Song of Heroes IC

[Gudmund]

Thall Lium | Velathri, Paean Legion HQ

Making his way to the tavern, Thall cheerily walked through the large building thankfully catering to his height and weight. The Legion truly was a welcoming place, filled to the brim with a wide variety of different people from all over the continent. It was only a week ago that Thall was accepted, receiving a much too small cape he drew over his shoulders; it was more like a capelet or sash at this point, but it matched his rather drab grey metallic look. He was sure he could switch out for a cape that matched his size, but frankly he preferred it this way. The heroic boon he received was by far worth all the effort in coming here, raising his combat potential greatly. And to think this could be further improved... simply astonishing.

Ambling over to the bulletin board, his slow thumping footsteps gaining the attention of a few, Thall took the time to carefully pick out a his first mission. Thall had no immediate need of money, seeing as he didn't require a home to rest in, or food to live on, nor was there anyone he'd like to gift some to. In fact, he was quite poor despite living for over a hundred years, his axe and bow on his back were honestly his only possessions. "Maybe I could hire an enchanter to improve my axe?" he thought, picturing it cloaked in flame, lighting the way and burning his enemies. After a moment, Thall decided on a rescue mission within a haunted manor for 400 Ducats, the most promising one on the board. There was a good chance others had signed up, a more informed Legionnaire would definitely be helpful.

Turning round he spotted a group of people - an onion knight, beastman, two young human women, and a grumpy looking old man - who were likely forming a team for this very mission. Making his way over Thall introduced himself, speaking in his usual deep, tinny voice, "Greetings, I'm Thall, I don't suppose you all plan on joining the rescue mission. Perhaps I could join you and your compatriots?" he asked, hoping they didn't find him too awkward as he towered over them, "I only joined last week, but rest assured I have plenty of experience."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

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Frey listened attentively as one by one his companions on the journey to Antheia came clean about their motivations to join this mission instead of the others, by all means more lucrative, if one was driven by coin, and more adventurous, if one was driven by thrill or glory. The first to bite was Corven, who promptly explained that he was scared of both the purple-cloak elf - the blonde one, he assumed, seeing as Roxana was hardly intimidating and seeing her in action up close did little to change his mind - and the rock that fell from the sky. The rogue chuckled and gave the gladiator a derisive look, though in reality he couldn't blame him. He had a decent head on his shoulders, it seemed.

Next up was Arden, who promptly agreed with Corven, saying he was not a great warrior and preferred a simpler job. Frey nodded at the adventurer. "I can respect that, best not to bite off more than you can chew. I've seen more than one uppity adventurer pay a steep price for not following that simple rule." He commented.

It's probably best if I don't say any more about that.

Annabelle's laconic answer brought him out of his thoughts, though in reality there wasn't much to listen to anyways. The former pirate gave the woman a raised eyebrow, but then simply shrugged - it wasn't his place to pry, he knew he was unlikely to be the only one with secrets.

Instead, he turned to the last to speak, the young Tride, who spoke earnestly and had perhaps the most straightforward answer to Frey's question: she joined because it was fun. At this, the blond man let out a hearty laugh and gave the girl a friendly pat on the back. "Well I'll have to make sure not to disappoint, then! I'd hate it if your first contract gave you a bad impression of the Legion." He said.

"Anyway, it's no fair if I don't answer my own question, so let's just say I picked this one out of convenience. It seems by far the simplest of the three, and the others were quite full already, which is no good when the time comes to split the bounty. Plus, the other groups seemed to have quite a bit of inner conflict." The rogue shrugged again. "And that's not my style at all."

Realizing after he had spoken that there was one member of the party who was yet to answer the question, Frey took a few steps closer to the woman. "How about you, Lady Delacroix? A beauty like you clad in full plate, I'd guess you're better suited to helping the people of that upstream village or facing the beast in the North. How come you're happy to guard a mule with the lot of us?" He asked the paladin, while at the same time offering one of his charming smiles - his compliment had been a sincere one, after all.

[Absolon-7]

Sylanna

Simion Valerin, the marksman from Nur!

Edward Brunwulf

Roxana Ma'gonid
Roxana nodded along to Sylanna's retort about how splitting up was a terrible idea. Upon some consideration she had a point or rather several. There was no way to know that the beast didn't have some trick up its sleeve to make itself hard to detect and everyone staying together would be more beneficial in the case of a surprise attack. Investigating the scene might take longer but it would be worth it if everyone was kept safe. As for the tracks themselves they had all the hallmarks of a mammal with the large round impressions of paw pads. So this ruled out any draconic or otherwise reptilian creature being behind the killings. They were also enormous like the type of dinner plates that could fit a whole cooked goose.

"Yes, you're right Syl," acknowledged Roxana as she squatted down to better observe the tracks, "Everyone staying together would mean no one is specifically targeted if its still here. Somewhere."

While the elf woman was judging the pawprints, the party's gunman had went off on his own to observe a patch of the beast's fur snagged in the surface of a tree but thankfully one his other party members stopped him just short of it. A wandering starling that was flying nearby and was looking for objects to line its nest with wasn't so lucky however as once it perched on the tree and nipped the patch of fur the bird's body immediately began to contort and twist violently in shape in a form reminiscent of a pretzel. It's blood soaked body fell to the forest floor with the fur still in its beak. A low, ominous guttural roar shook the air all around them hogging the forest's air for itself. Roxana stood up and drew her bow at the same time Edward rushed over to her.

"Hmm," hummed Roxana as her ears twitched in trying to pinpoint the sound, "It's up ahead for sure, Eddie, far away though, but it doesn't sound like its the same elevation as us. Like as if there's a severe drop in between...Everyone get in standard formation!"

Remigijus on the other side of the coin wasn't so calm and instead was busy gathering up the horses,"Tha....thats the beast! I don't know how it looks but that roar..that roar! It must be it! I'll look after the horses yes?"

Roxana looked at the Lietuvan native with pity. She couldn't really blame him for being traumatized after seeing his entire squadron massacred. Well seeing as he was also unarmored and slightly wounded she doubted he could count on him for getting involved in combat. There was only forest ahead so their horses would be more liabilities then help in the dense vegetation. The party would then slowly move on the direction of the roar with the melee warriors in front and the ranged fighters and others in the back. It would take almost a half hour's time of walking forward until they hit the drop in elevation that Roxana had mentioned. A deep rocky ravine in the middle of the forest like a grey scar on the earth. It was a sharp drop in the middle but the outer edges gradually rose up giving the ravine a crescent moon shape in its depth. Loose piles of rock littered the bottom and on the side they were facing there appeared to be some overhang obscuring the entrance to some cave. Roxana was sure there was some opening there as the quiet monstrous breathing of the beast could be heard emanating from there.

Roxana glared at the location they were in with her eyes almost piercing the landscape. Seeing as they had the high ground they naturally had the advantage but the monster was still a mystery so any advantage could easily be the opposite and be their deathtrap. There was an idea however that could work. Roxana swiftly called over to the party's alchemist.

"Aayla, you wouldn't have any potion that can make a poison gas denser then air?" inquired the elf, "I'm thinking since it's down there and we're up here it would be a perfect surprise and we wouldn't get in harm's way." She brought her hand to her chin to think further about their options, "We also need to be ready in case it gets wise and comes up for air. Anyone have any ideas that could cover our weaknesses?"

Secret Package Delivery
As the party traveled down the road chatting amongst themselves dark power began their machinations in preparation for them. It was a partly cloudy day with the sun and temperature just right. Not enough to make someone heated and sweat but just good enough where most clothing was comfortable. The dirt road wasn't the best but its not like it would hurt to walk on. Fresh dew on the plants on the road also gave the air a strong pleasant aroma. This calm atmosphere wouldn't last however as there was immediately a fork on the road. A tall sign that pointed the way to towns stood at the center but it was incredibly obvious that it was tampered with as the signs for the cities were shoddily nailed in presumably opposite locations. The pointer for Antheia was switched with the sign for another sign that pointed to some far off town called Barbacus. A thick growth of reeds and bushes grew around the sign and if one were to walk past it they would be able to see an incredibly ornate trunk identical to the one they were transporting.

Crystal Village Investigation
As the scattered Legionnaires peered and snooped throughout the village of Soast they managed get also get nasty looks from the villagers themselves. They weren't exactly hostile to the Legionnaires but many of them had begun to feel uncomfortable at the strangers going about the village especially for how strange some of them appeared. Barely any of them had ever seen an elf much less a Solfataran one and zero had ever seen a Lycan although at least few had heard of them and a half-orc was nigh unthinkable. Once it was time for everyone to meet together they could share their findings with one another but it would be inevitable that they would move on and follow a dirt road to VanLoon. However once the village was within eyesight in the distance they would notice the large blue crystal spires surrounding the village along with random crystal columns jutting out in the middle of the decaying wheat fields all around. There appeared to be a crystalline path that appeared to lead to the village but there was a fact where there was a giant crystal horse as well as several crystal infused scarecrows hopping about near it.

Bettine Lambert, master of the Griffon!

The Inquisitors

Thall Lium | Velathri, Paean Legion HQ

Haunted Manor Rescue
"Well that depends. But for an animal as hearty as a griffon it shouldn't be a problem. Heck, animals scavenge all the time for sustenance," explained Siegfried.

Siegfried would have continued on but two fellows joined in the conversation. One was a witchhunter that had joined sometime ago for reasons he couldn't bother to understand. The other was a fairly normal looking young woman. Why couldn't those fanatics just stay stuck in their little city in the mountains and leave the rest of the continent alone. He had a point however in Betty getting a weapon as he couldn't guarantee her griffon there being with her all the time. By then another fellow had approached them apparently wanting in. And it was one of those golem people of all things! Such a fascinating race. The onion-armored knight patted the tall construct on the arm.

