[IC] The Gift of the Gods

[TheCheshire]

Alura smiled at Rilden. "Well, thank you, I do so greatly appreciate that. However, it is in my blood to be a healer. I am born from the Maiden temple that once flourished in the mountains hundreds of years ago. It was close to the Faywynne village. My ancestors escaped and were actually traveling healers for a long time. My grandmother was the one to settle down in my Elven home town. My mother was not much older than Miss Robyn when she bore me, she passed away in childbirth. So in turn my grandmother taught me our ancestor's ways. When she too passed my father's Elven family took me in and taught me their ways before I too started my travels, I've been traveling for a long time. In a human's time, I appear to be twenty-one winters, when I'm actually a few hundred years." Alura chuckled with a small smile.

When she had looked to Robyn as an example for her story, she immediately saw the far away look in her friend's eyes. Reaching over, she gently placed a hand on the healer's arm. "My, you look as if something is troubling you." Alura spoke softly, a warm smile returning to her face.

[Heinrich]

Nat nodded silently not understanding Darlith's point completely, but following her after a few seconds she started moving. He kept looking if he saw the man who watched them on the roof. The man was nowhere to be seen. At first Nat tried to constantly peek around to see if there was someone who followed, However, as Nat never saw their follower with his own eyes, because he had his back turned at first and a house blocking the view later on, the half-elf started having second thoughts. He examined the elf woman leading him.

"She did seem to appear out of nowhere. Then she claims to be hunted by Fusos. She would avoid me if she was hunted by Fusos. Could she be paranoid?" and as soon as they bumped into a forest path Nat asked her "Were we... Actually watched by someone? I mean.. I never saw him, maybe you.." he thought about the right word for a heartbeat "...Mislooked?"

[Scoutas]

"I..." Darlith slowed down her pace and stopped. She put her fingers on her temples and rubbed them. "I might have done that... I apologize. I've rarely travel with anyone, so this might seem strange to you, but I think..." she sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I think that this is why I managed to avoid Fusos and his men. I don't know if he's still searching for me or not, but I just can't take my chances." she looked at Nat, and then she moved her head and continued walking. "Let's continue along the road anyway, because if by any chance I didn't mislook - we've got someone on our backs."

She smiled under her hood, thinking what a fool she's made of herself. "Nat, how much do you know of your mother, yourself?" she asked him, out of the blue and kept strolling along the path, looking over her shoulder from time to time. Eventually, they've got to an intersection and immediately noticed wagon tracks coming from another path, joining theirs. She looked at the direction where the tracks would have come from... "Doesn't this road lead to Damascus as well? How likely do you think that this is the same wagon that was in the city?"

[LovelyAnastasia]

The valley that stretched before her, she could see almost everything from her spot beside the middle of the mountain. The breeze brushed merrily through dense seas of greenery, the fingers of golden sunshine reaching down to paint over it all it the most spectacular of ways. Blades of grass and speckled leaves danced like little nymphs as if to a song of great joy. Leaning against that wise oak, who seemed to aged for such foolishness, its twisting large body supporting its spreading branches. As the golden sun passed behind the frivolous white skirts of lazy clouds, the resultant haze imbued the valley with a kind of soft radiance.

This was a sight that still enthralled her with the deepest of wonders. So many colors, so much light, so much life, it almost hurt to look at it for too long. The giant dressed in brisk black armor leaned against the oak, which was almost prefect for her size to be just as any tree to any human. It was the sharp quick clack of a familiar black beak that woke her from her wonder. Turning her head, she smiled down at the ugly rough raven who peered up at her with his one good eye. The little fairy had nestled herself on top of the giant's head and did not seem to like the startled movement the raven had caused.

"Aye, aye then," she chuckled to the two tiny creatures in a soft voice, "We should get moving. The old stitch of feathers is right. It wouldn't do us any good to run into Men at the moment. Fighting would of prolong the journey." Turning the contraption she had built over in her hands once more, she relieved the old oak of her weight and it groaned in relief. Looking up the side of the mountain, she pointed it up. Her two little companions had enough sense to latch onto her. This wasn't the first mountain the had slung up.

