Night falls as the castle comes into view. Along the way, Toot had explained to them (while Jabbin wasn't chasing random "snacks" with his new blade, and Jamie's staff wasn't fighting with him) who Lord Tyron was, and why he was surprised that Princess Sael was at his castle.

"Lord Tyron is the leader of a rebel civilization. It started a tenth the size of Nivaria, but has steadily grown until it's not only larger than Nivaria itself, but is now the size of many small countries in the farther reaches of the world. It isn't accepted nor acknowledged as a country by the king, as they exist only to rebel against him, and end what they call a reign of tyranny. They claim The King is corrupt, and so are counted as enemies. In fact, they attacked my village just a few months back. I cannot imagine what princess Sael is doing at the abode of her father's arch enemy." Toot explains, sounding angry as he mentions how his land was attacked by Lord Tyron's troops. "I only wish Lady Diela could have told us what Princess Sael was doing there that was so secret. I only hope she hasn't committed treason against her own father and people."

Ahead of them lies the castle, and surprisingly, they are allowed through the gates by the guards. These guards don't seem to be the troops of a vicious leader who would attack a helpless village, just for kicks. Still, the group keeps their guard up, and watches their backs every step of the way to the large castle door.

"What is your business?" The guard at the door asks the group.

"We're here for the Princess Sael." Luna says, fearlessly.

The guards eyes widen, and he lowers his axe from his shoulder, as he prepares for possible conflict. Luna does the same, followed by Jabbin, Toot, Juilen, and Jamie and his reluctant staff.

"Where are you from?" The guard asks.

"We're from Lower Earth, and we were sent by the Princess' father." Juilen answers the guard, showing no hint of fear.

'Surely' the guard thought 'this child has seen battle and is beyond his years in ability, else he would fear me.' The guard looks at the lot of them, and answers "I'm afraid I can't let you see her."

"Listen, you can let us see her, and you will. If you try to refuse us, we will force our way in. One way or another, the Princess is coming with us." Jabbin answers, his voice rough and deeper than usual, as part of a common scare tactic for his people. Effective it was, so much so, that it even slightly frightened his allies as he spoke those words. Still, the loyal guard stood his ground.

"If a fight is what you require" The guard answers, as he reaches up to pull a rope suspended from a large overhead bell, which in turn, rings deep and loud "then a fight is what I am obliged to give you". Suddenly guards come running from everywhere. The courtyards are packed with more guards that the adventurers can count. Tough as they are, none dare think they could handle so many foes at one time.

As they prepare their weapons, and turn their backs inward toward each other, forming a circle, they can only muster two words, and those words roll from the lips of Luna:
"For Sael!"

"HALT!" Comes a loud and deep voice. "What is the meaning of this?" A man dressed in royal robes steps out into the open.

"Lord Tyron!" the door guard answers "These people have been sent by the King of Nivaria, for Princess Sael".

"That's impossible" A young female voice says. The woman shows herself, and what they see surprises Toot.

"It's Princess Sael" he whispers, half to himself, half to his friends.

"Father sent his troops to Lord Ziron, claiming I was kidnapped by him. He knows nothing of my true whereabouts." She says.

"Well? What is it then, my "Lower world" visitors?" The guard enquires.

"We were indeed sent to Lord Ziron's castle, but after we defeated him, we discovered you were not there. Good fortune, and some help from some peculiar villagers just South of here, led us here to you." Luna answers.

"Is that so?" Princess Sael asks. "Lord Tyron, if you will, I would like to permit them to enter, and from the privacy of your chambers, allow us to speak with them, of these most...troubling matters."

"Very well then." Lord Tyron says, as he dismisses the guards.


After a few hours of discussion by candlelight, they are informed by the princess, that her father had long secretly been oppressing the lands around the kingdom. He had been killing innocents, and stealing their land and money. To accomplish this, he had staged attacks and accused other kingdoms of it, so that he might attack those lands, and plunder them, all while remaining righteous in the people's sight. Indeed, he was a terribly wicked man. When she had discovered this, she departed by night, and went to the land of Lord Tyron.

"Upon my arrival, I learned of the evil beast that has been terrorizing this land. I believe my father fell under it's power, and that is when he turned into the monster he has become. You came just in time though. On the morrow, I plan to set out on my quest to find and destroy the beast once and for all." the Princess says.

"My Lady, you cannot venture your life so." Toot objects.

"Oh hush that nonsense, young man" the Princess says. It felt weird to the others to hear her call Toot a young man, when she was barely a year older than he. "I am far from helpless. Do you have any idea how many struggles one can encounter between here and Nivaria?"

"Do we" Jamie mutters to himself.

