The Horat-verse

"From the words of a dead man deep in the frozen north," Yuwen replied grimly to Suiken as they walked down the passage. "Not far from your homeland, I'd imagine." Yuwen spoke with a smile, but there was something in his voice that made the Snow Oni uneasy...

Yuwen continued down the passage without bothering to explain how he had managed to escape the "bandits" in the swamp, or how he had managed to fabricate a report and slip it to Poyo's mayor in the twenty minutes it took him to arrive from the North-gate. It was flustering, but Yuwen obviously wasn't alone on this heist. The Monkey-man at least was working with him, perhaps everyone who had volunteered him their blade before the explosion.

Most of them seemed perfectly at ease around Yuwen, even though he was more suspicious than a two-tailed cat in a graveyard. She had to assume it was a show of duplicity, rather than idiocy; he was not a stranger to them, and their meeting down here was far from coincidental. Making sure that she was at the back of the group, Ginchiyo reluctantly followed the strange charlatan and his "associates."

"Dofuzi?" Snorting, she continued, "Dao Dzu, his senior, laid all the foundation for his work, the only reason we talk about Dofuzi is that he has a catchier name."

Xanth's expression went from forlorn and lost straight down to hostile as she glared after Yuwen. People just couldn't hold themselves back from making such comments, but knowing they meant well didn't make it any less exhausting. She made a flurry of colourful, weaving gestures in his absence to assure herself of her own voice. The dog nuzzled his head into her chest and she petted its head, when he wormed his snout into her palm and began snuffling. Xanth quirked a brow. The dog sniffed at the scrap of cloth from the Tengu bandit still stuck to her palm. His wet twitching nose traveled away from her hand, down to dirty street - then he took off. Xanth leapt up, letting out a screeching whistle that the dog didn't heed, then dashed after him and jumped upon his back. She wrapped her arms around its meaty neck right before the dog jumped into the hole.

A whimper and a crash announced the presence of the woman and dog to the party. The dog quickly got over his painful landing and hurtled ahead with his nose glued to the ground. Xanth, dumped unceremoniously into the scene with no knowledge of the prior discussed plot, gave the crowd an odd look on her way past as she let the dog carry her.

Yamato made his way through town. His expression fierce, causing all to flee from him. He'd encountered a few town guards that dared to rope him in with the attacking Tengu and he quickly showed them the error in their judgments by separating their heads from their shoulders.

He had to get out, away from the town. He made his way into the underground tunnels after hearing a townsperson mentioning "heroes" going after the culprits.


"Well, it's a wonder the town wasn't simply invaded from below and above. Foolish Tengu, had they properly planned their assault they may have actually made some sort of memorable experience," he muttered making his way into the tunnels.

Voices ahead confirmed what the townsperson had said. "So-called "heroes" eh? Well, let's see what they're after."

The tunnel had begun to get crowded and voices filled the space. She was walking ahead of the others, ears turned back slightly as they all conversed. The obvious conversation of Yuwen's dubious nature had quickly sidetracked into one of philosophers without any sort of confirmation from Yuwen as to his intentions. Lo-Muna found this pretty damning but she figured getting to the chest first would render the point moot overall. With the treasure, she could perhaps bargain with the remaining Tengu for information on...

More footsteps, a hard landing, and someone... sniffing?

Lo-Muna finally turned around to face the group of fools and stopped dead. Her ears pointed straight up and her mouth agape. She saw the small human on top of the massive dog who seemed to be on some sort of scent. Her plan to avoid them seemed pretty dumb now that the human woman had chosen the same path as her. Lo-Muna could feel her heart beating faster, wondering if they were tracking the bearwoman's scent down. Down to the rabbit who had been in the vicinity of the beastwoman. And if she had been in the vicinity...

Thoughts raced and Lo-Muna was fully aware of how odd she looked. She started breathing through her mouth and she suddenly had an urge to preen her nails. She lifted her hand up to examine them, calling out to the group first, "IF you all have time to discuss philosophers, perhaps we could move faster? The Tengu have a lead after all."

"And you..." she began, looking up from her nails to look directly at the poofy-haired woman. There was a nervousness in her gaze as she tried to urge herself to just ask. If she was wrong, she could end the anxiety. If she was right, well... They couldn't catch her right?

"Did you... did you happen to be traveling with a bear beastwoman?"

All Xanth's features grew wide. The whites of her eyes and teeth stood out bright on her surprised face. She shuffled forward on her mount, when the dog's head jerked, catching a different scent. Kaor lingered here, mingled with the Tengu and the scents of new arrivals. The dog's ears flattened and he let out a low growl at Lo-Muna. Xanth's face didn't look so bright anymore. Her teeth were sealed behind tight lips and her eyes narrowed down at the dog. She whistled a few calming notes to him, something akin to a lullaby, and he stopped growling. Xanth turned her head back up to the beastwoman and gave her an apologetic smile. She gestured to the dog, made bunny ears with her fingers atop her head, then made quick scratchy, galloping motions on the back of her left hand. She patted the scar on her throat, shook her head, then made claw gestures at the air, and shook her head again, as she and the dog got closer.

