Mas Bagus

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

“You don’t need to explain. You’ve earned a rest. I hope you don’t mind I keep you company until we next depart, dear.”

"I do not mind." Said the ranger, smiling. "I see that you are quite a collector yourself. Many jewelers and mages would pay a hefty price for it. I saw the other piece fly in that direction."

The elven ranger pointed at a location under a tree on the left side of the road, where a gem was hidden beneath the blades of grass.

Verdant returned, towing a half cart's worth of provision salvaged from their ill-fated transport. Stepan was the first to help her, followed by others to carry the goods to their next stop.

It was a much-welcomed resource. While some of them were trained to survive in this kind of place, hunting takes time, and Vesemir would prefer their adventure not to be prolonged by menial tasks such as gathering food.

"No sign of our coach?" Asked the old elf to Verdant while carrying a small sack of unknown grain. The youkai's answer was not a good one. "That's unfortunate." mused the scholar, and he did not speak about it again.

After a long walk, they arrived at the site. Digenrana roughly meant Lonely Moon in elven, probably named so because from here, they could see the moon, stars, and the whole sky without being obstructed by encroaching branches. It was a quite large glade with mostly flat terrain, a perfect place to set up tents, make firewood, or just lie down on the carpet of grasses that covered the area. For a location situated in a so-called cursed forest, the glade seemed calm and welcoming. There was a small river at the side of it, and the water was swift and as clear as crystal. An apple tree in the northeast was bearing fruit, and the grass was short and neat as if the glade were a well-maintained garden. Maintained By who? Nobody knows, not even the elves know the answer; it had been like that since countless years ago.

Location

It was 11:04 on the Ranger's pocket watch. The campfire was built, lit at an intensity that some may find unsatisfactory.

"Ain't gonna take a chance, lassie." Said Stepan, shaking his head as the ranger piled more wood into the small fire. "Shouldn't you be easy with it? Forest Guardians back then were no joke. Wouldn't want to draw their ire if I were you."

"They are not as common as pebbles, and they don't just attack people over campfires." said the elf, casting a small fire spell to enhance the campfire's flames.

"They don't usually attack people in the outer forest either, yet they did a moment ago." deadpanned the masked elf, causing the ranger to let out an annoyed sigh.

"Then we are screwed either way," she replied. "If that's the case I'd rather sleep with some fire near me than nothing. Wake me up when they come, yeah?"

Stepan looked at the two inquisitively. One would wonder, did elves speak in a code language or something? Even a stupid could draw a conclusion that there was something terrifyingly unusual in the place that itself was naturally unusual. Why were they being targeted? Who was that dragon? Was it another usual or the unusual? He wondered if their boss Vesemir already calculated this, that was very unusual of him. Why did nobody speak about their encounter yet?"

"That's one heck of a dragon..." He said finally.

"Viladred'saca. That's the name I have heard before but no idea what it entails." Said Vesemir who walked toward them and then gestured for Stepan and the others to stand up rather insistently, much to their silent protest. Then he turned and clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention. "Speaking about knowing names, I believe we have not yet moved past the introduction yet. I, as some of you may have known, Vesemir Barandir, a humble archeologist. This is my secretary Eblana Lacquamarine.

Vesemir's secretary was a young, blonde elven woman with golden eyes clad in a rather stylish sweater and knee-length grey skirt. When she smiled, she radiated a sense of friendliness that felt genuine.

"And, this is my old friend Stepan."

The grizzled mercenary managed to wave and smile awkwardly. Although the title of "friend" was open to interpretation, Stepan seemed to have been with Vesemir longer than anyone else, except perhaps Eblana. Many people often mistook him for a hired thug, and the scar on his face, particularly the crooked smile he often sports, did little to dispel that impression.

"And this is... err, he prefers to be called Mr. Mask. or Mr. Elc, if you want to."

"A ranger, with side jobs." Mr. Elc bowed politely, his mask still in place. It was difficult to determine whether the mask was a fashion statement or a necessity. The masked elf did resemble someone you can find in Varenheim's standing army; moderately athletic, with eyes sharp as knives, and looked like a person who knew much more than he let out.

"Last but not least. Our Navigator Ms. Gilmariel."

