Journeys

Myst stared at the Portal in front of her. Its light blue wash of colour swept across her face as she stood motionless in front of the rippling tide within in the Portal. She stared, unblinking, her hand absently clenching and unclenching.

She had never been from Wraith's side. She had always had the older woman to look up to, to be protected by. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to cope without her mentor, and how she was supposed to lead this band of people to rescue their Caretaker.

She looked back and saw the array of helpers that had come. There was Akaron Corvus, the strange looking Knight resplendent in his armor. Golden Drakon, cantankerous at the best of times. Shadow, the mysterious Vampyric Knight that kept mostly to himself. Orgrim gro-Khaz, the newest addition to the Vale, an Orc that seemed pretty decent enough. As well as the Shifter that Wraith seemed so wary of, Blackwulff.

Rhet and the Skirl both stared back at her, one with a look of impatience and one with a look of pure hatred. She sighed and turned back to the Portal.

Taking a deep breath, she absently ran her hand over her pack just to make sure all was there. Inside her pack were some lengths of ropes, cutting tools, some rock smashing tools, water, dry food, an extra set of clothing for her and Wraith, cooking implements, some vials of acidic liquid that was good for throwing as well as a small set of throwing knives. There was also was uncut emeralds and rubies - in case the Skirls were interested in bartering for Wraith and the other woman.

She took another look behind her, nodding to each man in turn and then stepped through the Portal. It was a peculiar feeling. It was somewhere between a cold shower and being ripped to pieces. But it was pleasant enough, she suppose and within a heartbeat she was stumbling out of the other side.

It was light on the other side. A wide forest surrounded the small glade the Portal sat in. Large trunked trees surrounded them all sides, the underbrush looking wild and dangerous. This was far from the type of rainforest she was used to. Soft grass crawled along the ground and she found it slightly springy to walk on.

Distantly, she heard the slight woosh as the others came through after her. Rhet was last, towing the Skirl along with a rope that was bound tight around it.

Myst turned as she heard a rustling sound in the bushes. Suddenly, Sharp Tooth let out a long, low howl. The bushes abruptly erupted with seven Skirls all rushing towards the newly transported group.

Two of them weilding wicked looking one handed axes while the others held an assortment of maces and clubs. They all snarled and howled their battle cries, their salivating jaws held open in anticipation of an easy kill.

Myst froze at the frenzy of activity and all she could was scream....

As I stood there I shook my head. So that is what it feels like to be born I thought to myself as I looked back at the portal. It was still glowing with its pale blue light, inviting us back in. I knew though that there was no way any of us were going to go back, not without Wraith.

I turned quickly to a group of bushes when I heard the sound coming from it. Just then one of the creatures, one of the Skirls flew out of the bushes straight at me just as Myst let out a scream. I lowered my hand down to the hilt of my sword but knew that I wasn't going to be fast enough as it was too close. I let the hilt of my sword go and rushed at it as fast as I could, hoping that it wasn't going to be able to follow my movements. As I slammed my fist into the side of its face with as much force as I could muster I wanted to scream for it to fall. I knew though that I wasn't going to be this easy though when the Skirl was moved back a few steps only to stop and look at me with a snarl. I watched as its thin, clear drool hung from its lower jaw and knew that this thing saw me as food, nothing more.

I knew though that I was not going to be a snack for this thing and grabbed a weapon without thinking. I was shocked for a second to see the chain hanging from my hand but knew that it was a weapon nevertheless. I looked at the Skirl with a smile, and swung the chain as hard as I could, watching as it connected with the side of its head. I watched as it flew off its feet and crashed to the ground. As I looked at it all that I wanted was for it to stay down so I could go back to Myst, to keep her safe.

As soon as it started to move though I knew that it was not going to be as easy as I thought. I started to swing the chain around until it was wrapped around my arm before drawing my sword. I knew that I should kill the thing while it was trying to get up, to end this fight quickly. I knew there would be no honor in that though and stood there waiting. If this thing was going to die then it was going to be in a fair fight.

Akaron felt consumed and odd, his eyes having to adjust to new dynamics of light.