"Let's hope the rock holds then," she said with that half smile on her face, "Wouldn't want to start any earthquakes, aye?" Chuckling to herself she released the arrow from its hold, its sides arching out with steely jaws to crash into the mountain side and take a steady biting hold into the olden rockface. Pulling herself up, the giant climbed up the side of the mountain with the advantage of years behind her. She knew what rock ledges were steady and which were not by just glancing and the slightest of pressure. At least her homeland had given her some advantage.

Once reaching the top, she pulled herself onto the ledge and sat grinning at her victory. Unlatching the Arrow Jaw from the rock she let out a thunderous booming cry, like thunder crashing into a tempest at sea. It shook the rock about her but she just laughed and threw her fist into the air. It worked! Just as she hoped it would. Steel was an amazing thing, that it could hold the likes of her, even against the impossible weight of her own form.

"Jar! Tin!" she turned to the two tiny creatures who were just recovering from her victorious war cry, "It works! Tin make sure you write down the modification we added. Jar circle out and make sure I've not alerted anything vicious with my zealousness." The fairy fluttered about and the crow clack its beak. The giant grinned from ear to ear and thumped her foot against the mountain side steadily, the soft tremor like a beating drum.

[Jangel13]

The day would pass by normally Angelo would wake up with his breakfast with the family and then afterward everyone would go their separate ways. Angelo's father being the lord of the land would deal with the problems that the mountain would face while Angelo's brothers would be dealing with their military and guard in that order to make so none can surprise the ones in the sky. While Angelo and his mother were in the church doing their prayers for the day, then Angelo was able to go to the outside of the church to practice with his sword and shield and make sure that he would be able to use both if the need should arise.

As Angelo left making sure to keep the sacred sword clean he went to the shop and bought a new book that was on sale their, thankfully the book clerk and Angelo were good friends considering that Angelo always drops by. As Angelo started to walk back Angelo and just about everyone else in the area could feel the tremors of something but seeing as how they were on a mountain nobody would think much of it but it was a constant banging even if it didn't seem like much Angelo quickly told the guards to keep an eye on a possible rock fall then Angelo grabbed a sword from a guard making sure he had his shield with him as he flew to find out what was causing the noise and Angelo nearly went bug eyed seeing a giant woman banging the side of the mountain! Above all else Angelo has never left the mountain to see any of the creatures that might live on the ground so even a normal woman would have surprised him but a giant woman like her, humans couldn't possibly be that big! could they? Angelo hid slightly by the side of the mountain and looked at her from a distance hoping she wasn't a threat. Angelo waved to the woman wondering if she would attack him or be friendly as he asked "mind not causing tremors? we don't want a rock fall"

[Heinrich]

Nat nodded and hesitantly followed Darlith. He had ambiguous thoughts about the elven woman. She seemed like an intelligent person, though humble, like she was actually trying to hide from somebody. Nat thought she could have retained her intelligence, however, still develop a paranoia on being hunted. The sellsword even started thinking if he wasn't cleverly manipulated into becoming her personal guard. "I need to know whether she was lying about knowing my mother. If she didn't lie about that, there's no reason to lie about being hunted by Fusos." As if she read Nat's mind, though with her back turned, Darlith asked "How much do you know of your mother?"

The question seemed out of the blue and strange, so it startled Nat for a few moments. He asked himself again "How much DO I know of my mother? As sad as it was, he actually knew close to naught. He looked for her over 20 years and he could barely remember how she looked. Not her hair and eyes, however. He would not forget those ever. Ash-white hair and the little bit darker eyes. It was quite unusual for a person to have his hair and eye color match and by these two traits, Nat could always tell if a person was lying to him. He also knew that his mother left their home to travel to the capital. Nat knew she was married to the commander of his old mercenary company. He heard that she later on took disguise as a priest. He learned what his name meant and why was he given it.

But his mother was still, metaphorically speaking, a day's road ahead of him. He could always grasp some clues. He would hear some rumors. But when the sellsword checked them, all of them were already cold. Waking up from the thoughts, that Darlith's question put him to, he slowly answered "I know much of her, though not her goals or location." At the same time he thought "Which means I know nothing of her."