"Jazdia would do." The last elf was a blonde with blue eyes that seemed to have lost their sparkle long ago. Her choice of attire was unusual: a blue blazer and shirt paired with a plain black skirt, leggings, and boots. She carried a seemingly elaborate quiver and a bow, giving off the impression of an office worker or a manager who suddenly grew bored and decided to grab a bow and embark on a dangerous journey on a whim.

"Miss Jazdia and I did not necessarily have similar goals, but our paths conveniently align. Ahem!"

After giving a moment for everyone to introduce themselves, he then continued.

"Friends, I know we had a rocky start back then, but Praise be the Sun we managed to move past it with almost no lives lost. Please make yourself comfortable, I know the food has been heavily rationed for four days, but today feel free to enjoy what we have. We will move tomorrow morning. In the meantime, don't hesitate to ask me anything."

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

"Wow, thanksies!" Said the serpent happily. And speaking of the carriage... "Oh, I could take a look, couldn't be far. Maybe big lizard only take the horse."

"I think that's not a bad idea," said Vesemir. It was hard to discern whether he was appreciative or nonchalant with the idea, maybe the mix of both if Verdant bothered to study his expression closer.

After that, the masked elf could be seen discussing something with Vesemir. Maybe his payment? The next route? Whatever it was both men seemed to have reached an agreeable conclusion, and he finally requested Eblana to take care of scrapes on his forearm.

"Where was that child going?" the healer asked when she tied the last knot of a bandage on the masked guy's forearm. The masked guy, not bothered to remove his mask could only tilt his head.

"Seeking the wreckage."

"What wreckage? That cart? Alone? Shouldn't we ask someone to accompany her?"

"Nah, midget could handle herself just fine. She gobbled the devourer's tentacle... poison and all like nothing. I am sure she can survive whatever this cursed land throws at her just fine."

"Terrific investment, ain't it?" Said Vesemir, who suddenly joined them. Hard to say if the other elves found the term 'investment' apt, but at this point, they have gotten used to Vesemir's peculiarities none of them speak up to correct him.

"So, we ready to move out?" asked the masked elf. "I saw you spoke to her earlier, so what is the navigator's wisdom this time?"

Vesemir lets out a seemingly disappointed smirk before answering.

"She needed a sleep... There is a glade just seven furlongs from here, not far from the road--"

"Digenrana glade, I know the site." Said the masked elf. "So, we will make a camp there."

Vesemir nodded. "A rest well earned, I'd say. We just need to wait for our small friend Verdant. Yeah, I think that's her name. Verdant, interesting name."

@A5G

Being a snake, Verdant just needed her ultra-sensitive nose to track to locate the ill-fated cart, and Creator be praised, the wreckage could be found just a couple hundred distances away from the party.

A half-sized horse was lying about near the destroyed wooden vehicle, and one shouldn't ask where the other part was. Considering it still has its harnesses and other things strapped, it seemed the dragon managed to snatch the entire carriage farther from here, and carefully dropped the rest in this site.

Speaking about the rest, there was no sign of the coachmen. Not even a speck of his blood could be smelt and Verdant was damn good at differentiating it with horse's. Unimportant. The most important thing was that the stored provisions remained mostly intact, except for the eggs and pickles in the jars.

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

@Valkon

Figuring that the wood that bent and curved to form the ent’s limbs was probably less resilient than that which the torso was made of, Rezello set to work circling the faltering foe, hacking away with his pollaxe at the scorched tree-flesh that formed its legs.

Already under significant tension, the roots severed with satisfying snaps, and the deed ruffled bits of burning ashes and fire into the air, touching Rezello's mask and armor. The treents were still on fire, and this particular one tried his last chance to offer resistance by swinging its massive limb to swat the hacking knight, which the knight could easily evade.

Dagel's orange, astral jaw was still holding it, limiting its movement severely and keeping it kneeled, and Fia used this opportunity to construct another spell. A condensed ball formed in front of her, and let loose soon after.

Fia held out her arm again, her fingers spread. Magical energy trailed from the chromatic heart floating silently by Fia’s right shoulder. It snaked around her arm and started to condense near the palm of her hand. As the energy gathered, the temperature rose locally around her. The bead of energy grew brighter. White hot energy forming a bullet, outlined by wisps of red, orange and yellow as oxygen was consumed. Then all at once, the bead of fire flew forward, at a speed comparable to loosing of an arrow or releasing a crossbow.

