The Invasion of Arias: Ninth S.O.

[Mintaro]

OOC: I felt I should make the next Board sense I filled up more then my Fair share of the last one. Enjoy.


Aquila Arrived back at the Camp about fifteen minutes before he was required to have returned. He Threw on his clothes and fastened his weapon back onto his waste. He immediatly noticed his purse was gone. He didn't really care. The money WAS replaceable, even if he wasn't rich. He looked around for his other associates. Hopping he hadn't missed anything important.

[MNMinion]

Vex picked a ruby gently from his bag and stares at it for awhile, then lifts it up to Charles and drops it in his hand. But before he leaves he pounds the table and stares Charles in the eyes, "You steal", he says pointing at the gem, "I rip your face!" He turns around and leaves the blacksmith almost about to turn around and take the gem from the man.

Walking down the road he noticeses the butcher shop and goes to it. Some people stop to look at him as he takes the steak from the butcher, he lifts an eybrow and begins his way back to the blacksmith. Were they expecting something? He eats the meat raw as he walks past the different shops and ingnors the looks of disgust from the passing people. Vex stops by the tree Juras had been practicing on and leans aginst it, watching Charles through the open door of the blacksmith.

[Gemz]

Charles takes the ruby and looks it over... "Hmm, very very nice this should help alot in doing this." He sends for some ice, and hard rock. Then he took the ruby chanted some words and watched the flail become a reddish color, then he chanted acouple more words and he watched the flail repair itself, and become smoother. He takes the hard rock and chanted even more words as it falls apart in several differnt piles. He calls a worker over, the worker heated up the materials with magic. After about a hour they made a spiked shield together. Charles grabs the ice and melds it with the shield. "This shouldnt freeze the holder like the armor did hopefully." charles said. He takes the flail and the shield too a test, the flail went though solid rock, melting it from the heat of the ruby. The was plunged into water freezing it from about a 5 ft raidus. Withdrawing it with no ice whatso ever on it. Then he put the shield though a several test too make sure it wouldnt break. I mumbled another spell too make sure it was at 100% hardness. The flail wouldnt burn the dragon... or it shouldnt. He returned too vex with his weapons. Here Vex, the flail will run out of energy by the end of the month. The shield should be replenished by the end of the week. He shows vex what they did, and smiled. Tell me if you need anything else. I will be following you today, i donno why but i cant stay here forever and make weapons.

[pendejochy]

I had decided to try my luck with getting the blacksmith to upgrade my weapons again, albiet in a more friendly manner.
I walked along back, gnawing on a chicken wing.
"You steal, I rip your face." The blue dragonkin growed in that dumb accent of his.
"Hmm, very very nice this should help alot in doing this." The blacksmith reponded, more politely than I expected.
{Hmmm, so he takes threats from dragons, but not from small dolls? Strange, but perhaps I should be flattered. It's possible he thinks I am more powerful than the dragon, and should be taken more seriously. Yeah, that's it.} The thought of being held in such high esteem brought a smile to my face. Walking into the store after Vex left, I approched the blacksmith.
"Excuse me, Charles. I'm sorry about earlyer. I was being priotective. You see, this thing is ,uh, a family heirloom {yeah, that'll do} and it's important to me. Anyways, I was wondering if it is possible to imdue magic into weapons. If it is, could you imdue 'Healing Breath' into my toy?" I said reaching into my robes and pulling out the stuffed toy. "It is a wind spell, and a simple one at that, so I don't think it'll need gem stones or anything complicated like that." I stated as I put it on the counter."
As I left for the door, I turned my head and mentioned<, by the way, the is some chicken in the toy. You can have some if you're hungry. Just make sure to put it back in when you're done.> The doll made a choking sound and reveled a tasty chicken wing on its teeth.
I left and followed an owl flying overhead, thinking it was one of the werebeasts.

[Ryu Kurai]

Karvan noticed people begining to enter the area around that huge tree. He picked up a small stone up off the ground and decided to throw it up into the air. He flung it with all his might, grunting a little, and the stone didn't come down for nearly half a minute. But when it did come down, it embedded itself in the dirt, kicking up a huge cloud of dust, the wind slowly thinning it out. Karvan shrugged, leaning up against the tree. He began humming a well-known Yujiran melody, in a much lower octave than normal.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Unfortunately, when Karvan threw the stone up, Tantalum in a direct collision course with it. She let out a flustered squawk and veered violently to one side, spilling the air from her wings. She spun a little bit in the wake of the stone, and snapped out her wings. She went down in a sheer spiral, changing as she plummeted.
She hit the ground... or would've, if the ground did not give way to her as easily as water would.
Tantalum, in her underground earth water, twisted around and groped blindly for her clothes.
She touched fabric, and surfaced. In front of a surprised Karvan.
Ooops. Course, one of the only problems in popping unexpectantly out of the earth in front of a dragonkin was that you normally get flamed. She smiled hurriedly and hoped Karvan wouldn't do the same.

[Mintaro]

Aquila watched as Karvan Hurled the stone into the air. He didn't think anything of it, he was busy reflecting on what had happened with Tantalum. He then heard a familiar voice cry out in surprise. He Was up and alert immidiatly, looking for the lady he knew that voice belonged to. He saw her spiraling towards the ground and knew he wouldn't be able to reach her in time to save her. He started the hand gesture to make an air sphere to cusion her fall but he was too late. She hit the ground. "Wait...what?" He thought to himself.

He saw her come up out of the ground in front of the DragonKin that had thrown the stone in the first place. He narrowed his eyes at Karvan's back adopting a relaxed pose. He spoke before Karvan had a chance to see Tanta, just loud enough for Karvan to hear. "You should be more carefull of your actions." He said in Yujiran."If you harm her, I'll tear out your heart." He said it very mater of factly not as a challenge, Knowing that DragonKin respect strength in others.

[MNMinion]

Vex took the flail and sheiled from Charles and got into a pose, sheild in front of him and flail in his right hand. He spun the flail around a few times, back and forth to feel the new weight and the heat that came from it. Hmm not bad, I shall enjoy trying it out on things. He began spining it untill it almost looked like it cuaght fire, then let it slow down.
He put the weapons away, flail on his side and sheild on his back, noticing that sheilds coolness. He returned to the others and waited to go.

[Gemz]

ahhh, hmm imbuneing magic, too become magic itsnt possible too do. In fact, its really really impossible too do. The best thing you could do is find me anything that would have the same effect as the healing wind. Then i could rig it so it shot out in a spray or something of the sorts. Of course it wouldnt last long and i would have too refil it every 3ish times that you use it. But its possible, i just cant imbune magic, though i can imbune magical items. I need something physical.

[Gineko]

"All right." Aiera took his hand and stood up, then they left the restaurant together and went to rejoin the others.

[TheBlindMime]

As Hale and and Aiera returned to the group they saw that Aquila had already returned. Crap if he see's me with his money he'll think I spent it all on the girl, when there wasn't much to start with. He should really start hiding it better, because I still have plenty of money. Hales thoughts quickly turned to covering his ass, so he rushed over to where Aquila was standing and dropped the bag as silently as he could. "Hey Quill, you dropped something, or were all of your thoughts just consumed with that girl I saw you go hunting with?"

[OmniShadow]

Rei finished of his practice round with a frontflip, he sheated his sword and went back to the gathering spot and found that most of his teammates where alredy back. 'Must have practiced longer than I though' He thought for himself.