He would have continued the topic, but Darlith spotted wagon tracks merging into their road from another path. Nat was impelled to examine them as she asked if that was the same wagon from yesterday. The half-elf had quite some tracking skills from his days in the mercenary company as he would periodically scout for them. It didn't take long for him to notice that these tracks were far less deep than the ones he followed into the city. The wheels seemed of different thickness two, though he wasn't sure. "I... I'm not so sure" Nat mumbled "This is not the same one. What I mean is, unless they dumped half of their passengers this cannot be the same wagon. The track's are deep enough for three people at most if they were unarmed." he then stood up and walked around, looking for something in the forests around the path. "This might be the same people, however, that took a different wagon to create a decoy for Fusos' men. If so, somewhere here must be tracks of their followers. They're not on the path, though." Nat told everything he could make up on the spot.

[xRobynx]

Her temporary absence of mind apparently did not go unnoticed.

“..You look as if something is troubling you.”

She grabbed her glass of water and took a drink. In truth she was not thirsty, but wanted the extra time to think of a response. A second or two would pass before she set her glass back down.

“Its nothing, just thinking,” she replied with a smile, even if it was a bit forced nothing was truly that much of a bother.

“Excuse me,” she said as she excused herself from her seat and started to leave, but not before dropping a few coins to cover her order on the table.

She headed back outside and across the road to overlook the river again. Water was always so peaceful to watch. A a light breeze carried a fresh waft of salt from the nearby ocean. The scent was one of her favourites. Eventually, she promised herself, I'll get my chance to be on the ocean, at least once.

She smiled at the thought. She'd always heard stories from the sailors that frequented her clinic, and they were always fascinating. Her thoughts were interrupted by something moving from the corner of her eye.

Several small halfling children were gathered giving her a collectively estranged look.

She couldn't help but crack a small grin, for once in her life she was a giant among the community. “I suppose you don't see a lot of humans around here,” she said with an extra soft tone.

They whispered amongst themselves intelligibly. She could see they were not sure what to think of her, and the rest of the group who for the moment, was nowhere in sight. She crouched down close to the ground and picked a single leaf from a nearby plant and showed it to them.

The children did not say anything, but met her actions with confused looks. She picked several more and enclosed both her hands around them. Several silent moments passed before she opened her hands.

The faces of the six or so halfling children went from confused and scared to a blush of amazement. From her hands the leaves had started to take flight like several small green butterflies. The small swarm circled the children just over their heads for a couple passes before gliding back to the ground as lifeless leaves.

One little girl was for a moment scared, but quickly turned to her mouth agape with amazement, then laughter. Another boy attempted to catch some. Robyn couldn't help but chuckle.

“Do it again!” one yelled excitedly as some ventured even closer to the redhaired giant.

She was picking a couple more leaves and just enclosed them in her hands when the ground gave a small tremble. The tremble was small, but still enough to throw Robyn off balance from her crouch.

The children backed up, as if she was responsible. She looked around in surprise but saw no cause for such a tremor, “What was that?”

[LovelyAnastasia]

Jar swooped down, cawing in the face of the avian that had found them. The large ugly one eyed bird's crackling steel hard voice was enough to get the attentions of the giantess. But as her head turned, she peered curiously at the creature her winged companion found peering back at her. With a sharp whistle, one more loud than any a horn could make, the ugly bird stopped his furious cawing. Instead he turned in his pattering flurry and swooped down to rest upon her high ledge of shoulder. In her sleek black armor, with her strange weapons and contraptions, she wonder just what she might look to this tiny avian humanoid. Halting her feets' steady pound, her chisel stone feature softened slightly into a smile.

"Apologies, Feather One," her voice held that kind of intimidating rumble one might of expected had a thunderstorm spoke in words, or the crashing waves might have when speaking, "I oft' forget ye smaller ones are about and no' as durable as me. I forget mae self at times." She quieted her voice, so she might not blow him off the side of the mountain. T'would be sad indeed if she scared off the first Avian Kind she had met in her travels. Ah, the stories she had heard about their kind... Of course in the stories they were always more bird than man, but it had been well a hundred years since her people at run across his. Time changed, as she knew too well.

"Jar and Tin are the only one about mae," she coaxed softly, showing her hands were empty and that she meant no hard, "Jar's an old mangy bird, but he's right harmless. Tin is shy, as her kind usually be. We mean ye nay any harm." Putting out a large hand, she beaconed the odd little creature to come towards, as a human might towards a skittish animal. She was curious of the avian. Stories and paintings, yes, she knew of their kind, but they were more a mystery than anything. Like how the horse upon the ground knew of the circle birds in the sky, but did not know of what they might do or act or look like up close. The little fae had hid herself in Shoma's hair at Jar's cawing, but now her little head peeked out of the dark to peer with innocent curiosity at the other.

