[color=aqua]"A creature capable of silencing an entire camp, potentially ripping mine and Beatrixs wards and who may have the title of Butcher, is potentially running amok and you wish to separate on your own to sound the alarms. By all means, go, be brave, and die a fool."[/color] The Lalafell commander said as he finished with his strange ritual. Cyterius bristled at the direct insult towards his judgment but remained quiet. River did have a point, if he had gotten singled out by the creature stalking them, then he was likely a dead man. Still, he was confident in his abilities to evade detection. While he was weighing the pros and cons of heading out to recon the camp and alert the sentries, Kharne had ideas of his own.

With a powerful bellow, the draconian warrior shouted into the town, heading out on his own. The sheer force of the sound made Cyterius wince and close his eyes. The fact that the position of the commanders, or at least people who knew what was happening, had just been revealed to their enemies made him feel very vulnerable as well.

[b]"That was a mistake..."[/b] S'venia said, voicing the thoughts of nearly everyone in the room. [color=peru]"The enemy knows that we know. We no longer have the element of surprise. I fear that they shall seek to confront us to take the initiative."[/color] Cyterius said, wondering what the status of the rest of the camp was, and more importantly, the Falcons and the Skirmishers. S'venia went around, appearing to offer advice and giving them some kind of ward that he felt when she touched him. S'venia did not strike him as a magic-user the first time they had met, so this had come as much of a surprise, though it only showed with a simple raised eyebrow. S'venia also repeated to him the same point that River had made, though this time he nodded. The enemy was on alert now, and hopefully any of their soldiers nearby as well, thanks to Kharne. Recon was out of the question, they had to  stay together and face the foe at full strength.

[b]“I do not know how to kill this enemy, it is unlike anything you or I have ever faced in our lives... maybe the book might be of help,”[/b] S'venia added. Cyterius nodded. While he did not trust such magic that he did not know the source of, someone or something had seen fit to warn them of their enemy. For all he knew, it could even [b]BE[/b] their enemy, taunting them with their arrival. But if there was one thing he had learned throughout his life, it was that all communication holds information. Even simple taunts from the enemy could betray the way they think or work. The book may yet hold something they could use.

He raised his sword and followed the group outwards, trailing behind in the rear, and glancing backwards. Given his light armaments and perceptive ability, he saw it fit to act as the rear guard of their party and watch for ambush.

He spotted the frozen soldiers as the others did, and they made him pause for a moment wondering why they were not moving or calling out to them. Then he realized that some malign force was keeping them held in place, much like in the disturbing vision River had shown them. Cyterius exhaled as he let his nervousness course through his body, using it to stay alert and examine the scene around them thoroughly. He had no wish to share in the fate of the lost soldiers, and he would be damned if he did not go down without a fight. He wondered if all the soldiers in their camp were like this, and how many were still alive. Was their expedition already destroyed?

[b]"Stick together"[/b] S'venia ordered, breaking his line of thought. Cyterius shook his head as he continued scanning the area. Such negative thoughts could wait until after the enemy was dealt with. While he considered regrouping with his own forces, he figured that if they were all in this state as well, then there was little he could do to help them. He had to stay with those who were still unaffected and try to eliminate whatever was causing this infernal spell.

The group eventually came upon Kharne, apparently frozen much like the other soldiers they had seen. S'venia approached them before suddenly stopping with her hand held up above Kharne's shoulder. For one dreadful moment, Cyterius thought she had also been afflicted by whatever had trapped the rest of the camp, but he saw her move slightly as if tensing up, and then he saw movement ahead of her.

[color=peru]"Movement ahead"[/color] He said quickly, wondering how he had not spotted it before. [b]“Commanders, our enemy has arrived,”[/b] S'venia announced as Cyterius aimed his wrist-mounted crossbow forward, at the source of the motion, which seemed to suddenly stop as well as if inspecting them. The creature's look defied all conventions and expectations. Yet somehow, it fit perfectly with the stories he had heard about the previous Wars of the Breach. The abomination standing before them made Cyterius feel sick just looking at it, most especially when its face and body moved as it spoke to them in an unnatural voice.

The creature seemed to address S'venia, who replied curtly, as if she understood them, before producing a bright golden light that seemed to break Kharne out of his imprisonment. [b]Kharne, welcome back[/b] She said as the dragon seemed to be getting their bearings back.

Before anyone could give the order to attack, Cyterius decided to take the creature by surprise, and loosed a bolt from his crossbow into the center of its porcelain face. He rapidly fired a second bolt into the center of its muscled body, to see how it would react to attacks on either area. This left him with 3 bolts left in his current magazine, and a likely chance at having pissed off their opponent. Given that he felt a fight was about to break out anyway, it was a calculated risk.