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[h1]Tribal Party[/h1]

	Sonia had a wry smile as Gossk pointed in the direction of where to go. "Home is actually in that direction," she corrected him, "once we reach Kalla, we can tell the others where the bandits have hidden themselves." She didn't know of the scouting party that had already started their mission to find them. A short while would pass before Tyrael would come up front the cabin. One of the other girls saw Tyrael come up as well and was the first to ask about Lynn. "Will she be alright?" the younger girl asked. Sonia then chimed in as well, "We owe our lives to you three. If there is anything we can do to help once we reach Kalla, we will be glad to do so. That girl, I've never seen one before, but she is merfolk isn't she? Kalla sits next to an oasis, so there should be plenty of water to keep her in good health. We should get there by nightfa-"

	Just then there was an eerie creaking sound as the sand ship took on more weight, slowing it down considerably. "Wh-what was that!?" Sonia exclaimed. She looked down to the cabin and saw water at the step's edge. "How did we take on [i]water[/i]!? And where did those plants sticking out of the deck come from?" Due to the spell, the growth of swap plants seemed to poke through even to the upper deck here and there. Sonia thought about the mergirl and the dracodile that went down there to help her. Did they cause this? a temporary pool of water to help the aquatic traveler, huh? Smart idea, but..."This will slow us down. Now by much mind you. But if we continue like this...," she trailed off as she took in the sights and their decreased speed due to the new weight, "it looks like we will arrive in the morning a little after sunrise. If it helps her though, I'm perfectly fine with it." she acknowledged as she checked their path.


	As the water started to form around Gossk and Lynn, he would notice a large bubble of air seeming to automatically leave Lynn's mouth as her gills seemed to take over by instinct alone, flaring out ever so slightly as compared to the nearly fully sealed thin lines on her neck that they appeared to be above water. However, they seemed to act supplementary to regular breathing, as she looked to be breathing with her lungs as well. She would draw in water into her lungs as if it were air, and her multipurpose lungs acted as another set of gills, filtering the oxygen from the water. As Lynn slowly started to wake back up, she was surprised by the comforting feeling of being in water. Her vibrant red eyes slowly opened to see Gossk looming over her with a strange purple light coming from his eyes. It reflected in the water enough to seem to bathe the area around them in a dim purple light. As Lynn's head weakly tilted to look around, she noticed that they seemed to be in a strange swamp-like cave, with the sunlight peaking through a wood grated ceiling, of which had some stairs that led up to it.  Lynn's horn seemed to pulse with a dim cyan light in it's core, and nearly instantaneously, Lynn's voice seemed to be projected mentally, as if she was speaking on dry land. Was this how merfolk communicated when underwater? It had to have been, since she did it so naturally, and honestly it would be a wonder how there could be any other way to speak when submerged. [color=7FFFD4]"Where...where are we?"[/color] Gossk would here her voice as if they were standing in a normal room. [color=7FFFD4]"What happened? Last I remember I was trying to heal that stranger with the cloak, and everything after is very feint."[/color]


[h1]Scout Party[/h1]

	The corpse hurdled to the first spearman, who failed his attempt at scrambling away as the fat body of his deceased comrade slammed into him. Before they could recover they were backed off by a strange display put on by the saytr, not knowing how to approach without becoming the next victim. As the man with the shield decided enough was enough, Kistal activated a minor curse, causing the dirt to kick up and blind them, almost as if the dust was purposefully going for their eyes. This caused the man to flinch, though by the time he looked up, Kistal already in the air again, spear about to come down on him. The bandit threw up his shield, but the power of Kistal's strike backed up by his own weight pinned the man down against his old worn shield. His back hit the ground and there was a loud cracking as the spear tip, broke through, moving through to impale them man in his chest. There was a quickly silenced shout as it seemed the now blinded heavily muscled man bashed his ally's skull in, swinging wildly in hopes to hit something in his blindness. It was nearly too late for Kistal to had been able to react as he brought his club up for another swing that would have surely stuck home. Before he had even begun the downswing though, his body twitched in a number of directions as he then became still. Slowly, he fell face first into the ground, revealing that the arrows that were shot in their direction had a few bury into his back, unintentionally blocking them from Kistal's path.


	As for Bidzil, He picked up the body at his feet and kicked the door in to the archer's nest. Just as he thought, an archer spun around a let loose an arrow, burring itself in the corpse. Bidzil shoved the body into the closest archer and rushed the one that fired at him, running him through before he was able to draw his dagger. As the last remaining archer shoved the body away from him, he readied an arrow and drew, only to find a metal sheath flying through the air and slamming into him. It wasn't a perfect hit to the head, but BIdzil's tactic was still successful to knock the archer off target as he let loose the arrow into the wall behind him, Using a similar technique, he then rushed the other archer and drove his sword into his gut, yanking it to one side, and then turning it to yank it to the opposite side to withdraw it. The man fell to the floor immediately. Picking up his sheath in his left hand once more, he ran out of the room back out to the rafters where he could see Allanon, [color=F4A460]"This side's clear!"[/color]

	It wasn't even a second after that phrase that there were multiple explosions heard at the gate. Everyone turned to the gate in shock as there was a brief moment of silence. Then suddenly, the gates were bowled over by a half minotaur warrior in a strange sand wyrm scale armor. Kalla warriors stormed around the man nearly instantly, seeing their targets and moving in to secure them, decimating the remaining bandits as they pushed them back to form a front-line in front of the kidnapped girls, allowing their back-line to free them and start moving them out of the encampment.