The little light almost completely pure white, flittered forwards hesitantly. But then as quick as a little bee, she was hovering in front of the avian, large depthless black eyes gazing at him silently. A redish scar crossed jaggedly down the little fae, her antler-like antennae and pure little form tainted in its beauty by the scarred violence. Fae were a vain kind, mischievous and often a bit hellish, but even little Tin's kind had standards. And with her scar and muteness, she had been cast out, like any animals pack would do of its weakest link. But little Tin smiled something sweeter than raspberry juice and tugged lightly at the avian creature's chin before flitting back to the giantess. Shoma chuckled softly. To her it was barely a whisper of a chuckle, but to the smaller kind it was a deep rumble, like a far away rockslide down a mountain.

[Jangel13]

Angelo looked at the giant curiously seeing her explain her case as to her being friendly or not. Angelo watched as she explained she was not their to cause trouble and how her companions were only the little creatures around her that were a crow and one of the fae. Angelo watched as the little fairy started to come out of the giant mane popping out to see Angelo, Angelo was ready to strike the thing but then he remembered that while fairies did cause trouble being somewhat mischievous they never truly did damage to a single person so Angelo watched it carefully as it moved closer to him and Angelo stared back at its giant scar and realized that it may have been a weak link in their group and may have been abandoned as is. Angelo smiled a little as it tugged on his chin to bring him to its giant mistress.

Angelo watched and decided the giant was not someone who came for a fight otherwise a fae wouldn't come near her. so Angelo put his sword away and flew nearby and landed on a slightly taller tree next to the giant mainly being that like all of avian kind Angelo preferred to be in a higher spot to their earth bound brethren as Angelo looked at her curiously and said "wow, I have never seen a giant before. So interesting, im sorry if im offending you truly its just that this is the first time I seen a creature other then my kind up in these mountains and it turns out to be a kind giant with a crow and a fairy tagging along" Angelo said smiling a little stretching his wings fluttering them slightly like all birds do once they land on their perch after a flight

[Azurian Dream]

"Do you people not tire of this useless gesture... for if this continues I doubt any be left to regret this," a dulled voice asked as followed by the large thud of another man falling to his death at the questioners spear. Maltien had been hoping for a restful travel on the mountain side after the vicious onslaught he had escaped in what was left of the human settlements past the avian mountains due to Orc raids. Yet not even a day in he had the misfortune of running into a slaver wagon, and well with his arm markings in the wide open saying he was a slave... well lets just say people thought they could get a fancy reward for returning someone else's property.

"You cowardly lot he is one many stop giving him so much damn room and rush him," the Owner of the wagon yelled aloud to the last four standing men of the original ten man unit. Yet after the brutal slaying of their comrades, and the skill the stranger had with the crimson spear... well they were not exactly willing to charge at this moment.

"I'll say this one more time out of my way fools," Maltien threatened as he pointed his spear at the men with swords drawn. With a hesitant battle cry he was charged by the man at the furthest left who went at him with a horizontal swing for his head. The spearman responded with a vertical block using the middle section of the pole arm to block the blade as another man went charging for his backside. With a quick acknowledgement of the soon to be pincer tactic Maltien pushed upward breaking the first attackers hold on his own weapon before thrusting his spear backwards in a upper angle right into the mans adam apple shattering the mans neck structure in a instant death. Then with a forward single hand motion Maltien impaled the first attack in the chest with the sideways prongs lightly cutting in before the weapon was pulled back dislodging from the now dead man's chest.

"This job doesn't pay enough for this," one of the panicky slavers yelled as he dropped his sword and ran the opposite direction as the owner yelled after the coward before notice a even worse situation. In the heat of the slayings the slaves they were carrying had gotten bold and had stolen the keys to their shackled from one of the dead slavers and were now well noticeable making a run for it in the distance not to far away from the traitor.