[Ryu Kurai]

Karvan grunted. "Sorry about the girl, but you should always pay attention to your surroundings. And by the way, no matter how strong you think your talons are, they won't make it past my scales before I have your attacking limb broken. Just something to be cautious of." He said, tail swaying anxiously. "But fortunately for you, since we're part of a team, I would most likely stick to a clean break and not shatter the bone. If we get into any fights, you'll see what I mean." He said, completely serious. He had practiced unarmed combat most of his life. Taking an opponent's arm or leg and breaking it at the joint was as simple to him as washing dishes. But this member of the team apparently thought he was all that and because of one simple mistake, had the right to threaten Karvan. He disliked people who had ther chests puffed up, because most of the time they were filled with nothing but air. He looked over to Tantalum, and spoke in his almost unintellegable version of the common language. "Sorry. You are hurt?"

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Tantalum affected an embarrassed smile, "I'm naked," she made the comment as stupidly as she could. Her head was still the only thing above the earth, her body underneath held in the cool embrace of liquid earth.
"Yah know, you shouldn't throw stones around. It's dangerous for other people's health," she smiled coyly and took a breath before diving back into the ground again.
The reason for her to do so was apparent: she can't keep afloat while trying to pull on clothing that obviously needs both arms and legs. Therefore, when she resurfaced again, she expunged herself completely from the earth, fully clothed, not a speck of dirt on her asian dress.
"It was unlucky of me to have been in direct flight with the stone, anyway," she added, shrugging.

[pendejochy]

I pondered a bit about what the blacksmith said.
<But, if you can't put magic into things, how do magical items get the magic in them? {Maybe they have to be created with magic in them at the start? Or maybe he is just lying?} Hmmm, in any case, you need physical things to make upgrades? I think I have something else in mind, besides a healing spell. Watch this for me. Bleargh!> The cloth doll spat out the delishous chicken and went out to the wild. While out there, it engulfed snakes, spiders, toads, scorpians, and anything else I figured would be poisonous. Then I flew back.
<I'm back! You miss me?> I said. <Anyways, I collected and killed a lot of small poisonous animals. I figured you could extract the poison glands of the animals, milk the poison out, and rub the poison on the needles of this doll. I'm not sure which poisons are the best, so I just got as many as I could find. I think it is doable. No magic or heat or anything required. And help yourself to some chicken if you feel like it. But save the breast, I like that part.>
"I'm naked," I heard a lady say.
{Ohh! Now there's something that grabs your attention!}
I moved to where the voice came from, but it was just the bird lady {fully dressed} and one of those dragons. {What a gyp.}
"Oh it's you guys again," I said to the werebirds", I see you're back from your hunting trip."

[Mintaro]

Aquila looked at his brother, "Taking my money again?" He puts his purse back onto his belt. "I'll have to put you on a stricter allowence." Aquila smiled slightly, "and I'm afraid I don't know what your talking about." He Walks over to Pende now aparently ignoring Tantalum all together. "Hello again, Sorry about before, I was quite perterbed as I'm sure you can understand." He Looks over at the generals tent. "If you will excuse me I beleive the general will want to talk to us all, I will inform him we are gathered."

Aquila goes over to the Generals tent to let him know everyone is here.


OOC: I don't beleive everyone is at the base, but Aquila is doing it anyways.

[TheBlindMime]

Hale quickly follows Aquila to the group meeting point. "You know Quill, tightening my allowence, means I'll just have to borrow more money from you. So economically the only way to solve the problem would be by giving me more money..." Hale continued to argue his standpoint as the two walked away.

[Gineko]

Aiera watched the others in the group. Now that Hale had left her alone she could observe the others. The other girl there was currently in the mud and naked, the older brother had gone off to the general's tent and Hale had followed him. The dragonkin that had been fightin with the older brother was standing next to the girl and talking to her in somewhat bad common. The others were off doing other things and had not returned as of yet. She walked up to the large tree they were all standing beneath and sat down, leaning against it. She closed her eyes, Well, that was.... boring actually. He was trying, but I won't let him get to close to me... She opened her eyes, I won't let any of them. It's not worth it.

[Gemz]

OOC: I dont need too be uber powerful so thats why i denied the magic imbuning into the item. I need somethign physical.


Charles takes all the little posions and starts working on the object this weired man has giving me. After completed he gave it back too the man. The posion will wear out... after about 5 days. You need too replenish it every now and then.

[Ryu Kurai]

Karvan bowed deeply to Tantalum. "Sorry. I will not throw stone again." He said gruffly, managing to make his "T"s at least a little bit like what they were supposed to sound like. He then returned to a standing position and looked over towards the base. The were-eagle was walking towards it, apparently to talk to the general. Karvan sighed. In his opinion, a good general would have been on time, sharp, and have thought the missions through. This general lived up to maybe being a bit sharp, but everything else was far below his expectations.

* * *
As Aquila is about to open the door to the general's office, the door opens. General Tahoe looks a bit startled, but otherwise, fairly normal. "You're one of the recruits, aren't you? It's getting close to 2000 hours. Why don't we go back to the group together then?"

[Mintaro]

Aquila Walks with the general back towards the meeting place. "I've been meaning to ask you. What do we know about these enemies? Even insane rablings would be helpful. Those can at least give you a feel for what the enemy looks like. Its hard to kill things you know nothing about."

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

"Oh don't let me prevent you from further rock throwing, dragonkin," Tantalum exclaimed as light-heartedly as possibly, a cheerful smile fixed on her face. Her dark eyes glittered with gold flecks and amusement, "besides, it was entirely my fault for getting in the way. I won't fly overhead of you next time, but you certainly have good aim, and a very strong arm," she said admiringly.

Secretly, she hoped she did not offend Karven. She did not want a creature of so much power write her into his bad books, and she certainly hoped she didn't insult him by calling him 'dragonkin'

[wilysword]

Juras woke up immediately, the way he always did. It seemed he'd fallen asleep waiting, but he knew he had the meeting at "2000", as the general called it, about an hour before the second watch. As a sailor, Juras could not only sleep anytime, but wake up whenever he wanted to as well.

When he got to the clearing under the tree, he noted that just about everyone was already there. There was quite a bit of tension in the air, but it seemed...friendlier, somehow, as though maybe the roughest spots were out of the way. Hmm, he thought, Maybe there's some hope for us after all.

[OmniShadow]

Rei came back to the base just as the general came out. 'Seems like im just in time' he thought. He could see one of the were-beast females talk to one of the dragonkins and as he came closer he could also hear the were-beast Aquila asking the general about the enemy.

[Ryu Kurai]

The general began walking as he talked. "Well, to tell the truth, the survivors have very limited information themselves, as they typically got out of the cities without looking back. We have been getting reports of people being suddenly stopped in their tracks and captured, however. We've also heard that they can move at extraordinary speeds, and are capable of dodging crossbow bolts. We're not sure if it's just an illusion or if this really may be some kind of magic we haven't seen before." He walked out of the tree's entrance, walking in front of the group of volunteers that were gathered. He looked around expectantly. "Hmm, he isn't here yet and it's almost 2000. Where-" He began as he heard a great commotion from the west road of the city. People were clamoring out of the way, dodgin a huge caravan at least three times the size of a normal one. controlling the horses was a lanky man, with long black hair and a nose that was pointed almost like a beak. He drove the horses into the group of people, nearly running over about half of them. He lept down from the horse, his long white robes fluttering up to reveal his baggy red shirt and black pants. He brushed back his hair quickly, showing that the sides were cut short, and moved over to the general.

