If there was one thing in the world that the group could agree on, it was that this was not an area any of them truly wanted to be in. Intet landed quietly, gracefully even for a dragon of his size, even though he had higher to grow. The darkness and canopy did little for aerial visibility, so Haman had ordered them to ground. Once he touched down he burned the ground below him and laid on the singed earth comfortably as the group decided on their next course of action just as Lucious arrived with their gear. "Alright everyone, gear up. Just to recap what I told you on the way, reports of a witch in the area. A friend in Nocturne passed along the info they had to me." Haman said as he tied bandages around his arms and legs and took off his shirt, opting instead for a lightweight vest. "Apparently, she is a witch in the service of "The Gate." he finished. Maria chimed in. "Um, what is the gate?" Lucious, carrying only a shotgun and a pair of pistols, brushed past her without a word.
Maria looked after him, wondering why he was so standoffish towards her, but before she could really address it, Liam answered her question. "The gate is literally just that. It is a portal to hell. And it's also a living thing. Kaminae, in her younger days, wasn't a demonic b***h. She used to be just like... well just like you." he explained. Reeanah interjected. "She was enticed by the gate. Like pandora's box. When she opened it, she was twisted and turned into what she is now. Something else. A demon..." The comparison between her and Kaminae hit her pretty hard and she looked after Lucious with a bit more understanding. Still it was ridiculous to assume they were one and the same... because they clearly are nothing alike.
The mage and Haman urged her on, as they didn't wanna be on the deep roads any longer than needed. They traveled on a very low path, the only sounds being Liam's armor clanking against itself, and footsteps. Still, her heightened senses would be a good initial warning signal should danger be on the rise. And with a kiranu aroudn as well, they were covered as far as early warning systems. Still, in the darkness a lot of creatures are more voracious and likely to strike without caring what they are up against. It was unfortunate that Intet had to stay behind, for he was a good portion of her combat ability. Still, with her spear and buckler she was more than capable. The focus of this mission wasn't a fight however. They were searching for pages of a lost book.
"Liam." Haman began. Liam looked over his shoulder at him. "When we arrive, I'm going to need you to be on the front beside me. This witch isn't going to want to talk, and she'll no doubt try to fight us head on. We don't know what she's capable of so be ready for everything." Liam nodded with a cheesy smile. He was eager to fight, that much was clear to Maria. She smiled because she was too. Only she was eager for the end result, not the little battles inbetween. "Reeanah, I want you to lie in wait. Spring when the oppurtunity is high. Karmina and Lucious, hit her from range, be showy to keep her attention focused on us so she can do so. And Maria." He paused and Maria smiled, flailing her spear around with a high level of mastery. "I think you will do well wherever you go." And almost as soon as he finished explaining, her senses told her and Reeanah the same thing. Twigs under feet snapping, heavy breath, large frames moving close. "Something is coming our way!" she warned suddenly!
A tree was knocked over, followed by a growl. A body collector suddenly waddled out from the shadows, an axe in one hand and a dead goblin in the other. The Body collector smelled horrid, and looked just as bad as he smelled. He raged forward as soon as he saw the group. "Liam!" Haman called. He launched at the monster, swinging his sword arm to meet the downward chop of the axe, knocking it aside. He then based it with his shield instantly as a follow up attack. THe beast took a step back, and roared as a dark aura set about it. Haman leaped off of the shield, going up over his heand and swinging down his foot. The head of the beast was hit, and he staggered another step back, heavy and lazy. Lucious was on him next, as if this dance was practiced. A shotgun blast made the beast seem to tip, but he was on one leg still until a fire ball came rocketing into his body. Finally falling backwards, Maria closed in on it from one side, with Reeanah coming from the other. The cat went high, her claws scraping through the metal on it'sface and ripping it open just as Maria went under the large beast with her spear, going right through a corpse on it's back and impaling it, she then jumped with a turn and knocked it over, ripping the spear free in the process.