Unfortunately, he would not have the time. He saw a brief blur and heard a howl, just in time to leap back and draw his weapons.

"AH-HA! Akaron roared, "It is good to have battle again!" he said crossing his axe and sword in front of him. "Here doggy!"

Drakon watched the happenings with the portal with great interest. All the speeches, tresspassers and blustering had brought them this far and now the portal was opened. A fact that did not overly please GoldenDrakon either.

"We should not rush forward without prep-" he began but stopped as Myst sprang forward and vanished.
She was quickly followed by the loyal 'Knights of the Realm' who bounded off blindly and without thought into the unknown. He sighed, shaking his head slightly and followed.

There was a blinding flash an odd tingling in his head and suddenly he was outside, in a forest that he was not familiar with and facing a whole pack of new intruders.

"This need not come to blows!" he called out to the slavering creatures. "We can discuss this without conflict, and it would go much better for you."

Wulff braced himself and exhaled, following closely after Myst, his eyes shut as he leapt into the swirling mass. He'd never felt its likeness and he decided, as soon as he hit the ground and could see properly, he didn't like it, not at all. He landed on his feet (sure, if his knees could be counted as his feet), shaky, trembling, and feeling decidedly sick to his stomach, he hunched forward on all fours, internally wondering why he'd wanted to come. Oh yeah... adventure. Well this part of it sucked, he groaned and leapt to his feet (read: lurched) as the Skirl howled. It made his skin stand on end as more of the hyena-men popped up and a growl slid from his chest (completely unexpected, but he'd go with it), baring his teeth ferally as he scented their fetid breath from this distance.

He shuddered and felt more ill as something pushed at his skin, making a shiver run the length of his spine. The Skirls seemed to want to fight the bigger of their group, wanting to pick of the easy kills later, and apparently he looked easy (not that he knew what he was doing or anything, but dammit, he wasn't a pushover, was he?) as two of them moved towards Ironman in a rush, others going for the orc who'd joined them and the dragon-man.

He was frightened, yes, but he wouldn't let it deter him, he was on an adventure, adventure had to be scary, else it'd be boring, right? Right (he'd keep telling himself that anyways). He growled at the nearest Fuzzy look-alike, his hair practically standing on end (it would if it wasn't so long) as the skirl turned to him. He puffed up, trying to make himself look big and intimidating as he felt that tug on his skin again.

The skirl roared at him and Wulff snarled back, baring short human teeth and reaching for the whip at his side (he hadn't quite got the hang of it, but it was better than nothing), the length of leather uncoiling like a snake as the end swished unfamiliarly in Wulff's hands. He whipped it about as the skirl moved in, the end snapping against his cheek and drawing blood in a thin line close to his eye.

"Ow. Dammit." He mumbled pressing a hand to his cheek as blood streaked his face. The whip had done a number on his face, the air stung painfully as the hyena lunged and Wulff fell back as the dragon shouted something about not needing to fight, though, honestly, these creatures didn't particularly look like the diplomatic sort to him.

Myst soon got over her panic induced scream as motion exploded around her. Each of her companions were either locked in a battle or watching on. She shook her head, as if to clear some sort of fogginess and turned around as feathers brushed close to her skin.

Reht roared and swung his short sword downwards, hacking at a Skirl that had come for the seemingly defenseless Myst. He had used such force and fury that the blow crushed in the Skirl's skull. It crumpled without a sound and Reht scooped up its fallen axe before leaping towards another snarling Skirl, his deep purple wings flaring with battle rage.

He wasn't as well trained as a Warrior, but as all Aegirans were, he had had a little more than basic traning. Especially for this mission. His crash course in fierce battle seemed to be working as he cut across the calves of the Skirl he had rushed. It kept standing, but its movements were suddenly more sluggish.

Myst's eyes sought out the only one other than her that wasn't fighting. Golden Drakon stood with the light blue wash of the Portal at his back. He stood straight, aristocratically defiant in the face of the violence. Her eyes went wide and she wondered what kind of man he truly was. Wraith did not speak of him often and when she did, she often spoke in terms of him being a stranger. Of him being an outside element to whatever she was planning.

