looks back though when Gwen asks that question. It's a question that has a lot of moving elements to it and it makes Lara glances down at the tarmac as well for a moment, before she looks up to Gwen's face.

"You know if you'd asked me that question a year ago I would've told you 'extremely unlikely'." Lara initially replies to it before she waits a minute and parts her lips to draw in a breath of hot Australian desert air. She tilts her head just a little then. "But now... Mm. Anything is possible." Again her gaze goes back out toward the wild lands.

She raises her water bottle up to the side of her face and stretches a pair of fingertips out from it to stroke some of her loose hair out of her face from behind the limb of her sunglasses. "My research on this matter was solid. I think we'll find something, I'm just not sure what." She looks back to Gwen then. "No matter what happens though, Miss Zatara has... she's really gone out of her way here to try to help you and I hope we're able to. But if we can't, well, at least you've got some good friends here that care about you. Who knows what could be figured out in time too."

It sounds like Lara has low expectations for this.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The clicking on heels on the hard tarmac announces Zatanna's return to the pair. She's dangling a set of keys and hasn't heard anything from the two women as she smiles. "Got the helicopter!" she offers cheerfully, handing them over to Lara. "I took the additional insurance." There's a playfulness in her voice as she gestures across the flightline to the Bell-412 with it's doors removed that will be serving as their chariot.

"Gwen, want to ride up front with Lara? I can sit in the back. No fear of heights." she promises as she waits for the group to move to load up their gear." After handing over the keys, she slips her hand onto Gwen's elbow to lead her. There's encouragemet there and she kisses Gwen's cheek. "No webslinging for you, m'dear!"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
There's a moment of heart sinking acceptance from Gwen, though there's certainly room in what Lara says that they may not find what they're here for. She has faith in Zatanna and Lara by extension. If there's a way for her to get home, Zatanna will bend heaven and stars to find it.

The sound of heels on concrete announce Zee's return and Gwen smiles over towards her, waving as if she somehow doesn't see the pair standing there.. and immediately feels dumb for having done so. "Yeah, you might find this surprising, but I'm terrified of heights..." Especially when there's no buildings around to keep herself from falling.

Inability to websling certainly levels the playing field a little, right?

"Thank you for this, Zee..." Reaching up lay her palm against Zee's cheek, but she nods to Lara as well, "You too. You didn't have to help me.. I really appreciate it."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara shows a softly smile to the insurance comment. "Good, because I plan to bang the hell out of this thing." She replies, in a rare moment of Lara Croft humor. Lara accepts the keys and makes her way with the other two to where they need to be. When the chopper gets into view, Lara starts to already familiarize herself with it's controls. She's been in one of those before, thankfully.

Once they all arrive at the Bell chopper, she gets all the doors open on it and starts to place her own gear inside of it before she turns and sees an airfield attendant coming to speak with them. Lara tells the others to get on inside before moving to talk to him for a minute or so before he joins the British woman in going over the pre flight checkup. The two of them do a full tour around the aircraft before they speak a moment longer and then, eventually, Lara ends up in the pilot's seat and sealing the door up while the middle aged Aussie airfield attendant starts to seal up the other doors.

With her headset on, Lara motions to the others to put theirs on if they haven't already. "Okay, we're on our way."

With a turn to her right and a lean back behind her, Lara reaches out and snatches her backpack, then pulls it up to her pilot's seat to get her journal out that has her coordinates checked map. The bag is set off to the side and... within a few more moments the chopper is fired up.

The take off is smooth, the man on the ground gives them a good tall wave before he turns and starts back toward the helicopter hangar.

And they're off, with the sun high in the big blue sky and the outback of Australia's red center, all around them on every side.

"Should be about an hour, I wager, maybe a little over." Lara's filter voice says over the headsets, her sunglasses scanning the aircraft's readouts while her hands grip the steering controls. "So enjoy the view, ladies."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Leaning into the touch on the cheek, Zatanna takes Gwen's hand and kisses the inside of her wrist and sets her hand on the younger woman's chest, right where her pendant rests. "Right here." she promises softly. And with that, once everything is loaded, she moves to settle into her spot, taking off her hat to settle on the helmet. "...does anyone wash these things?" she asks, curling her nose.