"Well," Maltien asked as he eyed the last armed slaver with his grip tighten on the blooded spear to the point that the blade of it almost matched the color of the pole. The slaver was hesitant his eyes dilating in fear yet he kept a grip on his sword, and seemed more committed to his job though as horrid a job it was. "Is such a demons business worth your life," Maltien asked trying to get the man to give up. While the spearsman clearly didn't have a good opinion on slavers to begin with he was not a monster if he could avoid blood spilling he would. Yet it seemed without words the man made his choice as he steadied his arms, and let adrenaline take over as he charged Maltien. Taking a step to the side he avoid the slashed let and right as he lead the man closer and closer to the edge planning to simple push him over and be done with it yet right as they neared the edge a sudden tremor claimed both their footing. A single curse passed Maltien mind as he felt himself fall. Thankfully his reflexs allowed him to atleast respond to slow himself down as the mountainside being slope like allowed him to pin on the side and grind his armored feet against the rock as he slid down with rocks scattering everywhere as he fought to keep his insane rock sliding ahold. With one last ditch effort to halt his gaining momentum he shoved his spear downward into the mountain causing even more rocks to scatter as he slide downward. Unfortunately though he did start to lose speed their was one factor he couldn't forseen... a dead end as he went of the slop and started to plummet... right down into the clasp of something rough, metal... and legging like? His fall to his death had been pretty quick to his shock though his back now hurt like all types of hell causing him to let go of his spear and groaning in pain with his eyes closed. What the hell had he fallen on? With a slight blood spotted breath due to sudden impact he opened up his eyes immediately going wide as he was now in direct eye contact with a woman... a very large woman. Registering the fact he had fallen into the lap of a armored giantess seemed to take the edge of the pain he should have been feeling. With a light chuckle he pushed himself off her lap on the side his weapon had fallen with a soft thud he got up slowly mumbling about dumb luck as he slung his weapon onto his back.

"Apologizes about that... lost my footing do to a tremor," he said unknowing the cause was what had just saved him. He straightened himself up popping his back as he cursed the damage he had sustained though not mortal would force him to have to be careful for the next few days. It was then he realized their was a bird and fae perched on the giantess and not to far off from them was a avian like man perched in a tree. With a raised eyebrow he gave the situation a thought as he shook his head.

"No I am starting to think I landed harder then I thought," he joked as he dusted himself off. "I apologize for interrupting I was attacked... in fact its good I fell into the grace of your presence you have slavers using the higher roads as a route to smuggle goods," he informed the Avian as he sat down knowing his body was in no condition for to much movement.

[DELETED324324]

Jamlamin's stomach growled so he figured he'd walk to the nearby tavern and join the group so he closed his journal and left it on the table and headed out of the house. He walked up the street and saw Robyn with some of the halfling children, he was going to walk over to her when he felt a small tremor, it almost knocked over Robyn too which he ran over to help her and see if the kids were alright "Everyone alright?" He asked mainly to the kids but he was also directing it towards Robyn, he offered his hand to Robyn to help her up.

[Jones Sparrow]

Rilden listened and nodded to Alura's words, and her story. He wish he had a story of well... importance in a way. Sure, he was told he would be the high king, and would rule the land, but after all everyone's seen and done, would you believe that yourself? He was a kid who helped the bartender at his local village. The kid who listen to his father ramble... when he was little, he didn't know what he would be or what he could do. Now that he was here, he had people willing to follow him, his swordsmanship was unmatched, his hunting skills top notch, and his archery was very superb. Robyn obviously was troubled about something, and then she excused herself. He was about to get up and go after her until he felt his legs hit something. He looked down to see a halfing stumbling backwards. Rilden easily dropped and caught him, pulling him back to his feet before he fell over. "I'm so sorry sir. Are you alright?" Rilden asked.

"Oh, its-Its alright! I know most of your kind hasn't been in the presence of a Halfling before... Tell me, sir. Are you.. House of Aleden?" The Halfling asked. Rilden turned back to the people still at their table. Rhovanor gave a bit of a smirk, as if saying "Look who's popular now."

Rilden turned back to the Halfling and nodded. "Yes. I am." The bar then went in to an applause. People now ran up to them of all, asking questions of what it is like out in Valhdir. Rilden asked to the best of his ability, Rhovanor still sat next to Alura, having them both ask questions of many things since they were both elves. Rilden saw Rhovanor's face get red and shook his head. It had to be something about he and Alura being in a relationship.