"Oh course you can join Thall, the more the merrier I'd say, ho ho ho," laughed Siegfried, "With a party like ours those undead will wish they stayed dead. Onward and upwards!"

Siegfried led the newly formed party to the lobby to get them officially signed up for the contract. With a few quick signatures they were then set off to walk to the manor some distance away but still within Velathri's vicinity. The party followed one of the Republic's paved roads up until they hit a parting in the road. As they walked on and one they got to a small patch of woodland and by the roadside was a small shrine. It was like a small shack with a bronze statue of an nondescript animal that was reminiscent of a noble stag.

"Oh yes its right where I remember it!" shouted Segfried, "Now now my fellows. This shrine belongs to a local mountain god. Seeing as we're going to fight undead having the blessing of a deity to our weapons will do us wonders. Makes so our weapons can actually hit incorporeal foes. This one goes by the name of Hopcantus. Don't worry he's a charitable fellow. Just say some prayer, heck not even to him, and he'll fix you right up."

Siegfried himself step forward and knelt to the statue as he offered his sword. Siegfried didn't know any complicated prayers so he just chose to repeat one small one her had memorized as a kid.
This day delivers delights
For your grace gratifies
Oh great Hopcantus
Apparently nature spirits love alliteration. A small light emerged and engulfed the sword swathing it in a holy light. And just like that the deed was done.

"Alrighty, your guys turn. One at a time too," explained Siegfried. The onion knight brushed off dirt from his armor's knees before he turned to face the golem in the party, "Say good chap. Seeing as we're the frontline of the group you wouldn't have any fancy sword techniques would you?"

[Gudmund]

Haunted Manor Rescue

Thall Lium | Haunted Manor Rescue

Thall and his group were now officially on the job, heading along the Republic's paved roads until eventually coming across a small shrine. Siegfried gleefully welcomed him with open arms, "A rather cheery fellow," Thall noted, watching as the onion knight's prayer successfully blessed his sword. Thall had prayed to various gods before, pleading them for more power to better protect his loved ones... few responded. He thought they were all rather overrated, their power all in name and unfounded. Was godhood a title handed out so easily?

Siegfried rose, allowing us to ask for our own blessings from Hopcantus, the supposed owner of this shrine. About to take a step forward, Siegfried then posed Thall a question, "Say good chap. Seeing as we're the frontline of the group you wouldn't have any fancy sword techniques would you?"

Moving forward to take a knee, he made an audible thud in front of the shrine, unsheathing the large axe and full quiver before carefully holding them out in front of him, "Certainly, I know quite a few, unfortunately an unenchanted blade for my size only bends and wobbles like a stiff whip; the thicker handle and weight of a polearm suits me far better," he answered, recalling a prayer an old friend had once used often, changing it a bit should be fine.

I ask in earnest for your guidance
For dangerous tasks await in silence
A blessing in kind is all is all I ask
Oh great Hopcantus

Watching as a holy glow covered his weapons, Thall minutely reevaluated the usefulness of gods. Standing up, paying no heed to the dirt, Thall moved away from the shrine and holstered his gear, facing Siegfried to continue, "Perhaps I should bless my whole body to wrestle with the foul phantoms," he muttered, seeming completely serious.

[Bentus]

Yvonne

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As Frey gestured for Yvonne to follow him away from the others, a look of concern flashed across her features. Having enough sense not to make a fuss about whatever was going on, she simply nodded firmly and stepped aside with the Red Cloak as questions and speculation began to circle in her head. Had the Church figured out where she was and stepped in? Had her parents sent a message for her? Or had she broken some unspoken rule in the Legion that had disqualified her from membership? That last thought twisted the woman’s heart. Her last intention had been to insult the famed coalition of heroes, and while she would humbly accept it if her skills were found wanting, she didn’t want to leave as a result of some tragic miscommunication.

"So here's the thing, Yvonne: you're not registered as a legionnaire yet, but we've got our hands on a time-sensitive contract here, so waiting for you to finish that isn't ideal. Luckily, the pay's total rather than per legionnaire, so you can tag along and get your share of the reward anyway - you'll just have to talk to your recruiter first and won't have the contract on your record after you're signed up." Yvonne blinked in surprise at Frey’s explanation. She had been poised to leap in with an apology, to try and convince him that she could be a valuable asset to their party and meant no offence for whatever perceived slight she had caused. But instead it seemed like she had simply fallen afoul of the plodding nature of bureaucratic red tape."Or, you stay here and get that sorted out, and maybe we can work together in the future. I'll leave it up to you, but if you want to come along, meet the rest of us in the warehouse.”

Recollecting herself, Yvonne replied with a faint smile, feeling not a small bit embarrassed for her overactive imagination. You have to allow yourself to feel comfortable around these people, just give it time. “Oh, I’m sorry for causing you the trouble. I’m touched that you’d be willing to do that for me, especially since this contract likely wouldn’t be a challenge even for just the five of you.” Pausing, Yvonne considered the legionnaire’s offer as her smile widenned. “In that case, I shall meet you by the warehouse.”

---

The Paladin kept mostly to herself as the party began their journey, content to simply enjoy the idle chatter of her comrades while the fresh air of the open road gave her some welcomed relief from the bustle of city life. They were the only figures on the modest dirt road as far as she could tell, with the lush green fields of the Heartlands stretching out around them until they met the forests and mountains closer to the horizon. Still clad in her heavy plate, Yvonne had long ago learned to march for extended periods in the hefty armour, with constant practice having built up her endurance for just such times as this. If anything, she found the weight comforting, as if it were a physical manifestation of the Divines’ protection - not to mention that it reminded her at least a little bit of home. Her shield was strapped to her forearm, since it was small enough to not get in the way of most of her activities, although her war axe had been stowed on her back since it seemed unlikely that they would face a sudden ambush out here.

Allowing the group’s chatter to mingle with the wagon’s steadily turning wheels as a calming white noise, Yvonne allowed her mind to wander over the past couple days. She had spoken to the Legion’s recruiter before departing, with the other woman assuring her that they would be willing to postpone her ceremony until they returned. While it meant that she had yet to touch the famed Singing Stone, Yvonne couldn’t deny that a part of her was relieved. She had not sought out the Legion in search of some supernatural power, and if anything she was somewhat apprehensive. What would it feel like, and what kind of abilities would she receive? Would it ever come to define her in a way that she had never expected, and if so would she come to regret the decision?

"How about you, Lady Delacroix? A beauty like you clad in full plate, I'd guess you're better suited to helping the people of that upstream village or facing the beast in the North. How come you're happy to guard a mule with the lot of us?"

Jolted from her reverie, Yvonne looked up to find Frey had stepped closer to her and was now waiting expectantly for a response. Glancing around, she noticed that the attention of the rest of the party seemed to have turned towards her as well. “And you strike me as one better suited to flirting after a few drinks, Sir Farwind. Although it would be rude of me not to accept a compliment.”

Masking her initial surprise, the Paladin responded jokingly before considering the question. She had gotten used to being referred to by her self-chosen last name, having long ago decided that it was best to keep her real familial ties hidden. A native of the Heartlands may have recognised Delacroix for what it was, a mask that was worn by the faithful who for whatever reason chose to keep their past to themselves, but Frey seemed unaware of the cultural baggage.

“In Book 4 of his teachings, Paladin Hridis states that the greatest act of good is that which few others are willing to do. He argues that doing a Paladin’s job is not to do a good act that would have been anyway without her intervention, but rather to seek out those good actions which would be unlikely to occur without her presence.” Yvonne offered the Red Cloak a smile, hoping that she had been clear in her explanation and wasn’t butchering the deceased teacher’s words with her paraphrasing. “As for the pay, it is said that the Divines will always find a way to provide for the needs of the faithful who serve them.” The woman paused for a second, cracking a smile. “Although I am not one to turn down a larger share from a smaller pie.”

[Tomia]

Secret Package Delivery
As the party traveled down the road chatting amongst themselves dark power began their machinations in preparation for them. It was a partly cloudy day with the sun and temperature just right. Not enough to make someone heated and sweat but just good enough where most clothing was comfortable. The dirt road wasn't the best but its not like it would hurt to walk on. Fresh dew on the plants on the road also gave the air a strong pleasant aroma. This calm atmosphere wouldn't last however as there was immediately a fork on the road. A tall sign that pointed the way to towns stood at the center but it was incredibly obvious that it was tampered with as the signs for the cities were shoddily nailed in presumably opposite locations. The pointer for Antheia was switched with the sign for another sign that pointed to some far off town called Barbacus. A thick growth of reeds and bushes grew around the sign and if one were to walk past it they would be able to see an incredibly ornate trunk identical to the one they were transporting.

Annabelle walked along with her party, casually listening to the others as they spoke. She was passively focusing on her surroundings, looking out for tricks or traps that might befall them on the road. When they reached the fork in the road she immediately became skeptical. The signs had clearly be tampered with and she moved ahead of the rest of the team to investigate. After looking at them up close someone was clearly trying to send them toward Barbacus... But why? Was this just common bandits or something else? She began to investigate around the sign, looking for further clues of tampering when she stumbled upon a chest like the one they were carrying. Fuck... Annabelle said in her mind as she started to piece things together.

"Ambush!!" She yelled to her party as she started to run towards them only to be intercepted by a sword wielding bandit. His armor was shoddy, but he wore some strange paint on his face that prevented her from making out his features. He swung heavy handed at her and she easily dodged, slashing at his sword to disarm him. She didn't want to kill people if she could avoid it. She then saw movement along the tree line and it was clear this bandit wasn't alone.

"Frey! More incoming, what's the plan?"