"Dude, I'm sorry I'm late but there was, like, all this traffic and people and stuff and the guy over down back that way had some really nice looking fruit for sale and dude." He stopped talking for a second, his dark brown eyes going wide. "It was crazy." General Tahoe cleared his throat and then made a gesture towards the erratic youth.

"This is your driver, Shirin Okama. His family was from Yujiro but they moved here. His duty is to make sure you get proper nutrition also, and his family has some healing abilities tied to ths town. He's currently studying to become a doctor, and he volunteered into the service for experience."

Shirin raised an eyebrow and made sort of a harsh chuckle as he began talking. "Dude, my parents just wanted me out. The whole 'doctor experience' thing is a bonus. Besides, If they're out there, gettin' the crap chopped out of them by this unknown enemy, and the fate of our city rests on their shoulders, do you think I'm just gonna let them get messily dismemebered and bleed to death? Hell no!" He said, punching his fist up into the air. "I'm gonna stop the bleeding. I mean, geez, these white cloaks are hard to come by, and if I get blood stains all over it, it's gonna get all nasty, and then these guys'll be all infected and it's gonna suck. So yeah. But dude, I am not a melee fighter so don't let them get close to me because my arms," He said, rolling up one of his sleeves in mid-sentance and flexing his arm to reveal very little muscle "Are like twigs. So, yeah, just hop on in the back and we'll get going." He said, vaulting onto the driver's seat of the wagon.

Karvan internally wondered how he could say so much so quickly with only a few breaths of air. He hopped into the back of the wagon, which was empty except for a huge pile of supplies close to the driver's seat.

[Mintaro]

Aquila looks around at the group. "Five of us can fly, and were taking a caravan." He thinks to himself. Aquila motions for his brother to board the Caravan and then moves over to Tantalum. Speaking quietly "I'm going to rely on you to do any scouting we need." He puts a hand gently on her shoulder "I know I can trust you with our saftey." Aquila walks off and boards the Caravan with his brother. The two of them moving as deep into the shade as they can. Aquila pulls out a set of very small linked rings and begins tossing them a little into the air and spinning his hand around to catch them in a rythum. Closing his eyes and catching them by there soft tinkling.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Great, our driver is a spaced out healer, possibly on a non-health-threatening drug, Tantalum thought as she rolled her eyes. When Aquila came up and asked her to scout.
"Well, jeeze," she muttered under her breath, "I guess I'll take the first scouting shift."
She lowered the collar of her dress until it fell past her shoulders, and changed. The wings, mottled with brown, white and specks of black, erupted out, giving reason for the reason of her loosening of the dress. Her feet became clawed, and two toes moved slightly to the back. Her ankle elongated, and her legs shortened, though she grew a few inches upward. Her face took on the distinct, flat white shape of an owl's, and her mouth hooked and beaked.
With a whisper in the wind, she unfurled her wings and leapt into the sky, laboring into the air with silent strokes. Then, she caught an updraught and settled into a lazy spiral.
The caravan became a small dot to her vision as she soared. Her vision stretched a long distance, and she hoped they would get a move on soon.

[TheBlindMime]

Hale leaned his head back in the shade of the caravan, sitting comfortably he closed his eyes and relaxed. I wonder if Aiera will sit next to me. Hale thought as he fell into unconciousness.

[pendejochy]

{I wonder what that werebird is off to. Probably looking out for the invaders. I haven't been so successful on making allies. The werebeasts seem to like to keep to themselves, with the possible exception of dragonkin. And the other humans don't seem like the social types. I think I'd like a shady spot as well.}
I put Girito (OOC: I decided to give the doll a name) in my hood and climed into the caravan (OOC: I don't really know what a caravan looks like, but I imagine a wagon simmiler to the ones on the Oregon Trail.) Seeing the a nice shady part, I walked on over and sat a few feet from the male werebirds. I had Girito retract his needle teeth and pulled him out. I reached inside Girito and pulled out the chicken-with-a-wing-eatten. Putting Girito back into my hood, I pulled off a chunck of chicken brest and began eatting it. {I wonder if this disturbs the werebirds.}

[Gemz]

Charles nods too the general and loads some materials into the back of the waggon. They were explosives... Although most of the people here has never seen explosives before charles made them the following night. Nothing too big sadly, they could make a 10ft crator deep, and about 20 across. They were for specail times where we needed too get out, or in. Charles hopped into the waggon with simple armor and weapon. A double bladed sword, and light armor. Next too the dragon skin he sat down, he gave plenty of room between them though. Last thing he needed was for the dragon too eat him. Charles was quite because this was maybe his second time entering warfare. He had to come along because he was the only one that knew how too work the explsives.

OOC: I can grade down the explosives if you want. The double bladded sword if fire and ice. the armor is like heavy armor, which looks and feels like light armor.

[OmniShadow]

Rei did not care where to sit, so he sat down in between Charles and the dragonkin.
"I guess we have not introduced ourselves properly, I am Rei´nie´eldo but you can call me Rei." He said to the group.

[Gineko]

Aiera stood up, she picked up the weapons she had dropped off earlier, a double-edged sword and her crossbow, then followed the others to the caravan. Looking up at the driver, she smiled. He reminded her of someone she knew. After glancing at the wereowl that was now circling overhead, she climbed into the caravan and dropped off her weapons near the pile of supplies in the corner. She walked over to where Hale was sitting and sat down about a foot and a half away from him.

[pendejochy]

Thinking to go visit with the wereowl, I grabed Girito, walked to the edge of the caravan, and tossed him out of the caravan. Girito flew into the wind, unlabored by meaty burderns, as I returned to the werebird brothers. Spying Tantalum, I shouted something to her.
<Hi, Tantalum. It's me, Girito, Pende's voo-doo doll. Anyways, it sure is nice up here ain't it? Do you see anything of intrest? My eyesight isn't as good as an owls.>

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Tantalum blinked passively at the doll. It was talking to her, but it wasn't interesting to her owl side, and her human side certainly didn't want to break her concentration from examining the land before her.
She made no reply. Merely circled the caravan and peered down across the land.

[MNMinion]

Vex jumped over the caravan as it almost hit him and landed, flail at the ready to smash the intruder but put it away when he was reavealed as an ally.
He's going to be healing me?
He jumped into the back of the wagon, not taking any cuation on where he was sitting just as long as it wasnt on someone.

[Ryu Kurai]

The caravan began moving, all but one of the group inside of it. The horses began moving, slowly at first, then speeding up to a decent pace, then moving at a speed close to that of the horses themselves. The caravan's structure prevented it from tumbling over, but it was quite bumpy. For some reason unknown to the passengers, the pile of supplies stays perfectly in place and shape, almost as though the caravan was not moving. Suddenly the bumping lessened, and the sounds of the screaming citizens of Lunaaq ceased. Shirin poked his head back into the cargo/passenger part of the caravan. "Um, yeah, this is gonna take kind of, y'know, a few days, so you should probably assign watches for night and stuff because, once again, I am not a fighter and will be cut through easily by any attackers. But besides that, who is everyone? I kind of don't care but I'm just trying to be polite and I figure If I ask I won't have to shout 'Hey you!' and have everyone turn around and have everyone be all confused and that would suck." He said all in one breath, then taking a quick peek back at where the horses were headed.

Karvan could swear he felt a bit of moisture run down the side of his face, but as he reached to wipe it, he felt nothing. "Name is Karvan" He volunteered, sitting fairly still.

* * *

Rhiya: You see where the caravan is headed. It heads across some plains to the west of town.