And it's nearly an hour they are in the air. About forty five minutes into the flight, really. Following one of the canyon trails, the helicopter is buzzing along. It's blades whomp-whomp-whomp in the air. Off in the distance, below the helicopter, there's a brief flash.

And Gwen's immediately got that sense of impending doom. Not because she should have used the restroom at the terminal, like Zatanna did.

But because there's an anti-air missile streaking up at the helicopter from below, contrail streaking across the sky as it races towards the helicopter.

They only have a couple of seconds to react before impact -- not enough time for Zatanna to throw up a spell. Because she was napping in the back.

Like I said. Should have used the potty.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen laughs quietly at Zatanna's question about washing the headset and grips her wrist where the other woman had kissed her. The smile she shares is genuine and full of unspoken emotions, but then they're loading up into the Chopper and getting underway.

The blonde, herself, isn't napping. She's staring out the window spouting out random facts about the genetic evolution of the notoriously harsh Australian fauna and flora; "It's isolationist evolution. Essentially the ecosystem is such a closed loop in close proximity that everything is made hardier. It's one of the only locations on earth where the kudzu vine wont florish against native flora because of the aggressive tendencies..." Scratching at the back of her neck a half second before the alarm bells go off in her skull..

"Evasion!" But there's not a lot a helicopter can do against anti-air munitions and even less that Gwen can do.. Nothing except one thing.

The door to the chopper is flung open and she swings out against the side with her toes on both feet and one hand pressed against the smooth metal trying to keep traction against the wind-sheer, arms opening wide to catch the wind and send her flaring backwards against the sudden brush of Gs against her. Wind whips her hat free and sends her hair into a whirlwind, but her attention shifts instantly towards the incoming missile, firing a webline from her free wrist to yank it forcefully off course.

It likely wont stop the missile from hitting, but hopefully only enough to damage the chopper and not outright destory it!

Lara Croft has posed:
The most Lara does during the trip besides fly, is take a sip or two from her water bottle before she sets it back into the small cup holder between the seats. She otherwise makes little comments here and there, but watches the scenery and the readouts in front of her.

It all goes south though when that flashes draws her attention and she has a sudden realization of what just happened. She's seen those missiles before, but she's only seen them fired from the ground up, and she has no training what so ever to dodge them. What she knows... is only a small story from a man who flew attack helicopters. He was at a campsite she was with some traveling friends at, drunk as a skunk, he boosted out he dodged a surface to air missile.

Unfortunately, even if it were true, his aircraft was likely much smaller and much more nimbler than this air bus.

All the same, Lara recalls the story and enacts it to the best of her ability even if it's the last thing they can do up here. She turns the chopper IN to the missile's path and waits just a second before jerking the controls to port! This put's Gwen in line to fire her webbing at the missile as she whips open her door!

It's all happened so fast, there's not much to be said, really! The chopper's internal alarms are already going off at the wild maneuvers being performed! "Hold on!" Lara shouts to Gwen, to Zat too if she's not already doing it behind them!

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Gwen whips the door open, sending a blast of cold air into the cabin that wakes up Zatanna, just to realize that all hell is breaking loose. "Ladies?!" she calls out in confusion, just as Gwen jumps! Zatanna is shocked and concerned to say the least until she sees the webline that snags the missile and slings it around -- and Lara's experienced pilot, the missile's explosion clips the tail rotor.

The helicopter's rotor is destroyed, sending the rotor craft into a slow spin. It's going down, but it's a controlled spin that Lara should be able to work into a crash landing.

It's a good thing that Zatanna paid for that insurance. Two things are immediately known.

1) They won't be reaching their destination tonight.