[Finland SSR]

Crystal Village Investigation

Dido Ricine, the Elven swordsmaster!

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The investigation in the village of Soast went... alright. While she investigated the tavern and got to speak to the old sea captain who lost his family in the village, Oberon and Luca visited the local church and Walter took a look in the council office. And all of them brought news of their own, well, aside for Scitha, who seemed to stay in the center of the village - Dido brought information about the timeline how the village became overtaken by crystals, Luca and Oberon brought concern that the meteor which fell in the village was causing the trouble, and Walter information from the various newspapers hanging in the council office.

Time to head out, then. The Dark Elf ordered the team to follow and soon enough, they hit the road to VanLoon, slowly approaching the source of the crystal epidemic. And as they inched closer and closer to the village, it all turned weirder and weirder, what with crystal spires shooting to the sky out of the farms and the ground... And it looks beautiful, doesn't it? Certainly different from everything else I had seen in these boring farmlands so far, that's for sure.

Unfortunately, the crystal village also had the audacity to throw a few living crystal creatures to the mix. "Halt!" Dido exclaimed, raising her hand to call the rest of her team to a stop upon witnessing a large crystal horse and several scarecrows frolicking around the landscape in front of them. A wide smirk crept up on the Dark Elf's face and her hands reached towards the handles of her twin falchions, attached to her belt.

"Since we're here to investigate, let's do some dissections, shall we?" Dido muttered and pulled out both her swords in a single swift motion, activating both her Spellblade boon and her Wisp's powers. Her falchions shrouded in crimson red energy and their blades surrounded themselves with a current of black lightning. "I'm taking on the scarecrows."

Without any further warning, the Dark Elf charged forward, opening up with slash after slash towards the crystal creatures in her way.

---

The Inquisitors

Haunted Manor Rescue

Bettine Lambert, master of the Griffon!

---

Oh dear. One more person who suddenly came up to Betty and started recommending her to pick up a weapon instead of being unarmed and hoping for her mount to do all the dirty work. Sure, it was obvious to them why she should arm herself with a weapon... but it was just as obvious to Betty why she should not.

"I-I can't wield a weapon!" Betty exclaimed in response, flailing her hands. "Matthias doesn't let me use a spear or a bow or anything while I'm on his back! I think he thinks it's unfair or something, if I'm trying to help him out while he's fighting or hunting, and he's not gonna give it up or anything..."

Thankfully, Siegfried assured her that a griffon like hers is hardy enough to be able to scavenge and eat undead flesh without getting sick, in response to which Betty gave a hearty nod. Soon, the last of the haunted mansion squad joined the party - Thall, a heavily armed golem, whose appearance startled the griffon rider for a second before she calmed down - and the team walked outside. While the rest marched towards the edges of the Republic towards a shrine, Betty stopped for a second, placed her fingers in her mouth and let out a loud whistle.

Mere seconds later, her winged beast, larger than most carriages and terrifying enough to startle even hardened adventurers, left its resting place atop a nearby chapel and touched down in front of Betty, at which point it sat down, folded its wings and glanced towards its partner. The girl grinned and raised a basket in her hands, speaking:

"Check out what I got ya, Matthias! I'm sure you haven't tasted this type of meat before!" and promptly pulled out a few lumps of raw venison, tossing them one after the other - Matthias caught and devoured each and every one of them with its bone-crushing beak. By the gods, that meat was expensive - but her griffon liked it, cooing and wagging its tail, a sign of affection. Betty cracked a smile, walking up closer to the creature, rubbing its head and then leaping onto its back. Matthias got the signal immediately, standing up and sprouting its wings.

"All righty, Matthias! We're gonna have a big mission today, so I'm gonna need you to focus and put on your best performance, okay!" the girl explained, and in response, her eyes caught a noise which sounded suspiciously close to a scoff. "Aw, come ooon, don't be like that! We're gonna fight alongside a gold cloak, and it's gonna pay a lot of money, too! We're gonna buy the best meat for you once we're done here!"

It didn't take a lot of convincing to have Matthias enthusiastically take off - it was mostly just playing games with Betty rather than actually complaining, after all - and the duo flew over the sprawling urban landscape and finally the grasslands of Velathiri, before finally catching up with the rest of her team. By the time Betty's mount slowed down and found a good landing spot, the rest of her allies had already reached the shrine, and the griffon landed on the mossy and grassy forest floor just in time for Betty to hear Siegfried's explanation of what they were here for. An enchantment shrine, huh...

Matthias sat down, sneering towards the suspicious people composing the rest of the team, and folded its wings protectively to cover Betty from any attacks - Betty, on the other hand, giggled from the fluff of the wings brushing past her, and sat down on her partner's back, dangling her feet off the side.

"Hey, mister Siegfried, would this deity be able to bless Matthias, too?" the girl called out towards the goldcloak onion knight.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

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Hearing Yvonne's immediate reply, the blond man laughed. "'Sir Farwind'? Please, m'lady, I'm about as lowborn as you can be. Though, I do pride myself in being no less charming when sober." He said with a wink, before listening as she answered the question at last, explaining that the teachings of her Church drove her to try and do good where others wouldn't - which naturally meant to take the least saturated contract, in this case. As the Paladin finished, Frey let out a chuckle. "Well, I'm not much of a Church person, myself, but I can appreciate noble intentions all the same." He nodded.

Rather than continue the conversation, however, the rogue instead opted to focus on the fork in the road ahead. Much like Annabelle, he quickly noticed that the signs had been tampered with. Raising an eyebrow, he led his hand to the hilt of his recently acquired estoc and scanned the landscape for anything that looked out of place; it didn't take him long to notice some movement along the treeline, and he scowled, suspecting foul play.

His suspicions were swiftly confirmed as Tira cried out and dispatched a strange man who had suddenly appeared in between her and the rest of the party. He was soon consulted for their course of action, and he briefly glanced at the treeline again, noticing a group of bandits rushing out towards them.

"About a dozen of them. No archers. Shouldn't be a challenge, just be sure that none of them-" The rogue began, only to be cut off as one of the bandits threw an object at the party. It landed on the ground just in front of them, and thick black smoke soon billowed out of it, permeating the area and obscuring the group's vision.

"Damn it! Fall back, and protect the package at all costs!" Frey shouted. Taking a few steps back to stand by the mule in order to better protect it, he unsheathed his estoc and lifted it with the tip pointing forward - lightning began crackling along its blade before suddenly focusing on the tip and then shooting forward, a miniature lightning bolt created by an enchanted sword. The cries of agony that were soon heard could only belong to one of the bandits. There was something... odd about the voice, as though it belonged to something not quite human, but he had no time to worry about that now.

One down, eleven to go. The rogue thought as he sheathed the enchanted blade and instead drew his two daggers, holding them in a defensive position and waiting for the enemy to arrive.

---

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The Snow Elf analyzed their situation: they were standing over a rocky ravine, surrounded by forest, and had a party comprised of two warriors, three marksmen and an alchemist with a lot of knives. This meant that, while it would be easy enough for the rangers to attack the beast as soon as it left its abode, she and Edward may find themselves hard-pressed to keep its attention on them if the beast managed to climb out of the ravine before enough damage was dealt - and she doubted Roxana, Vul and Simion would be able to fend off a beast that had annihilated entire platoons if it made a run towards them. Normally, she would be confident that she'd be able to take on the beast, especially since the sun was high in the sky, but given that they knew next to nothing about the beast's abilities, other than it's power to erase memories... she wasn't so certain.

At the same time, if they were not careful to end the battle there and then, the beast would not have a hard time escaping from the party onto the dense forest surrounding them, and the elven knight was not sure she liked their chances of defeating the beast in its own playing field, where it could hide amongst the thick foliage and wait for an ideal opportunity to strike. Sylanna's brow scrunched as she thought of all these factors. How to best approach this battle?

"We should hit it with a volley as soon as it comes out of its hiding place, to maximize the damage caused before it can reach us or try to escape." She finally spoke, addressing the three marksmen primarily, though she hoisted her winged spear as well, making it evident she intended to assist in dealing the first blow. "After that, however, we don't know if it's safe for any of us to be at the edge. I would suggest the four of you to retreat." She continued, gesturing towards the three marksmen, plus Edward. "I intend to try and keep it busy, and Aayla here looks quite agile, she can lend me a hand. Edward, if anyone can find out the beast's weakness, it's you, plus we need you guarding our ranged support in case the beast manages to slip past us." She stated, nodding at the hunter - she hoped his knowledge would prove useful in the coming fight

"Normally, I would suggest to have our ranged support hide in the woods and take aim at the beast while we kept it busy, or pelt it with arrows and bullets while we hold the higher ground, but to put it simply, that is too dangerous when we know nothing of this beast. If it can erase our memories, what else can it do? Climb out of the ravine in a second, or ancestors forbid, pull us down to it? Perhaps it can teleport to pick off any members of our party that aren't well guarded." The Snow Elf explained, expressing her concerns to the rest of the party so they could be taken into consideration. "That's why I believe it's best if we stick together to face this monster." She stated before glancing at Roxana. "What do you think?"

[Tomia]

Frey

As the smoke started to surround them Annabelle's vision was cut off from the rest of her of her party. She closed her eyes, and took a series of deep breaths. She needed to prevent panic in order to clear her mind to get a grip on her surroundings. Soon her heightened senses kicked in and she no longer needed her eyes to know where their foes were. Their foot steps, the clunking of their armor and the soft grunts of exertion gave her a clear idea of where to go. She followed her ears through the smoke, ignoring Fray's orders to retreat to the cart. She knew attacking and taking the attention away from the others was the best way to keep them safe. She dashed through the smoke, dodging a spear as it soared past her head. As she got closer to the attackers a sword was swung right at her but Annabelle slashed it away just in time . Her heart rate began to elevate as the thrill of battle started to overtake her senses.

