AN: And now to the meat of our story. I had a serious case of "too many ideas" of where to send Riven, rather than too little. In the end, my decision making process depended by and large upon what kind of story I wanted to tell and if that kind of story could be told at a later date with relative ease or not.
There was a brief moment of complete disorientation as she flew out the other side of the doorway between dimensions. As a result, she could hear the battle well before she could see it. It seemed just like LeBlanc to try and escape her in the chaos and confusion of s melee. With the unusually bright sunlight still leaving her partially blinded, Riven dipped into her reserves and let her magical shield envelop her form, while rolling diagonally out of the way of her entry point. While that certainly didn't help her get her bearings any easier, the tremour she felt emanating from just where she'd been standing told her she'd made the right call.
She felt several impacts against her side, bullets and paws both, while her eyes adjusted slowly. Dark, bestial forms seemed to be in her immediate vicinity, and in high numbers, too. The gun-shots seemed to be coming from further away, where what sounded like fully automated weaponry was hosing down these dark creatures made of shadow and strangely ornate skulls. Riven assumed they were some kind of demon, and with the sand under her feet, the smell of salt in the air and the machines nearby, that she was somewhere on the Piltoven Coast or its opposite Shuriman side. Geography wasn't her strongest suit.
That was enough thinking for now, however. After blindly cleaving herself some space in a whirlwind of erratic movements that did her vertigo no good, she began a more controlled dance of movements. For now, the void spawn seemed but chafe, except for that one giant scorpion creature nearby. She kept her distance for the moment, cutting through what looked to be a slew of giant rats with relative ease. Still, even a few seconds in, the sheer mass of rodents would have overwhelmed her if she hadn't begun to make liberal use of her powers again. Her muscles ached. Her head was starting to throb. Her side definitely burned, where Leblanc had hit her.
'This isn't looking good', she mused to herself, just as the machine gun started up again and turned the air around her to lead. "Shit!"
She threw herself down to the ground, as whomever was manning it either hadn't seen her or couldn't afford to care if she was there or not. Callous, perhaps, but she'd prioritize her own men as well, so aside from a brief flash of annoyance and frustration, she had little ire for the gunner or his commander at present.
Riven had much more for the Scorpion, which seemed to weather the onslaught with something approaching contempt. Worse, perhaps, was that it seemed to focus on the closest person, namely her. Even as its rodent guard dissolved into nothingness around it, which made the Noxian think of demons more than void-spawn now, it raised its stinger high to force her to roll out of the way.
The stabs came vast and visions, each impact making a crater in the sand. Worse, the creature seemed intelligent enough to know that a comparative squishy like her would eventually need to regain her footing to dodge; and that meant getting shot, potentially. Stuck between chitin and hard lead, she grit her teeth and conjured her shield again. Now visibly glowing green, Riven put her remaining strength in a leap that carried her over the creature to use it as a shield between herself and the gunner. Its claws still scraped her side, sparks flying from the magic keeping her safe, while her blade shards began to collect above the broken half of the sword still in her hand, finally forming a large beacon of grave light that trembled with pent-up energy.
Landing on her feet, her eyes narrowed above her furiously bared teeth. She had a lot of anger to spare, especially since LeBlanc was nowhere to be seen and this thing was getting between her and her vengeance. As the stinger came round again, she held her blade into its path, using both hands to brace herself against the blow and adjust several times for the swift, lethal jabs on the scorpion's part that followed. Then, as it reared back to try and force its way through her guard, she took her opening!
A large, scythe-like explosion of energy and shrapnel shot from her sword, hurtling towards the creature at supersonic speeds. Where it struck, dark whisps of smoke left the armour. Even the bone skull, which seemed especially thick, was cracked and cratered from the impacts. The monster seemed stunned for a moment, before it struck in retaliation, forcing her to jump to the side.