"Please...." she looked over her shoulder and saw with wider eyes that the remaining two Skirls were circling towards herself and Golden Drakon. "... I don't think that they just want to talk..."

Then her eyes suddenly became a milky white and she stared into GD's eyes, "West... I am west..." the voice belonged to Wraith. "You... must... survive..." The voice did not elaborate. It could have meant just GD had to survive, it could also have meant all or some of them had to. But it was gone as quickly as it came and Myst's eyes cleared and she stared at GD in confusion for a few seconds, whirling around as a Skirl snarled and began to charge her.

Once again, a scream clawed its way to the surface and Myst was paralysed.

"Please...." she looked over her shoulder and saw with wider eyes that the remaining two Skirls were circling towards herself and Golden Drakon. "... I don't think that they just want to talk..."

Drakon only grunted in acknowledgment. "I think you are right." he muttered, watching the two creatures as he positioned himself between them and Myst. "More's the pity...for them."

Myst's eyes suddenly became milky white and staring.
"West... I am west...You... must... survive..."

Drakon raised one eyebrow at the unexpected exchange, but he had no time to question as the first skirl lunged forward, club in hand. Drakon stepped forward, quickly closing the distance and ruining any momentum the skirl's weapon might have had. His arm swung upwards in opposite to the skirl's club. With a loud slapping sound, the dragon caught the club head and held fast, trapping it between the two combatants. Dragon and Skirl stood for a brief second, staring at one another, only inches apart begore GD again stepped forward, driving his shoulder into the skirl's chest and forcing him backwards. The skirl stumbled and Drakon yanked the club away.

"I will not warn you again." he growled menacingly, tossing away the club. "I know you understand me, now back away and yeald...or I -will- kill you."

Orgrim was still new to the vale, but had heard that their leader had gone missing, and felt honor bound to aid in her rescue. They had followed the young girl whom Wraith treated as a daughter to this cave, and met the dragon man who decided to aid them as well.

But now they had gone through the portal, and into the unknown.

Orgrim emerged from the portal as the others began to fight the strange creatures, instinctively raising his hand to cast a spell of fire.

It failed, and he remembered that he no longer had the power he had in Tamriel.

But his axe was still sharp.

With a roar he bounded forward, swinging his staff axe in a deep arc, and caught the creature that had lunged at the young shifter in the chest, sending him flying. He held out his hand to shifter, Wulff he had been called by one of the others earlier, and tried to help him up.

"Come on Wulff, there is blood to be had." he said simply

Myst's eyes widened... her breathing was rapid and her lips were parted with a sort of horrified excitement. She shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts and wondered briefly just how powerful the dragon had become. He had always struck her as a wizened, yet cranky, old man. She guessed that he hadn't really changed... he was just more dangerous now.

She watched as the Skirl circled Drakon, warily this time, recognising the worthy opponent it now faced. But it was still just an animal. An animal with an insatiable blood lust.

Even without its club, the first Skirl suddenly snarled and lunged - just as the second Skirl did the same, but from the opposite direction. It seemed that they wanted to catch the dragon unawares and sandwich him between their attacks.

Smart... but was it smart enough?

Myst didn't wait to find out. With her friends battling around her, and the dragon she found herself looking up to risking his life - nay negotiating - with the Skirls, she suddenly couldn't take any more.

She raised her hand, her eyes squeezed tight as bright red ribbons of light emitted from her fingertips. The five ribbons coalesced to form a barrier of sorts behind the GD, where the second Skirl smacked into it with a sickening thud.

Myst's eyes opened and a bright white light emitted from her orbs, her extended hand violently clenched into a fist and the red shield folded backwards, closing in a bubble around the Skirl that had bounced off of it.

Myst shook her fist, a harsh, wordless scream coming from her mouth as the red bubble collapsed in on itself. Howls of indescribable pain echoed off the trees surrounding the battle. Ribbons of blood and visceral material stripped the inside of the bubble.

