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Tal
Tribal
Sleeping Forest


Tal, depending on the fact that anacondas couldn't move quite as fast as other, more deadly snake-ish monsters, ran around the side of the serpent and leaped onto its back. He slashed at the back of its head, but it still remained alive and active...and now it knew where he was.

He leaped off the monster, then flipped out of the way as the brute twisted around to instinctively bite at an annoyance that, to its further agitation, was no longer there. Tal chuckled and rushed in to attack its underbelly while the monster was still distracted. The blade of his dagger slashed the exposed underbelly of the anaconda, and the beast finally fell to the ground, bleeding freely and violently twitching from still temporarily active nerves.

Tal let out a deep sigh, staying stationary to catch his breath for just a few seconds. He then ran as quickly as his legs and his remaining adrenaline rush would propel him towards the goblins. He trusted that Remetheus could take care of the other anaconda, so he stabbed one of the goblins in the gut. As soon as he withdrew the blade, the goblin dropped dead to the forest floor.


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Nikolas, Johnny, Hel, Adelbert
Palazzo
Amoria
Thousand-Year Wall, Eastern Cavern


Nikolas spotted his prey sooner than he thought - simply due to the fact that the numbers of this small rebel force had almost run out. He charged up a Fire spell and quickly fired it at Adelbert. The General, however, noticed the red-head's approach and swiftly dove out of the way. The blast of fire was now spinning toward Dansworth.

He focused another Thunder spell towards Adelbert, but one of the rebel troops jumped in the way of the lightning bolt. The man fell backwards, to be caught in the General's arms, but was still on his feet.

"General......" the man whispered weakly, "....you have....to take the oth-other soldiers......and get to.....the s-secondary.....position....."

Adelbert shook his head, "no". "I will not leave until these wretches are all dead!"

"General...You s-shouldn't die....without having....another chance....to defeat them...The others....are w-waiting....for you...at their posts.....They'll help you....more than I could..."

Without wasting any time, Adelbert hoisted the soldier's corpse over his shoulder and ran down one of the tunnels just before Nikolas could attack him again. He signaled for the other rebels to follow, which they did.

Hel managed to shoot one in the back before he got away, but the others fled successfully with their General.

Nikki shook his head in disappointment.

"Well, that didn't last quite as long as I thought it would..."

Johnny cleared his throat as he brought his axe to rest on his shoulder.

"Should we chase after them, Lord Nikolas?"

"No...They won't get very far. Not far enough for us to completely lose them, anyway. At this moment, we must ensure none of our own are severely hurt, and rest a bit while we can. The next battle will be much more difficult, I can almost guarantee it."

Remetheus
Tribal
Sleeping Forest

The small mage, not one to waste an opportunity, held his staff with both hands and brought it down upon the anaconda while it was still recovering. The thud that followed and the reptile's stilling signaled its demise. Remetheus looked around while trying to catch his breath.

A nearby goblin was more interested in Tal, taking no notice of the mage. Remetheus raised his staff and pointed it at the goblin, channeling energy through it again, sending a burst of flame towards it.

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Fals
Palazzo
Amoria
Thousand-Year Wall, Eastern Cavern

Seeing that the enemy had ran away, Fals walked over to his allies. "I'm fine, kupo." Seeing that some of the party was slightly hurt, including himself, the moogle brought his flute to his lips and played a short piece, summoning notes that surrounded him, healing himself. Fals did the same with Dansworth and Nikolas, seeing as they were the only ones that had taken significant damage.

After he was finished playing, he stashed his flute back in the rucksack on his back. The pain near his stomach had been alleviated. With some distaste (though he didn't show it), he noticed that his shirt had a small tear in it; he made a note to sew it back up later.

Lot
Tribal
Sleeping Forest

The goblin finally managed to dislodge the jewel from it's throat. It coughed as the jewel dropped to the ground. Gasping, the goblin rested on its back for a moment.

"Ah, there it is!" said Lot as he reached down and picked up the jewel. "Eww, it's all slimy."

The goblin returned to its feet, anger burning in it's eyes. It roared at Lot, it's yellow teeth fully visible.

Lot looked up from his jewel which he was trying to affix to his rod. "Oh crap, it looks mad," he said to himself. Lot looked at the goblin, brimming over with rage and decided to run for it. Heading towards Tal, Lot ran as quickly as he could.

The goblin followed, closing the distance fairly rapidly.

Lot knew he would have to turn and fight soon. "A little help anyone," he shouted.

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Dansworth
Palazzo
Amoria
Thousand-Year Wall, Eastern Cavern

"So what now?" asked Dansworth as she watched the other two walk off. Fals' flute healed all of the damage she received in the battle. Now, Dansworth was ready for battle again. All that remained was Nikolas' word.

Remetheus
Tribal
Sleeping Forest

Remetheus watched as his spell flew through the air, downing the last goblin. A quick look around showed that all the enemy monsters were taken care of. The small mage relaxed a bit though the adrenaline rush was somewhat exhilarating.

At Tal's question, the mage looked at the outlaw's direction. As an answer, he nodded a few times before walking closer to him. The fact that Remetheus refused to speak was somewhat inconvenient, especially at times like this when he was in an area with monsters. He couldn't just take out his little book and write his responses in it; enemies might attack, though unlikely as that may be, the mage was still a bit paranoid. And besides, he had to use both hands every time he wanted to write something down-- one hand for holding the book and one hand for writing. Considering that he had nowhere to put the staff during these times, it was somewhat problematic. Someone could just take the staff while if left it lying around and he didn't really fancy the idea of being left without a weapon-- even if he could use magic.