Gineko: You feel something warm and fuzzy rub up against your leg.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Huh, looks like I'm gonna be doing an all-nighter shift. I hope they've got room in that caravan for me during the day, she thought as she swivelled her flexible neck and focused on almost everything around her. They were heading east, and far ahead, rolling plains of green grass dotted with solitary trees filled her sight. She silently contemplated their direction. She hoped they could find shelter and a shielded spot during camp, in case of predators and bandits. Though she is a thief by profession, she likes to work alone. Bandits are a no-no to her.
She blinked and swept the earth with her night-sight over and over again, circling above the moving caravan.

[pendejochy]

{I'd better do what Twiggy the stickman says. I might as well summon Girito back, Tantalum seems to be giving me the cold shoulder. Are all werebeasts like this?}
"Yeah, I'm Pende, the perfectly normal human. Yup, perfectly normal am I. Anyways, I have a servant by the name of Girito. Ah, here he comes now."
Girito flew into the caravan and landed somewhat clumsily.
I put Girito into my hood, giving it a view of what was behind me. Returning with the werebirds, I noticed something hairy near the werecat. {Maybe it's a hairball.... Wait a second that ain't no hairball!}
"Holy carp! Aiera, what the hell is that!"

[Gineko]

Aiera looked up, shocked. Something just rubbed against her leg. She moved over ever so slightly to reveal...

"Awww, come here, baby." a kitten. She picked it up gently and placed it on her lap, petting it and purring. It was grey with a few tawny highlights. It was currently rubbing itself against her and she cuddled it. "How'd you get in here?"

OOC: ph34r t3h k!tt3ns!

[pendejochy]

{That was the overreaction of the century. :o } I looked at the kitten curiously.
"Where did that kitten come from, Aiera? Is it your kid or something?" I joked. :D

[Mintaro]

Aquila looked opened his eyes and looked over at the small kitten. "I hope whoever brought the furball is prepared to take care of it. Were going into a battle this isn't a vacation spa." Aquila decided he didn't like the confined spaces and stood up. "As for watches I think it is best to put the Dragon kin at first and last watch. I'll take second followed by Aiera, then Tanta, followed by Hale." Aquila looked over at Pende, "I don't really know about your sleeping patern, or if you sleep. But I think the humans should leave the watches to those of us who can see in the dark." With that, Aquila moved up front to sit along side the driver. Looking up at Tantalum as she flew over head. Clicking to let her know he was there. "Don't worry," Aquila said to the driver. "You'll be safe with me around."

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

“I do believe that an eagle is as blind as a human at night,” Tantalum gave a hooting reply as she hovered closer to the caravan and changed into her were-form, “it is best that you take the day shifts, and rest up during the night. Sharp as your eyes may be, they do not capture the dimmest light as mine do. Aquila, darling,” she added slyly, “you must look at each of our strengths and weaknesses before determining anything. The were-cat, here,” she pointed at Aiera, “is a good choice. The others, I am not so sure. If we are to travel in relative secrecy, then it is best not to light a fire,” she nodded towards Karven, “though I doubt that he needs it to see in the dark. Nevertheless, it is best that we should take shifts in pairs, just in case something bad happens. It is not that dark yet. Karven and you should take the first and last shift, while me and Aiera take the second and third shift as we have the advantage of powerful nightvision, before swapping to another just before you two take over again.”

[wilysword]

Juras was getting more confused the whole time. First, a spineless general, now a "doctor" he wasn't sure he'd trust to treat an overgrown toenail. What kind of gourp had he landed himself in? In any case, it was past time for an introduction.

"My name is Juras Pole, captain of the Awry out of Merlo. Your plan for nightwatches sounds reasonable, Tantalum, so now all we have to do is determine daywatches. I'm willing to take any watch."

[pendejochy]

"I'll also be willing to take any watch, but Girito can cover for me. I see what it sees, so I can go about other dutys while keeping guard." Turning around, I had Girito peek out of the hood and give a little wave. <You see?>

[TheBlindMime]

Hale was asleep and if he hadn't been he would have been bored out of his mind. Discussions about who should take which watch was as boring as it could get, after all whats the point of planning for action when your not going to be able plan for every peril along the way. Fortunately enough though, hale was unconscious and non of these opinions could be conveyed to the all to concerned group.
After a sudden bump hales weight was suddenly shifted and his head began to fall towards Aiera's shoulder.

[Mintaro]

Aquila looked over at Tantalum and smiled at her, " Darling is it?" He thought to himself. "While normally I would agree. If we have your watches too long you won't be rested enough for us to mount a decent assault. Me and Hale will do just fine at night with our hearing as keen as it is. And our vision isn't as good as an owls but it is still better than a humans. However in lee of your suggestion of pairs. I think it would be best if I take watch with you Tanta, and sense My brother and Airea seem to be getting on so well they can take watch together as well. That way we can avoid having our strongest eyes off watch at the same time of night. Now as for you Pende, can you sleep and watch at the same time. If so that would be very useful. We have enough humans that we can have watch kept during the day without incident. Also I think we should spend our nights in the confines of the caravan for as long as we are using it." Aquila turned in his seat and locked eyes with Tantalum, smiling in an aggressively playful manner. "That seem acceptable to you my dearest Tantalum."

[Gineko]

Aiera nodded, still holding the kitten. "All right, I'll be on the same shift as Hale." she scratched the kitten's ears. "If no one else will then I'll take care of him. Here, I'll find out where he came from." She stood up, allowing Hale to fall on the floor, and looked around the caravan for something to stand behind while she changed into her animal form. She carefully put the kitten down, he mewed, and she patted him on the head. She walked over the the pile of supplies and stripped down, folding her clothes neatly and putting them on top of the pile, then she changed.

Now a white and brown cat, she trotted out from behind the stuff. The kitten ran over to her and started purring again, she ignored him for a moment and started grooming herself, then he came up to her and rubbed himself against her. She gave him a quick sniff and started licking his face. She asked him, How did you get here, little one? He purred a little louder, she stopped for a moment and listened, her green eyes bright and alert.

[pendejochy]

{Heh, look at the birdy. Trying to be leader and stuff. :rolleyes: }
"Uh, I can sleep and keep watch at the same time. :( Girito doesn't have a mind of it's own. It's like a telescope... with teeth... and wings. {What a horrible simile. :confused: } When I sleep, I need to put Girito someplace dark, so the light won't keep me up. I can stay awake during a night shift, though. Even if I don't have night vision, Girito functions as an extra set of eyes, so I'm like two guards."
I noticed that there were now two cats.
"Actully, if you need someone to help you take care of that kittin, I'd be happy to offer it some food." I gave a piece of drumstick to the kitty. "Aw, so cute." :)
I looked at it with affection {Aw, I can't resist cute things!} "What do you think we should name it? I peronally like 'Oniko'. It's a girl cat, right?"

[Ryu Kurai]

Shirin became a bit surprised as Aquila stepped out of the caravan, and even more surprised when Tantalum came down by the caravan, changing into ther were-form. He nearly fell bacwards, managing to glance back into the caravan long enough to see Aiera walk behind the supplies and a cat walk out. "Whoa, dude, I know I am not seeing things... This time at least... You people are all werebeasts, aren't you? Well, I guess that's cool, but then again, no one even told me because no one tells me anything." He said the last few words in an accusing tone. His eyes then went to the kitten. "Jo! What are you doing? Ugh, I can't believe this." He got up after making sure the horses were secure in which way they were running. He picked up the kitten by the scuff of its neck and it mewed softly. "I thought I closed the door! You stupid cat!" He said, shaking the kitten a bit. He dropped him, looking back over towards the horses. "But, yeah, that's Jo. J-O. He's stupid, so we gave him a short name for him to remember. You can do whatever with him, just don't throw him out of the caravan or I'll kill you. And, yeah, we're gonna go for a few more hours before we stop, so there's some veggies somewhere in that pile of stuff and some fruit, so you should eat that the first few days before it goes bad or something. I also made plenty of bread and stuff, so we'll eat that later. And yeah." There was a slight pause, during which only the sound of the horses galloping could be heard. "I'll go back to driving now." He said, moving back to the front of the caravan. "So, anyway, buddy-person, is anyone here not a were-thingy besides me?" He said to Aquila shortly after sitting down.