Soon she had closed the distance between her and the attackers, and her vision returned as she had passed the smoke. Rather than give them a chance to charge her at once, she tackled the nearest mercenary. Her foe didn't say anything to her, but was snarling and growling in a very off putting way. There was something very not human like from the behavior. Tira knew there was something more going on here than she knew, but she had to put that aside for the moment and focus on surviving. She rolled away to put distance between her and the others now that they saw her. She knew she couldn't take them all by herself so she decided to create a distraction of her own. Sparks grew from her finger tips and she pushed them towards the grass in front of her. The sparks flew to the ground and soon a bright line of fire was smoking between her and her attackers, obscuring their view of her. Then she used her ability to instantly move through the smoke and return to the mule, satisfied she had given her team enough time to find cover.

"We need to charge, I can lead us through the smoke and we'll overwhelm these mercenaries." She said to Frey confidently.

[Radea]

Arden Rooke
The road to Antheia– Secret Package delivery contract
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The chatter had been pleasant for such a calm day thus far, though to Arden, Frey’s smarmy flirtations to Yvonne seemed to dim his mood. One couldn’t see it on his face, no, but a sociable person could tell the small change around him. In his own mind though, Rooke was the one trying to dissuade his own self.
”Why do you even care who courts the Paladin? She is free to do as she pleases. No use getting morose over it. She may not even think of you that way at all.”

While his youthful emotions seemed in retreat after being battering by mature logic, they soon were bolstered by the reinforcements of Yvonne’s authoritative but sweeter-than-honey voice answering to the contract leader. Her joking sass almost caused a chuckle to escape Arden’s lips, but what he heard most was her convictions, both the spiritual and the practical. Among commoners, peasant and merchant alike, it seemed to always be about getting yours first and anyone else came second. It wasn’t cruel, it was often survival. A single gold coin could go farther than half a harvest in some villages. Yet here Yvonne was, doing good things because she wanted to, even at great risk for herself. Even if there was some coin involved.

A Heartlander thought caught up to Rooke’s philosophical musings however. ”Delacroix? Wait a minute, doesn’t that mean…?”

Before the connecting realizations coalesced, Arden’s attention was drawn to Annabelle moving up ahead on her own, breaking the leisurely pace most others were taking. Her gaze seemed focused, like an archer ready to loose an arrow. Squinting, Rooke could see two signs crudely nailed to a road sign that directed in two diverging paths. He couldn’t quite make out what they said before Annabelle shouted, “AMBUSH!”

Almost as if to confirm the alerted cry of the seasoned Red Cloak, a man wearing tattered leather with a sword leapt out of the foliage to assault her. She swung her weapon, clanging her assailant’s sword aside.

Instinctively, Rooke pulled back on the reins and the mule plodded to a complete halt though it remained unphased by the events. Frey counted their number and began rallying a defense. However, the calm sky and shrubbery were soon blanketed by thick, unnatural smoke spewing from object near the wagon. Loud noises and shouting never upset a mule, but losing sight of their usual surroundings distressed many an animal. Soon the beast of burden was bleating and shifting frantically in the brace. Arden pulled up on the reins, trying to steady the animal. If they lose control of the wagon, their cargo was as good as gone.

A quick crack of light cause Rooke to snap his view in its direction. A temporarily illuminated Frey was holding a blade aloft as lightning shot forth and caused a responding cry of pain in the distance. In the din, the contract leader ordered them to fall back, out of the screen.

One fewer to worry about. The commoner assured himself as he pulled on the reins, attempting to turn the wagon around without disturbing the box on rough or off-road terrain. An orange warmth flashed on Rooke’s side as something outside the haze flashed and outline of human-like figures and a woman, likely Annabelle but he wasn’t sure. The same woman darted back through the smoke, causing it to ripple open, granting a small, brief portal to the green outside world. A sword in hand, the veteran Red Cloak seemed to countermand Frey’s orders. ”We need to charge, I can lead us through the smoke and we'll overwhelm these mercenaries.”

“Charge?” Rooke replied to the wind, disbelief in his tone. Whatever was happening, it seemed like it was going to turn into a brawl. Unhooking the leather strap that secured the forester’s axe to his hip, Rooke rested his hand on the smooth wooden handle. His ax would be far better defense weapon than his short sword if an enemy came climbing into the driver’s bench. His other hand held the reins tightly, both for comfort and keeping the mule in check. “Where in the hells is Corven and Yvonne?”

[Auropa]

Corven Roche
Delivery mission

Trying to hold back his laughter at the show before him, Corven found himself enjoying his newest party's company, they were far from normal and barely seemed sane at times but proved to be a pleasantly warm band to travel with. Frey as it turned out, did in fact have a perpetually silver tongue and to perfectly pair with it, practically no-sense of self-preservation in the face of potential romance 'first an orc now a paladin. You've earned my respect sailor.' he nodded to himself as he watched Rooke's poor attempt to hide his own sense of displeasure at the on going scene. Overall, the journey had been peaceful so far and but as much as he would've enjoyed to continue the calm march forward, he felt doubt sink into him when Annabelle moved forward to investigate the nearby sign. He didn’t know much other than her name so far but he knew better than to risk ignoring the concerns of others and in this case her worry was beyond clear and borderline contagious. As she got closer to the sign and seemingly came across something hidden behind it, she managed to let out a sudden warning to the party just as the surrounding woods came to life. In the space of a moment at least a dozen hidden attackers revealed themselves and surged forward as they launched some sort smoke wall to obscure themselves and their movement.

‘Here we go…’ Corven thought to himself as he swung himself free of the saddle and to the ground below. “Off you go Hoarse” he said as he stepped clear and slapped his mount causing it to charge back through the path and narrowly skirt away from the blades slashed towards it. Doing his best to survey the obstructed field as his horse got clear, he managed to place Frey moving to the package’s defence with Rooke as Annabelle returned from a counter offensive against the attacker’s first wave. Seeing more approaching from behind he chose his spot, drew his blade, and readied his stance as he moved between the first encroaching forces and the package they seemed to seek. “They’re behind us too!” he called out as he got in position and brandished his weapon “I don’t suppose we could talk about-“ he began to say before the closest attacker swung their blade in a clumsy albeit deadly arc. “-Guess not!” he retorted through clenched teeth as he parried the blow and broke attacker's guard with a pommel strike to the head. But before he could take advantage of the man's fractured defense, another bandit rushed into the fight swinging just as wildly and passionately as the first.

Narrowly raising his blade just in time to meet the oncoming blow, Corven grunted with effort as he pushed off from the ground and slammed his shoulder into the new foe pushing him back against his comrade. “Wait your turn dammit!” he shouted as he extended a gloved hand and sent a wave of force towards the duo, managing to topple them to the ground. Then, with uncanny precision born from years of practice, he darted towards the toppled men and slid his blade across one of their throats before jamming it deep into the other’s heart. Taking a step back to re-position himself and prepare for the next wave, he nearly stopped in his tracks to find the man with a now bloodied throat steadily rising back to his feet blade still in hand and at the ready. Refusing to be taken off guard or held up any longer, he rushed forward once more as he summoned a small protective shield of light to his aid. When he came into range, both men’s blade flashed out against their foes. The bandit’s came close but was blocked as it struck against the forming barrier, while Corven’s continued onward and found its mark as it cleaved itself into the man’s torso. As the blade was wretch free, the bandit paused for a second then took half a step forward before collapsing into a lifeless heap ‘not getting up now aren’t we?’

“Something about this is wrong! People don’t fight this determined and bandits like this always have archers!” he called out as he backed away from his previous engagement and into the legion’s growing defensive position “I don’t like it, I say we hold here and cover the package.” He added as his eyes darted across the smoke to try and spot the other attackers and legionnaires still in the fight.

[Absolon-7]

Thall Lium

Bettine Lambert, master of the Griffon!

Haunted Manor Rescue
Siegried gave Thall a look over upon hearing his answer for his previous question. The golem was certainly formidable and he certainly fit the build for a polearm. His immense strength and weight would make a tremendous anchor for keeping steady. Siegfried watched with curiosity as the golem went to the shrine and back and the metal being's self-muttering made the onion knight stroke his helms' chin.

"I suppose that could be possible," answered Siegfried, "No harm in trying it, laddy." Siegfried swiveled around to spot Bettine landing with her griffon not far from the main group and she too had a question worth contemplating, "Well, I do believe so Miss Betty. Local gods like these are quite fond of blessing animals when they can."

"Alright, now for the rest of you to step up," Siegfried suddenly stopped to look at Strauch and Romilda, "You too better get a move on if you want your weapons to be able to harm ghosts. Hopcantus doesn't have all day. Well he does but we don't."

After the party did everything they needed to do Siegfried led them the rest of the way to the ill fated Gabriel Manor which was only some good deal of walking away. The party stood within the manor's extensive shadow that stretched for some distance behind them. Signs of the estate's repugnant nature could be noticed by as there was a remarkable difference between the previous lively woodland and this darker and far more withered flora. Tree trunks were stained a pale purple and their leaves were a dark shade between green and a dead brown. No wind existed for the entirety of the walk. The decrepit and enormous complex was as battered as a free standing building could be. That scaffolding was patchwork of what remained, most windows were broken either partly or completely gone. The building's paint was a bleached black as it dominated the clearing it was in. Younger trees encircled the building as evidence of nature slowly taking back the abandoned estate.

"Most important thing to remember with the undead: you're the one with a working brain so use it," said Seigried tapping at his onion shamed helm.

