Serrina Deryn's Story

The warm and cozy bed provided a much needed rest, a shame that they'd be leaving the comforts behind them. Still, it was better than nothing at all.

As Jay got out of bed and put his attire on, he could smell food being served and slowly made his way outside where the others were gathered and had starting eating. Grabbing himself a fish sandwich, he broke them off into tiny chunks and shoved them under his helmet and into his mouth. Weird, yes. But he was paranoid about plenty of things; surprise attacks being one of them. As he finished up his meal, Europa called the group over and he walked over with everyone else. Were they finally heading out? Rena soon answered that question when she laid out a few bags in front of her filled with various supplies and materials. They were prepared, no doubt. As Rena explained what the plan was, Jay couldn't help but look out into the vast forest ahead. He shook his head slightly, he didn't like the idea of being out in the open where an attack could come from all sides. But, if this was the route they had to go, then so be it. And with that, the journey began.

As the group made their way deeper into the forest, Jay took out his crossbow and loaded it with an explosive bolt. While the forest itself was an amazing sight to behold, he couldn't help but feel that something wasn't quite right. Suddenly, Rena raised her hand and he quickly shouldered his crossbow. Did she sense something? What was going on? Why did they stop? That was soon answered when a bunch of goblins appeared out of nowhere, screeching an annoying, but painful laugh. As everyone began to engage the various enemies around them with ease, Jay was not so lucky as two goblins jumped from a nearby tree and tried to jump on his head to stab him with a pair of crude looking cleavers. They may have had they element of surprise, but they were stupid enough to try and ambush him where his crossbow was raised at and he wasted no time firing at the first goblin midair. This proved to be a foolish mistake as the explosive bolt impacted the first goblin a few feet away from him, sending cooked bits of flesh, bone and entrails all over him while at the same time, the force of the explosion sent both Jay and the second goblin tumbling down a small hill. Thankfully his armor took most of the force of the explosion, but it made him lose his grip on his crossbow and caused his helmet to fly off.

As they both landed on a bunch of rocks on the ground below, Jay had the unfortunate luck of hitting the back of his head on of them and it briefly caused him to black out for a few short seconds. When he came to, he felt a warm liquid ooze out from his head and he slowly reached back to feel what had happened. He cried out in surprise as blood stained his hand. This was not a good way to start out. Before he could ponder his lack of luck, the other goblin came running out of one of the bushes and jumped on his chest as it started to scratch at his face. Jay quickly grabbed one of the goblin's hands and snapped the wrist back as hard as he could, but not before getting a few nicks on his face as a result. The sounds of bones breaking and the cry of pain filled his ears as the goblin briefly stopped its attack to hold its now broken wrist.

Using this opportunity, Jay quickly reached into the back of his belt and pulled his dagger out and plunged it into the goblin's belly and sliced upwards. Blood began to gush out, splashing all over his face and into his mouth as the goblin frantically tried to hold its guts in, but to no avail. Jay angrily spat into the goblin's face with its own blood as he plunged both hands into its body cavity and began to rip out ever organ he could. Intestines roped around his neck and other organs were flung along the forest until there was nothing left but an empty shell. After shoving the now dead goblin off his body, Jay grabbed his dagger and began to slice into the goblin's neck until he was able to decapitate it. Grabbing the head and slowly making his way up the hill, he was happy to see that everyone else had survived the ordeal. However, he couldn't help but call out to Rena with a few questions. "Rena, I need to ask you a few things." Jay muttered, holding the back of his head in pain. "First of all, are we going to have any more surprise visitors like our friends here?" He lifted up the goblin's head. "Also, have you seen my helmet and crossbow? I can't seem to recall where they went and I miss them dearly." He scratched his red beard slightly and then asked "Oh yea, when's the next time we'll be able to rest? I'm covered in goblin blood and it really smells like shit. I'd like to get this off of me. Not to mention I don't like having it seep into the gash on my head."

One by one the goblins fell. Rena watched over everyone while cutting down goblins in her way, curious at their combat potential. Weilu was like a surreal pink whirlwind, the goblins' gleeful giggling turned into pained screeching as she cut through them like razors. Syra and Juniper supported each other well; one firing at range and the other slashing close and personal. The goblins' ruptured bodies seemed to momentarily froze up and explode into fountains of blood as they made their way to Europa. Abrahem somehow made the goblins flinch in terror at.....something, allowing him to plant several good shots between their eyes.

Europa stayed close to Sir Abrahem, doing her best not to get in anyone's way. She could hear Madam Serrina's blades as they bisected a goblin and decapitated another with great precision, splattering the goblins' chunky red blood all over her. Then, she flinched as she heard Officer Duffrane's blunderbuss roar like thunder and 'tore a goblin a new one', as the soldiers would say. The wind rushed and blew upon Sir Japheth's coat as he spun and eviscerated a goblin's face with a single shot, with Europa's eyes widening in fascination at his lightning-fast reflexes. The second goblin screeched out in pain, its eternally grinning face squirming in pain as the machete was embedded deep in its chest, before falling limp, blood dripping from its cavernous wound.

An explosion from Jay's modified crossbow bolts blew splinters off of one of the myriad trees of the forest, as well as two unlucky goblins. The loud noise attracted Rena's attention, who rushed towards the tumbling Jay to help, shouting, "Jay!!". Thankfully, Jay was hardier than his relatively small frame suggested, and she watched as the iron-helmeted arbalest gutted the goblin like a fish. And with that, the last goblin fell, causing silence to return to the forest.