Karvan sighed. Once again, no one really knew dragonkin all that well, and made descisions for them. "I can see dark. I can watch night." He volunteered.

Jo shook himself shortly after plopping down, and went over to Aiera. He mewed quietly without opening his mouth. I snuck on, 'cause this guy took all the meat and fish and most of the food. He likes me, I guess, because he always picks me up and holds me. Sometimes he talks to me a lot, and says things really loud, but only if I do something really good like eat all the fish. You wanna go do that? He conveyed.

[pendejochy]

"Thank you, Karvan. Since it seems that everyone holds the night shifts in pairs, you can pair up with me....uhhh." {Maybe he doesn't understand.} We watch night together, kay?" {I should probably tell that loser healer that not all of us are not 'were-thingys' but he probably as smart as his cat, so I'll let someone else waste their breath. It probably doesn't make that much differance whether anybody tells him anyways.}
"On another tangent {whatever that means}, I'll take you up on the fruit eating.I think I'll have some grapes." I rummaged around the pile stuff and pulled out some nice, firm, green grapes. Sitting down at the edge of the caravan, I ate grapes and gazed at the horizen. "Mmmmm, I like et wen de gwapes ar nice n fim." I mumbled with a full mouth.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

OOC: Either Gineko or Mintaro has to edit, as they both can’t go on the same shift as Tantalum.

Heh, as suspected, he snapped up my bait, hook and sinker, Tantalum thought wickedly and she did an owl’s equivalent of grinning dangerously. Her dark, rounded eyes glowed darkly, flickering with inner gold. She turned towards the dragonkin, affecting an honest apologetic look.
“I’m sorry I made an assumption… Karven is it? It’s just me and my arrogant ways. As for you, Aquila,” she landed in the caravan, her wings stretching outside for balance, before retracting back into her back as she became fully human again, “I agree to the compromise. Karven? You take first shift? Or you choose?”

[Mintaro]

Aquila turned completely around looking back at the group in the caravan. He was a little irritated that the group wasn't complying with him but he figured he could handle it. He was raised to lead after all. He did his best to look in control. However he was sure that his distraction with Tantalums naked body was evident, despite his attempts to ignore her. "Karven and Vex are best suited to evening and morning watches. You have to understand that even if you can see well at night, your also the most durable. Should we be attacked suddenly while everyone is groggy you can not only hold the line longer then most of us but also should we have a problem in the middle of the night you will be able to rise faster." Clearing his throat lightly he continued. "Besides if there is a problem I'm sure you'd be able to wake us all up much easier than any of the humans. No offense intended."

[TheBlindMime]

Hale was resting peacefully, whether or not he had landed on a womans shoulder mattered not in his mind, because he was in heaven...

Hale had his head back in her lap, she was running her fingers through his hair while humming her favorite song. He opened his eyes revealing his baby blues, "Darling, you know that I promised to play you that song whenever you wished to hear it."

Her song stopped suddenly as she made her cutting reply, "I would listen to you play it, but you never learned the tune."

"I would but you always sing off key." He said with a smug smirk.

"Haliaeetus, you know I love you."

His smile faded, this conversation was headed back to where it always went, he sat up abruptly and faced away from her. "You know I can't. Its not what he wants and theres no way he'll just let me run off with you. And even less if I told him what I wanted to do with my life", she placed her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Even if I told him I wanted to be a Minstrel, he wouldn't let me 'Thats no destiny for my son' he would say."

"So do you plan on living the rest of your life, in fear. To raise our child only when you can visit me from your tower."

"Our child?" Hale questioned, she merely smiled. "All right, I'll tell him", a low eagle cry can be heard "And theres nothing he can do to stop me now", the cry sounded again louder then before "Let Quill fill out the destiny he wanted from his son", the cry came again louder still "I'll be right back my love, my -" The cry was now deafening.

"JENNA!" Hale bolted upright in a cold sweat, and after a moment of taking in his surroundings he seemed a bit embarrassed. He stood up "Excuse me, but I need some air." He wiped some of the sweat from his face then climbed out of the caravan moving to the back roof where he plumped himself down and resumed moping once more. Even more so when he caught a glimpse of his brother sitting next to a nude tanta. "How does he get himself into those situations."

(OOC: The section in italics is a dream, its not relevant to the story I was just bored.)

[Mintaro]

Aquila looked very concerned at his brothers outburst and imidiatly jumped over to where his brother was sitting, displaying this abnormal ability for the first time. He landed lightly hardly shifting the weight of the Caravan at all. He put his hand on his shoulders brother and asked very quietly, "Another bad dream? Do you need to return to the tower again?"

[TheBlindMime]

"No." Hale replied coldly, "I won't have to return their ever again... some things are better left in the past." Hale stared off into the distance as the sun's final beams were cut off by the countryside. His body completely still as his golden eyes continually shifted looking for something of interest, something to feed on, something... to kill.

[Gineko]

Aiera stared after Hale, he had woken up screaming a womans name. Completely ignoring the conversation the others were having she turned back to Jo-cat and blinked, her eyes bright in a smile. That's not necessarily a good thing if he does that. I'm not really hungry right now but sure, I'll come along.

[Ryu Kurai]

Karvan spoke softly. "I take first shift, whatever shift you want me take." He barely moved as the kitten and Aiera moved past him, towards the stockpile of food. He could feel himself getting a bit sleepier, His eyelids growing more heavy with the passage of time. He stood up rather suddenly, pulling his equipment off of his back, dropping it onto the bottom of the caravan and cracking his neck. "Need fresh air." He mumbled as he walked up towards the front part of the caravan.

Jo dug through the pile until he smelled the fish, causing him to dig even faster than he had a moment ago. He mewed softly, muffled by the stuff now covering his upper half, and pulled out a slab of filet, begining to chomp on it. After four bites he was full. I guess I can do this later... Hey! Wanna go see the big brown things run? he conveyed, after kicking the fish aside.

Hale spied several small things with his sight, seeing several large movements off the right side of the caravan. Possibly a bit smaller than human sized. He also spotted smoke hanging in the air to the left of the caravan. Possibly enough for a rather large bonfire.

OOC: Note, the party has been travelling for roughly two hours, not counting getting out of the city.

[TheBlindMime]

"Brother if you'll excuse me I finally found something of interest." Hale removed all of his clothing and picked his katar's out of his stuff, he turned to make a final remark to his brother. "It is your turn to watch after my stuff Quill, I'll be back, and do keep your eyes on those creatures to the right." Hale shifted into his full eagle form and flew towards the left of the caravan rising high above the forest, it must have been an odd sight for anyone not knowing he was a were-eagle, An eagle flying overhead with a pair of punching daggars clasped in his talons. Flying over the smoke he tried to make out what was going around the bonfire. I hope this turns out to be more interesting then what was on the right, but I can't resist a good mystery.