Although what would he do with the griffon? He didn't like refusing offers to join but considering how cramped it would be he wasn't sure how a griffon could be utilized. Before he could think of answer the Manor's front door suddenly swung open and an unholy wind blew out from it buffeting the Legionnaires. Siegfried stood his ground and unsheathed his sword. "Thull can take point and Romilda and Strauss can be in the middle for support. I'll guard our back. As for our own griffon rider...I believe there is a wide courtyard in the middle of the complex so you can meet us there but splitting up isn't the wisest move.."

Before the Goldcloak could say anymore a dark wind once again erupted from the manor's open front door but it soon gained a ashen grainy color before it was a complete column of black that flew into the air and coalesced into a single giant form. The enormous spirit almost the size of a large military tent swirled and turned in circles in the air.

"A wraith!" shouted Siegfried as he brought his shield upwards but the wraith swooped down and opened its red glowing maw. From its mouth it released bright orange energy that blasted Siegfried several bodylengths away. The onion knight collided with the dirt floor and spun around for a few seconds before stopping. As for the wraith itself it hovered for a few seconds before shooting forward towards the remaining legionnaires.

[Gudmund]

Haunted Manor Rescue

Thall Lium | Haunted Gabriel Manor

At Siegfried's response Thall looked back and forth between his glowing weapons and the shrine, contemplating whether or not he should go through with blessing his whole body, "While there would certainly be benefits, entrusting myself to a disembodied entity seems quite unwise."

Content with his decision, Thall continued idly following the group after their business here was done, moving on to the Gabriel manor. The building turned out to be a rather decrepit place, mother nature and time gradually taking its toll. Had he passed by a hundred years ago perhaps he'd see it in a greater light. Thall couldn't help but chortle at Siegfried's advice, about to make a joke about golems lacking brains, when suddenly the manor's front door burst open to a powerful gust of wind. Unnatural, considering it came from the inside. Taking point affront, as per his more experienced companion's orders, Thall inched forward while unsheathing his axe.

Not more than a few seconds passed until a visible dark wind burst from the open doors, "A wraith!" shouted Siegfried, taking a hit from the creature's magical attack and being sent flying. The wraith then dashed towards him and the others moments after Siegfried's body hit the ground. Not wanting the ghastly thing to close the distance, Thall ran forwards to counter it, swinging his axe in a large arch with enough force behind it to cleave an armoured man in twain, "Face me you tactless spirit of hot air!"

[Finland SSR]

Haunted Manor Rescue

Bettine Lambert, master of the Griffon!

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"Really? Well we've gotta try it, then!" Betty exclaimed upon Siegfried's approval of trying to bless Matthias, then, as soon as Thall left the proximity of the shrine, she leapt off from her griffon and called out to him. "Come on, let's go!" Matthias was not exactly trusting of where his partner was trying to lead him towards, especially since there were a couple of suspicious people all around and Betty seemed undefended - thankfully, none of them made any sudden moves, didn't startle the magical beast and allowed him to sit down in front of the shrine, while the teenager knelt down in front of him.

Unfortunately, she did not know any prayers dedicated to Hopcantus - hell, she wasn't even aware that such a deity existed before leaving the mountains, so she opted to close her eyes and quietly sing a Schildenberg lullaby from her childhood:

"Chindli mi, schlaf nur i...
D’Sternli wänd scho schine,
Und de Mond chunnt au scho...
Übers Bergli inne,
Heia Butte, Wiegeli,
Schlaf, mis Chindli, schlaf nur i..."

Surprisingly, even though it wasn't related to Hopcantus or any other deity, the little bugger accepted it - perhaps he was moved by her singing, who knows - and Matthias was surrounded with a faint, holy light, something both he and his rider saw as quite the shocker.

"Ye-heah!" Betty exclaimed, leaping back on her glowing and powered up griffon and rode it to the side, allowing the rest of the team to enchant their weapons as well. With the initial preparations done, the team walked off towards the manor - Matthias walked by the side, still uncertain on whether he should be able to trust this plethora of unfamiliar persons, especially in an environment such as this. And the environment looked decrepit, intimidating, sinister, and any other terrible words which you might be able to find in the dictionary. Betty huddled closer to her steed's fur in worry and Matthias understood the hint, raising and folding its wings as a makeshift barrier around her from both sides.

Just in time for an ominous wind to suddenly rush from the front door, followed by an orange blast blasting Siegfried, a vast ominous wraith emerging from the shadows, and Thall rushing forward to greet the creature with powerful sword swings. Matthias reacted immediately, running in front of the group and unfolding its wings, spreading their vast wingspan to the sides.

"Ohh no," Betty muttered, knowing exactly what was about to happen. "Cover your ears!" she exclaimed to the rest of the Legionnaires, before her griffon suddenly released a powerful screech, rolling across the entire mansion as a call for the wraith to a duel. Matthias did not even bother to wait for the creature's response, running forward and charging straight at the wraith to slash and gnaw at it with both of its claws and powerful beak.

[Praeceps]

The travel continued smoothly along, the cart rolling along as the legionnaires chattered back and forth surrounding the cart. It's nice to see that everyone is getting along with each other. I wouldn't be able to bear it if we were fighting all the time. As they approached a fork in the road, with a post with two signs on it, Annabelle—who was slightly ahead of the group—whirled around and yelled, "AMBUSH!" moving back to join the rest of the group.

As a gang of bandits spilled out of the forest, they tossed a smoke bomb which immediately spilled out covering the terrain with a dark, smoky cloud obscuring their view of the encroaching robbers. Tride twirled pulling out her knife and putting her back to the cart containing the chest. She held her knife steady as her eyes darted back and forth scanning the cloud for any bandits attacking the cart.

Her eyes flickered over, glancing at Corven as he spoke up: "I don’t like it, I say we hold here and cover the package.".

"Agreed", Tride replied. "We need to protect the cart and we're not in danger waiting for them if they come to us if they don't have archers." Tride prepared herself internally to cast her magic as soon as she saw an enemy appear.

[The Republic of Atria]

Valan

Dido gave out several orders to check out parts of the town, though he opted to stand guard while the rest of them went to check where they were told. There was something just... Unsettling about the eerie blue/green glow that permeated the humble farming town. He kept his flame sword drawn, and without having to wait too much longer, he spotted the sickly farmers approaching them. Dido had already gone and had her magical weapons drawn, so he figured it'd be best to follow suit. The fire around his blade intensifying as well the the fire in his offhand.

He did one consider getting his hands on a shield, but after trying it, he felt that he wasn't nearly as effective, and all the fire made people pretty uneasy about getting within sword range anyways. Though he didn't think that the crystallized farmers would be as wary of fire as normal ones would be. At first he was hesitant to start incinerating what were almost certainly innocent people, a more detailed glance at them started to remove that doubt.

They didn't look like people much anymore. Husks would probably be a better term. Glowing holes where the eyes should be. Some limbs were detached, but still functioned with gaps between certain areas leaving the limbs floating a bit. The skin seemed to have been dried and mostly gone, leaving little more than a skeleton in farmer's clothes. Their weapons even seemed to be farm equipment: hoes, sickles, woodcutting axes, that sort of thing.

No, this wasn't going to be like killing people at all. Like cutting down rusty old bones. Dusty old bones that had been infected with magical crystals that had fallen from the stars. Not quite what he imagined when he joined the Legion.

He wasted no time getting to work, immediately letting loose a good watermelon sized orb of flame right at the group, his sword glowing just a bit brighter in the process.

Aayla

Tracking the beast proved to be a bit more difficult than she had expected. Sure, she'd undergone plenty of tracking training back home, but that was for beasts that weren't whatever this one was. The prints didn't look like anything they had ever taught her how to deal with. Not that she had to worry too much about it, as her Elven boss, Roxana, asked her if she could make a poison that was heavier than air.

She perked up, an almost too excited smile beneath the animal skull she wore. "Heavier than air? Easy as eating pie. Not as tasty though. Usually." She mused as she pulled out her alchemy kit. "Now, since this is a big ole' beastie, we're gonna need something potent and thick! But since we don't want it coming back up here and melting the inside of our heads, it's gotta be heavier poison. The easiest way to do that is to make it cold. Colder air is heavier. Assuming the wind doesn't screw us, should be easy enough to craft." She replied.

Right after setting it up, the female darted around the area, grabbing, smelling, biting into, and finally collecting plants. Her boon activated and she went to work. A flask was placed in a wooden cooler as the poison was prepared. A few minutes of stirring, mixing and pouring into and the sealing the flask later, she was done. "Alrighty! Now, I don't actually exactly know what we're hunting so I tried to make it as lethal as possible. Normally I'd prepare something more specific, but unknowns and all that fun stuff. Best case scenario our monster's brain melts. Worst, it gets heartburn." She explained as she started wrapping up the poison. "Based on what I made it with, we should most definitely wait a few minutes after it's thrown before we approach." She explained. "Wind'll dissipate the poison so our brains don't melt. Eddie might be fine, but even so."

[Bentus]

Yvonne

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The calm, idle atmosphere deteriorated in an instant. One moment the party was idly sharing jokes, and then Anabelle’s warning tore through the air. Surprised by the sudden attack, but years of experience and training forcing her to react regardless, Yvonne drew her axe in a single fluid movement. Adopting a defensive posture, her eyes scanned the treeline just as a number of figures began to emerge into view. Gripping the hilt of her weapon as she prepared to charge into the fray, Yvonne’s attention was pulled away by the sight of a small object bouncing along the ground towards them. Before she could react, the canister rolled up against her foot, coming to a calm rest right between her legs. Immediately, Yvonne’s eyes shot open as the device’s design reminded her of some of the clay explosives used in the East. In her heavy armour slowing her movement and with no time to come up with a plan, the Paladin turned to at least shout a final warning to her fellows. But she never got the chance as the bomb detonated at her feet.