@Randomness

The elven ranger knew all kinds of fire magic and thrived around its heat she could tell the difference between each spell and ordinary fire just by sensing the heat, but the heat of this one drew her attention. The way it was concentrated, was more or less similar to her own arrow enchantment, but this one did not need any medium. The process was impressive, to say the least, and the result was not disappointing.

Not at all.

The fire bead made a cavernous hole in the front ent's shoulder and exited on its lumbar, hitting the second ent but with less destructive force. It burnt itself out upon making a significant hole in the second ent's torso, yet wasn't enough to finish it.

It wasn't so lucky to be put out of misery as quickly as the first ent, which now shriveled as it tried to root its remaining leg back to the earth like a desperate fossorial animal. The fire was still burning it, and it let out a loud mixture of moan and creaking sounds before its elongated limbs fell off its body, and another loud cracking sounded as the body itself split, broken apart into several burning pieces that would soon be consumed by the fire, leaving only ashes, and a rounded emerald that glitters under the starry sky.

___

The ranger drew her bow again and enchanted her arrow after mentally warning herself that she was very near to knocking herself out by sheer exhaustion. She would loosen her rigid discipline this time, just this time. Why, because it seemed whoever these hirelings were, they were pretty capable. That alone meant she could afford to be more relaxed... right?

The arrow was released, striking the last Ent that had just recovered from the sorceress's stray magic. It shattered its head, giving the creature no chance to retaliate or escape before it fell to the ground like any giant being would, ultimately perishing.
__

Vesemir uttered a spell and the shield shrunk. For a moment, the old elf looked around, eyes fixed on the sky. And then With a smile on his face, he approached the battlefield, stopped near Verdant, patted her head, and laughed.

"Ha-ha-ha! Very thrilling, yes? Reminds me of expeditions in Nehset eons ago!"

His posture and sudden joviality sounded like mockery to the Forces of the Land that we all have subdued handily. He then sounded a whistle and asked everyone to gather around and follow, while he proceeded to the corner of the road where a pack mule had been hiding. Considering what happened to the horses earlier, this one was uncannily fortunate.

"Well done! Well done!" He said as he guided the beast back to the road. The grizzled mercenary named Stepan helped him unload several pouches from a box slung on the side of that beastburden, and Vesemir distributed the leather pouches to everyone.

You opened it and found that it contained no less than 150 gold coins.

"Here here here! Your payment! In Varenheim, they have a saying: pay your worker before their sweat dry!"

The elven mercenary could only watch in silence, and Stepan too wasn't as thrilled as their boss.

"But, boss, what about the carriage?"

"Goodness gracious, you are right! A prayer to our poor coachman---"

"I mean--- yeah, whatever you say boss..."
____

The elven ranger approached the still-burning ent and slung her bow, placing her hand nearer to the fire and feeling the warmth recharge her body. Wasn't it ironic that the element that caused the demise of her enemy was also nourishing her? In that regard, there wasn't much difference between her and those devourers. The ranger sighed; deep down, she had slowly made peace with the morbidity of her situation.

When she was deep in her own thoughts, the elven mercenary had already stood next to her. "Should I ask Vesemir to move on? Or maybe you need a moment? Not gonna lie, you look like you could have fallen asleep standing."

"I need a moment," answered the ranger, huffing an air to shake drowsiness away. "Ten minutes, and then we leave."

___
Turn ends

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

New roots and vines started to grow at the wound, only to be shrieking and withering by the touch of raging flames. The treent adapted by reusing its old plan. It ripped apart the road again and frisbeed a chunk of it toward the dome, where a giant, sickly green ethereal serpent was already waiting to absorb the blow. The defense stood strong, and the debris bounced off.

"Could you all deal with the Roots Slinging one?"

Said a very big knight with crimson armor. That was a sound plan indeed; thorns were still growing over the barrier, and although the Ranger knew what Vesemir was capable of, his mana wasn't anywhere near bottomless.

Suffering from mana shortage herself, she stepped out of the barrier looking for a clear line of fire to attack the backliner ent. It seemed to have been tunnel-visioned to break the barrier as if it were the most dangerous thing in existence. It still bowed, claws embedded into the ground. Its eye face forward, peering into the distance, flashing with green light.