Myst gasped and her eyes suddenly became their normal grey blue. Her fist opened shakily and the bubble burst, spreading gore evenly in a circle. Of the Skirl, there was nothing but red mist and bits of bone.

Myst was splattered with some of the thin red mist, her pale cheek covered in droplets of blood. Myst stared up at Golden Drakon and screamed - promptly passing out.

It was then that another of the Skirls came out of nowhere and slammed into me with enough force to cause me to step forward a few steps. The other Skirl, seeing that I was now distracted jumped through the air and sunk its teeth deep into my right arm which made me shout out loudly and almost drop my sword. I turned my head to look at the one that still had its teeth sunk deep into the flesh of my arm and let out another shout before I started to slam my left fist into its head while screaming at it to let me go.

I could feel the thing still clamped onto my arm and knew that there was going to be no easy way to get it off. I knew though that I had to try, wrapped my left arm around it and as it started to struggle ran and jumped into the air. As I landed heavily on top of the Skirl I heard it let out a slight sound of pain as I let out a shout of pain myself. I knew though that this thing still wasn't going to let go and reached down to pull one of my daggers from its sheath.

I saw the thing look at me as it bared its teeth and with a shout jammed the thing into the side of its head. It let out a scream of pain and let go of my arm, letting the blood flow freely from it. As I slowly moved away from the Skirl I kept looking at it and wanted nothing more than to scream out and run at it. I knew though it had the advantage as it still had all its strength and all I had was a dagger and was wounded from the bite it had given me.

I knew, even as I did it that it was a stupid thing to do as I ran at it as quickly as I could, gripped my dagger tightly in my hand and let out a shout. The Skirl looked at me and let out a scream of its before it started to run at me.

Wulff looked up, his eyes bright with agitation, a snarl livid on his mouth, when a green hand entered his vision. He looked up to see the extended offer and he took it, nodding readily at the green man, "Aye." He hadn't gotten his name when they'd come in contact with him, so he'd call him... the Green Giant (because he was bigger than Wulff of course). He'd put up the whip for now, he didn't know how to use it, so, claws and teeth it was. Oh joy. He snarled, hooking his hands into claws and bristling as he met the skirl face-to-face in a snarl, his upper lip curled. Bristles rose over his nose and all around his eyes, an ashy black colour that spread quickly over his form, his face covered and soon his chest and arms were as well. The skirl took a step back, slightly alarmed by the changes coming over him, but was soon at him again, raising his club to bash him with. Wulff flung himself to the side as the club went past his head, feeling something crunch when he landed and more things crunch as his body folded in a roll.

Agony tore through his limbs, it was like fire, starting at the shoulder he'd landed on and moving across his back to the other shoulder, his skin shuddering with the undulations of bones shifting out of place and reshaping, muscles detaching and changing places, it was dizzying. The faint shuffle of fur and hair sprouting thicker than the fine dusting of before, the ripping of clothing as the shape became too big for it.

There was a rearranging of facial structure and that had to be the worst of it, a muzzle sprouting from where there had been none, ears on top of the head rather than the sides, a hundred different scents swamping his brain, quickly registering and categorizing all of the in the same instant he got his feet up underneath him, all four of them. There was more crunching and snapping as his hands and feet became paws, his heels became hocks and pads formed with claws on the ends of each toe. His backside pained him with the formation of his tail and he kicked off his pants, narrowly avoiding the club that came down on his pants, forcing him to spring free before the skirl took his tail off, the change having taken place in sparce seconds.

He hurt all over, his first shift and his muscles burned, his bones ached and everything seemed stark with the smell of colour rather than sight. He growled, roughly about twice as big as a natural wolf, he almost stood five feet at the tips of his ears. His colour was a soft ash gray and angry yellow eyes glared at the frightened skirl that had attacked him. He growled and snarled at the other, registering the immediate threat that had to be gotten rid of.

Teeth bared, dripping saliva, the skirl danced back, swinging the club again as Wulff lunged. He caught it in his teeth, jarring his entire skull as he landed on his feet, but he pulled it out of the hyena man's hands and whirled in a blur of grey fur, lashing out with his back legs and slamming them into the skirl's chest solidly, knocking him back several feet and into a nearby tree, where he lay still and didn't move again.

