Welcome to Gaia! ::

Text messages probably would have been the way most people would have gone about the task of inviting a group of people to meet them in particular. However, Invictus had taken the time to hand pen several very well treated notes, seal them, and then at a reasonable hour of the day travel to several doors to lave his invitation - complete with seal - to extend his offer.

Inside of it there was a date, time, and very minimal instructions:



To some it wouldn't be the most impressive of ideas - the forest had its own problems to deal with just to get through it without a goal of where to go. However, those who did wish to meet Invictus's challenge, upon following his instructions of where to meet would be finding themselves in the middle of that same foggy forest they'd had to traverse to collect the trinkets in. There was what looked like a fortress made of trees that looked to be completely dark on the inside.

Dark, sans a few patrolling lights that resembled the guardsmen of the forest itself. There was a significant lack of Fog on the inside, but outside Invictus himself lingered - waiting, impassive. He had expectations, but what they were, were not revealed at that time.

((OOC: You guys have been extended an Invitation from Invi for passing his Open Class Stealth Trial! You don't have to help with this though. ICly your student did receive a note.))









+ Shehk who I own, ah ha ha

Roch came next. He slipped through the trees, his mind keeping track of the various lights, a little grin pulling at his lips. There were several reasons he was excited about this--he LIKED being a sneaky lil son of a witch, it had come in handy several times in his life, and any chance to add to that was one he would grab with both hands. He also still liked Invi. Any guy that could do the stuff Invi could was tops in his book, even after that scene in the treasure room.

And besides, top secret meetings in the middle of a dangerous wood? AWESOME. He wondered how many in the school had passed that test--

Well, he wasn't surprised to see Shun, he thought as he got to the other two. He raised a hand in greeting and moved to their side, turning to see who else would show up.

Titus was rather curious about the hand written invitation that he had received requesting help for setting up the next trial of stealth.

"Who hand writes invitations?" Was the pony that old fashioned?

Whatever, Titus was just glad the horseman had noted his remarkable talents.....after the demon had failed the course a number of times. That aside he had still completed it so there was that.

With the invitation tucked away in his coat Titus strolled through the foggy forest as if he owned the place. At least until he remembered how well that had went last time and took an air of caution as he continued to traverse the woods, avoiding the lights in the distance. The lights always meant bad things were coming.

Finally the nightmare demon arrived at the designated location clearly having taken a wrong turn through a bush or a low hanging tree. Leaves and a small branch were sticking out of his hair and his jacket looked like it had been caught on a few things....but he was here.

His gaze circled around at the people present, nodding to Invictus as he passed until he settled on an all to familiar face. A smile twisted his lips but for the time being the demon remained silent. So he and Shun would be playing again. How fun.

Slowly, other students had appeared in the clearing. At the sight of Titus, he couldn't help but frown. Damn the nightmare demon. Though, he didn't say anything to him. Now was not the time for such things. When Shehk entered, he caught her gaze, and nodded in return. It seemed his advice to her might have done some good. He also gave Roch and Levi each a small acknowledging nod before turning his attention to the one that had summoned them here.

Even though he was allowed to speak, Shun still stayed quiet. He didn't really have anything to say right now after all.

Turning around when Invictus motioned behind them, he saw that the big ones were right there. For a moment, he wondered if he was going to have to duck somewhere, but the creature was rather stationary right now. He shot a glance back towards Conquest, then looked over the being of light.

"Inside?" he finally said after hearing that, not entirely certain what was meant by it. Furrowing his brow, he slowly lifted hand. It didn't really seem to react to the speech, nor his slow movement right now. Reaching out, he lightly touched the thing briefly, finding that it was fairly solid. Again it didn't move at all.

"They're living creatures, you will not be getting inside of them. This is a matter of observation for what is inside." Invictus motioned to the tree fortress behind him, as though puzzled that it would be inquired as to what he meant. Then again, it was also partially masked by the fog, so perhaps it was doing its job.


Shehk walked around the 'Big One' curiously, her tail flicking and leaving a trail of light in its wake which seemed to draw the creature's attention, the red lights on its head flickering on as it seemed to 'turn' to watch her. She frowned, seeming to note that she did have a distinct disadvantage against losing these things. No wonder she'd been caught so much if the very act of her moving (which created the trails of light) would lure them.

Curious.

Invictus gave each of them plenty of time to investigate the creatures that were at hand.

"They're like..guard dogs, you could say." the horseman answered to Titus's question. "In the right habitat even you could say they were living booby traps. But that requires far too much sand for me to have prepared efficiently to play with." he continued on, making vague references that had Shehk puzzling the slightest amount. "Generally, they are a hive species, bearing a queen who functions as a sort of hive mind. The queen of these tends to...like treasure as well, so if you try to take these treasures from her and she notices it.... well, you can imagine that her 'children'," he motioned again to the eyeless creatures in front of each of them, "would descend upon you in an instance."


It was rather easy to see what he was getting at with this trial. They were going to play item recovery for him.

"You will be tasked with getting inside and out of this hive," again, he motioned to the tree fortress, "in one piece while recovering a particular item for me. I will not tell you what it is, however. You will know what it is as the queen of this hive has very few treasures so she will guard them more cautiously."

He seemed confident enough he hadn't given them an impossible task.

"Any questions before you go in?"

Examining the creature a little more, Shun soon turned to look at Invictus as he continued to explain a few things about what their task was. It sounded simple enough, he supposed.

"Are there other creatures aside from these large ones that we should know about?" he asked. The Reaper didn't think that the others would be as much of an issue. If they were anything like bees or ants, there were pretty much just three classes. The queen, the workers, and the soldiers. The last one was generally the one to worry about.

Shun's eyes narrowed as he shot Titus a glare.

"Regardless if I like them or not, I would prefer to be prepared if possible. I wouldn't expect someone as dull as you to understand, Tits," he hissed back to the nightmare demon.

He was hoping this would be an individual effort. Working with Titus always ended up poorly.

One way or another.