[Mintaro]

Aquila Swung elegantly down into the Caravan holding Hale's clothing. He surveyed the group before speaking. "There has been a change of plans. My brother has decided to go out. I will not be sleeping until his return, which If I know him will not be until very very late. So I shall be taking first watch for tonight. We can discuss the other watches further in the morning. For now you should all get some sleep, We have a long way to go." Aquila raises his hand sensing objections. "I know you all don't trust my decisions yet, just listen to me this once and we'll work on the issue." With that Aquila grabs onto the edge of the caravan roof and moves smoothly back up to the top to keep watch around the Caravan. He begins whistling what sounds like a lullaby softly.

[wilysword]

Juras sat through the rest of the discussions on who would take which shift without saying anything. Did it really matter who took what watch? True, some of the werebeasts could see better in the dark, but that lack had never stopped him from protecting his ship at night. At least they seemed to be just about done.

He perked up again when Hale left, however. Before Hale had woken up, he'd been about the most indifferent of all of them. If he chose now to leave, near ten o'clock at night, there might be trouble outside. Good thing he'd gotten a little rest in the afternoon.

To see what was going on a little better, Juras decided to climb up on the driver's seat next to Shirin; his quarterstaff, he left in the wagon.

Out of curiosity, why are we calling it a caravan if it's only one wagon?

[MNMinion]

Vex woke up as Aquila started whistling and looked around for where the noise was coming from to find Aquila making it. He wouldnt have apperad to have been asleep becasue he had learned how to sleep with his eyes open.

I fell asleep again, I wish I would stop doing that when they may speak of something important. He looked at everyone and acted like he had been asleep for the whole time and wondered where one was. He started looking around for the werebeast when he noticed something fuzzy next to Aiera. What the hell is that?

He passed all those in the way and without thinking if it might be dangerous picked it up by the scruf of its neck and looked it in the eyes. It had a surprised yet somewhat angry look on its face as it stared back at him. He looked at Aiera, "What is this?

[pendejochy]

OOC: I'm having a wierd problem where I can't see posts #56-#59 on this thread.

I noticed one of the dragonkin holding the little kitty as I was returning looking for more fruit.
"Ack! Don't eat! Not food, dragonkin! It is just Shirin's little pet."

[Ryu Kurai]

Shirin nodded at Juras as he sat down. Karvan was standing to their right, taking in the night air. "So." Shirin said, keeping his eyes on the horses. "What were-thingy are you?"

Karvan walked back inside, hearing something being spouted by Aquilla about having first watch. "The rest of us sleep? No. I have first watch, and I will take first watch. Your 'descisions' have no power over me. I do only what I wish or what would be best for the whole. If you were to die while taking watch alone, we would all be dead. If there are two, perhaps the rest can be saved. That is why I believe that there should not be a leader, because one alone can make flawed descisions." He nodded sagely. "And if you think about becoming a martyr, just remember you won't be able to help the rest of the crew when you're dead. To me, that seems like the ultimate desertion." He said, arms still crossed and tail moving anxiously.

* * *

As Hale neared the fire, he noticed a lot of shouting and something that sounded a lot like singing or chanting. As he got even closer, he saw a huge group of gnolls, gathered around a huge set of logs tied together at the top and leaning on one another. This was the source of the smoke. The gnoll were clad in tribal outfits, some wearing rather strange looking masks that seemed to expound their canine features and twist them a bit, the ends of the ears becoming long, sharp points and the noses and around the eyes lined with red paint. They seemed to be chanting something in an archaic language, possibly their own ancient tongue. A rather old gnoll sat very close to the fire, throwing in various items. A piece of clothing, a small wooden scythe, several animal skulls. A few of the gnolls seemed to notice Hale's approach and alerted the tribe leader.

[TheBlindMime]

Hale continued flying overhead for a moment and then grew bored, his thoughts turned to his katar's If I hadn't brought my blades I could probably land and watch whatever it is they're doing. Eh, I'll fly by a few more times and then leave them alone. I'll have to make a note of this activity for fath-.... Hale continued his circling once more to see what they're reaction would be before making his was back to the caravan.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Tantalum decided that she will rest a while before she tackles her shift head on. It was getting darker anyway, and since her other half is nocturnal, she'll be awake pretty soon.

She closed her eyes, and drifted into sleep.

[Mintaro]

Aquila doesn't move at all just listens to Karvans speech. "Have it your way, keep watch to the right then. And wake up Tanta before you go to sleep, its her watch after you." Aquila maintains his watch using is eagle eyes to watch in three ways at once. In front, behind and to the left of the caravan (Eagle eyes rule). He continues whistling the soft lullaby which just seems to repeat itself seamlessly.

[OmniShadow]

"I would apreciate if you would speak in a language that we all undestand, dragonkin" Rei said sharply to Karvan. "And about the watch thing, I can take watch during the day." He said before turning to where Shirin and Juras where. "I dont know about the others but I am a human, but that does not make me weak in any way." He said to Shirin.

[MNMinion]

Vex droped the cat and looked at it again with different interest. Eat it? I never thought of that before, but I wont since its someones pet. He noticed that everyone was talking about different watching shifts and didnt mind if they asked him to so went back and sat down, looking around at what all were doing.

[wilysword]

"I'm no werebeast, Shirin," said Juras. "I'm just a sailor. Probably the only reason I was picked for this mission is because I've traveled so much and may have heard something about our attackers."

"However, it's been years since I've been in this country, and I'd like to know what creatures live in the area now? Hale saw something suspicious a while ago, and if we get in a fight, I'd like to know what we're up against."

[Ryu Kurai]

Karvan grumbled, dragging his sword and chain over to his watch spot. His eyes were unaffected by a low light, and he could still see a substantial distance in complete darkness. He sat down, listening to Aquila's song and burying himself in thought about this mission. He knew that it was his duty to do something about the state of the continent and he didn't care about much else. He simply wanted to protect his parents in Yujiro, and if these invaders did manage to conquer everything he knew and he had done nothing, he didn't feel like he could live with himself. He let out a sigh, staring off into the distance. He began to softly hum the lullaby in a lower key after a few minutes.

Shirin nodded. "Oh. Ok. Yeah, the animals and stuff around here aren't aggresive because of the influence of the town near here, but once you get out farther, the animals start to get really mean, you know? One time this huge-ass wolf-lookin' thing nearly ran me down. Dude, the thing was all red and glowy and it was on fire and stuff! Well, at least its tracks were, but that wasn't near here. It was close to Gusnatin, and when I told these other guys about it, half of them were all like 'Dude, you need to stop getting drunk so much.' and I was all like 'No way dude, I didn't have any booze, my parents would've killed me!' and then this one guys was all like 'Hey, maybe it was Kirin,' and then I kind of just didn't care after that and I left." He said, shaking his head a bit. "So, yeah, I'd imagine that there's nothing dangerous around here." He continued to encourage the horses, putting the reins down for a moment and causing something to glow in his right hand. He tossed it up over the horses, and it split into four small light green spheres. A sphere hit each horse, moving over them like liquid, and the horses seemed to speed up a little bit. "So, yeah." Shirin said, picking up the reins like he hadn't done anything.

* * *

The elder gnoll stood up and walked away from the fire, gesturing in a welcoming manner towards Hale. The rest of the gnolls continued to dance, the chant seeming to change every time it was repeated. The fire began to get small streaks of blue and green in it as the chanting grew louder.

(OOC: Happy Birthday to Rhiya!)

[TheBlindMime]

Hale flew down to greet the gnolls, he shifted into his were-form towards the end of his drop. Hitting the ground loudly in a crouch he slowly stood up, "Greetings I am Hale Right, son of the Archmagi Right. I am humbled by the offer to join you, may I ask what your doing?"