Rena gestured the others to come, shouting in alarm, "EVERYONE! Well done, but come quick!!". This section of the forest, previously a dazzling display of nature's beauty, was coated with red and green goblin chunks, on the grass, the trees, everywhere. Though the grass by their feet obscured it, they could hear their boots sloshing through the sticky, gooey goblin gibs. Those who took the time (And resisted the pungent smell) to loot the goblins could pick up their crude, borderline useless weapons, a small amount of gold from their raids, and a two vials of invisibility potions. Judging by the gold they had on their persons, these goblins were likely opportunistic raiders and bandits, preying upon those fleeing the onslaught of demons. Portly merchants, emaciated farmers, lone deserters, people they could overwhelm with numbers and an ambush.

Europa kneeled down besides Sir Jay, her face contorting into a worried frown. Her left hand held the back of his neck, while her right one hovered over his face. "Sir Jay, you're hurt! Hold still....", the girl meekly whimpered. Bright, soft light emanated from her right palm, and a soothing feeling came over Sir Jay as she slowly healed him. A standard healing spell, easy to learn, pivotal for those who wish to learn the dangers of magic. Even in death, the goblin's head continued its annoying grin as Sir Jay clutched it.

Rena put one of her hands on her hips, and sighed, glancing aside. "Most likely. I know tis' obvious, but we best keep on our toes, everyone." She looked around, unable to find Jay's crossbow and helmet immediately. She turned to Syra, and pointed to her. "Syra, go and find Jay's equipment. None of those green blighters survived, so they should be around here somewhere." She then folded her arms and cursed under her breath, "Wretched things. They grow bolder everyday..."

Considering Jay's question, Rena consulted her map, giving everyone some time to catch their breath. She gazed forward, deeper into the forest of shadows, and observed the skies. Still blue, still early. The blue knight took a few steps forward, before finally answering, "We can stop for a brief respite here, but not too long. We still have a long journey ahead of us, and I'm hoping to reach the abandoned elven outpost by tonight."

The abandoned elven outpost....a source of many childhood ghost stories for local Soltridans. The ancient elves who inhabited the pearl-white, dazzling building untold ages ago were said to still lurk nearby, staying vigilant against any who dared trespass inside. But would you believe in such ghost stories?

Our brief respite better stay brief, thought Japheth as he holstered his newly reloaded pistol. For all they knew, there could be more goblins out in the forest. There was no way the inhabitants of the forest didn't know of the party's presence, not after those black powder shots. The scout quietly yanked his machete out of a goblin carcass and wiped as much of the bloody grime off on the grass as he could before returning it to its resting place. The scout then approached a nearby tree and climbed it effortlessly. He squat down on closest branch and began observing their surroundings while the others took to their rest.

That had been their first real taste of combat as a group. Of course it was next to nothing. Jay seemed to get the worst out of it but not because of his lack of ability. Gravity could be a bitch sometimes. No, everyone seemed to perform at peek capacity, which was good. They should only get better. It wasn't everyone's ability to handle danger that concerned Japheth, but rather, it was the frequency that which danger would throw itself at them that had the sniper at a slight edge.

No matter, he'd worry about it when the time came.

Japheth began focusing on the sounds of the forest. There was the low rumble of the voices below talking amongst themselves, the quiet clatter of armor and equipment being moved in or moved about, and the gentle breeze of the wind as it ruffled the foliage surrounding them. It was beautiful. It was time to get in tune with his senses and perform his self-established duty as scout to the best of abilities. Perhaps he'd help them avoid an ambush like this in the future.

Despite its thin body, the tree was durable as a pillar and so tall, it almost seemed to claw at the skies. Rustling leaves fell from above as Japheth reached the top. His initiative paid off well; from below, the forest felt large, but narrow, Constricted. But above, the foliage ocean seemed limitless, where ever the scout turned his head. He could see the rugged highlands beyond, with its radiant grass and aged, stone-adorned valleys, slightly tinted blue from the atmosphere. A flock of honey-colored warblers scattered and flew besides Japheth, gliding across the skies with no care or worry.

He could not see the so-called 'elven outpost', but not too far ahead, less than half an hour of walk, judging from above, was a trail of smoke. Campfire smoke. This may be an information worth telling the group.....

Once all of the goblins were completely rid of, in the most gruesome and bloody way possible mind you, Serrina turned and grinned wildly at her companions. Her first fight with the Stag Brigade definitely held up to expectations. Not too many enemies to pose a challenge but just enough to still have fun with it. This cemented the fact that this trip was going to be incredibly exciting but also unfortunately bolstered an idea in her head that she was not yet willing to admit to herself just at that moment.

She ran a gloved hand through her hair, pushing the sweaty locks away from her eyes, as she listened to Jay's complaint to Rena. She nodded in agreement when he finished.

"Yeah, it might have been a little bit appreciated to have been told beforehand that we were entering goblin territory," she remarked, adding to what Jay had said.

Her mouth snapped shut and she said nothing more when Rena pulled her map into a view and began to examine it.

Ah well, might as well see what she could find here. Goblins were dumb but they fortunately liked to pick up shiny things, so there was a possibility that at least one of them had something of value. Not wishing to waste anything, Serrina knelt down to a number of the dead goblins and rummaged around as the one named Juniper pocketed the spare vials of invisibility potion. Oh, how neat, she thought monotonously. Finding nothing worth taking, she stood up and brushed her blood-drenched hands off on her trousers. She left the scavenged gold to whoever wanted it.

...a brief respite... Brief respite? What? They were stopping already? Her head jerked up and she stared at their leader.

“C’mon, Rena, some of us still have a fight in us! At least let me go wrestle a bear while the rest of you wait here! Oh! Oh! Let's go throttle a moose!” Or something that wasn't sticking around for the next pack of goblins to catch them off guard. Surely the others knew it wasn't wise to remain here any longer, and she did not want to know what creature in this forest might be drawn to the smell of goblin blood. Okay, that was a lie. But still!