Wulff dropped the club and turned on another skirl, snapping at him and snapping at his right side, forcing the angry creature to twist away as Wulff made a second bite at him, a snarl rising from his throat. Just as he was about to actually bite the other, really bite the skirl's throat out, his muscles burned and fatigue tore through his body. He flinched back and the skirl got clawed hands into the ruff of his neck, using all that muscle on him to throw him into a tumble. Wulff slid across the ground, rolling on his side until he got his feet under him and shoved up as the skirl was on top of him, promptly headbutting the other, making his own head spin, but the skirl was laid out for the count. He shuddered, his body rejecting the change he'd brought out and his human shape returned, easier than leaving it had been, but it still hurt as he hid behind a tree, away from the rest of the action, his limbs trembling with exhaustion. Hopefully someone would bring him his pack so he could get dressed, nudity was all well and good for animals and bedroom play, but in the wilds, he needed better protection than just his skin.

Skirl and Dragon both watched with a mixture of shock and amazement at the sudden display for power emitted by the young girl. Their battle momentarilly forgotten, they witnessed the rather explosive and grizzly death of the entrapped skirl. Both were spattered by the red, sticky mist cast out when the bubble burst and for a moment, GD's eyes met Myst's eyes, but in the dragon's eyes was not reflected revulsion, nor wonder or even anger.

They were thick with pity for her.

Then the Changling girl fainted dead away.
The dragon and the skirl looked at the crumpled child, then looked back to one another, wonder and bewilderment evident on both their faces. Finally, in the next instant, GD reached out, and punched the skirl squarely on the snout.

The fight was back on.

Within short order, the seven skirls were either dead, scattered or unconscious. The party of adventurers were in themselves either, wounded, exhausted, passed out or naked. Luckily, none of them were dead.

Reht wiped his short sword on the bristled fur of a dead skirl and sheathed it. The glow of the Portal had long since vanished, but the sunlight streaming through the canopy far above gave them enough light to see by.

Reht looked around and spied Myst laying on the floor. He swept his gaze around the clearing and spied an arm quivering behind a tree. He only assumed that the arm belonged to a body. He approached cautiously and resisted the urge to laugh as he spied the young, naked shapeshifter.

Walking back, he scooped up Wulff's pack and shifted it onto his shoulder before approaching the young pup again. "Here," he said, his eyes twinkling as he handed the boy his pack. He didn't bother averting his gaze, after all, he was a man of the world and the boy in front of him was just that. A boy.

"I have not met a Changer before, in my world, they are extinct. But I am impressed, youngling." Leaving the shapeshifter to dress he walked back towards Golden Drakon. Lowering his voice as he approached the Dragon, he asked, "The Child, what is she? And what did she say?"

Louder and to the others scattered around the clearing, he said, "We should be moving on. Those skirls were waiting for us and there could be more."

Akaron wiped off his blades, thick with skirl gore. He had a gash on his arm, but was otherwise unharmed, and his Riada constitution, as well as Riada battlefury kept it from troubling him much.

"I would welcome more, it has been too long since i had battle, these were barely a warmup." he said. "Let's move on, The sooner we find wraith, the sooner I can fight some more."

Orgrim wiped off his own blades and surveyed the situation, everyone looked fine, he had a few cuts, these skirl were more skilled then he had first assumed, and quite nimble.

But he was an Orc, and wounds were glorious.

"I concur with the horned one, we should make haste. Who knows what they could be doing to Lady Wraith."

Wulff looked up as the Fluffy approached him, his eyes slightly widening and a light blush dusted his cheeks as the other didn't look away. He was used to being stared at, but usually (not always) he had clothing on, and most of the time the people staring weren't resisting the urge to laugh. A bit of anger burned through him at that, but he looked away as the other moved off and grabbed his pack. He resisted the urge to snatch it and cover himself with it, instead he took it gingerly, "Thanks." He said quietly and set about shuffling through it, his ear twitching when the other spoke. He couldn't tamp down the second reddening of his cheeks (just when he'd gotten the first bit under control too!) when the other told him he was impressed. "Was nothin'." He mumbled and pulled out a pair of pants, pulling them on as he stood up.