"Ah, understandable. Have a nice day," Lo-Muna said as she walked away awkwardly.

Lo-Muna felt a little pressure on her back. Xanth, who'd gotten close enough to reach out to her, had planted her hand there. Her immovable hand. And her smile was dropped for a look that was less than pleased.

'Where is she?' she mouthed.

"O-oh uh," Lo-Muna felt her heart beating faster as she slowly looked behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the female's face very clearly. It was not one of mercy. A chill ran down her spine, the very same one the tiny human pressed on, and she swallowed loudly.

"I, uh, I..." she began, looking for some kind of excuse. There was none however. She didn't know Xanth. Lo-Muna didn't even know any of the group in the tunnel. She hadn't even known Kaor. But she knew that look in Xanth's face.

Her white ears drooped and Lo-Muna laced her hands together, rubbing her thumbs over each other. Her bangs hid her eyes, turning away from Xanth, as she shakily responded, "I... I couldn't save her."

"The Tengu... They had secured her. Fortune and I tried to stop them but with everything going on, they managed to take off. I chased after them but..." her voice cracked and she bit her lip. Her nails dug into her skin and she gave another small grunt, trying to pull herself together. "I couldn't catch up. They were too high. Too close to the wall. I slipped.. I lost sight."

Slowly, she turned her face to face Xanth once more, guilt and sorrow clear in the beastwoman's gaze.

"I'm sorry."

Xanth squinted at her, trying to read her true intent, and she was just left with... real empathy. It was bizarre to her to see a stranger that truly cared. Especially when the hand behind her was flirting with the hilt of her dagger. She looked around in bewilderment. Xanth's hand unstuck from Lo-Muna's back to awkwardly pat it. Coming in for the third pat, with a little hesitation, she picked up Lo-Muna's hand and started to trace something on the beastwoman's palm with her finger.

X...

... A...

She wasn't real hot on the writing thing, but Kaor had at least grafted into her memory the lines that made Xanth's name. She folded up Lo-Muna's hand like she was wrapping her name up in it and passed it back. Then she pointed to the both of them, shook the piece of fabric that had been torn from a Tengu's shirt and crumpled it up in her fist before slamming that fist down into her palm. Xanth glared very intently at Lo-Muna, awaiting her answer.

"I love charades." Samyan remarked, curling her forefingers over the tips of her thumbs and striking them together at a ninety degree angle. "She said she hates clothing and you two should get naked."

"Ah, so that's what she said," Suiken noted, idly watching the situation whilst chowing down on a pork bun.

Xanth's face turned red and her eyes popped angrily. She promptly twisted around and ditched one of her daggers at the ground right in front of Samyan's feet. It wiggled like a worm poking its head through the dirt and Xanth made a blur of gestures Samyan's way that judging by her expression couldn't mean anything good.

Lo-Muna blinked at the two idiots before Xanth sent them a little gift, the dagger gleaming in the torch lights. The beastwoman looked away for a few seconds, clutching her massive chest as beads of sweat ran down the side of her face. Was she about to stab me!? the beastwoman thought, suddenly much more relieved she had diffused the situation so quickly.

As she straightened herself however, a snort escaped her. Laughter followed, the pitch of it seeming to vary and bounce around the tunnel as though it were a bouncy ball. As she reached up to wipe a tear of joy, she stopped. She could still feel Xanth's finger gliding across her palm, spelling out specific characters. Lo-Muna's gaze lingered on her palm before she cleared her throat with another small grunt.

"Xanth," she said, hoping she was pronouncing it right (What if she has more daggers?). "I will aid you in crushing any Tengu that remain. Perhaps one of them can tell us where they possibly took your friend."

Getting down on one knee, Lo-Muna bowed her head to Xanth, adding, "I will get her back."

Or at the very least, find out what became of her.

Samyan stepped over the dagger, entirely nonplussed. "You dropped something," she said, touching her right hand to the bottom of her chin before rubbing her thumbs across the fingers of their same hands twice in a sort of shrugging gesture.

Yamato walked the tunnels, the voices of those who'd entered before becoming clearer with every step he took. It wasn't long before he came upon a Beastwoman, an Oni, a woman on top of a large dog, and a woman whose race he couldn't quite place. There seemed to be some tension lingering in the air between them all.

"What a motley crew." He said with a grin, "I trust one of you can tell me where the exit might be?"

