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[img]https://i.imgur.com/xPZoDGJ.jpg[/img]
[h2][color=silver]Ferrin Astra[/color][/h2]

Tenrou Team

[sub][@MarshiestMallow][/sub]
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As if to punctuate his words, the ground began to shake violently. Ferrin reacted instinctively, sucking in aether, enhancing his body for a burst of balance and crouching to lower his center of gravity. He managed to remain upright as the quake subsided, but even as it did, a massive, frightening bestial roar blasted over the magus. His own cry of pain because of his enhanced hearing was lost in the deafening sound as it continued for a sadistically long time. Every muscle in Ferrin's body clenched as the noise flooded his head. Shiden, summoned on reflex, fell into his hand. He tried to concentrate to cast a silence spell but his head felt like someone had put in a vise and it was slowly being squeezed. After several dozen painful seconds, he managed to claw together some semblance of coherent thought. Gasping, he sounded out the spell. The roar cut off. Blessed Silence. Well, not exactly. The noise was still there, but it was muffled greatly. Sagging a bit, he groaned and pressed a finger to his temple. He could feel a migraine coming on. He really had to work on that particular flaw of enhancing himself with aether. Sometimes the enhanced senses that came with it were useful, other times, like this, it was a real pain or even a danger. 

Out of the corner of his eye he watched Sasha equip a very intimidating suit of ice armor, complete with a spear. Her magic to him was a winter's breeze: a crisp, clear, gust of air that left a biting chill in it's wake. He forced himself to relaxed as he watched everyone's reactions to judge when he could drop the spell. 

Eventually it seemed to fade. As it did, Ferrin let the spell around him cease. Not one to let a good tense moment go to waste, he turned to the previously ignored Time Lord and said [color=silver]"Empty Night. Timmy, feed yourself."[/color] with a completely straight face.

Sasha spoke as the roar's echos died. [color=lightblue]"I do not think anyone can plan for this… I don’t know what we are to expect. But I think it’s safe to say, we ought not dally. I think we should stay together, but… if you have any ideas, I’d be open to them.”[/color]

Ferrin nodded, looking thoughtful with his metal hand on his chin as the wheels in his mind immediately started turning. His mind went back to his time in the Second Trade War and Mavis's teachings. He wished she was here right now, she had a knack for these things. [color=silver][I]Where she here, what would Mavis do?[/I][/color] He asked himself.

[color=silver]"Well."[/color] He started slowly. [color=silver]"The first rule of warfare is 'Know thy enemy'. In this case, we need to figure out what is here, what it is capable of, and what is going on. Also, I think it would be reasonable to move with as much haste as possible. Whatever is going on we need to shut it down immediately."[/color] He started pacing, five steps, turn, five more, turn, repeat. [color=silver]"Scouts. when one want to know what their enemy is up to, send out scouts. We could send out wizards with skills and magics for moving without being seen, each with a communication lacrima connected to one here. They fan out to comb the entire island, which isn't too big all things considered. The rest of us can set up a base of sorts while we wait for their reports. But, doing this would take time and those scouts will be at extreme risk if they get into trouble while the majority of our force would be safe just in case we go from the hunters to the hunted. We could set some kind of pre-arranged signal if they do need help. Something like..."[/color]

Ferrin lapsed and stopped pacing as he dug around in his pockets. He cursed as came up with only three cylinders trailing string. [color=silver]"Damn, I thought I had more."[/color] He held one up. [color=silver]"Something like a firework, should they not have the magic to replicate one in some form."[/color] He sighed. [color=silver]"But I only have three left so...there goes that idea. We will have to work on that."[/color] 

He gathered his thoughts again before launching into he second idea. [color=silver]"Another option is to split all of us into teams of three to five, based on skills and strengths, each with a communication lacrima paired with one back here. These numbers would ideally allow us to cover a lot of ground, while still packing enough power to get out of a dangerous situation and numbers enough to look out for each other. One team would stay here to facilitate communication and direct everyone's movements. Each team would need at least a 'combat' wizard, a 'scout' wizard, and a 'support' wizard. The scout would be in charge of, well, scouting. Their job is to find anything of interest and keep an eye out for danger. The support wizard would be the center of the team: they hold the lacrima and stay out of danger at all costs, thus playing a 'support' role. Finally, the combat wizard's job is self-explanatory. Their job to keep everyone safe and enemies unsafe. These need to be wizards with great power and combat experience. I would consider myself an example of one. Depending on how numbers and skills turn out, we may have overlap in these roles, which is fine, even ideal. Redundancy is good. Should one team get in deep trouble, the team back here can direct the closest teams to back them up. However, a pre-arranged signal, like a firework, would not be amiss, should they be unable to contact the base. This gives us the most flexibility, while covering the most ground and still keeping everyone relatively safe."[/color]

Ferrin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. 

[color=silver]"Our third option would be to travel as one large group, with a few scouts. This would give us the advantage of numbers should we attack or be attacked. This is the safest option, but also the slowest and least subtle. Anyone within half a mile would hear us crashing through the woods. We would have a few wizards as scouts so that we don't walk into an ambush or get some warning in case of any other danger."[/color]

Ferrin stopped and spun on a heel to face Sasha and Patrick once again. [color=silver]"I would advise toward the second. but each option has its own pros and cons. As the leader, the decision on which path we take is up to you dear girl."[/color]

As he fell silent, he questioned himself. Did he consider every option? Was there a better way? Was there some detail he missed? But he shoved his doubts aside and forced himself to project an air of supreme confidence.