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Much to the dismay of the crew, Pentheus had been overrun by bandits by a surprise attack. It was a devastating blow, since Pentheus is Learania's largest port city. Without it, putting up a naval defense would be difficult. Because of this inconvenient fact, Captains Deborah and Needles were sent with troops in an attempt to retake this important city, along with any guild member that chose to come along.

The trip was ominous at best. There was a chance that a group of bandits could jump out at any given moment to try to take down the Learanian force. It was still morning, so for the most part things were seemingly peaceful- and that was the scariest thing. When things get too peaceful, it could mean disaster is about to strike.

However, the group did not have to face any unexpected attacks. It wasn't very long before they could see the city in the distance. They would soon make a charge to retake the city. With the combination of Needles and Deborah leading the way, two captains that seemed to work really well with one another, things seemed hopeful. But on the other hand... nobody knew just what was waiting for them inside this newly occupied city....

"Man, it's great to be back." Rajin stretched his arms as he traveled toward Pentheus. It had been four months since the tiger left to Estarcia for his treasure hunt. He had to admit, it wasn't easy finding the artifact burying so deep in the forest. But using the map, his sense of nose, and good tracking skills, he was able to recover an unique vase.

Judging from the vase's condition, he estimated that it was made around 600 years ago. Although the colors were worn off and there was a crack on the side, it was in good condition. Sure, it would knock down the price from what the vase would cost today because of a little crack, but he didn't care. He was able to explore and did his treasure hunt. Now that he had recovered the artifact, it was time to meet the auditor.

With the vase tucked safely in his knapsack, the tiger headed forth to Pentheus. Maybe the auditor would be there, being the closest city near Estarcia. Once he got his payment and maybe the next planning for his treasure hunt, the tiger planned to go back to Eyris for a little side trip. That trip: to find the swindling swordsmaster and beat the living s**t out of him.

Thanked to that swordsmaster who snuck attacked him after Valentine's Day, it had delayed the tiger on his trip to Estarcia. So once he's done with the auditor, Rajin will pounce back to Eryis, find Joshua, and beat that swindler ten times fold; all because the swindler cowardly attacked him, saying something about paying back the debt. It wasn't the tiger's fault that the swindler cheated him on the bet. (And it was too bad that there wasn't a bet in it and it was all in the tiger's head.)

As the tiger approached to Pentheus, he stopped. Something wasn't right. He smelled blood, fire, smoke, and corpses coming from the city. What had happened since he left?

Rajin quickly head toward Pentheus, holding the handle of the knapsack so it would bounce on his back and create damage to the vase worst. He could see Pentheus as he approached. There were some buildings that had smokes coming out of them as well as some of the buildings looked oddly in shape and demolished. Rajin slowed down his pace at the entrance of Pentheus and looked around.

There were corpses everywhere. He could see parts of the buildings scattered everywhere too. What happened here? How was it that this great port city got demolished so quickly? The tiger wasn't sure if there were any survivors living in this city anymore. Whatever made Pentheus fall, the tiger wasn't sure. However, if trouble still loomed around this ruined city, then Rajin needed to get out of here. It wasn't that he was afraid to fight. It was just that he would be furious if the artifact got broken.

Let the moonlight sign post shine through the clouds to me
____and show me which road to take
______No matter how close to breaking I am today....

I'll re-awaken the distant memory of that day______
So don't forget, keep it carved in your heart.

Word had spread fast that Pentheus was under attack. Quite frankly, Ephraim didn't know much about the town but just to be civil, the lancer decided to accompany the two that were in charge of this group. After all, he did live on this very land now. Leaving Kishuna behind seemed like a daily routine to him nowadays. He'd go out for a day or two, and return to see that the morph hadn't moved an inch at all. He had silently followed the group from behind, cloak draped over him and a hood to cover himself from the sun more or less. Pentheas was on the borderline of Sentria and Learania, so technically it can be considered a part of the very land he stands on. Whatever the reason he decided to tag along, it was because he figured his help would be required somewhere. Where exactly, Ephraim didn't know so he simply chose a group to follow.

Hm, it had been months since he came to Pentheas..that and only that time was because he had went with Alihi in rescueing Amara..this time however, was because he felt like help was needed here. This place probably wasn't Ephraim's first choice to visit after that entire mess during the Fall Festival, but one needed to start somewhere right?