"I wield a powerful magic that allows me to fend for myself against my foes." She says. "I could use your help though, if you wish to help me save the land from the true perils it faces."

"Of course we do." Toot answers.

"We do?" Jabbin wonders under his breath.

"We are at your service" Toot continues.

"We are?" Luna mutters.

"No, if you come with me, you shall come as equals. I will no longer stand for being called princess. In this land, I am Sael. Now, it's late. We need to turn in. We have much to do in the morning" Sael says, as she arises from her seat.

Each of the adventurers is shown to their bedchamber, and each rests well for the night, restoring their strength. On the morrow, they wake to their first good meal, and gather their things to set out on their continuing journey.

As they enter the woods, they see several of the same strange beasts that Vandros had encountered a day or two ago.

"They block the way to the nest of the beast." Sael says.

"Then let's get rid of them" Jabbin says, as he draws his sword.

"No. We don't need to waste our strength on them. Surely there is another way, if we just look for it." Sael suggests.


What will the group do?
- Fight the beasts! No sense in wasting time wandering around, looking for another path that might not exist!

- Sael is right. No sense wasting strength and health on these unnecessary battles. Look for another route.


(OoC: First to reply gets to make the decision. Please go along as you Normally would after making the decision, be it to battle, or to looking for a path, etc.)

"Hm. Such small blight shall be worth no effort. Let us dispose of these pitiful creatures, it shall not take too much time." Luna swings her sword from her back, it lands in the ground in front of her with a loud crunch. She looks up at the creatures. "Now you shall all meet your end!"

(OoC: Skipping the update to see if we get any new posts. If so, or if not, I will update tonight)

*OOC - That's okay. I didn't wanna be the one to make the decision so I waited 'til someone else posted.*
*OOC Edit - I do apologize if my post turns all wonky, I'm editing it in Internet Explorer 11 and it doesn't have a toolbar so there's Formatting tags ? I think they're called.*



*The Night before*

The land was a dreary gray, the clouds in the sky make it look like a storm is coming. I look down at myself, even I am gray, as I pull out my pocket mirror, my right eye is grey while my left is a bright orange. "This makes no sense..." Putting that aside I continue onward across the hills of gray and nothing but a single tree in the far distance. But something is off with the tree... I head towards it and come across a river, with a small boat tied to a stake in the land to get across it. Hopping down onto the boat, I sail across the river, making it to the other side. Not caring enough to tie it back up, I let it float down river while I continue onwards, I hear a giant crushing sound when the boat got a certain length down the river not knowing why it made that sound. I make it to the tree and someone was standing behind it. Scott ! Scott was standing behind the tree, sword in hand, like he was waiting for me. "You're late," he says. And stabs me with the sword.

Jamie wakes up from his dream or nightmare.. whatever it was. "Scott..."



*Now, after Madam Luna chose what to do*

"I feel an evil from these things guys. Be careful !" running up to feet away from them, "Yol !" Sending a fireball at one of the creatures getting its attention. The creature moves to it's left a little and then disappears, thinking "is that it," my staff, acting on it's own, swings, turning me all around, and the creature was behind me, the staff hits the creature with the big orb on the top of it the orb darkens, turning black and, as it looks, appears to absorb the creature. "What is this magic ?!" I pounce at another creature attempting to do the same as I did the first to no avail, the creature raises it's arm and knocks me back and immediately jumping on me, grabbing me by the neck choking me. I can't get a thorough thought out into the staff to help me. I'm starting to black out.. I see a faint Scott stabbing me with a sword, as if he was "on the other side". Waking me up consciously while still being choked. Losing consciousness again from the choking and getting stabbed again by "the other side". 'I need help...' I think though I can't say it.. 'guys...'

The first creature lunges at Toot, but is persuaded to take a step back, when his blade slices it deeply. Remarkably, the wound begins healing before their eyes, at a rapid pace.

"Oh I don't even think so!" Toot says, as he lunges at the beast, driving his blades deeply into it's heart --or where he thinks it's heart is- in an attempt to slay it before it can finish recovering from the first wound. His attempt is successful, and the creature emits a high pitched, ear piercing cry, falls backward, and shrivels away into nothing before their eyes.

"What the bla" Jabbin's confused exclamation is cut short, as he is side-swiped by a large paw. Or is it a hand? It can't really be classified as either, with it's long finger like digits, cat-like retractable claws, and padded soles, thick as a husky's.

Never one to be bested, Jabbin thinks quickly, and holds his blade up as the beast pounces on him , sending it into the beast's gut. The blade goes clean through the creature's stomach, and out of it's back. The creature whimpers like a wounded dog, but it doesn't budge. Instead, it's flesh begins to close up around the blade as it heals almost instantly. Instinctively, Jabbin pulls his blade towards his head, slicing the beast from it's abdomen, to it's neck. To say what followed was an unpleasant experience for Jabbin, would be an understatement, but the beast is indeed killed by this stroke, and, as it too withers away, Jabbin brushes the mess he is now covered with, off of him, and, wiping his face, quickly rises to his feet.


