[center][h2]Capturing Nodes[/h2] Part 1 [b]I[/b][/center] Ah, the refreshing feeling of an adventure! Eleanna took a long, loud whiff of the smoky chaos that made up the atmosphere in still-unclaimed node 5. True, node 5 was in the opposite direction of where the divine hotspot was, but she had bigger and better things to focus on than squabbling with dainty, pretty goddesses or looking for a scrap against lantern guys. Yes, indeed, she had better things to do, as unbelievable as that sounded! And the first of those things was to claim the unclaimed areas to the east and north of node 10, those being node 5 and 4 respectively, and she was to do that with the help of her 23 companions. All of them sported brand new Ambroisen prosthetics and had spent the last few months honing their skills which meant that with everyone back in their top shapes, one could say the 23 Heroes of the Bronzed Bloom had finally come out of early retirement. She smiled, loving the encumbering feeling that her many layers of newly made armour gave her. Like her old armour, this set was mainly made of leathers and even though it had no chainmail or metal helmet to go along with it, it was still thick enough that she could barely feel Sun’s kicks when he helped her test it. Eleanna snapped back to the present as she heard a single footstep behind her, so she turned her head to look at her visitor, seeing a small cloud of dark material just settling around the beastwoman’s boots. “Yenna, I take it you were careful with your claws last night?” Eleanna asked the beastwoman. Yenna the Midnight Claw frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened and she struggled to stammer out her words. “W-Wha- So y- You- Were…!” Eleanna chuckled, “I’m a Goddess, I can hear really well. I couldn’t sleep last night cause of you two you know… Not that I mind that, obviously.” Yenna groaned and sighed, then stood straight and patted her own cheeks lightly. “Whatever, perv. We found the Node. It’s about 6 K’s to the northeast. Also…” Yenna trailed off, looking distressed. “Bad news?” Eleanna asked, fully turning to face the lithe Hyena-morph. Yenna nodded, making eye contact with the much taller Eleanna. “It’s guarded by two Chaos Guardians.” [center][b]II[/b][/center] “Holy crap, you were not lying guys.” Eleanna gasped at the sight. There, merely a few hundred metres away, were two Chaos Guardians. She couldn’t really make out what they looked like due to the nature of Chaos itself, but she could see their auras and… The way they intertwined with each other? “You don’t think that-” Eleanna began, only to be cut off by Bow-Eater the Midnight Blade, who was prone right next to her, bumping shoulders while looking through a hollow tree branch at the auras. “I do not think so. They move to and fro.” He rhymed in a sing-song fashion with a straight face. Eleanna spared a moment to look at him with a raised eyebrow. He ignored her. “Anyway, if they’re doing that then there have to be baby chaos guardians around. Wanna find them and tame them? I know a guy…” “You speak of the Were-Taker. His skills are good, but only on paper.” Eleanna rolled her eyes, “Care to elaborate?” “The Were-Taker hunts the vulnerable and ascetic. He beats and shames them… I am not sympathetic. ” “Huh.” Eleanna looked back at the two ‘mating’ Chaos Guardians next to the Node and after a while nodded to herself “Alright, they may be two, but we can beat them for sure. May need to use the Everloom, though.” “This time, refrain from reckless rushing. We may not save you from a crushing.” He said, a smirk forming on his lips. The first bit of playfulness she’d seen on his face since they set out. Eleanna smirked back as she stood up and started to head back to camp. “No promises.” [hider=Summary] Eleanna is now in node 5, preparing to battle the two(!) Chaos Guardians next to the Node in order to claim the node and then move onto node 4. We get to meet Yenna the Midnight Claw and hear Bow-Eater the Midnight Blade speak, two of the 23 Heroes of the Bronzed Bloom. The post ends with Eleanna heading back to camp to get everything ready for the battle, including the Everloom, her first ever Artefact. [/hider] [hider=Might] 1 Might used to create the Everloom sometime between last post and this one. It is a small handheld bronze loom of what looks like common cloth thread. However, when held by a living being it will activate and the thread will begin to glow. At this point, any thread taken from the Everloom will be made up of the material that the wielder of the Everloom desires. Examples could be gold, cloth, plant fibres, silver, sinew, human nerves, Ambroisen, etc. The only requirement for a material to be thread-worthy is if the one pulling using the Everloom has a clear idea of what they want to do with the thread.. No might remaining :( [/hider]