There should have been such a small chance of getting out of the Thunderstruck Grove when they had neither map nor compass to guide their return, but either they were incredibly lucky or something else was going on, because within five minutes, the fog parted around Lugh to reveal the slope that lead down to the city-state of Nyu-Taro. Ari’s ear, thankfully, hadn’t been totally ripped off by the warrior’s monstrous strength, but that warm feeling that infused his being had disappeared soon after. Perhaps the effects of the Swiftness Talisman decayed more quickly once one was outside of combat, or perhaps it was just the time dilation effect making it feel as if it lasted longer than it actually did. Regardless, the two Immortals found themselves inside soon enough, with a decent amount of coinage to be converted into rishi too.

Whether Ari went on a second shopping trip or was simply manhandled into getting a job was up to Lugh though. Certainly, they couldn’t spend too much time in the city-state. Who knew what sort of trouble Raime and Amulak would get themselves into within the Grove? Two ranged fighters, one of which with a crippling addiction to pain, didn’t exactly inspire much confidence in such lethal wilderness, after all.
[sub][@Cu Chulainn][@GreenGoat][/sub][hr]
Despite apparently agreeing on the fact that the two of them should regroup with the others, Raime and Amulak ventured deeper into the fog-shrouded forest instead, intent on another, darker task: procuring a [i]pristine[/i] human corpse for the would-be necromancer to utilize for his nefarious violation of the sanctity of life and death. Could the two of them alone survive an encounter with another centipede woman? Could they even survive a fight against a couple of normal mobs? Though Amulak was well-equipped for someone of his level, Raime was practically naked, an unarmored, low END Scout who had skills meant for staying on the periphery of combat, rather than in the bloody frontlines. It was, in more ways than one, a bad idea to be so hasty in continuing through the Thunderstruck Groves.

But they continued regardless, confident perhaps in the potential birthing of a Nuclei to save them from a temporary death, just as how it did so for Klein. Or perhaps, between a masochist and a pro gamer, neither of them had the self-preservation instinct to realize that the Thunderstruck Grove, the highest-level hunting grounds in the neutral city-state, may not have been meant for people who had only been farming in the Goldspun Fields just yesterday.

Still, it appeared as if their dark intents were well-received by the cursed woods.

As they slipped down a rocky hill, they came across an old maple tree, its trunk wrapped up with thick, rotting rope. Leaves, sickly and bug-eaten, clung tenaciously to its branches, while at its base, there was a bundle of cloth, from which the face of a baby peeked out. The newborn slept still, their skin pale in the dim light of the fog, and whatever tracks that Raime could discern in the immediate area indicated that the area had been undisturbed for at least a day.

An abandoned, unwanted child, left to be rid of by the maneaters of the Thunderstruck Grove, spared only due to the newborn having not woken up and realized their solitary state yet.

Could there exist any Rien more suitable for the production of a pristine corpse?
[sub][@Psyker Landshark][@Searat][/sub]