Arcane Tales

Kentaro: (That lackey of his won't be coming along will he?)

*Without looking at him, James replied to Derek.*

James: <No, I'm fine...>

Alto whispers to Kentaro ("Apparently he is, maybe we can drug him and leave him to the howlers")

~Allina has acquired a Moonlight Rod (Add-on: Anti-magic barrier)!~

*Timeskip. When the sun rises, they're all at the back gates of the palace, that lead outside the city walls and into the forest. The group is the following: Alto, Creed, Soul, Allina, James, Jade(?), Derek, Kentaro, Kari, Crone and two armored soldiers. The king is standing by one of the armored men guarding the gate as they prepare to close it*

King: <Are you sure you are all ready?>

OOC: Not too late to request weapons. Just saying.

Kentaro:<I'm okay.>

"I'm fine."

"Agumentation items would be nice" Creed says to the king.

OOC: Sorry I poofed last night, but I had to go to bed.

*Derek nodded to soul and walked toward the rest of the group.*

Derek: <So do we have a plan of attack?>

Crone: <Attack? Why, we're only investigating the source of the energy. Granted, given the aggressivity of monsters lately, we're likely to have to fight on our way there, but it shouldn't be too complicated, don't you think?>

King: <Find the source, do what you have to do and come back as soon as possible. The fighting tournament in Toros starts soon and the monsters are bound to be drawn to a large crowd as they are now.>

*One of the soldiers grabs a scroll he had attached to his belt and shows it to the group. It is a world map, and they see Capital Sephira at the Southwesternmost corner of the continent. He slides his finger over the forest and to a mountain range that covers the whole Sephira-Alda border area*

Soldier1: <Crossing the forests is what will take the longest, but the mountains will be a lot harder. Beyond the border, the fauna is quite different and the temperatures are a lot lower, as General Crive can confirm. We should be halfway through the forest by dusk.>

King: <Sounds like a plan. Good luck, everyone.>

*The wooden gate rises closed and the group starts their trip*

Allina: <This should be interesting, to say the least.>

Derek: <Yeah, I think so. It'll be interesting to see what's going on there.>

*He looks at the road ahead with a determined face.*

"We had horses before, lot of good they did when the Howlers came" Alto sighs.

*Kentaro lets out a sigh of relief.*

Kentaro:<Glad we're out of there.>

James: <Cheer up, everyone! We'll just kill them, get out of there, and come back without a single loss!>

*James starts laughing in a carefree manner.*

*Derek smiles at James' noticeable change in character.*

Derek: [Good to see he's lightened up.] <How about a joke? Anyone know any good ones?>

Allina: <Are we there yet?>

*One of the soldiers glares at her, and she chuckles*

Allina: <I'm just kidding!>

*They arrive at the foot of a small mesa. A Blazing Fox is lying on the ground yelping, white sparkles leaking from cuts all over its body. It turns into a small sphere of white light and disappears*

Allina: <The poor-->

Crone: <Quiet. Something injured that Fox severely, and it could still be around here. Let's move fast and cautiously.>

*James' face grows serious and he looks in all directions.*

Alto moves to the front of the group to take point and Creed to the back to bring up the end. They both exchange hand signals with the rest of the soldiers with them and soon the group is traveling in formation.

*Derek quickly moves towards the rockiest looking part of the mesa and searches for possible hiding spots.*

*Derek doesn't find anything relevant*

Allina: <Magic, you think?>

*As they are walking through the woods, they hear a rather spooky holwing. Seconds later, a huge monster jumps in front of the group out of nowhere, knocking over a couple of pine trees. It is a werewolf-like creature, with blue fur. It has a hunchback, and large muscular arms with oversized hands and long thick claws. Its face is pretty much that of a fat wolf, except larger. Its teeth are tained with blood and its pupils are of a glowing blue so light its almost scary to look at them. It walks like a gorilla, on feet and knuckles, and its about three times bigger than one. Its hand is the size of two human heads, approximately. It roars real loud and Allina shrieks, running to the back of the group*

*Derek immediately puts a hand on the Kusanagi's hilt and takes a step forward.*

Derek: <Stand your ground, everyone!>

*James quickly pulls his sword out*

James: <Ha! Another strong opponent! Come, let us fight until we bleed!>

*James charges straight at the monster with his sword blazing through the air.*