The forest hadn't even returned to its usual calm. The wind picked up but it was not nearly the strength it had been earlier and there was nary a chirp in the trees above.

Maybe the goblins ate all the birds?

Sighing in defeat, Serrina leaned against an overturned tree, peeling slimy goblin bits off of her armor and attempting to clean the blood off her blades on the foliage, all the while passing cautious glances toward Jay. An action that she didn't even bother hiding.

Quickly pushing herself away from the rotted wood, she stepped lightly over the goblin corpses and leaned in close to the fighter to capture his attention away from whatever he had been thinking.

"You took a nasty fall back there, hard-hat," she said, whipping her blades swiftly through the air in hope that the blood would come off. Oh, that's right. She forgot to bring a handkerchief, "You're sure you're okay?" Serrina asked, adding extra accents to her already strong lilt as she plopped down right next to him.

Europa leaned back from Sir jay as she finished treating his wounds. The girl took a moment to catch her breath, when she felt a tap on her shoulder, and something small and warm on her hands. Miss Juniper's gentle voice caught Europa by surprise, since the easterner had been mostly quiet before. "Oh!....Thank you kindly, Miss," the blind seer spoke softly, nodding her head as her fingers curl around the staff. She nodded a few more times, agreeing that this would be very handy. In fact, she really should have gotten one of these a long time ago...

Rena looked over her shoulder to Serrina, whose hot-blooded vigor made her smile. Her bold, aggressive energy was so unlike an elf, she thought. Not that that was a bad thing."Heh. Moose venison for dinner would be nice....", Rena mused out loud. Her thoughts briefly scatter to the image of a nice, meaty pink steak over warm camp fire. Oh, that would be very nice indeed....

Thankfully, Japheth was there to break Rena from her thoughts. Rena glanced at him with her one good eye as she landed besides him, and she listened to his report. While she kept a stoic expression, she was rather pleased by his initiative. Campfire smoke? So close to this ambush? Rena paused, raising her knuckles to her chin. "Hmmm..."

Her eye darted between the shadowy Japheth and the hearty Duffrane calling in the distance. That old man really had good stamina. Or maybe simply a sensitive nose? Difficult to tell, sometimes. After a brief moment of consideration, Rena finally gave her orders, "Serrina, Duffrane. Since you two are so eager, I need you to check out the path ahead. Japheth here said there was a trail of smoke coming from there."

A brief pause. Rena glanced at Japheth and Weilu, having noticed the both of them giving sneaking glances to each other at different moments. She wondered what that was about....very interesting..... their different skills would complement each other well, she thought.

"Weilu, Japheth. You two can backup Serrina and Duffrane. I will catch up with you alongside Syra, Abrahem, and Juniper once Jay's ready."

Europa peaked her head from behind a tree and squeaked out, "um, be careful!", her brows furrowed with concern.

----

Half the group stayed back, the other half went deeper into the forest of shadows. The further they go, the thicker the forest, the darker the shadows. Specks of sunlight could still be seen, appearing as yellow flickers on the wood and foliage. But if one were to look above, they would only notice tangled masses of foliage. The ground seemed to be sloping slightly downwards as well, though not so steep as to be blatant.

Roughly half an hour later, the scouting group - consisting of Serrina, Duffrane, Weilu, and Japheth - could hear loud, screeching laughter. So annoying, so familiar. As the group walked discreetly under the shadows of the trees, they could see a small, warm, orange glow ahead - coming from a campfire.

"HEEEHEEEHEEEEHEEE!"

"HEEEEE HEEEHEHEHEHHEHE!!"

It was a small goblin camp, occupied by three of the green menaces; two in furred loincloths, one in tattered leather armor. Between the two half-naked goblins was a barbeque spit being spun atop the flames. And impaled on the skewer.....was a tiny, rotund mass of charred flesh. At first, the fire had obscured most of the creature's original form, but if they looked closer...at its underdeveloped limbs and round, cherubic head...it was obvious, that the goblins were spit roasting a human baby.

"Baby food! baby food! RAOWAHH!", the goblins operating the spit threw their arms into the air. Even from the scouting team's spot, they could hear the spit creaking as it turned, and the fire crackling as it ravaged the now reddish brown human baby.

The third Goblin walked around the spit, a cracked wooden shield and a studded club on his back. "Where the others?! they should be back by now!!," he shouted furiously, his voice (slightly) deeper and more aggressive compared to his two kin. The first half-naked goblin shrugged, "No worries! They be back soon! Fat merchants, drunken peasants, eeeeeasy loot, liiiiiitle trouble!". The second goblin simply grinned, giggled, and nodded. One wonders if he even knew what they were talking about.

Around the three goblins were nine dirty, ragged bedrolls, a barrel with an enormous tear on its side, filled to bursting with potatoes, several stacked crates which the goblins used as crude stools, a portable weapon rack with a goblin cleaver and a goblin club on display, and - most inconspicously - a large, red, gleaming treasure chest with a golden rim. It was the cleanest looking thing in the camp, and it was nearly as wide as a goblin is tall. One doubts that a single goblin could carry such a thing by himself.

Weilu had been rubbing at a spot of crusty blood on the blade of her weapon, her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed. She had just gotten it off, pleased with herself when she heard her name. Popping her head up, she looked in the direction that came from. Her golden eyes landed on the Shadow-ey man and Rena. Listening further, it seemed her and the Mysterious Man would be scouting together. Along with Duffrane and Serrina. Smiling brightly, she smoothly hopped onto her feet before locking her weapon onto her back. "Sounds like fun!"