Fortunately for Yvonne, it turned out just to be a smoke grenade. The slow moving fragments of the outer casing bounced harmlessly off of her plates, although the Paladin still received the full force of the high pressure gas as it shot up and into her face. Stumbling backwards, Yvonne was blinded and stunned as the world around her was enveloped in grey. With the ringing in her ears muffling the call for the party to gather back at the wagon, it was all Yvonne could do to founder until she emerged from the thick cloud of smoke. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, the Paladin couldn’t help but bend over as her body was wracked with coughs in a desperate attempt to clear the foul fumes from her lungs.

Blinking in an effort to clear the tears and grit from her eyes, Yvonne wasn’t given enough time to fully recover before she heard a guttural cry from behind her. Unable to bring her shield up in time, she felt the harsh blow of a sword impacting the armor on her back. Off-balance and unprepared for the assault, Yvonne stumbled forward as she turned around to catch the second swing with the handle of her axe. Gritting her teeth as she ignored the throbbing pain in her back, knowing that the blow likely caused a bruise that she’ll be feeling for a week, Yvonne would have been far worse off had her armor not been there to protect her. Pushing aside her discomfort however, the Paladin focused her attention on the man that had attacked her.

Almost immediately, something seemed off. Although his helm covered most of his features, she could see his snarling teeth as he growled at her like some ferocious animal, his whole weight being pushed into his weapon. It put him off-balance and vulnerable, a rookie mistake that he seemed to have made in his single-minded goal to butcher his opponent. Scowling, Yvonne took a step back in order to allow the bandit’s own momentum to carry him forward into her thrusting elbow. The blow of metal on flesh led to the sound of crushing bone, sending the man sprawling out across the floor. For a moment, he tried to push himself back up onto his feet, but the downward swing of the Paladin’s axe against his neck put a swift end to any such intentions.

Immediately, Yvonne was assaulted by the stench emanating from the corpse. Scrunching her nose up in disgust, she instinctively took a step away from the body as her stomach twisted in revulsion. Glancing around at the fights that had erupted between the legionnaires and their attackers, she paused as she listened to the sounds of the battle. The shouts of the legionnaires and the baying of the mule mingled with the sound of metal striking metal, but notably absent were any words from the bandits. They howled and screamed, shouting and growling over the din of combat, but not a single word was exchanged. A strange feeling began to twist in her chest, a mixture of dread and anger that she slowly began to recognise as a warning. Turning, Yvonne called out to the party that was gathering around the wagon outside of the smoke.

“Guys, be careful! These aren’t regular bandits: there’s is dark magic at work here.”

[Zarkenis Ultima]

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The first thing Frey heard after electrocuting one of the bandits and falling back was Annabelle's voice, with the woman telling him that they had to do the opposite of what he'd ordered and charge straight towards the bandits. Rooke immediately repeated the word in disbelief, and the rogue certainly understood the sentiment - while he doubted that the bandits would be able to fight back if they all charged in unison like Annabelle suggested, it would leave the mule undefended, and keeping the package safe was the most important thing right now.

Corven's sudden shout of warning only served to further cement the idea in his head that charging was a bad idea. He quickly glanced back only to see six more bandits approaching the party from the rear. More of these bastards to worry about, eh. Either way, Corven quickly expressed his preference for staying with the package - which Tride promptly seconded - while also mentioning that there was something off about the bandits, much like he'd feared. His mounting suspicions were only confirmed as Yvonne spoke up as well, claiming that they were afflicted with dark magic.

"Great. Possessed bandits, then. Just what I needed to start off my day." He spoke with irritation before turning to address the party. "Alright, the four of you, stick together and keep the mule and the package safe at all costs." He said, nodding in the direction of the six approaching bandits, before turning back to Annabelle. "You want to charge, pretty face? We're charging, then."

The second he finished speaking, Frey dashed through the smoke, arriving at the other side in an instant. He saw the eight remaining bandits there, though two quickly charged past, entering the smoke and heading towards the mule. Dammit! The rogue thought - he couldn't go after them as three of the six remaining bandits were already upon him, so he could only hope the rest of his party would be able to handle it.

Jumping back just in time to avoid being slashed open, the legionnaire took this chance to kick his foe's sword aside, putting him off balance. He then closed the distance in an instant and attacked, his knives finding all the gaps in the bandit's armor with ease as he danced around him, dealing several crippling injuries that caused the bandit to collapse. One down, two to- shit! Tbe rogue thought, barely reacting in time to kick away another approaching foe. Noticing the third out of the corner of his eye, he deftly threw one of his daggers at him, the weapon lodging itself in the bandit's throat.

He would've celebrated, but instead he watched in disbelief as the bandit shrugged this off and raised his weapon to strike. "That's new." Frey said, promptly sidestepping the attack. "But that isn't." Drawing his estoc, he quickly plunged it through his foe's heart to make sure he would stay down this time, and then whirled around to face the bandit that remained of the three that attacked him. He pointed his weapon forward, and another victim fell before the estoc's thunderous enchantment.

And that's that. He sighed in relief, before glancing over to see how Annabelle was doing.

[Tomia]

Frey

Annabelle frowned at being called "pretty face", but this was not the time to argue. As she charged forward with Frey they split the six seemingly possessed mercenaries between. While Frey battled with his half, Annabelle ducked under a swinging blade before rolling behind her foe, slashing him at the knee. The mercenary crumpled to the ground as the other two swung down at her and the legionnaire barely managed to raise her sword in time to stop them. She pushed them off with all her strength and smashed her elbow to the face of the enemy on her left. This gave her some breathing room and she once again clashed swords with the other remaining mercenary. They had impressive skills despite clearly not being fully human. As the two grappled with their swords pressed against each other Annabelle felt the one she had knocked to ground with an elbow grab her ankle and prepare to stab her. She knew she was in real trouble now and needed to act fast. So she forced herself to concentrate and stretched her left arm out towards the ground. Sparks grew from her hand and soon a small blast of fire slammed the possessed mercenary in the face. With legs protected she turned back to the last standing foe. He attempted to break their standstill with a heavy swing but that proved to be a mistake. Annabelle gracefully spun behind him and slashed his back, sending him swiftly to the ground. With that done she turned to Frey, who seemed to have been watching her for a moment.

"Don't call me pretty face."

[Absolon-7]

Sylanna

Aayla

Roxana Ma'gonid
Roxana rubber her chin as she listened to Sylanna come up with a plan and as expected it was a quite clever one that covered all their bases. It had plenty of maneuverability to outsmart and outpower the beast whatever its potential may be. Every part made sense and hopefully it was straight forward enough for the Redcloaks to understand. It was high noon so Sylanna's boon should be at full strength as well. That hellish beast won't know what in in for, thought a smirking Roxana. She drew her bow from her back and popped off the felt lid to her quiver to get the arrows

"Sounds like a pretty swell plan, Syl," nodded Roxana before she turned to the rest of the party, "You heard her. Get to position guys. Simion and Vul stick with me no matter what."

Now all they had to do was to wait for Aayla to craft her potion before the attack begun. She watched with childlike curiosity as the masked woman sniffed around and gathered all manner of plants to make her poison. Once the process was over with the elf woman gulped as she explained how she had made it as lethal as possible. This woman was incredible at her craft if she could make exactly what Roxana had wanted just from local plants in this woodland.

"The creature is tucked nice and tight in that ravine so I think we'll be safe as long no one decides to be a dunce and fall over," explained Roxana, "For the record, Eddie as at least a few brain clumps of brain matter. Anyway, if you're all set go throw it, Aayla."

Roxana knocked an arrow on her bow but waited to draw its weight. No point in straining her arm before the fight even begun. Anxiously she watched Aayla go to the edge of the ridge to throw down her flask of hastily made poison gas. Its loud shattering could be heard after a few seconds the dreadful seconds sending shivers down her spine and the sharp feint scent made her nose itch all the way from the bottom of the ravine. Those shivers would pale in comparison to the next few moments as an unearthly roar permeated through the forest even shaking nearby trees causing flocks of birds and packs of squirrels to flee. A sickening fit of coughing, snorting, and wheezes emanated from the ravine in an utterly vile display of sound. Its pelt was a thick layer of grey In a matter of breaths, an enormous gray beast not quite a wolf and not quite anything else ordinary and larger then an ox leaped out of the ravine grasping at the opposite ledge desperately with its grey paws, claws as large as seaxes scraped the rock as it desperately scrambled out. It's long tail was whipping violently in the air, tears and mucus covered its disproportionately elongated muzzle as it coughed up globs of drool and blood. Its bloodshot eyes crimson and teary from the poison focused in on them pulsating with rage. Lietuva's cold air made its condensed breath fumed like steam from a tea kettle a hundred fold as it took deep breaths as a slobbering mess.

"Appias come forth!" yelled Roxana as her wisp materialized and enveloped her nocked arrow, "Wind Fury Balista!"

Magical energy swirled around the arrow giving it a shell the size of a ballista's projectile which looked quite oversized as Roxana drew the bow's string back. A mighty gust of wind emanated as the projectile was let loose at a speed far faster then any bow could go thanks to her boon. The magical hurtled forward and struck the beast in the shoulder with its sheer force making it buckle its knees. Roxana on the other hand staggered back as she had spent quite a large amount of energy in it. She shook her head and began drawing and letting loose normal arrows each piercing the beasts hide as it attempted to recover its stance. With a final snarl it crouched down and leaped across the ravine with its claws outstretched and enormous blade like fangs ready for the kill. It landed masterfully as it focused in on a target apparently ignoring the multiple arrows embedded in its hide and the blood seeping from its haunch. With a final sloppy huff it pounced right at the tallest of the group which happened to be Sylanna.