All was quiet besides a bit of heavy breath as the monster didn't seem alive anymore. Celebration, however, would have to wait as the moment the beast fell more undead began to attack them, smaller this time but in greater numbers. Liam rushed their line like a knight would with his longsword and Maria opted for switchign weapons. She fought beside Haman and Liam at the front with her pair of blades, stabbing and slashing a seemingly endless amount of skeletons and zombies while Lucious's guns and Karmina's spells made loud noises that echoed through the forest. At one point, Maria found herself back to back with a panting Liam, and focused her mind. A ball of water erected around them suddenly, literally out of nowhere. The whips of water and shots of ice that came from it did well for battering and knocking the skeletons away, but sooner or later the water wouldn't be enough to hold off the horde.
Even Karmina's fire was beginning to seem futile. That was when they finally saw her. The witch herself was the root of these undead. "Haman! She's here! She's summoning these things!" Karmina called out. Her voice was like a small childs almost, which startled Maria, who had never heard it before. But she refocused as the witch, old and scary as they always were, tried to fly away on... what looked like an undead fire dragon. She wasn't counting on Maria, however. No the sky was no safe domain from a dragoon. "If she goes down so too will her pawns!" Lucious managed between shotgun shells. He began running but was cut off. No, it had to be her. She kneeled and began funneling energy into her legs. None of the others had ever seen a Dragoon in combat before. This leap put her higher than the witch and her mount. She inhaled deeply before roaring down at the pair, letting loose a torrent of water and ice.
It hit like a truck, and they went down so hard that the impact seemed to dismantle the skeletons and make the other undead finally fall for good. As Maria came down she stomped on the nearly dead witches leg, snapping it. "Argh! You b***h! I will kill you and your little friends! The gate has given me power you do not know!" Haman arrived and smiled at the witches threat. She was already basically dead, there was no way she had any steam left, so he kneeled beside her and sighed. "Listen, we know you are an agent of the Gate. All we need is a bit of information. If you cooperate, then I will make sure you die fast. If not..." Maria pressed her foot on the witches leg. She screamed in pain again and Haman went on. "A group of Dark elves were writing a book about Kaminae, but they disappeared. What do you know of them?" Reeanah let a claw loose from her paws and pressed it on her back as a warning. Any thoughts of lying went out the window. "I... I have only one. They are scattered! She knows not of their existance but... agents of the gate took them all and scattered them. I only know of one other page. It's in Kranilla! Hidden in the mines..." she managed. Lucious looked to Haman, who nodded, sufficient information indeed. She pulled the page free slowly, frightfully, and Haman took it from her, examining the gibberish on the page. "It's written in a combination of Elf and Demonica." Surely once together the cypher would become clear, but until then this one page was useless. He walked away from her as Lucious finished the witch off, and the group all gathered together under Intet.
"Well... that wasn't fun. Is everyone okay?" Haman asked as they gathered. Maria checked herself. Nothing more than scrapes on her armor. "WHAT? That was great! I haven't had that much fun in ages! Liam said, and all of them smiled a little. Even intet seemed amused by that, as he had been able to see through his telepathic link to Maria that it was more grueling than dangerous. Are we going straight to Kranila? Maria asked. Haman nodded to her. "Yep, we can rest on the way, and if we need to stop in Kusana." he said climbing up. Maria went to leap, but saw that Lucious was a bit tired from the fight. "Hey, you know there is plenty of room for you up here, right?." He looked at the dragon, who seemed to barely notice him as he puffed smoke from his nose as he tended to. She watched him at least consider it before diving into car form and speeding off. Progress.
She hopped to her seat and then sank into the large saddle right behind the head, and Intet made another smooth transition from grounded to airbourn so as not to make his passnegers uncomfortable. "We are the first group sent out to find a page. This is promising indeed." Haman said as he settled himself in. "Things can only go up from here," he predicted.