Walking along with the group, she looked around. All around. At the trees above and the spots of light on the ground, at Japheth's gun and at Serrina's person as a whole. Everyone's so colorful.. She thought. Looking over to Japheth she wondered where he was from. She deducted everyone else's homelands from their dress and accents but he was quiet and removed from everyone else.

Eventually she could smell fire and hear the loud giggling of Goblins. Ducking down with the rest of them, her footsteps quiet, she crept along. Soon there was an opening in the brush and they could see the Beasts dancing and chatting about the fire. Weilu crouched next to Duffrane, her eyes wide. "Wow.. they're packing a lot of food.." she was salivating and thinking of all the things she could make with those potatoes. But then the shiny red chest directed her eyes. But only for a bit. "That's a pretty chest too.. Can we take it now??" She was whispering and managing to keep still. But now her stomach was growling and she was eager to take out the monsters roasting a baby. "Or do we have to report back.." she pout, her eyes on Duffrane and then looking at Japheth for an answer.

Duffrane was on his way to make some rounds when Japheth came down from the trees above and informed them of camp smoke in the distance. "Maybe it's a friendly troop of actors" Duffrane suggested optimistically, although his voice gave the impression of doubt. Rena assigned a few people to a forward group and they headed out while the others rested up.

Some time passed as the group ghosted through the forest. Duffrane made his best attempt to sneak but he kept stepping on twigs. He felt a bit clumsy but managed to get by, perhaps he could get one of the more stealthy members of the Stag Brigade to train him when they had some spare time.

They arrived on the edge of a clearing where in lay a few of the same grotesque villains from earlier, although in a significantly reduced number. Duffrane was tense, his fingers drumming silently on the hilt of his sword, he very much disapproved of the goblins choice in diet. He was far from being a saint, but even the old pirate had limits. His concentration was broken by Weilu's question, keeping his voice as low as possible he answered "There are only a few of them, we could probably take them if everyone thinks we should, we would defiantly have surprise on our side."

Rena stared with a big wide frown as Abrahem fell asleep against a tree, while Jay remained motionless, having apparently fallen unconscious from his wounds. Though at the very least, his wounds had been taken care of and his weapons found, thanks to Syra and Europa. With one foot atop a rock, Rena pinched her forehead and sighed. This brief respite was supposed to be brief, damnit.

"We need to move. Syra, go and carry Jay with you. Juniper, I'm going to need you to do the same for Abrahem. Quickly now!," she commanded irritatedly. The blue knight continued to grumble as she lead the way, marching to catch up with the scouting vanguard.

Europa tailed behind them timidly, using the walking staff Miss Juniper gave her, her head down and her gaze to the ground, as she felt rather guilty for being unable to help.

----

While Weilu, Japheth, Duffrane, and Serrina discussed amongst themselves what to do, they suddenly heard more voices. This time heavier, louder.

"BAGRASH! NO'GRAKH!" To their left, two muscular figures arrived. Broad shouldered, green skinned, with pieces of salvaged iron and crude leather over parts of their body. The one on the left was slightly taller and bald, with spikes on his brow rides, while the one on the right had large, rough, and almost spiky-looking dreadlocks portruding from the back of his head. Both of their eyes were red and blood and without irises, tusks prominently sticking out from their underbites. No doubt about it, they're Orcs.

The left orc carried a greenish iron bow, its body twisted and gnarled like shriveled roots, an ovesized quiver full of savage arrows on his hip. The right orc, on the other hand, rested a barbaric-looking battleaxe on his shoulder, with a blade made of the bones of a strange creature, slightly chipped and weathered from rough use. Both seemed anything but friendly.

The three goblins froze up and widened their grins upon the arrival of the orcs. But it was a grin of pleading fear rather than elation.

"H-hey! You back early!"

"H-how was hunt?"

The axe-wielding orc punted the half-naked goblin across the camp. A high pitched scream later, the goblin's face became very intimate with the bark of the great forest trees.

The archer orc grumbled, "TERRUBLE! Been long time since anybody came into da forest. Maybe Warchief right. Maybe we been doing too much raids."

The two orcs sat down, and the two remaining goblins scurried over to serve them, while the third goblin struggled to get his head out of the tree.

"Baaaah! Many stupid humies in this land. No need to worry! We got fresh baby just yesterday, see?", a goblin grinned as he pointed to the spit roasted baby.

The axe orc was unimpressed. "Baby not good enough! We need goods. Jewels. Moneyz. Can't stay here forever. Methinks we head over to Eucretia or something. Be circus orcs."

The archer orc nodded. "Elven ghosts bad enough, now there's talk of demons. You believe that? DEMONS!"

The second goblin shrugged. "We just stay away from mountains and beyond, we be fine!"

The axe orc leaned forward, his oversized mouth tilted in a frown. "For how long? How long till demons get us too? they spread so quick from capital to the desert last five years."

The campfire flickered, as the greenskins remained oblivious to the scouting party's presence.

Serrina gently lowered the now unconscious Jay to a sitting position against the closest tree, making sure to watch his head injury. Oh woes! The first casualty of the adventure, so soon, so sad! She snickered.

“Do you think they’ll perform anything for us?” Serrina turned and asked after Duffrane’s words, ignoring his tone, "I'd love for them to show us an romantic-action."

She leapt up at the chance to get her muscles moving again, gladdened by the fact that she wouldn’t be forced to subject herself to sitting here until she died of boredom. Sheathing her blades on to her back, she brushed the remaining bits of gore from her shoulders and trotted over to her older companion.

She turned to face their leader.

“Alright Rena. Putting me to work and all,”—she muttered that under her breath— “We’ll go get you something moose-esque you can chow down on,” she called out as she bumped her shoulder against Duffrane’s, “C’mon, Sailor. Let’s go find something to appease our leader with,” she said, resting her elbow on his broad shoulder.