Seeing the beast come towards Sylanna, Roxana waved her hand to signal for her group to retreat some distance away as it would engage Sylanna and Aayla. To her horror she saw Vul run to the complete opposite direction where they should be going into the woods presumably to save his own hide.

"By Mithra..." sighed Roxana as she turned back to face the beast and let another arrow pierce its hide.

Secret Package Delivery
One by one the apparent bandits were cut down whether through lucky strikes to the head or by enough attrition. If any of the Legionnaires cared to look they would see that they're faces were caked with makeup and paint if scrubbed off would reveal gray rotted skin and flesh with a few having exposed bone. Nevertheless it would be time again for the group to leave as the they a mission to attend to. Calming the mule down would be less then pleasant for whoever ended up doing with the job. The party would travel on until nightfall with not much obstructions and they got to the point where they now had to decide where to make camp for the night. One option was to make camp right beside the road where going in the morning would be quite easy but it left them exposed. Another was to make camp in the middle of some woodland where they would easily be hidden but it was quite far in the distance from the grassland they were currently in. A third option, was to make to make camp in a concave opening of a rocky outcrop in the middle of the grassland. Whichever option they picked however, what remeined was the powerful moonlight and the haunting shrieks of ravens in the night.

Crystal Village Investigation
The frail crystalline scarecrows were no match for the Dark Elf's empowered swings as their thin structures were snapped like the twigs they were. They hooped along on their sticks aiming to attack but all fell to her blade. The pyromancer Valan was stuck with some crystallized village folk left over in the fields but the flames burnt away the flesh holding the crystals together making them all fall to rubble. Meanwhile the enormous crystal horse was surrounded by the lycan and two humans in their party. It rose up on two feet and knocked the humans viciously with frontal hoof strikes sending the two legionnaires away in bloody pain. The lycan was dealt with by a might double hoof strike which sent him several body lengths away. The legionnaires were left bloody and injured but groaning. Now all that left the Legionnaires between them and the village was a single giant draft horse empowered by the crystals. It scraped the ground and huffed and puffed before charging right at the dark elf.

Haunted Manor Rescue
The wraith was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer opposition it faced as the golem legionnaire was the first run towards it swinging its ax at the wraith. What the wraith didn't expect was for its weapon to have been blessed and thus cause a swathe of damage at its smog like mantle. It circled a few loops in the air before it was pounced upon by the party's griffon. The spectral monster twisted around to coil around the animal to suck the life out it but to its own horror the beast was blessed as well and it was ripped and shredded apart like paper. The searing pain from the holy magic burned away at its body so seeing no other choice the wraith detached its head and began floating away back to the mansion. Its main body slowly disintegrated to black flecks on the ground. Siegfried got up from the ground moaning and cursing under his breath at the open tears in his chest plate.

"Well can't say that's the worst welcome party I've met," sighed Siegfried. He stumbled back to the group before he turned his sights on Strauch, "I expected better performance from a Witch Hunter. I thought your lot dealt with these sort of beasties. Anyway, the house or whatever is in control of it knows we're here. We can still go through the front door. It's big enough to let the griffon go through but it might be cramped. We could also go around and sneak in through the internal courtyard. There's more space there but the plants there might've been affected in someway by the dark energies here.."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

---

"As you wish, pretty face." Frey said in response to Tira with a smug grin on his face, before glancing back at the rest of the party. By now, the smoke had dissipated for the most part, and from what he could see, his group had managed to deal with the remaining foes without too much trouble, and all of the bandits were now lying on the dirt. The mule was very obviously frightened, but otherwise unharmed, and their cargo luckily hadn't been disturbed, let alone stolen.

"Nothing better than a little impromptu exercise, eh?" He cracked a smile as he addressed the group - no doubt some were used to battle like him and thought little of the raid, but others weren't quite as seasoned and he figured he might as well try to make the atmosphere a little less tense for them. Either way, with the fight over, the rogue turned to examine the lifeless bodies of the would-be raiders. They were very clearly deadbeats, without anything of value on their bodies, which was disappointing, but also easily forgotten. More importantly, the pungent smell that emanated from the bodies was neither that of the unwashed nor of the recently diseased: they smelled of rot and decay, and while most people would've simply decided to get away from that smell, Frey noted it was odd. Very odd.

Unsheathing one of his daggers, Frey carefully scrapped off some caked-off paint on the deceased bandit's face, only to see rotting flesh and protruding bone underneath. Far from the ugliest thing he had seen, but he scowled nonetheless.

"No wonder Lady Delacroix sensed dark magic at work here." The former pirate spoke, his voice uncharacteristically somber as he recalled a fateful encounter amidst the thick mists of the East many Othacris - Komdis in the Thapsian Calendar - ago. The mechanism was likely different, the execution was different, but the end result was the same. "These aren't bandits, they're corpses. Someone brought them back and sent them after us." He stood up and looked at the road ahead.

"So much for this being a simple delivery job, huh?"

Shaking his head, the rogue stood up. "Arden, calm the mule and let's keep going. The sooner we get this thing to where it needs to be, the better." He instructed. Before long, the group had finally moved on from the scene of the undead ambush, and as night fell, they found themselves quite far away, albeit still on the road to Antheia. Far to the right, a wooded area, and a rocky outcrop to the left.

"We should probably look at camping out the rest of the night." The young man spoke as he turned to face his party. "Any preferences? I think heading over to the rocks there is a good idea, myself. Offers nice cover." He suggested, before crossing his arms and waiting for the others to chime in.

---

---

Needless to say, Sylanna was quite satisfied that her fellow purple-cloak approved of her plan for dealing with the beast. She had quite a bit more military experience, but on the downside, she often lacked insight in matters such as hunting and tracking, so the High Elf's input was always appreciated in these situations. With that taken care of, she simply held her winged spear in hand, for the first time less than fond of its design - it wouldn't be able to pierce too deep into the beast, even if her arm's strength sufficed to drive it into its hide. Mulling over this, she idly observed as Aayla picked up various herbs from the surrounding landscape and created her concoction, a deceptively innocuous looking flask that she assured would bring out the beast, assuming it didn't put it down on the spot.

The quirky alchemist threw the potion down the ravine, and then all hell went loose. Given the sheer magnitude of the roar they had heard earlier, she was prepared for what came next, but even so it was impressive how loud its roar was, how full of hatred and ire. It's no wonder it took out so many hunters, if it's big and mad enough to sound like that... The Snow Elf thought, but it wasn't until the monster leaped out of the dent in the earth that she fully understood all the pain and fear it had caused, even when those who had faced off against it couldn't remember it. A beast like that couldn't be nature's creation, it had to be a foul artifice of some wicked mind.

And the proof was right there, in its head. The black cross.

The Snow Elf made a mental note to look into it later, but for the time being, she readied herself to battle just as Roxana did so. Suddenly her body took on a radiant glow, it did, she reared back her spear-wielding arm. "Solskin." She spoke, and her wisp flew out of her back before joining with her body yet again - her hand this time. She ran said hand over the tip of the spear, lighting it on fire, and then hurled it at the beast with all of her might.

It missed.

"ANCESTORS DAMN IT!" She cursed. Just a little lower and it would've dug square into the beast's eye!

Still, now that she'd wasted that opportunity, there was no point in crying over it - she had to adapt to the situation and prepare for what followed. Quickly unsheathing her sword, she carefully ran her hand over the blade, a wreath of flames steadily enveloping it as she did so.

Seeing the beast approaching, Sylanna decided against retreating or simply dodging - they had to put the beast down where it stood or more lives would be in danger, so she had to act bravely. Thus, instead of moving away, she ran towards the beast with the blinding speed that her boon afforded her, slashing up with her sword and creating a gash that ran across the beast's entire belly. It hadn't been in contact with the flame long enough to cauterize, and so blood began to seep out of the enormous wound, but that did not make Sylanna feel better - she'd felt the sheer toughness of the beast's iron-like hide as she cut through, and she knew that the wound wasn't deep enough to impair it, only to enrage it.

She was about to turn around and mount another attack, hoping to attain better results, when something suddenly wrapped around her neck. "Gah-!" She hacked out as she grabbed onto the beast's tail with one hand, the other trying to cut through it with her sword. Before she could manage to do so, the beast flicked its tail, throwing her quite a bit of distance away. Careful not to let go of her sword, Sylanna managed to land on her feet. Letting out a few coughs, she nonetheless was far from defeated and immediately ran back towards the beast as it turned its attention away from her, refusing to let it go after her comrades. Closing the distance in an instant thanks to her boon, she leaped high into the air and brought down her sword on its back, aiming to pierce through its hide with a stronger attack.

[Tomia]

Frey

Annabelle scowled at Frey, he reminded her of the men within the Kal that wouldn't take her seriously. That thought gave her painful memories and dangerous thoughts so she quickly banished them from mind and simply ignored him for now. She checked the corpses to see if there were any clues to who they used to be but there was nothing on them other than their armor and weapons. Something was going on here, and it was likely a lot more complicated than they were originally told. The last thing Annabelle needed was intrigue, so she was hoping this was the last surprise they'd find on the journey but she very much doubted it.

Once night fell and they needed to find camp, Annabelle listened to Frey give his opinion. "I agree with Frey, Someone is clearly expecting us. We need to prioritize defending ourselves." She said, not looking to happy that she was agreeing with their arrogant unofficial leader. "We'll need someone on watch at all times regardless of where we chose to camp." She told the crew. "I can go first. I've done it plenty of times before."

[Radea]

Arden Rooke
The road to Antheia– Secret Package delivery contract
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The chaos ebbed and flowed between the sounds of battle and the ad-hoc strategy yelled between comrades. The clash of steel and bursts of magic entered and exited the smoke. A nearby sound of a heavy stud and a squish of flesh and bone were followed by a sharp pause, then a shout.