Juilen, seeing the attack on Toot and Jabbin, learns from the foe, and quickly sidesteps it's attack. Spinning around on his heel, Juilen brings his hammer smashing down on the creature's back, with a sickening crackle of it's spine.

Juilen never was one that enjoyed brutality, or even squashing a bug, but he knows what he needs to do: if he doesn't finish this beast off brutally and quickly, it will heal and attack within seconds. It is with this in mind, that Juilen takes another swing at the creature, smashing it repeatedly in what is left of it's head, until it stops moving, and begins to shrivel up as the others did. Just then, Juilen hears the terrifying sound of a beast lunging at him. He has no time to turn around.


Luna, with her sword planted in the ground before her, is lunged at by the beast before her. The poor thing hadn't enough sense to realize the blade was planted directly in front of his face though, and the two (blade and face) meet at high speed, slicing it from nose, to the back of it's head. The creature immediately dies.

"Seriously?" Luna asks in contempt. "Can anything really be that dumb?". Her victory is short however, and she finds herself being attacked by another beast, but the edge of her blade in his cranium convinces him to stop quickly.

Suddenly, Luna realizes something is wrong.

"Jamie?" How she can tell something is wrong with him, she knows not. All she knows is that something is wrong. Running through beasts and friends at battle, Luna finally sees Jamie's predicament.

"Jamie!" She cries, as she charges at full speed, and tackles the beast, knocking it off of Jamie, and to the ground. "DIE, FOUL BEAST!!!" she cries, as she plunges her blade into it's chest repeatedly, until it quits responding.


Bracing for impact, and expecting this to be his end, Juilen suddenly hears something fly by quickly, a sickening sound of flesh being pierced, and a loud whimper directly behind his head. Sael had spied Juilen's situation, and picked the beast off at a distance with a bow and arrow her magic had conjured. The beast lands beside Juilen, and, having an arrow in it's heart, dies quickly.

"Thank you, Sael." Juilen says. It seems like such an insignificant offering of thanks, but it's all that he can muster, as shaken as he is. Sael simply smiles.


"Well, that was interesting." Jabbin offers, as he picks bits of beast remains off of himself, wondering why the nasty remains that were spilled on him, couldn't just magically vanish as did the rest of the beasts. "Shall we get on our ways again then?"

"Aye, that would indeed be wise" Toot says in agreement, and starts for the path, soon followed by the others, with Sael folowing behind.

Quhark :

"Ahh!" the group hears a shout behind them, as Sael is knocked to the ground by another one of the creatures that springs from the brush. As the beast lands on top of her, and goes for the kill, an orange figure, moving almost so quickly that it could be called a blur, comes out of the brush, knocks the beast off of Sael, and sitting atop it, begins tearing at the beast mercilessly with razor sharp claws. After several good slashes, and many cries from the beast, it perishes. The orange figure rises to it's feet, and turns toward the group.

"Who are you?" Jabbin asks plainly. After a moment of stares from the others, he adds "Oh and er...thank you for saving Sael 'ere".

"I" the orange figure says, as it removes it's hood, revealing a dragon-like appearance, yet also somewhat resembling a man "am Quhark." He looks at Jabbin "And you're welcome".


(OoC: Quhark, feel free to interact as you will now. Also, please remember to "Favorite" this thread, so you know when a new post is made here. The "favorite" option is found at the bottom right of the page, I believe)

"What madness is this? A dragon?!?" Luna, who herself is clearly a fox, holds her blade up, pointed towards Quhark. "Explain yourself! Why have you came?" She looks to each side, checking if her allies are healthy.

"You really would accept me in your party?"Said Quhark with a smile."I don't really know what happened with foxes and dragons. I only know how to fight and survive. And here is more you should know about me."

Name : Quhark "Quake" Atka
Age : 16
Gender : Male
Type : Beast
Hair Color :Orange (scales)
Eye Color : Green
Weapon : Claws
Likes/Dislikes : Likes everything. But he is more of a "Lone wolf"
Fears : Anxiety makes him fear of everything but he is always alert.
Bio :
-A Dragon-Humanoid. Nobody knows his past. Brought up in a small village.
With his sharp claws, 140 IQ and his inhuman strenght he left his home in hopes of finding
answers to his past.
-With no clue about his past he got lost in woods for 2 years with evil creatures of dark, fighting to survive, making his personality break.
-At age of 15 he got captured and sold to an Lord as a pet.
He escaped and hid in a nearby city as an elite mercenary.