And she aimed, breathed once to calm her mind. Sweat drops dripped down from her forehead, and tints of red surfaced on her blue irises.

An arrow released, its head gleamed with explosive enchantment. The frontliner ent saw it, but before it could throw itself to block the arrow, another ethereal thing in the shape of an orange jaw gripped its torso, dragging it away, and the burning ent tried to wrestle free.

The arrow blasted the backliner ent right on its single eye, heavily staggering it and forcing it to cancel the entanglement. Seeing the opportunity, the ninja climbed the now-lizard-shaped knight and sent forth another big fire toward the staggering ent, further knocking and immolating it instantly before satisfyingly sliding down her teammate's tail.

Just like their caster in the distance, now burning in fire, the rampaging growth of roots and vines suddenly lost its vitality and started to wither.

The grizzled mercenary coyly looked at her as she jumped back into the barrier. "Lady, you stole our job! What should we do now? Chopping burning logs?"
_________

Turn 2

Ent 1 (front) HP: 20% and currently under the effect of burn; loses 10% of its HP every turn, last 2 turns.
Ent 2 (rear) HP: 40% and currently under the effect of burn; loses 10% of its HP every turn, last 3 turns.

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

The elven ranger was standing very near to Verdant as the midget rolled about after having a hard landing. It was regrettable that nobody took the initiative to catch the yokai, really, and an archer could not afford to have her attention diverted. Besides, it was hard to catch someone with a bow and arrows at hand.

So, in order to make up for it, the elven ranger spared a moment to help Verdant back on her feet.

Can you walk? she asked and quickly deduced that she could, if wobbling her legs like a wet kitten could be considered walking. The ranger's way of communicating was curt and short. Yet her eyes gazed deep like they constantly measure and judge you.

"If you can, stay back and rest. Eblana will tend to you later."

____

“My dear, Eblana. Is this barrier permeable from within? Having such a large shield between us and danger really does lighten the need to hold back. However, I would hate to strain you by attacking through it having hardly met.”

It took Eblana a full second to adjust herself and answer the question, and she only managed to process the first half of it. "Y-yes!"

Short, but it seemed the sorceress was satisfied. She immediately did her thing and so did Eblana, who waited in anticipation for the mist to come. And like the wave against breakwaters, it came and dispersed upon hitting the enchanted barrier.

In a short moment, that circular area would be lively with all kinds of offensive spells, but it seems the Treents too had something prepared for them.

Meanwhile Rezello scanned their forms, looking for anything that might indicate a weak spot or other such vulnerability.

@Randomness@Valkon

A line of energy launched forth and split itself into a fork of lightning. It zapped the treents unhindered and shocked them with a significant surge of electricity. But despite the flashy display didn't seem to do much but gave nasty marks on their barks, nor could slow them a bit, for the treents had started to march menacingly toward the group.

If there was something that could indicate their weak spot, that should be the glowing orb on its head. But this information was dubious at best.

The spell earlier was merely an appetizer, a formal declaration to begin this brawl. As the mist faded, two duplicates of Akari charged forth and spit out some sort of fire spell that rapidly materialized themselves into the shape of the heads of whiskered dragons. The treents responded by having one of its brethren slam its hands to the ground, while the other strode ahead to shield the other ent.

This time around Akaris' clones disappeared in puffs.

Roots, hardened and sharp suddenly shot out on the ground in front of the barrier. Initially, it tried to pierce through, but now it was growing rapidly in all directions as if trying to cave the barrier in through sheer force.

The fires blasted the front treent and staggered it. Amplified by to existing electricity, flames quickly blanketed its trunk at an alarming rate, crawling up and igniting the leaves and barks alike. It used one of its limbs to keep itself from falling, yet as its entire extremities immolated, its strengths didn't seem affected much. It punched through the paving and hurled a sizable debris toward the dome, right at the section where the overgrown was trying to break through. The attack cracked the barrier momentarily and gave Wesemir a nasty jolt, yet the scholar managed to hold it together.

The vanguard treent was closing in. A hulking, burning ancient capable of limited thinking. It just learned that catapulting stones were not that effective, so it planned to get close and personal.

