[@Superman][@Pyromania99][@ERode]

[h3][center]~Vrhol Wildland~[/center][/h3]

Tetras' sneak attack would have probably been quite effective, if he had not decided to announce his presence quite loudly with a battle cry. With a swift turn, the bird swiveled its head in the direction of the armored Knight. Instead of hitting feathery hide like Tetras intended, his greatswords clanged against the creatures beak...which didn't seem to damage the beast at all. Perhaps that spiny, sharp beak of its wasn't just for show after all, and the bird knew exactly how to use it. 

Hopping around, it righted itself as it focused on Tetras. The bird locked Tetras' greatswords with his beak. It wasn't just a dumb animal apparently and perhaps there was some training there, just as Tsukiko suspected. Either way, Tetras surprise attack had been completely ineffective.

The bird jumped backwards, freeing his beak from Tetras' greatswords...and was then assaulted by Ophene's fireball. It didn't catch the bird on fire, but it certainly distracted it long enough for Tetras to realize that perhaps he had maybe just fucked up royally. The giant black feathered bird only cast an annoyed glance towards Ophene as it flapped its large wings, screeching and quickly put some distance between itself and Tetras.

And then it charged. 

It gained speed almost impossibly fast, accelerating to a speed that was almost impossible for a human to see. The gust of wind that it made was strong enough to throw the wagon on its side, and likely the women standing by would be similarly affected by it. The bird didn't even seem bothered by the trees in its way at all, in fact, the spines on its beak seemed to be cutting through them like they were paper. If Tetras didn't dodge, he'd likely very well be killed by the sheer force of speed and apparent strength of that beak.

[hr]

Isabella was knocked to the ground, unprepared for the sudden gust of wind coming from the bird. Thankfully it was brief, and the bird didn't seem to want to harm anything, in fact, if Tetras hadn't attacked first it probably would have left them alone. Ophene, the Pheran seemed to have the right idea. She didn't think there was any way they could easily beat this thing, and fighting this thing wasn't part of their job, was it? Though, if it was so interested in the wagon, perhaps it was the thing that had been attacking it? It was certainly a possibility, though if this was a new phenomena then it was odd for it to suddenly just attack like that....

Okay, not the best time to be thinking about that. She rose to her feet, grabbing her shield and holding it at the ready, just in case the bird tried something else like that.

She had to think of something to do here, but that bird was moving to fast, and from the fact that the birds beak could take a hit from a great sword and remain completely unscathed, meant that getting in that things path was likely a death sentence. Thankfully for her, it seemed focused on Tetras for now. Not so good, was that unless they could intervene in some manner he was gonna get seriously injured...she could heal him, but she couldn't bring the dead back life. She cast a concerned look over to Ophene and Tsukiko.

[color=ed145b]"How can we help him?"[/color] She asked. She didn't see any way to turn this into a good situation, honestly. [color=ed145b]"I can heal him if he gets injured, but..."[/color]

[@Ariamis][@Lauder][@RedDusk]

[center][h3]~Reef Grotto~[/h3][/center]

Ankts intimidation efforts proved to be almost useful. While the death of one of their own followed by the hissing put them off a little, they still seemed ready to attack. The snarled at him, gnashing their sharp teeth and barking their odd, gurgling bark as they waited for one of their own or Ankt to make their move. 

And it seemed like they would be the first. One, in a feat of surprising acrobatics and agility leaped onto the wall, jumping off of it and aiming a lung right at Ankts neck. Another attacked from below, going right for his legs while a few others pursued the other adventurers.

Thankfully for Ankt, one of Nazr's improvised weapons slammed into the hound going for his neck. Another, slammed into one heading for Jagred's location. And thankfully for Nazr, his cloak along with him masking his scent, coupled with the hounds poor sense of vision, meant he was mostly unnoticed as he attacked the hounds from behind. It remained to be seen how long that would last, but for the most part he seemed safe enough.

Jagred would find himself under the assault of three hounds, thanks to one of Nazr's stones killing one before it got to him. The growled at the swordsman, barking in their usual fashion before one leaped to the right, almost looking like it was going to attack him from his left before suddenly leaping changing directions and attacking from his right. The other two circled around him, obviously trying to attack him from behind.

...and then the bats Woke up.

screeching, clawing, and generally pissed off that they had been woken up, countless of the winged creatures made for a swift exit out of the cave. The sheer number of them made it difficult to see, and the adventurers would probably find their tiny talons and mouths digging into their flesh.

[@Black Alice]

Well, for one, Em seemed to be having the easiest time progressing. The Dark Aura seemed to be doing its job, though if there were even any Hounds this far in, it was difficult to tell. A few barked at her from afar, but most definitely seemed to not bother with her and head further towards the party happening towards the entrance of the cave. For the moment, she seemed completely safe from the dangers of the cave. The bats, though, still caused her a bit of a problem, too frenzied to flee completely from her aura, but for the moment she seemed safe enough.

As she continued down the path, she'd find the passage sloping downwards, deeper into the earth. Water could still be heard trickling quietly along the floors and walls as the din of the ensuing battle hushed. She had traveled quite a bit further form the others at this point.

She was completely alone, and all was not well.

Voices echoed off the wall. They were difficult to understand completely, but it was definitely in a tongue Em would understand.

[b]"Around here,"[/b] The voice was throaty, raspy, and seemed completely unaffected by Em's Dark Aura. [b]"human died."[/b] The second voice growled, the sound of metal beating on stone echoed.

[b]"Well find anything of that fleshy scaleless meat sack!"[/b] The second growled. The second voice was a bit higher pitched, but still retained its raspy quality. [b]"We need to hurry."[/b]

[b]"Patience. We need to make sure he left nothing-wait."[/b] A hum came from the second one, as it sounded like he took a deep breath of the air, sniffing it. [b]"...human."[/b] The last bit was said with obvious hatred and scorn. The second one soon followed suit, taking a deep breath of the air. Wordlessly, the sudden sound of feet on stone could be heard moving towards Em's direction.

It was likely whoever those voices belonged too, had less than noble intentions whenever they found the human eavesdropping on them.