[Ryu Kurai]

The elder gnoll nodded, several beads from the ornamental headress he was wearing clicking against each other. "Welcome, child of the heaven and earth. Truly we are blessed to have you among us this night." He performed a deep bow and went down on one knee for a moment. He then slowly stood up, gesturing towards the massive bonfire. "This ritual we perform is for the safe return of our greatest warrior, and perhaps that is why you were drawn here." His voice was strong and balanced, albeit softened as though worn out from extended use. "The heavens have sent us guides before, and they did not know they were indeed guides. Most of them were indeed creatures such as yourself, such as Vargus was. He is the one who is missing. After hearing of the plight of our two most outlying cities, he decided to set off, taking his black-bladed scythe with him. He is a gnoll, as we are, but he is set apart in that his fur is snow white and his eyes are red as the flame you see now." He turned to look at it, instantly panicing. "What? Blue, green, no, this is not good at all... He is in danger, surrounded by enemies, and he is injured. No, bad omens for him. Very bad." He turned hastily to Hale, falling to his knees and bowing with his head touching the dirt. "Please, two-fold spirit, help us to find our hero! Without him, we would have been killed long ago." The elder pushed his head more firmly into the dirt, and by this time several of the gnolls had stopped dancing and were watching the spectacle.

[TheBlindMime]

Hale sticks one of his punching daggers into the ground and reaches out to the old gnolls shoulder. "I shall help you in any way I can." Am I merely a tool of the universe, a two-fold spirit created to fufill any prophecies I happen by, or maybe this is what I'm meant for. Maybe I was never meant to be a minstrel, to lead an average life, maybe I was meant to help those in need. His current mission with the Ninth Special Ops was now far from his mind, as is Hales way, he wanted nothing more then to help these gnolls. "I shall do my best to return him to you safely and I'll let no one stand in my way."

[pendejochy]

OOC:I'm back, y'all!

{I wonder what that werebird is off to.}
"Shirin, do you think we can steer the caravan towards that werebird? I think we should see if he is alright."

[Ryu Kurai]

Shirin turned and looked at Pende, shaking his head somewhat. "No way dude, his brother said he'd be back, but if you really want, I can delay this whole trip to check out if he's okay, make the horses and everyone else even more tired and irritable, or we can wait until he gets back, and have everyone sleep nice and soundly. The dude can probably take care of himself." He went back to driving the horses, waiting for an answer.

* * *

The gnoll elder rose to his feet and clutched Hale by the shoulders. "Thank you, oh messenger of the heavens! Our prayers have been answered! Come, can we get you something to eat, a bed to sleep in so that you may be well rested for tommorow's journey?" He beaconed towards a few small tents that were set up about fifty feet away from the fire.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

“An eagle has defences of his own. Unless his wings have been clipped and he is vastly outnumbered by hostile enemies, we will have no need to see if he’s alright. That, and,” Tantalum added lazily, “we’d have heard his fierce cry if he was in danger.”
She returned to dozing.

[TheBlindMime]

Hale shifted to his fully human form deciding when amongst gnolls why bother with a human's modesty, besides as a mixture of human and bird he was almost nothing but muscle and bone... so he looked damn good, damn good. "I'm more then full, I think it best I get some rest, if your hero is truly in danger I will need all the energy I can to help him. You can tell me all I need to know in the morning." Hale bows to the gnoll elder while grabbing his katar and walks towards the tents. He sets his katars outside the tent and crawls inside, lying inside for a moment he begins to think about his day. Chasing down a thief in were-form, joining a make-shift army of the best the country has to offer, going on a semblance of a date with a were-cat and now after I wake up tommorow I will finally get to go on an adventure, because Quill is going to kill me after I didn't return to the group. And with that he fades into unconsciousness.

(ooc: gineko just informed me her internet does not work at home, so it may be a while before she can get on again, so waiting for a reaction from her may be futile.)

[Mintaro]

(OOC: A caravan is a wagon with wood instead of cloth right? Either way this works I think)

As the evening turns to deep night, Aquila gets up and begins to silently pace across the roof of the caravan. He starts mumbling quietly in Yujiraan, "Where is my Bloody brother. He should have been back by now. I don't like him being out so long. He is going to get into trouble out there. If I know him he saw a house and is spying on some poor young woman. No hes probably been captured by, by Gnolls or something! Foolish, young, naive, stupid..." He just sort of goes on like that. Turning into his were form to retain more body heat and allow for a quieter pace.

[Gineko]

((OOC: thanks mime, guys I think that i can only get on at school for a while, and I can only manage one or two posts a week on all my rps. I'm really sorry. - -; ))

Aiera was a little shocked when Jo was picked up by Vex, but he was dropped back on the ground in only a moment and she went up to him. You okay?
She noticed that people were mostly either going outside or trying to sleep.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

The quiet pattering of Aquila's feet on the caravan roof irritated Tantalum. She opened one eye and cocked it up at the inside of the roof and sighed. Being a thief had their advantages. You could read a person's emotions and whatnot from their movements. Aquila was obviously anxious and worried.
Worried about that Hale werebeast? Pfft, she thought as she shifted to a more upright position. She extracted another earth quill and prodded the part where Aquila's foot had landed, puncturing the leather sheet and jabbing the sole of Aquila's boots. There was a flurry of wings and a startled "hey...!" that annonuced Tantalum getting his attention.

"You are in danger of worrying too much, and worrying too much gives you wrinkles, and wrinkles don't attract pretty women. Your brother will be safe, or else half of us would've heard his terrified cry of help. If he has not done so, he must have everything under control. If you are still worried, I will go out in search of him. My eyes are far better than an eagle's at night."

[Ryu Kurai]

Shirin gestured towards Pende in a matter-of-fact way. "See? These guys all know what's goin' on. That other guy can fend for himself easily, and we can make some good time while he's gone. I'm pretty sure he'll be able to catch up." With that said he turned back to the horses, yawning as he did so. "So the rest of you get some sleep, we should be good."

Karvan nodded a bit at Tantalum's statement and Shirin's. "Hale strong. He stay alive." He said in what he hoped was a re-assuring tone. He couldn't stand the thought of having someone irritable in his group. When people acted that way in Yujiro's restaurants, the people usually spat in their food or served them a drink full of salt. Well, that was mostly just the places he had worked at, but regardless...

Jo shook himself quickly, and mewed softly. Whoa! That guy was even bigger than master! I wanna get picked up again! He conveyed as he began pawing at Vex and mewing.

* * *

Hale finds himself in a burning landscape, the flames reaching over twenty feet high in all directions around him. Shadows of buildings can be seen in between the rising flames, and eventually he hears a pair of screams, both of remarkable agony, from somewhere within the fire. The screams continue for a while, lowering to soft whimpers as Hale finally discovers that he is floating several feet off the ground and feels none of the heat from the flames.

[TheBlindMime]

Hale was floating but the rationality of that escaped him, "What is this?" He begins floating around the landscape, "Where am I?" the cities flame rise higher, "Is there anyone out there?" He continues searching for someone, for something, anything. All he knows is he has never felt so alone.

[pendejochy]

"Well, alright. I can see now that my concern for the safety of my allies is unfounded. If Hale doesn't get back here in time to take over his turn of the night shifts with Aiera, I'll take his turn for him. I'm going to sleep, wake me and Aiera up when it is our turn."
{I wish there was a weresheep coming along with us, I could have used it as a pillow.}
I settled on the edge of the caravan's inside and used Girito as a pillow, with him facing down, so the light would not get in it's eyes.