The ranger fired her arrow, and an explosion suddenly shattered its leg before the burning treent could finish its next step, causing it to lose balance and fall to its knees.
___

The 1st treent is on 50% of its HP, and currently under the effect of burn; loses 10% of its HP every turn, last 3 turns.

The 2nd treent is on 90% of its HP

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

"O mighty Dragon!" said Vesemir, stepping forward after gathering enough courage not to appear trembling. "I am responsible for this party, and truthfully, treasures and wealth are not why we are here. I swear! It is knowledge and knowledge only that I seek."

The dragon turned.

"And for that, you are willing to die, And sacrifice your companions?" he thrummed. Fire, brighter than the rest danced around his skeletal jaw and nostrils. At the same time, his eyeless head tracked the desperate movement of hybrid-serpents below him, who were trying to crawl away like a bug escaping rampaging boots.

"Truth you say?!" The dragon rumbled with a devastating sound that shook Verdant and Viridiant to the ground. "Your kind are smart, So I heard. Look at your friend. Wise, why don't follow their example and go back to your spires, write your papers in peace rather than wasting time with incomplete truths? Hmmm? Last chance, O, brave adventurers!" The dragon said mockingly.

"This will be my last warning, though the futility of it was blatant, know that I, Viladred'sača, said the warning out of goodwill. Should you continue this foolishness, I shall not be the one who hinders you today. It's your lives to waste, and Ostianor always hungers for more souls to harvest."

Viladred'sača did keep his word. The immolated dragon crawled back, nonchalantly toppling one of the trees where his front carpus was perched. Yet as he retreated, his head lowered, and like a gentle whisperer, he breathed out another wave of poison mist and finished the deed with an ancient Word of Power.

"Qíva, ettyrar al rhovan! Sangre dakhiar, wa meren mayattya tambëhûm dethna nait letsulca!"

The dragon then leaped swiftly into the air, blowing the remaining poison mist as it whipped its mighty wings and disappeared into the dark sky.

The poison mist, slowly but surely crept out of the treelines, layers of pile tint of blue that formed like a living wall that urges whoever stood on its way to buzz off and never come back.

"Get back you two!" Cried the archeologist, there was a hint of dejection in his voice. Clearly, the dragon's words had left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Despite that, the fact that the flying monstrosity had retreated brought tremendous relief to nearly everyone else.

"That damn dragon got a roundabout way to say scram..." shrugged the human mercenary.

"That's not all," replied the masked elf. "It has something to do with crushing us with roots and feasting on them as they decompose."

"Ah, shit! That's enough ancient trickery for me in one day! Boss? Are we not going back? Retreat for today and let them lose our tracks?"

The two other elves, the archer and Vesemir answered with ominous silence. That kind of silence one would expect coming from those who were either desperate or greedy. Either way, their stance was clear; to push through.

"This one is relentless." said the masked elf. "Treents!"

Two enormous creatures arose among the trees-- no, they were the trees themselves that had come to life, adapting the form of shaggy, bipedal beings that resemble golems clad in gray and green wood bark. Their legs were a pair of limbs formed from many strong roots twined together, while the arms outstretched from the trunk like an unnaturally elongated branch that ended in six splits of claws. A single, orb-like thing glowed from the head adorned with branches and leafy twigs. For now, it only looked at the party, waiting for its brethren to fully adjust their stances, and let the poison mist initiate the attacks for them.

"Eblana."

"Yes sir!"

The blonde elf raised her hand, manifesting light on her palm, and spread it out to enchant an existing dome that already surrounded the party.

The paralyzing effect that gripped Verdant's body had waned gradually but she was still at risk of getting it again if she didn't move fast enough to escape the wave.

Verdant Necrotizing Wither status: 0/5. Times afflicted: 1

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

Like the other beast nearby, still reeling from the lightning. Viridian's ethereal form materialized over her skull-hat and lunged, the spectral serpent intent on ripping its throat before it recover.

The other issue, though. The big lizard came down nearby. Loudly. With a snack. Verdant crouched low, eyes on the massive beast, ready to spring away at the slightest hint of aggression. Alone she may not be able to take it down, but perhaps if someone could distract it...

"How do you taste like, big guy?"

Thankfully, she's facing away from the party and spared them her manic grin. It's perhaps a tad inappropriate under the circumstances.