He recognized Rei from the desert back during that mess. Though he never talked to him, there really wasn't anybody else he recognized aside from Deborah who seemed to be one of the person leading this party.

What a nostalgic feeling. Ephraim didn't like it one bit, this entire area didn't make him feel at all comfortable.

Underneath his cloak was a Silver Spear tucked and hidden away. The only thing visible was probably the blade near his ankles, but even with the cloak swiveling left and right, it was hard to identify what Ephraim had under there unless they were to actually rip away that piece of cloth. If all this ended smoothly, all the better. None of them would be required to fight, however, that was almost never the case with bandits. Expect the worse..that's all the lancer can probably do at this point.

It was a beautiful day for taking a stroll. If only it weren't marred by the fact that bandits had taken over a port nearby. "Day's like this...remind of being back in Ostia." John had thought silently to himself while continued to march along the road to the seaport. His hair was naturally slicked back as usual, his green tunic, no surprise there. His usual quiver and a brave bow slung across his chest and his usual knife kept in his boot to boot.

Bandits were something they should be able to handle easy. Nonetheless they couldn't be too over-confident less they were in for it later on. He's heard details of Pentheus, a beautiful place specially since it was near the sea, which he's never seen before. Nonetheless, he smiled while continually marching forward.

"Damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!" Rajin cursed himself muttering as he heard the explosion nearby, followed by the scent of smoke and gunpowder. So there was trouble in this city. The only problem was where in the city.

The tiger had to get out of this s**t fast. With an artifact behind his back, there was no way he could keep it safe from danger. Not to mention, all that work would go to waste if this vase was broken.

Rajin stopped at the intersection and smelled. It wasn't helping him which direction was safe with all the fire, smoke, dead, and gunpowder everywhere. However, just smelling the beorc walking among the ruins was enough to tell him where to avoid.

Smelling that there were no beorc nearby, Rajin randomly took left. He held tightly onto his knapsack as he continued to run. If he ran into trouble, he wasn't sure whether he would run away or fight. Sure, he would fight because he wasn't the type to back down from a fight or to run away. But with this artifact, that would be trouble.

As he made another turn, a new scent caught his attention. This scent... It didn't came from the ruins or from the beorc. It smelled like... A laguz. There was a laguz in this city? Well, that surprised the tiger. He didn't expect a laguz in this city. But was this laguz a friend or foe?

Only one way to find out. Rajin thought as he dash, following the direction where the scent came from. If this laguz knew what was going on, maybe he would understand what happened to Pentheus... That was, if this laguz was friendly.

Rajin stopped when he saw a figure coming in front of him. Judging by the smell, it was that laguz he smelled earlier. He stopped exactly the same time the smaller laguz stopped.

Huh. Judging from the appearance, the laguz wasn't from the bird tribe. So that would mean the laguz was either from the beast or dragon tribe. However, he couldn't tell correctly based from the hood the laguz was wearing.

Rajin's ears twitched when he heard the laguz spoke. Judging by the voice, it was a male. And he was asking if he was a Learanian? He would shout back that he was from Tellius; but then again, he was in a different world, so it would make sense that he came from Learania. And judging by the tone of the laguz and the scent, he could tell that the laguz was being cautious. So this fellow wasn't a foe. A foe would have attack him without giving a second thought to think.

"Yeah, I'm from Learania." The tiger replied, walking to the smaller laguz. "What the hell is going on?"

Rajin listened carefully to his surrounding. He could still hear the explosions as well as the beorc's shouting. Something told him that the trouble was not done and they had to move fast.

"Let's get out of here." Rajin shouted as he turned around and ran. He didn't have time to have a proper introduction with this laguz. What matter was that they had to get out of here quickly. Otherwise, he would maul the very first person who dared to attack him.

A shadow flickered here and there within the city of Pentheus. Crow had gone ahead so that he could get the gates open, for when the Guard captains and the rest of their armies arrived. He arrived before the sun had gotten too far into the sky and scaled the city walls. When he reached the top, he leaped to a low roof up to the higher roofs. From there he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, silently making his way to the far gate. When it came into site, Crow scaled down the building and dropped into an alleyway.

After landing, the spy swiftly and silently went to the edge of the alleyway and peered out. A bandit was leaning against the wall, completely oblivious of the young spy. The brigand dropped his apple and as he came back up from retrieving it, happened to look into the alley, looking straight at Crow. Sight of the spy slipped passed the brigand however, and he returned to leaning back. After a bite, the brigand blinked, then looked back into the alley, but there was nothing left to see. The bandit shrugged and went back to what he was doing.