As the Tengu had been driven off, Ren watched somewhat helplessly as the bear beastwoman from earlier got carried off. There was a moment of thought where he intended to give chase, but it was already too late. Others had tried, and failed, and his attempts would likely do no better. He felt his jaw clench as he cast his gaze to the ground, forming a silent prayer in his mind, either for her safekeeping, or painless end.

Once gone, warriors from around the battlefield began to charge towards the destroyed tower, throwing themselves down what he overheard was some kind of pit, or a hole? Ren shrugged, and promptly walked the opposite direction. "I guess we're done here. Town's safe, probably time I start deciding how to leave." He muttered mostly to himself, and passingly at Prefect Ro.

Ren walked for a few minutes before the docks and market stalls came back into view, and with it a rather pleasing sight. The citizenry he'd armed earlier were fast at work putting out fires, where directed by the local guards, and a few of them carried off the bodies of Tengu that apparently they'd managed to fight off. He couldn't exactly remember the faces, but he noted very few casualties seemed to be among them, mostly just those who were wounded.

He looked back at the ruins of the tower for a moment, milling over in his mind what was truly the best course of action. Well, the likelihood of being paid at this point was... Questionable. And a roaming warrior needed to eat...

With a sigh, Ren turned around and charged for the tower, and once he reached the lip of the tunnel, allowed himself to slide down with relative grace. At the bottom of the hole, there was no one to be found, but he could hear the sound of voices from ahead. He moved forward, quietly so as to not cause too much of a ruckus. At the back of the group was an incredibly tall woman, with a slim figure and long black hair.

"S'cuse me..." He muttered to her in quieter tone than most of the others. "I'm a little late for all of this, did I miss anything important?"

Yuwen held out the torch, it's light refracting and illuminating off the stones lining the tunnel. He'd heard a few of the conversations, snippets and words, but had not spoken himself. From the distant-growing hole to the town-square more had climbed down and joined. He'd been leading them for several minutes now. He occasionally gave a glance back at the assembled group but for the most part kept his mouth shut. But there was one thought that prevailed in his mind when he looked back. A feeling unmistakable in the glint of his olive eyes. This was a guild.

"This way," Yuwen said as he marched, noting the boot-prints on the ashy floor before them. "We're getting close."

***

"Sir, I urge you we must go," A snivelling Tengu pleaded as he looked back at the tunnel leading to the chamber where two Tengu soldiers stood, spears in the air: preparing for any intruders who may come storming in. "Sir, the others are dead... we came with a force of forty and only the four of us remain," The Tengu whispered to his leader. "The Emperor must have known. Why else would this village house so many mercenaries?"

The leader, an elderly, grey bearded Tengu shook his head slowly. "No one knew, Shinji... we were simply unlucky." The leader reached forward and placed his hand on a door at the end of the chamber. His long fingers traced the stone carvings until they reached a mechanical key-hole. "...It seems this chest needs a key," The leader whispered, before raising his hand. The honey stones built into the stone began to glow, as the statue above had earlier. Then they abruptly burst into flame. The burning disappeared after a second, and the smoke a second after that. The rock door was damaged, bit it still stood. "...for I cannot open it with force."

Suddenly a sound echoed from the passage. The leader glared at his assistant. "They've arrived."

The assistant nodded and began to move with the other two Tengu back toward the pit entrance. The leader swallowed. "It needs a key..." He repeated to himself before raising up and flying toward the ceiling of the chamber. "And it's a key they will have." His sharp boots hooked into the rock and he knelt behind a stalactite. And so he'd wait, on the ceiling, in silence...

Exhaling quietly, Ginchiyo fought the urge to question why their group kept getting larger, she had leaped down here without really knowing why herself. Really the only thing that currently mattered was how many people here were secretly working with Mr. Fortune. First came a wisp of a creature, riding a squat powerfully built dog. The pair almost made a bee's line straight towards the White Rabbit, beginning an animated discussion between the Rabbit and the Wisp. The Ashura and Oni quickly began making quips and for a few moments, she felt like dropping her guard; the group reminded her of leading an agelai into their first mock combat.

However, the sudden arrival of a red-skinned man set her back on edge, causing her hackles to rise. The group kept getting odder, but it was all starting to come together, he was probably Fortune's liaison to the tengu. Footfalls sounded off behind her, rhythmically, causing her to steal a glance behind her; a man in mostly black was approaching her.

"I'm a little late for all of this, did I miss anything important?"

Her eyes locked back onto the Red Man before quietly answering the newcomer, "Mr. Fortune, the man the prefects were trying to arrest, definitely knows that Red Monkey. The Monkey has a key and seems to think it is why Poyo was attacked." That practically summed it up, at least as far as she could be bothered to explain.

The sound of weak footfalls sounded ahead of the group, slow and steady; as if purposefully conspicuous. She drew both of her daggers and settled into a ready position, "They approach."