Serrina turned her head to see the other two that were to accompany her and Duffrane. Weilu seemed nice, nice in the fun way not nice in the boring way—thank the Seas, but Japheth seemed very suspicious to her. She really didn’t know if she wanted to trust him or not.

When they began to walk away from the main group, force of habit compelled her to wave her hand in acknowledgement of Europa’s goodbye even knowing that the girl wouldn’t have been able to see it, “Won’t make any promises,” she responded, grinning to herself.

---

As their now much smaller party entered into the darker, scarier, parts of the forest, Serrina—for one of the few times in her life—was thankful for her enhanced night vision. Sure it was incredibly harder to get to sleep at night than that of any human she's ever met, but hey, in the very rare occasions such as these where someone willing was needed to venture deep within a cave or a dense forest or any other place after sundown and, you know, actually wanted to see where they were going, Serrina was the gal of choice. Not that she minded it per se, she did quite enjoy the quick and dangerous little jaunts into the undiscovered wilderness, but maybe sometimes in her life, it'd be nice to not be needed in the dark. And if any of these humans made even one comment of her eyes and the quality of their glow, she'd probably scream in their face.

“Anyone want to make a bet what we’re going to find out here?” Serrina asked, breaking the silence, “Three coppers and a fork that it’s a camp of trolls,” she offered with a smile, “What do you think, Shadows?” Serrina asked, turning to Japheth.

Japheth was strong to say the least, but he also seemed immensely fun to antagonize. Serrina’s common sense was just going to have to deal with her annoying a dangerous man who looked like the kill-you-in-your-sleep type. Oh, the things she'll do for entertainment.

The further they went, the louder the squealing laughter became. If her ears weren’t failing her, and they never did, they were heading closer to a goblin camp, likely belonging to the goblins that had attacked them just a few minutes before. When the party neared in and crept up behind the bramble bush that kept them out of sight, she was surprised to see only three goblins.

She noticed and stared at the poor thing cooking on the spick. She could only think up one word. Shit. But she shook it from her thoughts and ignored it for now.

“Ol’ man here has a point, sunshine. I think we can more than handle three of them,” she whispered “We’ll report back when there’s something to report back about.”

Suddenly, before any of them could strike, two orcs arrived and began to converse with the three goblins, talks of more demons, elven ghosts, and a circus. The circus bit was the most terrifying part of the discussion.

“Hah! An orc! I was close! Orcs are similar to trolls, right?” She whispered and swiftly pulled her glaive off her back, careful to not make a sound, “Think we can handle three goblins and two orcs?” Serrina asked, turning to face them with a wide grin, “I’ll take the orc on the right.”

Japheth tipped the brim of his sloucher hat up to get a better view of the campsite below. Vile greenskins, the lot of them. As soon as the demon threat was dealt with humanity should shift its focus to removing their existence from this plane of reality along with rebuilding.

The scout shook his head. The few goblins, sure. Those could easily be handled. But two orcs? That was a little bit different. Orcs were large, hulking creatures with immense strength. With the lack of intelligence they held they made up in brawn, and what with the additional goblins around as distractions to the bigger threats, the whole situation was setting alarms off in the young man's head. For all they knew, there could be more of the greenies in the nearby tents of the camp or even another camp nearby. It was too risky.

"No," he said, completely disregarding the elf's jest. Perhaps some needed the comforts and release of humor to cope with a hopeless situation like a genocidal demon invasion, but that didn't include him. Maybe when he knew them all better, developed relationships, used people skills if there ever was such a thing for Japheth, then it might be possible to humor Serrina. Now wasn't the time. The only two things that'd loosen his lips was safety and copious amounts of alcohol.

"The situation is too unclear. I don't doubt anyone's skill here, but the safer route would be to return with the others to further improve our chances of coming out of clearing the camp casualty-free. The blue knightess would want us to report back our findings before taking action anyways." He made sure to look into the eyes of every individual in their little scouting party, his ice cold gaze finally resting on the elf.

Weilu had been patiently awaiting an answer while everyone collected their thoughts on the situation. She had just happily nodded her head to Duffrane's answer when everyone hushed up again. Orcs! Big and muscle-y and chock-full of bad vocabulary. She smiles at how funny it was to listen to them talk to eachother.

When the little goblin went flying into the tree, she memtally called dibs on not taking the orcs. It was a strong possibility that they could suffer quite a few gashes from her glaive before falling. Hearing the quiet shing of a blade type weapon being taken from the sheath, she turns to see Serrina already pulling out her own Glaive. Straightening up, she tips her head to the side and examines the polearm, wondering why she didn't notice it earlier.

At the end of it all, Japheth summed up why they shouldn't attack. He also gave a reason for reporting back. Weilu slumped and stared at the shiny treasure chest in the middle of the camp. Just sittin' there.. They're not even talking about it! She thought. Pouting, she let her silence be her confirmation and waited for the signal for everyone to start heading back.

The scouting team backtracked up the inclined area of the forest. Thankfully, they didn't need to walk too far, as less than five minutes later, they caught sight of the descending Rena, Syra, and Juniper - along with an unconscious Jay and a sleeping Abrahem. Rena stopped, looking down to the scouts. She briefly glanced to Jay and Abrahem, rolled her eye, and sighed, "Yeah. Men."

Europa peeked her head out from behind Juniper, staring into the scouting team's general direction. "U-uhm....so, what did you see, guys?", she asked, timidly.

With one hand on her hip, Rena listened well to Japheth. Two orcs and three goblins, nothing new. She nodded approvingly as the scout explained his reasons to go back.When Juniper spoke, Rena turned to listen. With her arms folded, she nodded once more, and issued her opinions,"I am of one mind with Juniper. It will do everybody a great service to rid this forest of those green wretches."