Crow had brought everything that he needed with him. Once he could get to the gate, he would be able to do more than open it. He could set the bandits into a panic. He could make sure that the enemy wouldn't be able to close the gates on Learania's forces after they were opened. He could destroy the gates, completely. Crow came up upon the first gate to see that bandits were watching it. They would be easily dealt with. Brigands were not the most intelligent of foes. A simple toss of a rock into the distance sent them rushing over to investigate. Once they were gone, Crow leaped into action. He could do what he needed to do quick... and he would need to. He did not have much time to dig, but he had brought a container. He placed it in front of the gate, then pulled out three pouches. He opened them and poured them, a black power rushing out, until the container was completely filled. With the rest, he led a trail of it far enough away, so that he would be safe. It was risky enough that he was even carrying that power, given its unpredictability, not to mention it's sensitivity. Igniting that makeshift mine close to him was.. not desirable.

The spy reached by and picked up a stick. There were still small fires going, so that would be more convenient than taking the time to ignite his own flame. Crow allowed the flame to travel onto the stick, which he then used to set off the trail of power. After the timer of sorts began, Crow dashed away, towards the next gate. He wouldn't have such the peaceful atmosphere to work with for much longer. It would make the next gate a little more challenging. After the spy got about thirty feet away from where he set the fuse, an explosion went off at the gate. He had used a lot of black power- half of what he had brought- but it still wouldn't be enough to completely incinerate the gate. It would destroy it enough for Learania to get through, at least. That was what mattered.

Once Crow got the the other gate, he started to do the same thing he had done with the other gate. He had used his container, already. He could only bring due to its inconvenient size. Without the container, the next blast was bound to be messy. He dug a small hole, much too small, really, but it would have to do. Crow took the rest of the black power he had on him and poured it into a large pile by the gate. Despite most of the attention being brought toward the other gate at that point, Crow was then spotted. Bandits came running at him, so he leaped onto crate, barrel, whatever was around until he made it to the top of the wall. He then saw Captain Needles charging forward and knew that she would need to be aware of the gate. He jumped down and called out to her in midair. "Attack the gate! Shoot at it with fire!"

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War. It had come again. Only about half a year later, and Learania was dragged into another flaming war. Deborah growled under her breath as she and Needles had arrived close to Pentheus. She honestly wouldn't be surprised if that nomad captain really was trying to have her killed. Maybe she should stop doing so well in combat- maybe it would cause her to not always be the one chosen to go to the most dangerous areas. But in the end Deborah was only kidding herself by thinking that. She knew full well... fighting was in her blood. she couldn't escape it. And if she was bad at it, she would die. She had no choice but to excel.

Deborah listened to Needles who was surprisingly the first of them to speak up for once. Maybe their time working together in Estarcia had made the sniper warm up a little. it made working with her a lot easier, at least. She made a good point, too. Bandits couldn't coordinate like this. But then again, not all Sentrian bandits were mindless idiots. That leader, Feo, from back in autumn was actually rather intelligent. Deborah had a hard time believe that he was truly from the desert. The fact that he was capable of reading spellbooks sparked that thought. And if there were people like that tub of lard, then it was possible that others existed. There was a self-proclaimed figurehead of the desert- no doubt he was smart enough to have weaseled his way into that position.

Before more though could be given, an explosion rang out into the morning sky. "Guess dats some kinda cue. Yeah, ya right, we bettah get goin'. Dat splosion probly got dem all hectic- We can hit em' while dey're not so organized." Deborah nodded and pulled out her native tribal lance from her back. As Needles grabbed her, she raised a brow and looked over. "Don't ya be worryin' about me, ya silly girl. I took out an entire group by myself when I first arrived in dis world. You worry about ya ownself."

As Needles went off toward her gate, Deborah turned to her soldiers and the other guild member. "Alright, if ya comin' wit me, den le's get goin'! If ya too slow, den don't botah comin'!" She quickly took off toward her gate, followed by footsoldiers and knights.

As she arrived at the gate, she noticed that it was where the explosion had taken place. The gate was still technically in tact, but the explosion had been big enough to allow them all passage. "Looks like deh hard parts been taken care of! Charge in and eliminate any bandit in sight!" Deborah turned back and leaped through the opening in the gate, thrusting her spear head right into an incoming bandit's face.