(ooc: Kawanua, I don't know what you're expecting me to do - go back and forth through the Warp Gate to pick up Kawanua? As you know, that's unlikely to happen, as Warp Travel is arduous and it is ill-advised to repeat it to often in a short stretch of time. There are still others on Kawanua's side - I'll leave it to you to get him to this side.)

After staring for some time, Stavarus closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens them, he speaks, mostly to himself, his voice bitter.

"So the Warp Lord has also cost me my homecoming. Never again will I see the emerald fields of fair Shundahre, or breath its crisp, fresh air."

Stavarus shakes his head.

"I will have my vengeance upon him!"

Soul Reaver however is not paying attention to Stavarus' rant. Instead, he has been watching Asaki as she tries to point out the names of the photo. After she fails to remember her mother's name, a small amount of sadness seems to wash over her expression. Soul Reaver walks up to her. He hesitates, but then gently puts his arm around her shoulders, trying not to startle her.

"You forgot your mother's name?"

He looks at her carefully.

"It is sad to see one's past slip away in the mists of time. But perhaps forgetting is a way of healing our wounds... Perhaps if I could forget the faces and names of my past, I would not feel as if the past were still judging me. Maybe it means that whatever wounds you have suffered will heal in time?"

Soul Reaver shakes his head slightly, while taking his arm away. He steps back.

"Forgive me. I do not wish to seem as if I know best in this matter. It was merely a thought that I had."

He then explains the situation to Yue - how his world was once beautiful, but was destroyed in a great war millenia ago.

His reaction to Gulver's barely-veilded taunt is somewhat more blunt. He answers cooly.

"No. I did not sleep through that war. I was elsewhere when it happened. Not that it matters - I was still unable to stop the destruction."

Meanwhile, Stavarus takes out the enchanted lens and holds it up to his eye.

"The lens should show us where the Staff was..."

Stavarus gives a very unpleasant glare at Asaki.

"I know perfectly well how to use this... Rhavin is no more capable of making it function than I am!"

Stavarus then turns away, still looking at the swirling mists in the lens.

Soul Reaver, in the meantime, answers Kanshisha's question with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"The people of this world did not take PLEASURE in their own destruction, Kanshisha. Unfortunately however, this drive towards self-destruction seems almost universal. What you see here is one of the possible outcomes of the violence inherent in the human psyche."

While Soul Reaver speaks, Stavarus walks around slowly, lens still held up to his eye. He does not look away from it as Ragore asks his question.

"You would be better to ask one of the others here. I am still uncertain as to what exactly this 'Dark Legion' is."

Soul Reaver nods, and steps towards Ragore to explain.

"The Dark Legion are the reanimated corpses of an ancient army of evil. They are powerful undead beings currently under the command of an ancient Necromancer named Khora the Black.

They are ferocious warriors and powerful foes.

I would surmise that Khora is currently using them to try and track down the Staff before we get to it."

More to himself, Soul Reaver adds.

"And it certainly is not here anymore... nothing is..."

At this point, Stavarus slowly lowers the lens and gives a smile. He turns around quickly to face the others.

"I have found the next location of the Staff. When you are all ready, we can leave here."