Just as they were all talking, the ground trembled, and the halflings shrieked, others ran to see what was going on. Rilden and Rhovanor rushed out of the bar (Rhovanor hit his head on the doorway), seeing Jamlamin helping Robyn up, halfings all around, but there was no danger in sight. Rhovanor walked up to Rilden. "It was a far distance. We are safe." He stated. The elf has been here for a very long time, and knew the land better than most.

"Is everyone alright?" Rilden called out. He turned his way back to the road, not seeing any smoke, or any kind of presence... The good thing about Fayacre was that it was very well hidden. It was on a road far off the main one, and one would have to travel a small hidden bridge to get to the said road... He turned to all of his compainions. "That didnt' sound good... Tonight we will all meet in the barn, and discuss where we go next..." Rilden said with a nod, looking at all of them.

[xRobynx]

"Everyone alright?" a familiar voice called out.

She turned to meet the voice, but instead met his hand extended in her direction; a kind gesture, not one she'd expect from him. She took it and pulled herself up.

“Thank you,” she said dusting the dirt from herself. Rilden and Rhovanor rushed from the tavern expecting danger. They scanned the area and wound up just as clueless as she.

"Is everyone alright?" Rilden called out this time.

“Yeah,” she responded, “everyone's okay.”

The children quickly grew unnerved and one even hide herself behind Robyn's leg, peeking out at the others with large green eyes. Instinctively she placed her hand on the back of the little girl's head.

"That didn't' sound good... Tonight we will all meet in the barn, and discuss where we go next..."

Robyn responded with an affirmative nod, before quickly turning her attention to the frightened child, “Noone's going to hurt you. Come, I'll show you another trick.”

She lead the tiny flock towards the grass just before the bank of the river and sat herself down in the grass. She looked back at the others with a small smile. She had to admit, she never got to do this before, but she was having fun with it. All their smiling faces reminded her that there was still good in the world.

Turning her attention back to the children, who now looked eye-to-eye with her sitting, she closed her hand and looked around at them.

“You ready?”

“Yea!” several responded.

She threw her hand into the air as if ready to throw a ball; a sparkling ball flew from her palm and into the air. The ball sparkled as it flew higher and higher into the air. Not far by her standard, but far enough for the halflings when suddenly it exploded with an audible POP! sending different colour sparks in all directions.

The children stood in awe as she sent a few more into the sky, but were quickly disappointed when she stopped.

“It works better when its dark. I'll do more later tonight okay? Besides, anyone like stories?”

Several of them nodded and some sat down beside her. The little girl from earlier even chose to sit under the crook of her arm.

“Once upon a time there was this evil king....”

[LovelyAnastasia]

The she-giant was not as tall as her ancestors, but she was quiet impressive anyway. Her hair was dark and shorn short, but soft and never seemed to get too messy. Her features were those of a sculpture's enthusiasm in marble, though not as nearly as delicate towards her femininity. But this did not mean she looked harsh or cold. Instead she just appeared stately and strong. If anything it just gave her more of a wise look. And it was her sharp piercing eyes that could attest to that. But she smiled down at the Avian male.

The little fae fluttered her wings and the ugly crow kept a wary eye on this new creature. Shoma saw the Avian put aside his weapon and she took hers, effortlessly plunging it into the rock of the mountain. The mountain trembled and she smile almost a bit sheepishly. A towering triple bladed sword jutting from the rock, a shield that reflected its surroundings was sticking out of the rock near it. It had only been the reflection of its kin that had drawn attention to the massive skull shaped shield, it’s teeth sunken deep in earth, like the fangs of a vicious beast.

But the weapons’ mistress was calmly entertaining the excited fae, letting her play swinging and leaping games from her fingers. Jar clacked his beak a few times when the Avian glided up to perch in the tree by them. Shoma caught him peering curiously at her, as she had done to him before and smiled to herself. “Nay, tis fine,” she chuckled quietly, “Ye’d be among the few who’ve yet to run screamin’ from mae. Humans think I’d eat their bones or some such foolishness.” The crow crossed to her other shoulder to sit almost protectively between her and the Avian.

“Ye’d think the knowledge that mae kind only eat bones of the grass-eaters would soothe them,” she shrugged. Shoma glanced up at him again and let her chuckle rumble away. “And it’d be the first time I’ve seen a living Avian Kind. Our paintings nary do ye justice.” But as she was about to introduce herself something fell right on her lap. Dusted with rubble, the crow and fae had taken refuge with the Avian, till she shook out her hair and brushed the rock from her armored shoulders. Looking down, a bit curious and rather surprised, Shoma’s chiseled stone-like features turned into a sculpted mask of slight confusion.