“Guys, be careful! These aren’t regular bandits: there’s is dark magic at work here.”

Yvonne, the watchful Paladin, was the first to discover that these bandits were not mere bandits. Around Arden, the group slew and evaded their assailants with varying degrees of skill. The heartlander, for his part, felt the bloodrush of battle and felt fear and focus simultaneously. Over his shoulder, the right, the party leader Frey was speaking with the veteran red cloak Annabelle. With a jaunt of his head towards the group, he gave commands.

"Alright, the four of you, stick together and keep the mule and the package safe at all costs."

The blonde-haired rogue then bolted out of the smoke, with Annabelle right behind in a flash. More sounds were added to the din of the confrontation. In moments, three more of the cursed bandits came through the smoke, unharmed by the other two legionnaires. In the surprise, the mule kicked and bucked, almost causing the cart to jostle. Rooke, focusing on the important task of keeping the beast from fleeing and not damaging the vital cargo, pulled hard on the reins. “Come on girl, don’t fail me now.” He grunted to himself.

Fate decided that task alone wasn’t tough enough. One of the brigands snarled inhumanly to Arden’s right. It’s discolored face and disfigured hands clung to the driver’s bench. He - it - was coming in for the kill. Arden starred in freight, mouth agape, never breaking contact with the attacker. His right hand let go of the leather holding the mule in check and fumbled for the handle of his axe. The bandit inched closer, blade in hand, with a putrid smell of death emanating from it. The creature stumbled on the driver’s bench. A split second. A split second was all the opening Rooke needed. He gained a sure grip on his axe and swung it much like his haymaker punches. The blade dug into the clothed jaw of the raider. The jaw cleaned nearly in twain and hung loosely from one hinge. The bandit didn’t move. Then it shivered to life, growling and crawling back toward its target. Rooke yelped in surprise, tugging the axehead free from the jaw before bringing it down crudely into the forehead of the man. The hit didn’t feel like it dug into flesh, but shattering bone. The bandit slumped into defeat. Rooke placed his heavy boot on its shoulder and kicked it clear of the wagon, also freeing his axe in the process. A rotting stench hung in the air.

As others defeated the would-be killers, the smoke also began to clear. Arden felt his heart begin to return to normal speed. He didn’t even notice the gulps of air he was taking. Frey was already investigating the bodies. He took some time looking them over and scraping off their face paint. Arden almost asked the party captain to repeat himself when he declared coolly that the bandits were not simple robbers. They were undead corpses.

“Gods… how can that be?” The heartlander exclaimed in nearly a whisper. He craned his neck to stare down the crate in the back of the wagon. Whatever was in it was no mere trinket. His gaze was redirected by a quick order by Frey Farwind to calm their beast of burden and move out. Hoping down from the driver’s bench, Rooke followed his hand up the side of the mule; shushing it as he went along. “There there, girl. It’s alright. Just some smoke and… the living dead.” A cruel joke meant to comfort himself as much as the mule. After some more reassurance and patience, the wagon was moving again at a steady pace.

After some time, the sun was beginning to set and the wagon had reached a sluggish pace. The mule was requiring rest soon. Along the path were a few options to stay for the night. So far, Frey and Annabelle seemed set on a rocky outcropping. They figured it was well set for defense. Rooke shifted in his seat, the wooden bench creaking under him lightly. “What if we are attacked again and get penned in? Can’t escape if solid rock is between us and them.”

The commoner wasn’t questioning the other two. Frey and Annabelle had more experience than him in fighting but if life taught him much, it’s that living to fight another day was better than not.

[Finland SSR]

Literally for everyone:

Roxana Ma'gonid

Crystal Village Investigation

Haunted Manor Rescue

Dido Ricine, the Elven swordsmaster!

---

The satisfying feeling of cutting straight through the crystal scarecrows and turning their fragile bodies into firewood sent a lovely adrenaline rush through Dido's bloodstream. Now this is what the life of a Legionnaire should be about. With a deadly smirk on her face, the Dark Elf turned towards their final opponent, a vast crystal horse stomping through the rest of her party and charging towards her.

"Really? Even if you're Redcloaks, I expected a whole lot more from you!" Dido exclaimed, then a crazy, and thus lovely idea struck her mind. The magical coating around both of her falchions suddenly vanished and the Dark Elf sheathed them, instead meeting the stampeding crystal horse with her bare hands - right as it was about to run over her, however, she leapt up, spinning in the air and landing straight on the animal's back.

Immediately, Dido reached into her bag, pulling out a rope from it, a necessary addition to any adventurer's inventory. With one arm, she latched onto the crystal horse's neck while wrapping her rope around its jaw with another as a makeshift harness. You're gonna be mine now.

"Let's go!" Dido leaned back and pulled onto the harness to start steering the crystal horse. The creature immediately started resistingf the violent tug, its head and body shaking, but through the pressure and its blinding rage unable to make it think coherently, it eventually started to yield and turn in her chosen direction. Yelling out in excitement, Dido continued pushing on and changing the horse's direction, the crystal village now in front of her and her teammates on the right.

"Hop on! Quick!" the Dark Elf yelled out towards Valan and Scitha.

---

Bettine Lambert, master of the Griffon!

---

Huzzah! Combined with Thall's axe swinging and Matthias's sheer might and fury, the wraith was fairly easily beaten back and forced to retreat to wherever he came from. The griffon stepped back from the empty place where the entity had once floated, then turned towards the golem, scoffing. Why was this thing even there when Matthias could have taken on it all by itself? However, Bettiny cheering from behind got him to calm down:

"Yay! We did it!" Betty exclaimed happily and leapt onto her griffon's back. "See, those ghosts weren't all that scary! Now, to storm the mansion and get that teen out!"

However, Matthias stopped in front of the door and turned to the side, it remained unyielding in stopping short. Betty groaned. "Maaaatthias! What is it?" Matthias responded with a mere scoff. "Come on, do you really think I'll be in any danger there? You saw how you dispatched of that wraith, they won't even touch me!"

Matthias did not yield just yet. Betty opted to rub the griffon's neck a bit while continuing. "Besiiides... You're stronger with me than you are without me, right? Are ya sure you wanna head inside without me? What if your own strength's not enough?"

The griffon responded with a scoff, then wrapped its wings around the rider as a bulb shield while it awaited where the rest of the squad will go.

---

Simion Valerin, the marksman from Nur!

---

Simion silently tagged along with the rest of the squad as the investigation seemed to come to a close, kept tabs on the ravine with his weapon steady and ready to fire at any given moment while Aayla was crafting her potion, and watched the results as soon as the poison gas started to spread. What came out was a monstrosity like anything the marksman had ever seen before. Was it... a some sort of wolf beast? No, no, this cannot be something coming from nature. All of the mysterious, magical abilities which it held, its unbelievable might, and the black cross marking it... they all hinted it at being something artificial. Much like, say, griffons.

Roxana fired a massive ballista arrow at the beast - however, it did little other than dent the creature's hide. This, coupled with it completely ignoring all the other arrows piercing it like needles, was enough of a hint to Simion that his hand cannon was not going to do much else either. Unless he managed to hit a vital spot with it - but even with the Eagle Eye boon, the bastard moved too damn quickly for him to land a good shot on the head, or anything else which might be vital. Thus, as soon as the monstrosity began its leap over the ravine, Simion stepped back, taking cover behind a pine tree and watching Sylanna melee with it.

As disgusting as it was to see Vul flee when they needed ranged support the most - and yes, the Wood Elf ran straight to the forest at the first sight of the beast - he could at least understand the logic behind it. Because, by the gods, that thing was terrifying. Simion opted to keep his hand cannon loaded for now - if he wastes this shot, he's not going to find the opportunity to reload again - and instead turned to his backpack.

This might help. Simion pulled out a small ceramic ball with a laced fuse stemming from the top - then lit the end of the fuse to the match burning inside his hand cannon. It's going to take ten seconds for the fuse to burn out, at which point it will light up the gunpowder stored inside and... well, the results are obvious at this point. Simion peeked out from behind the tree, seeing that Sylanna had maneuvered around the beast and was now striking its back. Perfect.

"Everyone, watch out!" the marksman yelled before tossing the grenade straight towards the beast's chest.

[Gudmund]

Thall Lium | Haunted Gabriel Manor

The wraith was quickly dispatched under his and the griffon's might, Thall's blessed weapon dissipating large portions of the creature causing him to overswing quite a bit. Once it retreated out of his reach, Betty's griffon soon pounced upon it and ripped it to shreds as Thall stood by, certain the beast would be fine against the disoriented enemy. Despite this it seemed as though the head of the wraith had escaped into the mansion, much too small for him to even attempt to fire his bow. Now, Thall thought kindly of the griffon, but couldn't help but chuckle as it haughtily scoffed at him considering it failed to actually kill its target. Over many years Thall had slain his fair share of many wilder griffin before, a young babe like Matthius would fare no better. Although, tamed ones' were supposedly far stronger under the guidance of a good master.

As Siegfried finally waddled over, he explained the next steps to take, Thall certainly sharing his opinion on the witch hunter. The squad's current options were to either go in through the front or go around into the internal courtyard, where who knows what could be there. Checking over Siegfried for injuries, Thall spoke, "Well if you're not too injured, I say we split up and search for clues," pausing, Thall sheaved his axe before continuing, "I'd rather not fall through the century old floorboards, so I'll traverse the internal courtyard. Should an enemy flee out the back I might have a chance to stop them."

Turning around Thall gestured towards the mansion, pointing out a few spots of interest, "otherwise we could probably break through a window or wall to make our own path?" he proposed, intrigued in the team's input.