@A5G The spectral snake slithered out quickly, and either motivated by a primal urge to hunt or protect, it buried its teeth into the next Devourer, which immediately tried to rip its tangible, yet spectral form apart. As the two were wrestling to overpower each other, a shard of light came down, and luckily pierced through the Devourer's jaw, killing it instantly.

Verdant, who was now crouching low, grinning ears to ears, felt something treacherous was working inside her, and she would be right to guess that it came from things she just devoured. Suddenly her legs gave up, and her body fell. There was no pain, but that should be the least of her worries. Right now, she couldn't even move a finger.

Verdant's Withering poison status: 5/5 Paralyzed for the next 1 turn.

Fia was close enough now to be considered part of the group again. She raised her hand, the energy that was dancing between her fingers flying forward, circling the glass sphere only a few times before streaking over the heads of the elven advanced party and her recently met colleagues. The mana glowed white like the light of sun, though nowhere near as bright. It burst overhead, into four shards that darted straight down like daggers towards the monstrosities that remain standing after her colleagues’ onslaught. Her goal was to finish the underlings quickly. Though the dragon was occupied with its snack acquired from a coward, they were still close enough to be noticed. That could make running away difficult.

@Randomness

The nearest figure of Akari attempted to help the Masked Elven Mercenary despite the dragon's presence. She unsheathed her sword and put both of her hands on it, and a murderous aura conquered both the Devourer and the Masked Elven Mercenary. Executed nearly a clean cut upward to behead the Devourer that is currently lunging at the Masked Elven Mercenary. Akari will perform a Chiburui, splatting the blood of Devourer's blood to the ground if she succeed killing it.

[@Soldat Elf]
Two swordsmen work together, two swordsmen strong.

The masked elf understood the hint and quickly withdrew his blade after stabbing the nearby Devourer through its thick sternum and kicked it back, giving the ninja girl a space to do her reversed heavy slash. The katana cut the monstrosity from its armpit to its neck with a clean slash, halving the thing into two diagonally sliced dark messes.

Meanwhile, The luminous daggers rained down hard, but while one landed perfectly on one Devourer's vital spot, the others were not as fatal. Though the damage seemed relatively significant, and even with the help from the Ninja's identical clone, the shards and kunai barely slowed them down as they charged toward the frontline, now with a more glowing protrusion on their center mass.

Thankfully...

Giving a quick once-over to the battlefield, and seeing as how his allies were dealing with the already injured critters, he locked in to the lone creature that remained untouched still. As he put a couple steps between the mercenaries and himself, Degel stomped fowards as his long,sinous Tail Manifested, it's vicious hook darting foward to pierce the still standing beast.

@Deide

The materialized tail impaled the vicious monster right at the point where the heart should be and rammed the hook-end through, destroying a part of its spine. For now, the coast ahead of him was clear from all but one last enemy.

An arrow with a glowing head whistled and embedded itself in the last Devourer's head, knocking the creature down instantly and putting an end to its reckless pursuit.

The archer audibly breathed the cold night air and scanned the surroundings ahead. She saw the ninja shaking off blood from her blade.

"Do not touch your blade or even sheath it now!" She said sternly. "Their blood is very toxic."

The three elves looked at each other in silence, as if savoring the last minute of tranquility. Vesemir held his lantern in readiness, Eblana behind him, and Jazdia readied her bow. The two mercenaries backed off slowly. They all knew that running was the most logical course of action, but they too understood the futility of trying to outrun a dragon.

And then the silence was breaking at last. The flying monstrosity arose its head above the treelines. One of its front paws perched atop a very large tree that creaked under his massive weight. There the eyeless dragon sniffed the air with its burning nuzzle and then spoke.

"Well well. what do we have here." He rumbled, the voice was thunderous and intimidating, but at the same time, this terrifying creature sounded like he was trying to appear affable. "Four Malaikh. Three that have no business to be here, but the other, the ONE... MMM, THE OATHBREAKER! Here to face your reckoning I see."

The dragon shifted his muzzle slightly and grunted.

"And then Humans... and a Djall, two Djalls. Must be here for treasures. Like flies drawn to dead flesh, your greed knows no bounds! Sorry about your steeds, but you all must leave and never come back. Leave and live off the remainder of your insignificant lives. No? Shame! And here I thought we just can talk it out. So you don't find me very persuasive I see."