“Tis well, Human,” she said calmly enough, “Though with yer kind’s soft body, I do wonder why you’d ever think it’d be a Golden idea to slide down the side of a mountain such as this. Would not a soft hill be better for your health?” But she was smirking slightly. She could hardly help it, even though she knew his real reason for falling had most likely been her own fault. Jar and Tin peered curiously but cautiously down at the human, though the she-giant had managed to become a bit more gentle in her treatment of their drop-in guest.

“‘Fell’ indeed, Soft Flesh,” she stifled a laugh, but looked to Tin and gave her some sort of signal, “As I was about to tell Feathered One, I am called Shoma Othea. This is Jar,” the large one-eyed bird gave a crooning caw, “and this be little Tin.” The fairy fluttered down to sit on the human’s head, holding a small satchel in front of his face. “Take the food offering, Human, for you shall need your energy to bind the weakened flesh,” the she-giant relaxed against the mountain side, “Now, Avian. Ask me those questions ye have. Tis been while since I’ve had a good conversation. Mae wee friends here are nary so chatty.”

[Jangel13]

Angelo watched this woman looking at her closely at her features that would show the warrior in her both in body and mind, her face seemed like an artist marbled beauty while her hair was short and would be normal style of hair for a man, although while her body looked like art her weapons may have been tools of war considering how dangerous it looked, to him anyways. Angelo listened intently as she explained how humans viewed her kind as people eaters when they were carnivores at least that's he got from what she said thinking that humans think she eats them like cannibals would. while the woman commented that they had paintings of Angelo's kind he decided to leave out the fact that he was the son of a lord in this mountain. Angelo quickly pulled out the sword seeing something land onto the woman's lap but let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in before putting his sword away noticing it was simply a human climber trying to go up the mountain again, this wasn't the first human that decided in their odd minds to think hey why don't I climb this big ass mountain, I hope I don't fall! honestly Angelo didn't see the point in climbing but that may have been because he had the wings where he wouldn't need to climb at all.

Angelo watched as the woman's kindness matched her size as she offered the man food to help him on his way down as she explained the names of both herself and her odd traveling companions that were currently near Angelo's wings. Angelo heard her say he could ask questions so now Angelo's curiosity came rushing through him again and he started asking questions without thinking hoping not to offend "why are you so much larger then the human next to you? why did you draw that symbol on your shield? what's your species policies on burial rituals? what kind of society do you live in? why do you have a crow and a hurt fae with you on your journeys? why did you come here?" Angelo said deciding to stop at the most important question of all before the guards would come looking for him and see him talking to a giant woman he would need to know that her intentions here are peaceful...

[Scoutas]

Darlith face showed her surprise at how good the mercenary was at tracking. As well as distrust. She, herself, has been doing a little bit of tracking in her life and the time it took for Nat to figure everything out didn't connect for Darlith. But she didn't want to start doubting his short-time companion, so she let it slip for now. She decided to get deeper into a forest to see, if they could find any tracks of orcs or anything that has been following the cart, yet there were none. "Could it be, that they tried to cut them off and crossed their roads with the wagon from a different path? If so, I guess they wouldn't be following from their backs. But it still doesn't make sense! Why would they run then, if they don't have anyone trying to catch them?" she scratched her neck and sighed. "I start to doubt that it's the same cart that was followed. We've got little over excited over it... Well, I did. Nevertheless we have to go along the path where the cart goes. We'll see if anything appears here."

The forest had become dense, and the road seemed to get even thinner. "Whoever tried to go anywhere down this path must have been committed. I can barely imagine a wagon fitting to go through here." she looked back at Nat and remember what he said. "Why do you say don't know her goals? She is probably running from the past, I take it. She did seem to act that way when I had helped her..." just with these words, she noticed a body of an orc, lying down by a tree. She ran up to the body to examine. It's chest was sliced open, and he probably died of blood loss. She looked further along the path and started running, seeing a few more of the bodies of orcs lying down and footprints of orcs all around, where at one point she found a track of the wagon skidding off the road and the wagon, lying on it's side in a ditch.