2) They're not alone out here.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen holds onto the side of the helicopter when it goes into a tailspin. Hands out now, both of them gripping tight around a hatch railing on the side of the sliding side door, she's temporarily visible through the window to Zatanna in the back seating area. Then she's gone, flung from the chopper a half second before it comes beyond the tops of trees in an uncontrolled tumble. She hits the canopy of the forest and snaps through limbs and leaves until she's able to get herself righted enough to send a webline out towards an extended branch. Swinging beneath it towards another, following suit at a quickened pace towards the smoke she can still see bellowing out from the back of the rapidly descending vehicle.

She's not far behind them, though, and moves pretty fast through the dense canyon. She'd seen the people behind them, their uniforms anyways, and she needs to get back Zee and Lare /anyways/. It's unlokely to be the first time the costumed attackers make an attempt at the trio, she will not let the pair deal with that alone!

Lara Croft has posed:
The chopper goes down into the bush, the sounds echo off of the landscape and the wild life within the woodlands are all sent into a frenzy over it. But eventually the sound of the aircraft dies down and it's all said and done.

The vehicle is in ruin, but it's not an absolutely abysmal landing. It is, as well, on the edge of a river bank, in a patch of yellow grass and red muddy filty. Black smoke raises up into the air, giving away their precisely location however.

There's movement, rustling, Lara is out of the helicopter and moving around it to try to get the door open to get back to Zatanna. "Zatanna!" She calls inside the vehicle to see if she can get a response, her forehead is already bleeding as she'd impacted her head against the door of the pilot's seat side.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The sounds of rending metal and gravel and tree branches being thrown around is what announces the arrival of Air Lara to ground. The helicopter makes a hard landing, jotsling the pilot and remaining passenger around. Lara calling out to Zee gets her attention as she cries out from beneath the crush of supplies. While Gwen can carry the one hundred plus pounds of equiment without issue, Zatanna's trapped beneath it all.

And with pressure of it direcly on her legs, she's not able to focus enough to get the words out of her mouth to form a spell as she grits her teeth. "L-ara!" she manages with a wincing sound.

"G-gear!" she manages as a second word as she struggles inside the passenger compartment, trying to find herself a handlhold or something.

The smell of smoke is starting to get thicker, the tail section fire starting to spread down the backbone of the helicopter.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
The smoke draws her on silk web towards the crashed aircraft like a bullet. Gwen knows the volocity of descent would have caused significant damage to the craft, even with Lara's expert flying leading it as gently as possible towards the ground. So she knows that those inside are in grave danger should one of the fuel lines be ruptured, more concerning with that black smoke rising into the air.. that indicates the ignition of combusting agents!

So she's on the move.

Breaking out of the trees behind a flock of birds screaming protest as the tiny woman latches onto the side of the helicopter and crawls direclty into dangers red hot heat to tear the door directly off the frame. There's a frantic urgency to her movements, not bothering to pull her throttle her strength back, "Zee!" Hoping to clear the way by yanking the gear out and hurling it backwards so that Lara can get in there to help free the Sorceress from her confines..

It's also presence of mind enough to salvage /some/ of their equipment.

Lara Croft has posed:
With sweat and blood trickling down her brown, Lara tugs on the managled door to the chopper only to find it not budging. But Gwen comes out of literally no where, as far as Lara can tell, and she tears that door right open regardless of its structural damage! With a step back, followed by a lunge forward, Lara is up inside of the helicopter and shoving the bags and other gear out of the way to get to Zatanna.

"Come on!" Lara shouts to her. "We gotta go, we gotta go!" She says it rushed, but doesn't yell it. She'll move to try and take Zatanna's hand, to get her up and over the gear and to get her arm around her shoulders so that they can, together, evacuate the downed aircraft as quickly as possible! Lara leads the magician to the exit and out toward the muddy shore of the flowing waterway!

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Gwen manages to fling the gear out of the way, it lands on the sandy bank some distance away, but most of it falls into the water and is washed away. Glamping will not be an option anymore, it clearly appears. Lara manages to pull Zatanna from the wreckage, and the sorceress stumbles away from the burning helicopter. They fall into the muddy water together and Zatanna tries to hold up her hand to call for a spell.