	Hilde smiled at her handiwork, the heavy metal plates that were holding up the doors, slamming into the sands below. She could almost jump for joy at how well it worked but held her ground. Suddenly, however, Hilde could have swore she felt something slithering up her side from behind her and the thought nearly gave her goosebumps till she looked down and for a split second saw Chihiro's face as she went in for a peck on the cheek in passing. Due to Hilde's movement however, it ended up getting her right on the lips. Even as brief as it was it was enough make Hilde blush and freeze briefly. [color=D2691E]"H-hey you! No cutting in line!"[/color] she called out as Chihiro advanced forward.

	As Anrak eventually bowled down the doors, Hilde stumbled forward into a run, recovering from the impromptu smooch. Some of the warriors passing by her laughed and jeered about it, all in good fun as they ran into battle. [color=D2691E]"That was perfect Anrak!"[/color] Hilde told the half minotaur as she passed him, there was a big smile on her face but she didn't stop to chat. After all, there were plenty of bandits to smash.

	 A little while after Dorran came up, trying to keep up with the younger warriors, and clapped Anrak on the back. "Beautiful work, lad. Now, lets see to those cages and the chains over there holding our girls to the pillars, I reckon you could break them free without a key, eh?" Dorran requested of Anrak. "Hop to it!"

	Hilde went straight for the front-lines. Due to her Sylve heritage, she was much faster than her full Varuk allies, though still a bit behind Chihiro. As the other bandits rushed forward, seeing her as a smaller weaker target, they would get a surprise as the first of their front-line seemed to spontaneously combust in an a series of small fiery explosions, making the enemy's frontline nearly non existent and easy to put down as they pushed the others back and away from the prisoners. It was turning out to be the perfect raid on the camp. Hilde would easily deflect blows with her heavy bracer, grappling their weapon arm and following through with a thrust or two with her blade, the level of training being very apparent as she took on multiple foes at a time. She wouldn't overpower them like her father would, instead, she completely outmaneuvered them. As someone who studied her may realize, just because she didn't learn to dance with Madame Valia, doesn't mean she didn't learn the dance of warfare. Just like her father, she seemed to enjoy herself in combat. It was a place where she could let loose and feel like her skills mattered, using her abilities to fight to protect [i]people[/i] instead of a dusty temple.

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	Sahale's head rested in Sylph's lap, as she seemed to have resized herself to a more human size. She softly cooed over him as he laid there. Despite being healed, the man was still trying to recover from the blow, his body still sore even though it had fully recovered. As Maeve moved closer to them, Sylph's gentle cooing faded and her ayes intensely glared to the isoli woman though she stayed silent and let her approach, but was still wary of the stranger. [color=9932CC]"For a guy who just had a farming too pierce all the way through him, I'd say I've been better,"[/color] Sahale said with a wry grin. [color=9932CC]"Can't say I've even been so close to death's door, it's not a place I'd fancy visiting. Of all people to show up, especially to heal me, I wouldn't of thought it'd be [i]him[/i]."[/color] He listened to her question and thought of the best way to put his answer. 

	[color=9932CC]"Well, he isn't just any grusk I'm afraid, and that is saying a lot since there are so few of them now. Jeevak is the lost prince of the Grandis Empire from history. Though, being the only heir after his father passed in the final battle, that would make him the King now. A king without a throne as it were. I'd assume he is here for exactly as he said, he is looking for whatever grusk he detected, my thoughts is that kid I brought back to the temple. He is in good spirits it seems."[/color] When she asked about why the two gruskan people he detected would be so important to him, he chuckled, [color=9932CC]"[i]All[/i] gruskan people are important to him. He wants to rebuild his empire, a safe haven for his people that they can return to and live without fear. But be wary of him. Years of seeing cruelty has warped his mind. This town is safe because Varuk people value what you can do, not just what you were born as. As he sees it, his people were being taken care of and he has taken a liking to Kalla. Had it not been the case however, none of us would be left alive... I'd try to stay far away from his presence if possible..."[/color]

	 Sahale then waved a dismissive hand over his head. [color=9932CC]"But enough about that, I'll tell you more after we rest. I'm rather comfortable here for now if you wish to go rest at the inn,"[/color] He said with a smug smile as re-situated his head on Sylph's lap. [color=9932CC]"Besides, I'm afraid I gave Sylph a bit of a fright, at this rate she won't let me out of her sight for a week,"[/color] he chuckled as he reached up an stroked her cheek. She cooed softly at his touch and gently stroked her clawed fingers through his hair, petting his head, now paying Maeve no mind.