"Our friends didn't make it, it seems. If it was a distraction, they did a great job, if it wasn't, well... I don't even know what happens then." she slowly descended into that ditch to see what was inside the wagon and seemed to find nothing interesting in particular. "The wagon is empty Nat. Is there anything around that caught your eye?"

[TheCheshire]

Alura had been right on Rilden and Rhovanor's heels as they rushed from the bar. When the trembling had started, she had almost been thrown from her chair by how sudden it had came on. She was a few paces away from the men when she hear Rilden speak. She nodded in agreement, as well, as he stated they would need to meet in the barn later tonight.

"I think until than, gentleman, I'll go collect some herbs and plants. My stocks are running quite low, as of late." Alura said as she smiled at the two men and turned to walk off down the path towards the forest where it was thickest. Before she entered the foliage completely though, Alura stopped and looked back to the men.

"Rhovanor, would you like to escort me, perhaps?" Alura asked, a smile gracing her lips as she awaited the elven man's response.

[Jones Sparrow]

Rilden and Rhovanor watched the small show that Robyn was displaying, Rilden gave a soft smile as the children applauded the red haired woman. Such talent, and bravery... His attention then turned to Alura calling out to Rhovanor, Rilden turned to the elf, giving a grin. "Go on, might be your only chance I can get you off my side." He said jokingly. Rhovanor looked a bit hesitant, but not out of fear, but of nervousness. The first time Rilden had ever seen that emotion on his elf friend before. "It would be an honor, Miss Alura." Rhovanor called out, and then walked after her, towards the forest.

Rilden smiled and looked at all of his companions, all finding something to do before they have the serious meeting.. this would be the last time they will get some warm food and shelter... It will be a hard journey to find the Bearers, and an even harder challenge to defeat the mighty Fusos... He sat down under a tree, the morning light now rising up in the sky as he leaned back, and enjoyed the sight.

---

Rhovanor made it to Alura, and together went in to the forest. "What exactly are you looking for?" The elf asked, looking at the ground for any tracks or other indications that enemies were near. He knew there wouldn't be, no army has ever set foot in this town only because they didn't know where it was... but it couldn't help but be safe, especially when it was just the two of them.

[TheCheshire]

Alura was a tall young woman, but she actually had to look up slightly to look at him. She smiled to him as they started strolling through the forest. "I'm not native to these forest, so I don't quite know what they might have growing about here. What I'm looking for mostly though is called 'cat's velvet'. It's an off-white colored plant, they're shaped like a cat's ear. It's very good for infections. This would be one of the most useful things. I could use it to brew teas, or create a topical with it." She said as she crouched down beside a bush and pushed back it's branches. She saw a small array of red flowers and very tenderly picked them at the roots.

"There was a dark Elven man I came across a few months back. He called these 'red dreams', he used them as poison. He took many of them, crushed them until there was nothing left but a fine paste, and coated his weapons in them. They cause the one you inflict the pain upon to go into vivid hallucinations and become so wrapped up in them, and afraid that their hearts beat themselves out. He taught me how to make such a poison." Alura said as she gently tucked them into one of her pouches. She stood back up and moved slowly across, plucking herbs here and there. When she found a berry bush, she plucked a few and popped one into her mouth. With a smile she held a few out to Rhovanor.

[DragonBeastMode]

Chiron, was having fun for a change. He felt, happy with this gang, of misfits. Robyn, the red head, with the gift of life, got up from the table. Whatever her, and the elf girl, talked about, must of made her uncomfortable. Chiron, saw her when she walked towards, the Halfling, kids. They were shocked at first, when they saw her. Then she showed them, some of her powers. They were giddy with joy. A few seconds later, the ground started to shake. That was not a normal, earthquake, that had to be something else. A giant? No couldn't be...Chiron's father told him about giants, when he was a little pony boy. He told him, that they use to live all around the world, but they died off. Whatever, made that tremor, had to be big, or something had made the earth shake. Noticing it too, Rilden, Rhovanor, and the elf girl, Alura was it? They ran out the building, with Chiron in tow. "We really need to find out what the he..." Realizing, that the kids were still around, Chiron stopped, himself from cursing. "I mean...we have to figure out what that was. Before it happens again." Chiron, usually didn't fear anything, but if giants made a comeback, not even he would be able to stand against them.