But it's too late. A moment after the three are clear of the helicopter, the fire reaches the helicopter's petrol tanks and with a loud explosion, the three are illuminated for a moment as the helicopter is rendered completely useless, consumed by flame.

Which leaves the three women alone. In the bush. With very little gear. A sorceress that can't cast at the moment, and the two other women left to their own devices.

That's a way to start this adventure to get Gwen home, right?

Gwen Stacy has posed:
You can't spell Adventure without ads.

We'd like to speak to you a moment in this interlude between action about your automobile insurence....

Gwen is losing it, concern flooding her as Lara dives into the torn frame of the aircraft and comes out with the wounded sorceress. She grips both of them around the waist and leaps, carrying them nearly the length of a football field away from the explosion and its heat still feels like standing next to a bonefire on a cold night.

Panting, Gwen throws her head back, flinging river water off her face as she turns towards the wreckage of their ownly way out of this forest.. Inwardly, she hopes Lara was able to grab her journal and the coordinates the pair of them had researched, but...

Her immediately concern is Zatanna. Leaning over her, smoothing dark hair out of her face as she kneels down besid ethe sorceress shouting her name, the blast rendering her own voice silent as the buzz clears. "-p, please wake up!"

Lara Croft has posed:
On the shadow edge of the river, Lara shields herself (and Zatanna as much as she's able) from the explosion but ultimately they're both just blasted back into the water with sizable splashes. Lara's got a bad bump on her head, but she's otherwise in fine shape, so she bounces back up after the blast and looks to Gwen as she rushes to help Zatanna. "Get her up on shore." Lara says hastily to Gwen, trying to help get Zee up and off of the river's edge, to get her out of the water as much as possible. "Zatanna?" Lara calls out to her, reaching up to touch the Sorceress' face as well before she sits back on her heels and takes a moment to breath.

There's a quick look given to their surroundings before Lara looks back down again to their mutual friend, and the woman who arranged all of this, she's of paramount important at the moment, over everything else going on.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zee's face and body is illuminated by the burning wreckage of the helicopter. She lays there for several moments as the other two women try to rouse and rally her, and Zatanna slowly starts to come around, and she clutches the side of her head, wincing. "Owwww." she manages, voice soft and pained as she looks around.

"What... what happened?" she asks, slowly coming to the realization that bad things happened. And they are nowhere near civiliaztion.

"Gwen? Lara?" she lets out a breath of relief as she realizes that the three of them are okay. They're alive. Out in the middle of nowhere and alone, by alive.

She closes her eyes. "Can't think. Concentrate." Which means she's not casting spells at the moment. She has to have her facilities and wits around her to cast, and at best she can do it with a headache. But she's had her bell rung, but good.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen has several deep custs on her neck and face where she broke through the tree coverage in her descent, and her shirt is torn up her left sleeve and left knee. She's sweaty, covered in mud and soot, and her hair is half in the ponytail and half matted to the side of her face.

When Zee rouses, she breaks in a gut wrenching sigh of elation, smothering her in a hug that only lasts a few seconds, and then she's looking around them frantically. "We need to get as much gear as we can and move away from this wreckage..." She's quiet, but insisant, "The people who attacked us will be drawn to the fire.." Her voice sounds like someone whose lost their hearing, but improving.

She'll tell them about the uniform once they're safe. For now, she scoops Zatanna up in her arms as if she weighs little more than a feather until the woman can get her feet beneath her, headed for the forest beyond the bank of the river.

Lara Croft has posed:
With Zatanna awake and alert, Lara touches the side of her head to check it lightly before she looks to Gwen. "Rung her bell." Much like Lara's own, which is bleeding openly down the side of her left temple toward her cheek. She is aware of it, but she has to deal with their gear.

So Croft rises up, shedding water and quickly moving while Gwen speaks of those who did this to them. "They're coming for us, no doubt." Lara agrees as she turns back toward the helicopter and moves to get her duffle bag. Her backpack was lost, inside the cockpit with her phone inside of it. It's a SHIELD issue phone though and they'll likely be alerted of it's destruction and being 'off the grid' at some point.