He walked out from his hiding place, running a hand through his hair and shaking himself a bit, glancing over at the battle hungry men while examining himself for injuries. Mostly he had bruises, there were some on the back of his neck, where the skirl had grabbed him, some on his arms and on his legs (he was pretty sure he had one on his backside too, it was hard to tell), with some scratches and a sore jaw. But for the most part he was pretty okay. But, where was Myst? He looked around, he'd heard her scream, but he'd been too involved in the change to really look around. He spotted her, passed out on the ground and he moved slowly to her, stroking back her hair, "Myst?" He asked, shaking her shoulder, looking around, "Hey," He tried to catch the attention of the Green Giant, waving him over, "Can you pick her up?" He asked, he himself was not strong enough to carry her on his own.

The Skirl staggered backwards after having been punched by Drakon, only to have the back of its head bashed in by the green-skinned orc a second later. The skirl crumpled into the foliage, never to rise again. The fight was soon over, the few remaining skirls having been slain or fled. Although he himself had ben spattered with the after effects of Myst's unexpected powers, he himself was unscathed although the fight had left him strangely irritated at current events.

He also looked down at Myst, his head cocked sightly to one side as he regarded her. He made no move to aid her nor even seemed concerned for her being at the moment. Rhet moved about the newly stamped out clearing, coming to stand near him and whispered; "The Child, what is she? And what did she say?"

GD's golden eyes did not ceace their meticulous studying of the child. "I know as much about her as I do of you, Tinkerer." he said flatly then finally looked up at the winged man with a cynical smile "But it does make things interesting, yes?"
He turned away, but only to kneel down beside the nearest slain skirl. With two fingers, he pressed against the fallen creature's neck, confirming that it was truly dead before frisking along the corpse's torso, searching for anyting of value or interest.

"She said 'West, I am West.' I believe that Wraith lies in that direction." he said in answer to the second half of Rhet's question as he moved to the second corpse, continuing with his morbid hunt.

Louder and to the others scattered around the clearing, Rhet called out, "We should be moving on. Those skirls were waiting for us and there could be more."

"Perhaps." GD said absently, more to himself than in reply to Rhet. "But I don't think so. They would have been here by now, drawn to the sound of fighting...." The dragon stood, looking at the meagre spoils in his hands. "They were traveling light, and they arrived very quickly. They probably have a camp close by; we should investigate before moving out."

"Easily" Orgrim said, gently picking up Myst and draping her over his shoulder. "The Dragon man has a solid plan, we could try to follow their tracks."

Reht almost took a step back as Golden Drakon grinned at him. There was a glint of more than mere mischeif in the dragon's eyes and Reht wasn't half sure he liked it. His purple dyed wings ruffled slightly, betraying his unease but he did not voice his thoughts aloud.

Instead, he watched as Myst was casually dumped onto the Green Skin's shoulder as if she were no more than a sack of grain. He didn't bother to acknowledge the warrior. He had done his part and driven the Skirls off. Now it was time to rescue his beloved.

"Going into a Skirl infested camp would be suicide." He said curtly and instead strode to the opposite side of the clearing from where the Skirls had originally ambushed the party of adventurers. He hefted his pack (which held half of the necessary equipment for this journey) and shifted it onto his shoulder, clear of his wings.

He stood at the edge of the clearing, on the western side and beckoned to anyone who would listen.

"I'm going to rescue my Wife and hopefully your Mistress too. If you want to see Wraith again, follow me."

Then he disappeared past the screen of trees.




You each now have a choice. You can either choose to follow Reht West towards the main colony of Skirls and where Wraith and Sera are possibly being held captive. Or you can choose to go, instead, East to a possible encampment of Skirls. Either path can be chosen and both have their benefits and detriments to the success of this mission.