[Mintaro]

Aquila rubbed his foot, getting more iritated by the second. He made a sort of growling noise in his throat, though it sounded quite odd from his transformed body. "You can all trust in that if you want. It dosn't make me any less worried." Aquila looks up at the moon. "Its about time to change to the late night watch anyways, You can go ahead and sleep now Karvan if you want. I don't think you have to go looking for him Tanta, even if I knew where he was I'd worry. However it may be beneficial of you to fly above the Caravan, I'll sit in the front." Aquila Folded stretched out his wings and folded them up again. "It dosn't appear I'll be sleeping tonight anyways."

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

"Will do. I am getting restless anyway," Tantalum replied and changed into her werebeast form. She leapt into the night sky, revelling in the darkness around her. This was her element.

She began a slow spiral, one that caught the remnants of the warm currents of air. Her sharp eyes picked out minute details, and she spotted the dying bonfire in where Hale had gone. No sound except for the natural stirring of the forest entered her senses, yet she kept herself alert for danger.

[OmniShadow]

'I think I will just sleep for a while, hopefully we wont need to fight before we reach our destination' Rei thought and removed his armour, placing it carefully so that it would not make any noise and then put his sword just aside from where he sat down and fell asleep.

[wilysword]

"That's good to know about the animals in the area," Juras commented. He wondered what was taking Hale so long. The caravan was moving quite fast, and the glow of the bonfire he had gone to investigate had already faded behind them. He'd have a tough time finding them if he was gone much longer.

[Ryu Kurai]

Karvan let loose a loud grunt, getting up and walking back into the caravan's canvas covering. He laid down his weapons and then proceeded to sit down, propping one arm on his knee and stretching out his other leg. His other arm laid down limply by his side, and his wings were relaxed, as was his tail. He drifted off to sleep, the melody that Aquila had been humming stuck in his head.

* * *

As he neared the edge of one of the flames, Hale spotted two gnolls with roughly hewn short spears by their sides. Upon a closer look, he could see that one was on both knees, clutching his right eye, which was smoking profusely, and the other appeared to be crawling towards the flame using their arms. They appeared to be crawling away from something small, furry and fairly oblong in shape. Hale's vision zoomed in by itself. If he had been concious, what he saw would have made his stomach turn.

It was the lower part of a canine leg, covered in white fur. The upper part closest to where the joint would have been was burnt shut. Looking back at the crawling gnoll, he would have noticed that his fur was the same shade.

[TheBlindMime]

"I'm here to help you, come with me." Hale drifted closer to the white fur gnoll with his hand outstrecthed to help him.

[Gineko]

OOC:Yay! it's working again! :D

Aiera made a mewing sound, as if giggling. Wait for me! She trotted over to vex and started to rub against his other leg, her playfullness taking over.

[pendejochy]

*Yawn*
{I must have been sleeping for a long time. I'd better give the wereowl and the wereturkey brother a break and take my turn with the nightshift. Heh, wereturkey.}
I tossed Girito out of the caravan, so that he may catch the wind and fly up to the wereowl.
<Hello, Tantalum. It's me, Pende. {Or would that be ", It is I?"} I sorry for dozing off so long, but I'm awake now, and will take my responsibility of taking my turn so that you may sleep.>
I saw two cats rubbing up against the blue dragonkin. I picked up one of the cats and gave it a gentle hug.
"Aw! So, cute! I wuv you!," I whispered ",*sigh* I still think "Oniko" would have been a good name for you, but "Jo" is ok. The master would never let me keep any cute animals around that he didn't plan on eating anyway, but now that I'm free, I can--wait a second... you're not Jo at all!," I whispered in a surprized voice.
"heeeeey, you're not the cat-cat, you're the elf-cat aren't you? You're still pritty cute though." {Yuck, I touched an elf! But, wait. They don't feel as slimy as Mortis said they would, they don't feel slimy at all! Maybe that is only when they are in a regular state.} "Well anyways, it is our turn to take the night watch and I already relived Tantalum of her dutys," I said in a quiet manner, as not to wake the others, as I put her down, expecting a transformation to her elf form. {Whoo! I'm gonna touch an elf!}

[Gineko]

Aiera purred when she was picked up, the when Pende dropped her she nodded. She transformed back for only a moment, "I'll stay as a cat on watch, I can see better in the dark that way." then she transformed back and looked at Jo, Come with me if you like. then she climbed out of the caravan and went on top. She rubbed against the other dragonkin's leg and mewed, telling him his turn was done and he could rest now.

[MNMinion]

OOC: Sorry guys was on spring break and wasnt able to post in all the rps Im in.

Vex scrached behind the cats ears, being careful of his claws and was perplexed at the sound it was making. Kinda like growling but softer, he tried it himself even though it came out much deeper and rougher than any cat. Aiera took off and so did the cat, he was somewhat disapointed and didnt know why but shruged it off and looked at waht all were up to.

[pendejochy]

{Crap, she turned back into a cat. Now how am I going to find out if elves are slimy or not? Oh, well at least she seems to enjoy being petted in cat form. Hmmm, what is she doing now? Well how does she expect the dragonkin to understand that? I'd better go explain.}

As Girito flew overhead, much like Tantalum, I walked over to Vex.
"Hello Vex. What Aiera was trying to tell you was that your turn is over and that you may sleep now."

[Gineko]

Aiera purred to confirm. She walked up to the front of the caravan, looked down at Shirin, glanced around for Jo for a moment, then she went to the left side and looked out over the horizon.

[Ryu Kurai]

(OOC: Sorry about being out of it, I was sick as a dog for a few days and then the server was down...)

The gnoll seemed as though he didn't hear Hale, continuing to crawl for a moderate distance, until he reached a scythe. He attepted to lift himself up on it several times, falling down a few times. He finally was able to stand, and started heading back towards the other gnoll.

[pendejochy]

{Aiera didn't seem to mind when I petted her, I should go see her again.}
I found Aiera on the left side of the caravan and sat down next to her.
"Hello, Aiera. Girito is doing my dutys for me. I was a little bored, so I figured I'd hang out with you a bit more. I picked Aiera up and put her in my lap, so that I could pet her.
"Heh heh. So, cute. I never got to play with cute animals back at home."

[TheBlindMime]

Hale floated towards the ground his body rotating in mid glide, his feet landed gently on the ground. He quickly moved behind the gnoll drawing his katars out as he said, "I shall place my steel at your side, come what may. You shall not fall under my watch."

[Gineko]

Aiera started purring and rubbing against his hand, it felt so good when people petted her, and so few of them were doing it lately it was nice that Pende was.

[Ryu Kurai]

Vargus, or someone, semmed to speak to Hale suddenly.

"Excellent. I knew you would come through, My loyal servant. Now, however, you must sleep. Remember only what the gnoll looks like, and nothing else. But, since those are the circumstances, any questions about the mission? And if you ask me who I am, I will send you to sleep."

In front of him materealised a middle aged man wearing a dark green cloak, that on closer inspection appeared to be made from leaves. His hair was a light green, and it flowed down to the middle of his back. He wore a headband crafted from redwood.

[TheBlindMime]

"Ha ha ha..." Hale's laugh came from his belly, it was a deep and hearty laugh, that came from a sense of irony that even his subconscious understood. "Your just like my father you offer knowledge that I have no way of holding on to when I cross back into reality. I only have one question, do all superbeings of this world enjoy being asses." Despite his remark Hale did have to admire the man for his fashion sense alone.