Lara tosses her duffle bag up onto the shore and then moves to get other items she seems have spilled out into the water. Her journal had fallen out of the helicopter and it was floating out into deeper waters, so Lara starts to trudge her way out into the river, waist deep, then stomach and chest deep before she grabs the edge of the leather notebook and starts to turn back around to swim back toward shore.

No crocs get her, don't worry.

Once back on her feet she starts up out of the water, completely drenched now, until she's back up toward the other two. "Grab as much as you can, we have to get the hell out of here, fast."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Tropsnart." Zatanna tries to say.

No dice. Nothing happens. Instead, she grips the side of her head and lets out a gasp of pain. This isn't an injury. Something in the area is messing with her casting. Holding the side of her head, she limps out of the water, her blouse ripped to the point that she has to tear off the bottom half -- which she presents to Lara to use as a bandage for her head.

She ties off the other half at her breasts and loses the heels on her shoes to start to follow the other, grabbing some of the water packs and light items that she can carry - she doesn't know what's essential. She's never been camping!

Gwen Stacy has posed:
With Zatanna moving under her own power, Gwen sweeps down to grab her own pack, which is smaller, but has several water bottles and some other sundries, along with a compass and a destroyed satelite phone. With the parts, she might be able to put something together once they're safe, but she's not thinking about that now. Smoothing her hair back to retie her ponytail to keep it out of her face, she kneels down at the edge of the trees and shoves more supplies into her pack.

Looking between the two injured women, a small frown curling the corners of her mouth seeing the blood rolling down the side of Lara's face, it's Zatanna's yelp of pain that draws her over quickly. No familiar tingle of magic, but she's unaware of any interferrence either. "Come on, I saw a clearing a few hundred yards back that way when I was swinging over."

Lara Croft has posed:
"Thank you." Lara says softly for the makeshift bandage. "I have a first aid kit, but it's in the bottom of my pack." She adds as she raises the cloth up, rings it out and then moves to dab at the side of her head before she will tie it around her forehead. It's the best she can do for now, wear it like a bandanna. With that done, Lara removes her over-shirt and rings it out as well.

Dropping that beside her duffle, Lara crouches and takes a moment to open the bag, where in she then starts to pull out a holstered handgun that is wrapped by a black nylon strap around her thigh and then clasped with a black metal latch. She reaches back into the bag and starts to pull out a black roll that looks almost like a sleeping mat, until she unravels it and lifts up a deconstructed compound bow, that with a flick of her thumb suddenly snaps into shape!

The bow is set aside while the rest from that rolled up gear is adjusted and formed into an arrow quiver that is swept around her shoulders and then snapped across her upper chest by another black clasp. Lara stands then, with her bow in one hand and her duffle in the other. She moves to join Gwen and Zatanna, looking a little more... fierce than before?

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
For the first time, Gwen may notice that small flicker of fear in Zee's eyes. Without her magic, she's a pretty useless girl. Pretty. And useless. She follows after the other two, letting them lead the way to the clearing that Gwen found as she looks around her, pulling her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm. She glances upwards towards the stars, doing some mental calculations. "It's about eight in the evening. Did anyone get a bearing on what direction that the missile came from?" she asks the pair, reaching up to rub her fingers against her temple.

Hopefully they'll arrive at the camping site soon. She's hurting. And tired. And muddy. This is not what she signed up for. But it's to help Gwen. She'd go through this, and worse.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen had been paying attention to the direction the missile had come form and relays to the pair what she knows as they break into the clearing. Immediatley setting to make sure there's nothing dangerous, holding a hand out behind her to stall the pair from joining her until she's certain there's to be no tingling of her senses... Her body hurts, aches really, from the fall and she looks exhausted..