Choose wisely, Adventureres.

Upon searching the unconscious or deceased Skirls, you find the following items:

--1x Long strand of string which proves to be toughened hair fibres twisted into rope.
--16x small clawtips, curved and smoothed artificially to a shine.
--5x much larger, black clawtips, also smoothed down to a sheen.
--1x roughly carved wooden doll approximately 1ft in height. It is of a human looking woman.
--2x solid silver rings. When you touch these rings, something thrums through you, but you are unharmed.

Curiously, on each Skirl you search, you find a thong around their neck, hidden beneath their chest plates, or shirts. Each thong contains a large piece of rose quartz shaped roughly like an upside down pyramid.

GoldenDrakon's eyes narrowed slightly at Rhet's outburst and for the second time, he considered just eating the winged man and being done with it. He sighed, indulging such a whim would not be prudent at this time. Besides, GoldenDrakon still needed the Tinkerer to operate the portal in order to get him back to his lair.

"I am not interested in going off on some silly side quest, attacking an armed camp or abandoning Wraith to whatever fate she may be facing." GD said, relieving one of the skirls of a belt and pouch and pouring his aquired trinkets within. "But if these seven have a camp or bivoac nearby, it might yeald important information."

"Go with the Tinkerer, I will follow shortly."

Slinging the pouch and belt across his chest, GoldenDrakon bounded away into the foliage where the ambushers had appeared from.

As I wiped the blood from the Skirl from the blade of my sword I heard Reht once again arguing about what was going to happen with GoldenDrakon. I let out a sigh and shook my head as that one never seemed to learn and I knew all GoldenDrakon wanted to do was eat him and nothing more. I followed the conversation carefully but before I even realized what was happening Reht went one way and GoldenDrakon went another. As he did he told us to go with Reht, to try and help Wraith and his wife.

I stood there for a second, trying to figure out what was going on. The last thing I wanted to do was go towards the main encampment of the Skirls, given the fight we had just had. The only thing that made us want to go that way though was the thought that Wraith was there. She was the main reason we had all come through the portal to this place, she was the reason we were in this place and I knew that it would not be prudent to come to this place just to leave her to die. I shook my head though as I tried to think of what to do.

I stood there and looked in both directions, thoughts about either way going through my head but with a loud sigh I slid my sword back into its sheath, picked my pack up off the the ground and turned in the direction that Reht had stormed off in.
"I'm going the way of the Tinkerer. Wraith is there. She is the reason we came to this place. I also don't want to see that fool get killed either. If he does I don't know how to get back and I don't want to risk trying to swim."

I then walked into the screen of trees after Reht, although a large part, a very large part of me wanted to kill him.

Akaron was starting to tire of the winged mans arrogant attitude, but he knew that they had to go for wraith. With a snarl he turned and followed Reht and Shadow

Reht swiped angrily at the leaves that persistantly struck his face. His wings were bound tightly against his shoulders. He slashed at another green tuft that threatened to blind him. He needed to get to Sera! He needed to rescue her! These people, they had a chance to save their Mistress and what do they do? They dally!

He barely heard the commotion behind him as three others caught up to him. He grunted at their appearence by his side but kept most of his attention to the foliage around them.

Soon, they stumbled onto a well beaten track. Reht stopped and surveyed the forest road and nodded to himself after making sure it ran westward. "If we follow this, I'll guarantee it will lead to Sera... and your Wraith."

Just then, a snuffling came from their right. The bushes quivered and an animal came bursting forth. It was roughly six handspans in height, had six legs and three horns protruding from its large, domed head. It also sported a flat mouth rowed with small razor like teeth. It snorted, staring at the strangers in its territory for a moment and then with a huff began to charge.

"Its a BullaBoar! Be carefuly, those horns are tipped with a secretion that will paralyse on contact!" Reht scrambled bacwards, trying to keep away from the charging BullaBoar.

A rustle came and Reht cried out, "They never hunt alone!" as two more BullaBoars appeared from the bushes. They too ran full pelt, their heads down, their horns aimed at Reht, Akaron and Shadow.