With that, Rena beckoned the reunited team to follow her deep into the forest, and onto the goblin camp. Slowly, they walked beneath the shadows of the great trees. By the time they returned, they could see the goblins and the orcs standing over two captives - a large fat dwarf with an afro and a dainy, skinny blonde elf, tied back to back, in front of the campfire.

The orc archer stood over their new prisoners with an annoyed glare.

"You promised us GOODS. Where da goods at?!", he roared.

The skinny elf grinned, panic obvious in his eyes, "H-hey now! Patience is key, my friend!"

The afro-bearing dwarf shook his head, "Yeah! S-S-Shrooms don't just grow on trees, mate!"

the orc archer drew a goblin dagger from his hip with a loud, grating, scraping noise. The three goblins on the other side of the fire hopped up and down, goading him on.

"YES! FEED HIM HIS OWN TESTICLES!"

"TESTICLES, TESTICLES!"

"HEEEEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!"

Rena narrowed her eyes behind the bushes. Wishing to waste no more time, she whispered, "Now!", and drew her broadsword and dagger, before leaping out of the bushes like a swooping eagle, rustling leaves trailing behind her, as she plunged her dagger onto the orc archer's neck.

"!!BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGHH!!!" A furious roar, accompanied by a stream of blood. The Orc archer flailed about, with Rena atop him. The other goblins and the axe-wielding orc were too surprised by this ambush to act quickly. This was their chance!

Europa covered her mouth to prevent a startled squeak coming out. "I-I'll...stay here and guard Sir Jay and Sir Abrahem...", she suggested, looking over the sleeping mage and the unconscious arbalist.

Abrahem's body floated, impossibly passing through walls, viewing itself in a third-person perspective. Light flared over the horizon, streaming across the world even as the earth rippled, sending continents in their entirety into the air as the impact shattered all. Abrahem watched it calmly from outside the planet, marveling at the ruptured body, cracked and battered. Returning to his body, he observed a box light, magically projecting noise and image across its glassy surface. Something to do with an eight-point-oh on the Richter Scale, a name which meant nothing and everything to the dreaming man. Reality stuttered. The event should have woken Abrahem, a frenzied panic sequestering the fragile mind from darker planes. A force kept him back.

Lucid inside the dream realm, a unique yet terrifying experience, Arahem felt rather than perceived a presence, ominous, brooding. Unwilling to turn, unable to flee, his palpitating heart settled as sensation speared his mind, numbing his body to outside stimuli. Time runs freely, Bearer of Wills, but there is little stretch left to explore. Find the owed, fleshling.

Tears crept down Abrahem's face, an unconscious response to the invasive being. "What are you?" he whispered. "Get out of my head. I never-"

The price of the flesh and the price of the mind travel, fleshling. You know one of my names: Crotis. It is your burden to return. Life flickers in my gaze, and yours is ever dimmer.

Jerking awake, Rena's call of "Now!" reached Abrahem's ear, heard but not registered by his debased mind. Mental shock persisted for several seconds, broken finally by the faintly grasped sound of Europa's voice. Returning to lucidity, he tracked the party as they engaged the orcs, a tear running down his cheek, silent.

Serrina scoffed at Japheth's words, “Such a spoilsport. Fine then, we’ll waste time walking back to camp instead of taking care of them now. I guess I underestimated you after all, Japheth,” she said in jest, her tone feigning disappointment, "Nothing wrong with being feeble, I suppose."

She didn’t care enough to pay attention to her companions during the walk back, or the explanation of what they found to the rest of the company. Neither did she speak during the other walk back to the goblin camp. However, she was brought out of her ennui at the notice of the elf and the dwarf. Well, well, this is new.

It was right before the goblins and orcs moved in to kill the two hostages did Rena finally announce the attack.

“That’s what I like to hear!” Serrina cheered.

With her glaive in hand, she leapt out of the bushes after the rest of her companions charged in themselves and targeted the orc she had picked out earlier, the one with the axe. It seemed that Duffrane had chosen that one as well.

Serrina was still for a few seconds, her eyes excitedly watching the fighter battle alone with his monstrous creature of choice, until she finally decided to charge at the orc and slash twice at whatever bare skin she could get to with her glave. She leapt and rolled out of the way of its flailing limbs as it moved to continue it's barrage against Duffrane before she gave it another set of slashes to its other side. That was all it needed for the blade to separate from the wooden staff it had been attached to and imbed itself in the orc's skin. Unfortunately, the edges of the metal shattered against the orc's thick hide, sending shrapnel flying out in all directions. Serrina just barely managed to cover herself in her ironclad arm before any heavy pieces could meet with the skin of her face. Although, from the pain she felt on her right cheek, it seemed very likely that she failed to miss every fragment.

Well, that’s it for that, she thought. She had stolen the weapon back when she had first left home, which was quite a long time ago. It had served her fine and now it was broken. Oh well. No tears would be shed over the weapon. It was going to break sooner than later. Might as well be now.

Throwing the broken pole down to the ground, she moved to grab the sword at her hip and ready another strike at the behemoth, however, before she could do any more damage to the monster—or even unsheathe the blade, the orc fell down dead by the hands of her companion. She stepped gingerly over the fallen creature and grinned down at Duffrane.

“Nice work there,” she teased, “Need a hand?” She asked, offering her hand to him, “Literally?”

Serrina thought for a moment then swore under her breath.

“That would have been hilarious if I offered you a severed hand,” she said, snickering to herself, “I’ll have to remember that next time.”