Tal, William
Tribal
Sleeping Forest


"Nah, I think I'm fine, Lot. Thanks, though."

As he waited for the other two to get ready to move on, Tal started to glance around the area. They seemed to be in a very small clearing, with limbs and leaves all around them. He couldn't help but chuckle at an area where the barely visible dirt path split in two directions. Each of the two paths were surrounded by trees on both sides, and he couldn't see where they went.

There was a brown wooden sign at the beginning of the path on the right, which said in white painted letters,



There was a nearly identical wooden sign at the beginning of the left-hand-side path, which said in the same white letters:



I wonder what that's supposed to mean exactly....

"You lost, friend?!"

Tal looked around frantically, trying to determine who had spoken and where the voice had come from. But before even a few seconds passed, he heard another sound - that of a flute. The tune was very light and cheerful. Following the sound of the flute, his eyes scanned up the pine tree next to the "Where there are owls" sign, and sure enough, laying upon a branch of the tree, was a young man playing a wooden flute.

"Who the hell are you?" Tal asked, in quite a rude fashion, of course. The man stopped playing his flute and dropped down to the ground before Tal, his brown hair falling back in place - well, as neat as it would ever get, as wild as it was - after he landed.

"Well, judging from the fact that you're the one intruding on my home, I'd say I'm the one entitled to the position of asking questions. What brings you to the forest, outsiders?"

"We're just passing through. We had no choice. There are knights from Gabbiani all over the place. Now if you'll just let us alone, we'll be on our way, with no bother to you...."

The green-eyed stranger laughed heartily.

I don't think so, friend. I know what you are now. You're a criminal like me. And it's been a long time since I've had any rivalry around here. Everyone who goes against me in my home either joins me, or learns to shut the hell up and stay outta my way. So now's my chance for some real exercise."

The boy drew a dagger similar to Tal's after he finished the last statement.

"Here's what's gonna happen, shorty. You n' me are gonna go 'round. If you win, I won't kill you."

And what happens if I lose?" Tal asked with a glare at the boy as he drew his dagger as well. The stranger laughed.

"Well...We'll see..."

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Nikolas
Palazzo
Amoria
Thousand-Year Wall, Eastern Cavern


"Alright, I think we've waited long enough. Let's press on. They can't have gotten too far."

Nikolas rose to his feet, gripping his staff in his right hand as he did so. He stretched his arms a bit before leading the others down the same tunnel that Adelbert and the others had taken.

Tal, William


Tal ran at the brown-haired stranger, as he did the same. Their daggers clashed, both of them pushing towards the other forcefully. Somehow, the stranger's blade began to cut into Tal's. The green-haired outlaw noticed this, and pulled away to leap back a bit. The forest boy smiled and rushed at Tal, bringing his dagger down upon him. Tal moved quickly, desperate to block, although his parry wasn't as forceful as he had intended...He hadn't expected such a quick movement.

This kid is fast...

Tal managed to push the boy away, then regrouped with his own attack, which was blocked. They went on like this for quite a while, before Tal finally took advantage of an opening in the boy's defenses. He desperately moved to take advantage of it, stabbing his dagger into his opponent's right arm.

He quickly pulled the blade out, while the boy, shocked by the injury, left himself wide open. Tal took the opportunity and performed a roundhouse kick which knocked his opponent to the ground. Tal rushed to put his dagger right at the boy's throat.

"Game over.......I win...." he said between quick deep breaths, trying to calm his breathing and heartbeat while sweat dripped down his face. Although he was worn out, and his heart was pounding like crazy, there was a wide grin on his face.

"Alright, alright...You win. Get that thing off me, kid."

Tal nodded and sheathed his dagger, then helped the boy up to his feet. "Whaddya mean, 'KID'? You don't look any older than I am," Tal said defiantly, his grin now replaced with a frown, and his eyes glaring at the boy, who was now sheathing his dagger. He was clearly not having such a hard time breathing as Tal was.

"You sure about that, kid?" the forest boy asked with a friendly smile. He extended his hand towards Tal, who took it. "You're not too bad, ya know that? Real tough. What's your name, kid?" he asked him as the two shook hands.

"Tal....My name's Tal Ziekden."

The other boy gave Tal a curious look, one eyebrow lowered a bit. He gave a quick glance at the red crescent moon mark on his arm, then back to his face, which he stared at for a long time before hesitantly asking, "....You sure?

Tal looked at the boy in a questioning way. "Yeah, of course I'm sure. What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Ah, nothin'. Don't worry about it. Anyway, my name's William. And you three should follow me. I can take you to a place where you can heal up and relax for a while." As he said this, William began to walk down the path where, according to the sign, there were owls. Tal looked back at his two companions, shrugged, and turned to follow William to wherever he was leading them.

Lot
Tribal
Sleeping Forest

Right after he finally secured the jewel back in it's setting, Lot looked up to see everone walking away into the forest. "Wait, Don't leave me alone!" he called as he ran after the group. Falling in line behind Remetheus, Lot managed to see William leading the party. "So, what did I miss?" He asked to the one person in the party who would not answer him directly.