But there's a lot of concern in her gaze as she looks over to Zatanna and spots that glimmer of fear in the sapphire eyes she's come to know so well. "It's okay.." She promises, believing it despite their situation. On the hierarchy of things Gwen Stacy has faced, this does rank near the top, but it's in a steep league... she's seen some shit.

"We'll be okay..." Rubbing her hands down the taller womans arms reassuringly, even smiling, if with an apprehensive twitch. "Lara.." Who is loaded for boar, Gwen nods to her, "We need to set some defenses.. incase they come after us-" And she knows they will. People who fire anti-air rockets at passing choppers don't leave the wreckage to the scavangers. "Babe, you think you can start a small fire?" She asks Zee, tilting her head. Giving her something to focus on to belay her concerns.

Lara Croft has posed:
"We were headed east." Lara says. "The missile came at us from our starboard side, Gwen's side. They were southwest of us when they fired the rocket. I believe it came from the river bank, but further down stream. I saw a series of waterfalls between our crash site and where they fired the rocket from, so that means the terrain is likely a bit challenging to navigate. But they're definitely making their way toward us."

A glance is given over her right shoulder, but she presses onward until they reach this clearing that Gwen had found. "If we start a fire, we risk giving our location away." She warns the other two. "I'm not sure how many of them there even are, there could be one, two or fifty." Lara's bag is set down and she takes a moment to go down to her knees to dig around in it before she pulls out a high powered flashlight that she then offers to Zatanna.

As she stands again she looks between them both and nods to Gwen. "I'm going to go have a look around the perimeter of this spot. I'll... setup a few things to let us know if anyone comes close. I'll, find some food too. With the sun going down, they may not even try to pursue us until it comes up again. It's, impossible to say for sure." Lara turns then and starts to move toward the trees.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"No flashlight. No fire. Got it." Gwen's touch goosepimples Zatanna's flesh, but the rubbing helps her to warm as she closes her eyes. When Lara heads off into the brush, Zatanna looks to Gwen. "I can't feel my magic. It's there. But it's scrambled. Like an adult channel - I can see glimpses of it, but there is something really powerful that is confusing it."

That would probably be the siege perilous. Something very powerful - strong enough to warp realities, is it any wonder that Zatanna can't get a true feel for it's location?

While Lara is out in the brush, as she steps through a small thicket, there's a noise that comes from within. It's a low trilling pete-pete-peta-peta -- and she finds herself near a small grouping of grouse that has gathered for their courtship dances, the birds unaware of the woman nearby.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen frowns at that explanation, sticking close to Zatanna though she does look back towards Lara heading off into the brush alone to search the paremeter of their clearing. She offers the girl up a short nod, kneeling down beneath a tree to help guide Zatanna into a sitting position. There's a thermal blanket in one of the packs and she heads off to find it, draping it across the sorceresses shoulders, "You can't feel your magic or you can access it?" These two things seem different to her... Technology still exists even if she can't use it, right?

She thinks about it logically.

Glancing off in the direction Lara head, "We might be close to the siege, then.." She murmurs, that familiar bubble of apprehension rising up in her gut as a realization occurs to her... "... What does this thing actually /do/?" As she looks back to the dark haired woman with a small frown.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's goal in the wild lands is to setup a series of trip wires in the obvious directions that would lead to their current campsite. The trip wires are armed with a number of different things, including two flare guns that will fire flares up into the sky if anyone traipses across them in the dark. She's out there for a little while before she finds the birds and uses her bow to fire upon and kill the fattest of them that she spies. She huffs a bit as she jogs toward it and snatches it up off the ground, then starts back into the darkness.

Eventually, she'll make her way back toward Gwen and Zatanna, with the gird hanging over her shoulder by it's neck that she clutches in her left hand.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"In Arthurian legend, the Siege was the empty seat at the round table, created by Merlin himself." Zatanna explains as she settles on the ground, wrapping her arms around her legs to hug her chest to her thighs and warm herself up. "King Leodegran of Carmelide gave it Arthur as part of the dowry for his daughter, Guinevere. While seats at the Round Table were given only to the most valiant of knights, while the Siege Perilous was reserved for the Knight that brought home the Grail -- the cup of Jesuit Christ that would grant immortality if drunk from."