Together, their ambush worked extraordinarily well. One goblin was eviscerated by Weilu, another received a violent brain surgery from Japheth. Perhaps to make up for his singular goblin kill last time, Duffrane, backed with Serrina, charged into action and came out victorious after a heated duel with the orc barbarian, probably the most challenging target. With Syra's aid in grounding and immobilizing the orc archer, Rena was able to twist her broadsword and plunge it further into the orc's neck, with fatal results. She glanced to the bug woman, and nodded in thanks, before observing the others' similar victorious results.

The second goblin, who was struggling against Weilu, soon realized that its companions had been completely outmatched as it glanced left and right. Eyes wide with terror, it looked up to Weilu one last time, before pushing back and dashing like mad into the shadows of the forest. "DEATH IS HIGHLY OVERRATED!", its figurative tail between its legs.

Rena stood up and away from the orc archer's corpse, and wiped her blade with a crimson cloth. Europa peeked her head from behind a tree, and leaped up and down, flapping her arms like a young bird. "Well done, Everyone! WELL DON- Oof," her gleeful cheering interrupted as she tripped and faceplanted on the grass. Rena smirked a little, then turned her attention to the captured dwarf and elf.

"Oh, thank ye GODS ya came as ya did!", the afro-bearing dwarf spoke, his baritone voice deep and manly.

"Y-yeah! We were almost goblin chow there! Hahah! Hahahahhahhahaha.....", the blonde elf grinned, backing up his friend with his meek and girlish voice.

Rena nodded, and cut their bonds loose.



"Name's Danny. And this is my buddy Manny!", the girlish elf said as the corpulent dwarf wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Ya adventurers, aye? Who else would have the brass balls ta travel this gods forsaken land on foot, aye?"

The elf nodded again. "We were escorting a family of merchants out of town...we figured we could use the paycheck to buy our way out of Soltrida."

"The greenskins were bad e'nuff. Demonic possession scares me shiteless, ta be honest," the dwarf gloomily whimpered.

"But...as you can see.....we failed...least you came to save us you did.... the family weren't so lucky....", the elf frowned, eyes glistening with tears as he looked over to the spit roasted baby, its red-brown flesh smoked and warped.

The dwarf sniffled, and wiped his nose. "Ya should take whatever's in that red chest...consider it our payment. Maybe we'll cross paths again, aye? Maybe not. Hopefully not, considering where ya seem ta be goin'. We jost wanna get outta this land as soon as possible."

The elf and dwarf nodded once more in thanks, and quietly walked away from the goblin camp, thankful for their survival, but sorrowful for the death of their charges.

Rena reflected quietly upon Danny and Manny's tale, and sighed. Seems like she couldn't get through one week now without hearing about a dead family, either from the demons, the orcs, or even the forest itself. Rena then turned to Weilu, having been paying attention to her wanting eyes directing their attention to the shiny red chest, and nodded. "Go ahead. Do the honors."

With a single click, the red chest sprang open, and inside.....

They discover two things: An embelished, silvery, and slightly cracked oval mirror, and a wood carved totem from a tribe long gone, representing a prone wolf. A strange, low key, abstract-patterned shimmer momentarily appeared over the glass surface of the mirror, if one looked closely, and the wolf totem, while seemingly made of mundane materials, was finely hand crafted.

"Wait! Let me see that...it can't be!," Rena suddenly shouted, as she rushed over to hover above Weilu's shoulder, her eye focused on the mirror.

"That's...that's a Knight's Mirror!," she continued, astonished. Bowing down, the blue knight ran her finger over the silver ornate rim of the mirror. "Only seven of them, in all of Soltrida. The owners of these mirrors can communicate with each other, no matter the distance, as if they were talking face to face....an enchanting marvel."

"These mirrors were personally crafted by Lady Carmellia, the third Knight of the Six Knights.....my former mentor." A forlorn expression was casted by Rena's eyes, the mirror reminding her of her fallen comrade.

"Six mirrors for the Six Knights, the seventh for the Lady's unrequited love," Rena sighed, and reached into her pack, pulling an identical looking mirror - though this one was without the cracks and generally looked cleaner. Rena glanced to Weilu, then the others, nodding. "Very useful in case we were ever separated."

The Six Knights.....living legends of Soltrida. They were dragon slayers, demon banishers, witch hunters, combat champions, and an ideal for the people of the land. Nobles were jealous of their repute, peasants dreamt to be them, and soldiers hoped to one day be under their command. Starlight Rena and Dragonrider Garland, were their junior members. The sixth and fifth knight, respectively. Unfortunately, nobody knew what happened to the first four knights..... Black Knight Odessa, Eureka the Brave, Looking Glass Carmellia, and Arbiter Arondal.

Rena sighed and stood up, her gaze locked deeper into the forest. "Let's go. The Elven Outpost shouldn't be far, now. We can finally rest there."

Those who sought to loot their fallen enemies could recover the goblins' crude iron weapons as before, or the orcs' savage-looking battleaxe, bow, and arrows, along with a pitiful amount of gold.

(NOTE: Hey guys, sorry I've been having some schedule slips, christmas family events and stuff. I'll wait for a day or two if anyone wants to post their character's comments or anything, but otherwise in my very next post, I will move on to our campfire scene, which would basically be a free for all, interauthor dialogue heavy session. Good for character development and stuff. Hope everyone had a fun christmas!)

Further into the forest, deeper into the darkness. After a few hours of walking, the Stag Brigade had finally reached the lowest, darkest area of the forest. Neither sun, moon, or star could be seen here, hidden away by the thick foliage and vegetation of the secretive forest.

Rena, leading the way, brushed aside some bushes, and breathed a sigh of relief as she came onto what she had been looking for. Yellow-white, abstract structures jutting out of the ground, which curved and branched around an enormous well. The center of the well shimmered very faintly with green, ancient magic, but it must have been millenia now since it was useable...whatever purpose it served.