Lo-Muna's ears perked up at the sound of crackling and distant steps. Her nose twitched as one ear swiveled to sounds further into the tunnel and another faced forward as two newcomers arrived. Another grunt as she saw a Tengu had arrived but behind him was the sword wielder of earlier. It seemed he was going to lend a hand to her and and Yuwen again. The raven haired woman spoke a warning.

"Two, no, three pairs of footsteps," Lo-Muna added as she rose from the ground, grabbing hold of her single chakram. "Maybe more. Can't tell for sure but I hope you have a tight grip on that key, fellow beastmen."

"Three?" Samyan quirked an eyebrow at that. "Is that all?"

She looked around the others in the group, ticking them off on her fingers. Blue frog, furry monkey, bald monkey, rabbit, dog cavalry, sexy lady- ah, two more joined from the rear. A... goth? And some guy in dark armor. She clicked her tongue impatiently, placing a hand on her hip as she turned her head in the direction the rabbit had heard footsteps, using the beast woman's giant clown ears as guidance.

"Hey, you should know there's like... eight of us," she called out. "Oh we haven't actually introduced ourselves yet, have we?" she muttered in a quick aside, before raising her voice again to speak with whoever approached. "You wanna just call it quits and go home? We'll just let you leave, I think. The party brawl's pretty much over, anyway."

"Make that... two more!"

Shuin materialized out of thin air with his funny sidekick in tow, clearly panting and out of breath from catching up. He leaned smoothly against the wall while Namari lowered her head and silently picked at the debris clinging to her garb, glaring at him with a one-eyed stare beneath her bangs. Stroking his chin, he surveyed the faces that have gathered with some curiosity.

"Thought there'd only be a few of us down here, what's all this? We all lookin' for the treasure? If you are..." He snapped his fingers and pointed to them with a light-hearted grin. "I don't mind fighting for it."

"If it comes to that, I'll help you kill him," Namari said, looking up and brushing her hair out of her very beautiful and valuable face.

"That was a joke, by the way," Shuin swiftly amended, appearing to realize his mistake. "We're all on the same team after all, aren't we?"

Namari's eyes narrowed slightly.

This man, Shuin... he behaves like a fool, but his martial skills are the real deal. In the earlier fight, he was pretending to screw up and bumped into me twice -- a normal person wouldn't have caught on, but he doesn't understand how my spatial awareness works; I could see through his act immediately. This bastard wants me to let my guard down around him. The only question is... what for?

Samyan yelled out ahead but whoever awaited seemed to keep distance, not responding and instead retreating further into the darkness. "If these are the last of their warriors it would stand to assume they're the best of them also," Yuwen noted to the snow oni woman. "They have a plan."

Yuwen frowned heavily at Shuin as he ran up loudly. Behind him chained to his wrist was Namari. Yuwen squinted at the woman, recognizing her from the square- and perhaps, somewhere else?

"You helped in the square?" Yuwen began, taking a step toward Namari. "Then we will need your- Yuwen halted his own words as the sound of movement could be heard down the tunnel. Suddenly his eyes went wide. "Get down!" Yuwen leapt, pushing Namari and Shuin to the stone floor as a duo of precise arrows whizzed passed, embedding themselves in the rock behind them. "Archers!" Yuwen exclaimed as down the hall three Tengu's began to fire upon the group, their aim deadly.

Takai ducked down as an arrow landed into the rock behind him where his head once was. He glanced up with a mixture of shock and relief in his eyes, before reaching for the arrow and nocking it into his own bow. With expert precision Takai fired the Tengu arrow toward one of their enemies. The monkey man reacted through instinct, quickly diving toward Yuwen where another arrow had landed beside him and ripping it out of the rock, nocking it again and firing.

The minute Takai shot another arrow flew back, slicing through the sleeve of his tunic like a dagger. In the darkness across the tunnel a straw-cloaked Tengu took aim with a pale, oaken long-bow. The weapon was almost as tall as the archer who cocked it.

Yuwen grunted, trying to rise before smashing his chest to the ground again, barely dodging a flying arrow. "That is one hell of a shot!" Yuwen gasped.

As the sniper kept the group pinned in the tight passage two other Tengu ran forward, one large with a club and one small with a katana. Their bare-feet smacked against the earth before suddenly they lifted off with terrible force, rising into the air. Yuwen looked up in horror as the two rose in the tight space of the tunnel. The space ahead was theirs, and the group was pinned as long as their sniper kept his bow aimed on them.

Yuwen grunted, flipping over like a fish onto his back and looking down back to the group. "Okay!" He huffed. "Anyone have some ideas?!" At his words the club wielding Tengu dove, aiming down at where Yuwen lay and threatening to flatten him into the tunnel earth.