"It is said that the seat was for Galahad, the Pure Knight, who would bring home the Grail, and bring to close the Arthurian age."

"The Siege was removed from a castle built by William the Conqueror in 1235, where the remains of the round table are. The seat was supposedly removed by Henry VIII during the days of the Tudors, for what it represented."

"The Siege itself... if the heart in the seat is of pure intent, he or she will be judged by the highest of powers, the good and ill of their lives will be weighed in the cosmic balance and they are reborn into a new life without remembering the old one. My hope... is to convince the Siege to return you to your home, with noone remembering the deeds you were accused of." she explains. Willing to bend reality for Gwen? Check.

As she hears the approaching footfalls, Zatanna sits up a bit more straighter, until she's sure it's only Lara returning and she eyes the bird. "Found a friend?" she asks curiously. And then to Gwen, she explains. "I'm not cut off... completely. I can feel it, but it is like it is out of reach. As if the Siege is coaxing me to it, but making me rely on other means to find it."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen kneels down infront of Zatanna and helps warm her further with hands running up and down over the thermal blanket thrown around her. She's clearly listening to the mythology of the seige, but... "Yeah, but what does it /do/..." She wonders aloud, frowning as the tickling suspicion creeps back into her thoughts. "Because I don't think we're the only ones looking for it..."

The uniformed agents she'd seen.

Turning to Lara when she returns, she's silent until Zee explains she's able to sense, but not pinpoint, the seiges location. Which means it's likely close... but it could be beneath them in a cave.. or miles away. No telling how far its power extends, right? "Those agents that attacked us, they were wearing green uniforms with yellow trim... and carrying heavy armaments.. How much information actually /exists/ about this thing? Could they have somehow followed us here and laid out an ambush to get the information you've both collected?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara shows a soft smile at the 'friend' comment. "He might say otherwise, if he could say anything." She quietly quips back before she moves to where they are and she sets the bird aside. "I've setup enough of a warning to give us time to react should they make this far." She tells them both, her London accented voice calm and evenly soft. She then raises up and starts to gather some items around them, enough to go ahead and start a campfire as she's come to decide it's necessary and with the added safety of a perimeter alert options... it's a risk worth taking now, plus the tree cover is thicker than she first though, it might block the light from going quite so far.

At the question from Gwen, Lara walks back toward them and starts to set some rocks around in a small circle, then unloads an arm full of burnables. "Anything is possible." She tells, Gwen. "But this area isn't... we're not in /dangerous/ land for attacks of that nature. And with..." Lara motions to Zatanna. "With Zee being unable to do her magic, it feels... it feels like a trap to me." She explains, having had some time to think about that too while out and about.

As Lara leans forward on her knees she quickly uses a firestarter to get the embers going and a orange glow spreads across all three of them, Lara's eyes are down on the growing flames as she sorts the fuel with her fingertips, avoiding the flickering flames. "It's possible all my asking around, set off some alarms. 'Gave us away' so to speak. I can't vouch for the reliability of all the people I spoke to about this infamous throne."

With the fire looking sufficiently hot now, Lara looks up to them both. "This is probably my fault." She then says to them.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"If you could step through a portal and alter reality to what you wanted, what would you want to do with it if you were a bad guy?" Zatanna asks Gwen, curling into the blanket as Gwen warms her. When Lara returns to start the fire, the young woman glances up at her and she gives a firm shake of her head. "I don't think it's your fault." she responds, reaching to give Lara's hand a squeeze.

"Like you said when we first met, we are not the first to seek out the Siege Perilous. And we won't be the last. We just happened to get here at the same time as someone else. That's powerful." She considers. And then she smiles between the two women. "If anything, it tells me we're on the right track."