The campfire set alight, the tent pitched. The fire's warm glow a welcome change from the cold darkness of the forest. She beckoned Duffrane and Syra's help to unpack the backpacks the old sailor and Abrahem helped her carry, while Europa prepared several stools around the campfire and bedrolls for everyone to sleep in, particularly Abrahem and Jay. She also wordlessly handed Serrina a cooking pot and a ladle, expecting her to cook tonight.

The blue knight set then herself onto one of the stools, and stared into the campfire. The embers danced around the fire, calmly and steadily, soothing Rena's vision. "What a day...," she said, in a tired tone.

Europa stood next to one of the pitched tents, and took a deep breath, focusing to feel on everyone's aura. It was so nice seeing everybody survive the first day....she hoped that they could continue this adventure, and foster their bond. The bond of companions, of demon slayers......

Serrina pushed past Duffrane and gleefully watched the rest of her companion’s battles with the goblins and orcs. Weilu was a better fighter than she had thought, which was impressive, but Rena was far more enjoyable to spectate.

She listened carefully and barked out a laugh as the elf and the dwarf scurried off away into the forest, “They look like a fun pair,” she mused aloud, “Hopefully they won’t meet anymore goblins further in.”

Her attention was drawn away from the strange duo to the ornate chest that Weilu was in the process of opening. The mirror was of no interest to her, but the wolf-shaped totem was a cute little thing. She liked it.

“What were you hoping for, Weilu? Mounds of gold that you’d be forced to lug the entire length of the journey?” Serrina asked after Weilu’s disappointed reaction to the poor insides of the chest, “Surely you’d want something more portable.”

Rena on the other hand appeared to be enamored with the mirror, “Oh great, a magical mirror? That’s marvelous. Make sure it’s not possessed or anything. I don’t want an evil spirit following us on our quest,” she snorted, crossing her arms hotly.

From the insignificant loot on the other set of goblins from before, Serrina decided she wouldn’t bother to loot these fallen enemies. It simply wasn’t worth getting herself bloodied up over a couple of useless weapons that weren’t even worth the effort of carrying. But seeing as no one else wanted the wolf-totem, she swiped it from the chest and plopped it down into a pouch at her side. Something as seemingly harmless as a wooden token wouldn’t have been placed in this exquisite chest without reason. Surely it had to be important somehow. Important meant excitement. And excitement meant fun.

---

When the group arrived at the elven outpost, which was apparently their current destination, Serrina wasn’t impressed in the slightest. Foliage infested ruins with an air of magic? Wow, she sure hasn’t seen that before.

So as the company set to work in their various tasks of setting up camp, Serrina accepted the cooking utensils from Rena and got busy. Alright, something she was mildly decent at. She swiped the ingredients from her fellow companions when they weren’t looking and quickly decided on making some sort of stew. Specifically, some sort of stew because whatever she was making may have been edible, but it wasn’t something that anyone was going to recognize as a particular type of dish. Nor would it taste like anything familiar, but that was beside the point. It was edible, and in her book, edible was perfection.

It was in the dim lights such as these Serrina realized that her eye-glow would be at its absolute worst. She sighed at her own realization and then snickered at Weilu’s embarrassingly adorable ramble.

“Oh yes, sing us a song,” she teased, “Humans lacking of our lovely night-vision are so painfully afraid of the dark. Sing something sweet to calm our dear pirate’s nerves. I know that if I sing, I’ll likely scare you all away,” she said with a grin.

Blades flickered and blood painted an incarnadine pattern across the grass and leaves, scintillating darkly under the glow of the sun overhead. The corpses of the orcs and goblins all crumpled in their own time, careening to the ground as all tension left their muscles. None of the party sported injuries from what Abrahem could see in his seated position, flicking attention from body to body. Satisfied that no one would fall dead or comatose from an injury, he examined the elf and dwarf freed from their imprisonment, gregarious individuals given their mannerisms and words. A sad enough tale they proffered yet one that occurred with great frequency in Soltrida in this time of darkness. A slight frown crossed his features, a dim recollection disturbing his thought process, a memory he was loath to explore.

Limbering his legs and back, Abrahem stretched to height in time for Europa to blindly stumble to the ground. The poor girl really does need to be more careful, or at least use something to guide her path Abrahem thought, wincing at the impact. Striding over to where Europa lay, he dropped to a kneeling position, knees flexing to absorb the movement.

"You should be a bit more careful, dear Europa," he chided, hands grasping her own to allow her to ascend. "We wouldn't want you harming yourself this short into the journey." Releasing his grip when Europa could support herself on her own, he would stay by the girl in case some other service or 'service' was required. His face adopted an incredulous expression at the revealing of the items contained within the chest. Why would a merchant family posses such a rare artifact as a Knight Mirror? Although that did not intrigue him nearly as much as the totem, whose nature was not remarked upon by Rena or any of the other party members. A conundrum to investigate later if he could filch the item from Serrina. Perhaps I can convince her, Abrahem chuckled silently, smiling.

---

Throughout the trek to the elven outpost, Abrahem would remain mostly silent, rooting through the matrices of his memory to discover the source of the disturbance that woke him to no avail, leaving him all the more unsettled. He would assist Europa if needed, although making no attempt at idle chatter. By the time camp was established and the fire was blazing heartily, Abrahem's mind had cleared, dedicated to focusing on the current situations, the future, companionship, not the unremembered past.

He took much enjoyment from the antics of the group, a refreshing amity that had been absent from his life for many months. "Yes, Syra, sing for us!" he called, "or regale us with a tale of your people. Mayhaps I could help you with the telling visually." Settling back, he rested his head against his chest, somewhat tired from the day's activities and still recovering from earlier expenditures.