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

@Soldat Elf

One figure passed the giant shuriken then she gave her a boosted jump on the one wielding the giant shuriken. The one with the giant shuriken made a momentum in midair and hurled the giant shuriken towards the closest of the mercenaries.

The oversized ninja-star --hurled with extreme prejudice-- cleaved one of the frontmost Devourers on its midsection, killing, or at least immobilizing it instantly. However, it did not bounce off its target but rather deviated a bit to the left upon hitting the hard pavement and overran its landing on the shrub at the other far side of the road.

One down, leaving two other monstrosities standing in her way. One was still lunging towards them, while the other was engaging the masked elven mercenary, who in all honestly seemed more agitated by the cutesy greeting than having a venomous beast breathing down his neck.

Masked Elven mercenary Withering poison status: 1/5

@A5G

The bag was hooked on a broken branch before Verdant's figure shrunk, shifting into a small green-black serpent that coiled atop the tree. From there she explosively sprung forth, her form undulating and slightly flaring as she rapidly glided her way to the battle. Hopefully unnoticed in the darkness. As she arrived she'd revert into her human form, falling onto the rearmost creature with knife at hand, the weapon whipping forward to cut open its throat with a disturbingly practiced ease.

The attack caught the creature off guard, its neck torn open, black blood spurted forth, irritating the hands responsible for its spilling. In a frantic attempt of self-preservation, the devourer retaliated with all it got, but the slippery youkai handily fended off the grotesque arm trying to reach her from an awkward angle. The defending move, however, allowed one of the appendages on the creature's back to coil itself around Verdan's neck undisturbed and created an opening for another tentacle to shove itself up the Yokai's mouth. It would be flaccid in roughly 10 seconds, but not before discharging a supposedly deadly dosage of poison.

The short second of wrestling between Verdant and her first prey alerted the nearby monster, but that creature suddenly had a lance of lightning striking him from the distance.

Verdant's Withering poison status: 2/5 (for now)

Rezello shifted to reinforce the right, extending a hand that was soon filled with the grip of his spadone, sparks of lightning manifesting from the guard and traveling up its blade as he readied an attack.

As he approached the front line, he moved to transfer his momentum into a thrust of his blade, releasing a line of lightning focused on striking the three southernmost beasts - aimed directly at the one further back, while threading the gap between the closer two.

@Valkon

The lightning zapped the first, then rebounded to the second, and the third target like a water current ran through a rocky path. The creatures were stunned momentarily, either by the blinding lightning or the paralyzing sting of electricity that charred their black flesh. The moment was not wasted by one of the mercenaries who swiftly swung his sword to separate the elongated, teethful head from its body, killing it instantly.

"Ha! That's the way you do it!"

It seems severing its spinal column was the most reliable way to kill it. They have two more charging straight ahead.

Degel was already moving foward as the creature once again became shrouded by the woods, his lumbering frame eating the distance far faster than it's seemingly slower movements would indicate.

As he reached the Contractor, he concentrated, and a moment later he could feel the reddish ethereal wings coalesce and expand on his back, the Manifestation as true and real in the Physical as himself, ready to cover his allies in need, before addressing the group.

"I suggest a retreat. These beasts might be just a small threat with all of us here,but you five are exausthed, and the Wyvern will re-appear at any moments" He rumbled, an eye trained to the sky, before adding "Unless someone is confident they can bring it down without casualties?"

The middle-aged elf looked delighted. Not only did reinforcement come just in time, but also because their presence quickly turned the advantage in their favor.

"You are right," he said, slightly lowering his lantern, the affirmation was spoken without much of a thought behind it, let alone a follow-up plan regarding where they should retreat.

The elven ranger behind them looked relieved when the reddish wing partially partitioned her from the harm in front. She allowed herself a moment to rest her hand and rearrange her breath, while her eyes scanned the battlefield like a watchful sentinel.

"Is that... your friend?" She asked, nocking an arrow to the bow as she looked in Verdant's direction. Things didn't look good from here. It seemed that Kid with skull hair ornament was being harassed by a dying Devourer.

"We have to help her!" said the other blonde elf.

And as if it wasn't a strong reason to do so as soon as possible, the dragon returned. This time it glided above their heads with a horse carcass in its maw. It circled once after reaching the treelines on the east and realigned itself so its mighty presence could be observed. And then, it landed straight below, toppling some trees in the process. It let out a subdued, guttural shriek as it chomped on its meal like one would bite a cake.