And then she realizes that Lara intends for them to eat the bird, and her nose wrinkles. "I'll have to pass on the cuisine tonight. No offense." she offers to the pair with a shake of her head.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen agrees with Zee, even with the shadow of her statement about the seige hovering over her head. There are a number of villains she knows off that would use that kind of power for some extremely nefarious ends, which begs to reason that her arrival here on this Earth really /was/ for a purpose.. Her being here led to Zatanna attempting to find the seat, while others were looking for it. Those who likely had less loving purposes.

Fate is a weird thing.

She runs her fingers back through her hair and shakes her head at Lara, "Not your fault at all.. We've just got to get to it before they can." Which will have to wait until morning with their injuries and general exhaustion.

She does, however, move to her bag, kneeling down at it with it nestled up between her knees. Coming out with an apple.. It's not much, certainly, but she packed provisions for them.. which included Zatanna. Specifically for her, actually, since Gwen is fine eating whatever nature provides.

Except slugs.

The apple is laid in her hand, and her hand closed around it. "Eat. I think we're all going to need our strength."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara does smirk to Zatanna's 'no thanks' toward the bird dinner. "You're not even going to /try/ my cooking?" She asks with a slight shake of her head while she reaches for her bag and drags it toward her. She has a cooking kit within it, not as extensive as Jonah's, but... her big friend isn't here on this trip sadly. "I'll admit that I'm not as good as my usual traveling companion, I wish he were here. He'd already have a fine stew simmering."

As she goes about preparing things she knows to not make a huge mess, because they might have to leave in a hurry. But what comes next may or may not be something either of her two companions who /are/ with her will enjoy. She pops her belt knife and starts to prepare the bird, not directly beside the fire, but a few feet away from it and them.

"My food was in my backpack." She states then. "Though I do have a water cleansing kit still. But that takes a bit of time. I'll start it before we try to get some sleep." Everything she's doing aside from talking is less than fun to describe in written word though, but it's how you eat when you're out like this. If you're LUCKY anyway.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Not a matter of not wanting to try, Lara. I'm a vegan." Zatanna explains to the other brunette. There's no apology offered there. It is what she is. Accepting the apple with a smile up at Gwen, she wipes the apple off and takes a bite from it. She needs it. "Lara, if your alerts are set well enough, we should probably get some sleep. I have a feeling we're going to have a long walk."

Then she looks between them. "And not to be forward, but knowing how cold it could be, we should probably be close together." No ulterior motives there. She's cold and wet and it will help her warm up. It's not like she wasn't going to get someone next to her anyway, right?

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Which is precisely why Gwen had brought the apples, amongst other things that were unfortunately lost. Knowing Zatanna's particular diet restrictions, there's no judgement, only preparedness. She, however, is going to eat the shit out of that bird. Wouldn't matter if half the thing was black and the other half was raw, she'd give it a go.. she burns a ton of calories and has a rapid fire metabolism.

She'll help prepare it as much as possible, and once it's cooked and they've eaten, settle in with Zatanna and Lara to get as much sleep as she's able to. She was going to be next to Zee anyways, but the nights get cold and they were already wet, so making room isn't a difficult thing to do at all.

At some point in the night, part of the cuddle pile, Gwen snorts a laugh, "I wish we'd stayed at the hotel." Because humor.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's resilience and fortitude has her not even feeling much in the way of a chill, she's used to this kind of living. She's experienced far far worse conditions. But, she knows that Zatanna, and even Gwen, probably haven't. "Well. I'll make sure the fire is going good before we rest. And I apologize, Zee, I didn't know that about you. I would've gotten something more for you if I had. We'll find some things in the morning, if that is okay? Apple diet isn't too shabby."

As Lara prepares the food for she and Gwen, and starts to cook it, she has to add. "My SHIELD issued phone was in my bag as well. It's likely only a matter of hours before they send someone to come search for us as well. Normally I'd say we need to turn around and start to head back the way we'd come, but... I know that we've come this far and... well. Yes."

Siege... very Perilous.

Lara will hand Gwen a bowl of bird soup and enjoy it with her before she too will prepare for the sleep. She'll laugh at Gwen's comment. "I think you're right." She'll add on to it as well.