She clenched her fist, roared and made a pulling gesture right upon her landing. The beast's wounds lit up in a verdant burst of energy, followed by those same shards she'd rent deep into its form making their way right back out. It was as if she'd set off a warhead deep inside its body, its smokey flesh already dissolving as the shards raced back into orbit around her,
When she hit the dirt immediately after, she noticed things had gone quiet. The gunfire had stopped, the demons were gone and the sands were empty.
She let a minute or so pass, during which her gaze drifted over the area. There was a coastline nearby, with a rather large settlement. It looked a bit Shuriman from the distance, even if the guns hinted otherwise, but she figured anyone who'd seen a gun in combat would want a couple for their guard forces at least. There were people approaching as well. They seemed to largely be wearing white masks and an assortment garments so broad, she concluded they were some sort of civilian militia.
Figuring it was better to face things on her feet than rely on the mercy of strangers, she wearily clawed herself back upright. Now that the high of combat was fading, she could definitely feel every bruise, every torn ligament, every cracked rib, especially on her side. Still, showing weakness was anathema, especially towards strangers, so she set her face into a stern, neutral visage, shouldered her blade and began to walk forwards towards the motley crew of townsfolk.
The closer she drew, the more she noticed a variety of animal traits among them. 'Vastaya', she assumed, though her feelings on the matter were mostly neutral. She just hoped these wouldn't be the kind of idiots who followed that one bird woman around and liked to garrotte humans for fun.
Her fears were almost realized, when one of the men suddenly shouted "Schnee!" and raised his rifle at her. Several more followed his example as they fanned out in a half-circle around her. With weary, but keen golden eyes, she tried to keep an eye on the lot of them, though they were much too many to track. She bent her knees, tightened her grasp around her blade and prepared for the worst.
"Hold, you trigger happy fools!", a stern, female voice rang out from about the ranks. "Lower your weapons. She might be one of ours."
At this point, Riven had no clue what was going on. It showed all over her face as well, leaving her to focus her attention on the dark-skinned woman who approached her. She was fairly lightly dressed, which was true for most of the villagers, with feline ears and tiger stripes denoting her vastayan heritage. While Riven had never met a feline tribe, she's also never been to Shurima, so simply took it as was and tilted her head slightly.
The two looked each other up and down for a bit, before the cat woman removed her demonic looking bone mask and tucked it into a large pocket of her wide pants.
"We don't get many travellers from the desert.", the cat woman began. "Who are you and what is your purpose in Menagerie?"
Riven relaxed visibly. At least she knew where she was now. Sort of. Or would, the moment she got her hands on a map. This was a standard toll question anyway. She dropped her hand from her sword, leaving it looked sheathed at her back and rolled her shoulders, then let both loosely drop to her sides, palms bared towards her counterpart for a moment.
"Peace, leader. I am Riven. I mean you and your people no harm.", she looked around at the mostly masked mob around her. There was some hostility in the air still, a general undercurrent of resentment in their stances and demeanour, though she couldn't quite pinpoint the cause. She decided to choose her words carefully. "My ship capsized in a storm some time ago. A week at least. I washed ashore somewhere,", she looked up towards the sun, then the coast and pointed southwest. "in that direction. I am bereft of water and supplied. If you do not wish to grant me entry to your settlement, I understand, but would ask to at least be allowed to acquire some water before I am on my way."
The Vastaya gave her a peculiar look at that, then motioned towards the battlefield and asked. "And the Grimm? Do you do that sort of thing often?"
Here, Riven saw a chance and decided blunt honesty was the best course of action: "All my life."
"Well, then, let it not be said the White Fang does not appreciate the tireless efforts of huntsmen, no matter where they hail from.", here, the woman eyed her hair for a moment, before looking Riven right in the eyes. "I am Sienna Khan."
There was a pause there, as if she'd been waiting for some sort of reaction. Riven, however, had none beyond an earnest demeanour and as disarming an expression as a Noxian could manage (which, perhaps, may well be a reason several of the group still had their fingers near their triggers).
"Welcome to Menagerie. I believe Chieftain Belladona would like to speak with you after you've gotten your bearings. Your escort will take you there once you've seen to your injuries."