That horse looked damn familiar.

Duplicitous Ruins in the Land of Twilight

Chapter 1

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Day 4
09:18 PM
Land of Twilight, 310km away from the East Gate

Location on the map

You were awake, wide, alert. The ride had been smooth and uneventful, but something told you, this would be it.

You had been in the Land of Twilight for several days now, Four to be exact, a rookie number because you could still count it, God knew what the monotony of seeing green and brown every day could do to your sanity. On the bright side, you have been assured that the locals exaggerated the rumor about the region, and the one who said that was none other than another local. This local was the man that steered your carriage; a seemingly grizzled elf who claimed that nothing in this Land of Twilight would scare him.

In his defense, you all have been through this relatively unscathed, for now, so that was kinda believable.

You looked at your companions. There were five of you. Some might have embarked on this journey with goals that were different than yours, but four days of getting-to-know-each-other had assured you that they all had what it takes.

You felt that your carriage was gradually slowing. Curious, you tried to peek from the window. The wind was unusually quiet tonight, yet when you looked at the rows of treelines, it seemed as if many things that were neither living nor dead were watching back at you from the darkness.

As you started to ponder, the coachman yelled and whipped the twin horses that had been carrying you this far, slightly jolting you as the vehicle accelerated again at a steady speed. Were we getting close? You and your friends might have a similar question. The arrangement for this quest was strange. It turned out Your true employer had departed a few days ahead of you, and you are scheduled to catch up with him today. Unusual would be an understatement, but you had been paid 150 gold coins in advance. Quite a hefty sum of money to just sit and enjoy the ride. After all, what can a single coachman do against four of you?

You leaned yourself again toward the window, eager to ask the coachman, but your eyes instead caught a glimpse of light far ahead in the distance. You felt assured, that should be the boss, Vesemir you had heard so much about. Time to work, adventure awaits, and then get paid.

Suddenly you felt your carriage decelerate again to a painful halt. A faint roaring sound could be heard in the distance, sending chills into your bones. You didn't know what was that, you did not have time to comprehend the sign of the first real threat; your luggage had been swiftly thrown away from the carriage.

"Get out! get out!" the coachman commanded, and the sheer trepidation in his voice was so apparent almost as if he would flip this carriage down if you didn't get yourself out in an instant.

"That's Vesemir! Do whatever he says and protect him!"

"What about you?" you asked.

"What? Oh! I will get my sword first."

"Go now!" he said again, pointing out at the group of people roughly a hundred meters away from you. You only noticed his reluctance, while the rest of The Coachman's next deeds would be lost from your observation in the middle of the unfolding chaos.

Squinting, you saw five people fending off several dark entities the size of adult wolves. Two mercenaries were seen engaging the dark thing at the front. They were accompanied by a middle-aged elf carrying a bright lantern and a cane. Behind them were two elven women. One was shooting the monsters with a bow, while the other incantates a light-based spell.

Without thinking you grabbed your gear and headed toward them. Mutated beasts? Nothing you could not handle. You were so sure of that until you heard that roar again, and witnessed something enormous emerge from the moonless sky. The object circled above the first party like a vulture. Its appearance resembled a winged reptilian shrouded in dark blue fire featuring two fiery horns jutted out on the place where the eyes should be, and a tail and four legs that looked almost skeletal.

Streaks of bluish patterns glowed on its body before it breathed down a misty vapor.

Even from this distance, you could smell the rancid stench, wrecking you as if a burning twig had been inserted into your nose. You started to doubt if it was safe to approach them. Dutiful as you might be, you did not fancy dying for nothing. When doubt started to overwhelm, you saw the middle-aged elf raised his lantern, and the light cleared out the mist almost instantly.

For just a moment, you glanced back and noticed that the carriage had been driven away. What a damn coward!

You heard an explosion, and your attention returned to the combat zone. The sky was currently clear and the dragon was nowhere to be seen, but you know that thing might come back any time now. The first party still endured and managed to slay several monsters, but their defense could only last for so long. It was a matter of time until they would succumb to the relentless onslaught. No doubt, you have noticed some signs of exhaustion from their defenders, and the archer too.

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