Jabbin looks at Quhark, he has never seen any one or any thing look as he does. He is unsure if this man is going to come along with them on their quest. He really hopes so though, they need all the man (and woman) power they can get. 

Jabbin finally stops starring at Quhark and says "I am glad you are here, and hope ya stay along for tha fun."

(ooc) Sorry It took so long to post something, I haven't had the time to really do anything and I have been a little lacking creativity  department lately.

Toot looks into the distance, not much to focus on the current situation. As he squints, his eyes almost look like two lines rather than the oval-like shape they usually are. 

In the distance, it looks to be a small squadron of soldiers. A girl is among them, riding behind a burly figure, presumably the leader. The soldiers have some sort of silver lining, an arm band with a unique insignia...

"A squadron of elite soldiers?! How close they have come to us...all the racket we must have created during this skirmish...who is that girl, and why does she require such an unorthodox escort? Surely she is not dangerous...wait. Could that be my sister? No. Surely she must be someplace else, much finer than here. And she does not need such a..powerful..escort. I - I must learn more. Maybe that is my sister; the Princess can take care of herself...she is "far from helpless", and Luna seems to have excellent sword skills." 

Toot drives his sword deeply into the ground, enough to scare away a flock of birds having a rest nearby. 

"Gah! What to do...abandon the team that took you in, after so much turmoil and loneliness on my own, or rescue what is left of my family?" 

Toot clenches his teeth. After a while, he grabs his long sword and pulls it out of the ground. His other long sword seems to have been lost, unfortunately. Toot silently walks away, into the wind. 

"You never did accept my sparring challenge, yet. Maybe a next time...Jabbin." 

"It seems my allies put their trust in you, so for the current, so shall I." She clips her huge sword to her back and puts her paw out to Quhark, "I am Lady Luna Kuriari, through my time, I would defend my village in the Lower World until I ventured to these peculiar lands for a quest. I...apologise if those accompanying use are rather...foolhardy. It seems they can't help it."

OOC: Quhark, I have the same problem, living in England.

Edit: okay, read and adapted. Update, coming up.

"Welcome Mr. Atka." I walk up to shake hands with him, admiring his beautiful scales.
"Toot ! Wait man," running up to him, "would you mind if I came with you ? I too am looking for someone in Upper World here.. Maybe I'd have more luck if I came with you ?"

With the majority vote, and a reluctant Luna, Quhark joins the adventurers party, and together they set off for the nest of the creature.

As they journey onward, Quhark proves to be a valuable addition to their team, being the only member of the party with any knowledge of the land they now journey through.

"I indeed know the creature of which you speak, and it is a rule of survival in this land, not to go anywhere near it if you wish to live" Quhark says, strangely calm, despite heading toward his death.

"What else do you know of this...thing?" Sael asks.

"Only that it's far worse than you expect. I've had my encounters with it, luckily I wasn't the intended prey. No, that poor creature was captured. It never stood a chance." Quhark replies cooly.

The next few moments pass by quietly, without so much as a word from any of the adventurers, partly due to Quharks words, and partly due to the sadness of having lost their friend, Toot. The silence is brief however, as a loud, deep cry soon comes out of the woods ahead. Several of the beasts that they just defeated, come running toward them. Each of the group draws their weapons, and braces for the battle, but surprisingly, the creatures all run past them, and never slow down.

"What...what just happened?" Juilen asks, confused as he watches the herd of... whatever those things are, running away.

"They seem to be scared, but what could be scaring them so badly?" Jabbin says. "And do we really want to know?"

A rumble is heard in the distance, that sounds like something running toward them.

"Here comes your beast now" Quhark says.

Just then, a large creature as tall as the trees around them, comes barreling through. Covered with black scales, sporting a mouth full of sharp teeth, long arms, and a tail that knocks some nearby trees down when it swings, the creature stops as it spots them. They, on the other hand, run.

"The water! Head for the lake! It can't swim!" Quhark admonishes.

(OoC: Sidewinder and zeross, I was unsure if you were dropping out, or just giving me a really awesome plot twist to work with. lol If you're still in, I'll either work your update in next time, or you can play it as this creature and the group, running your direction, or whatever you choose to do)

Luna stands for a moment with the hope of stopping the creature, but as it gets closer, fear gets the best of her and she has no choice but to run with her tail between her legs. She follows, at the back of the group with the hope that Quhark knows where he is going.

Toot walks away, each step heavy, yet light. Sad to have left friends, but happy to have a lead on his sister. 

In the distance, someone is crying, "Wait! Hold on! Waaaiiiiitttt! It would be beneficial if we joined together, I am in need of something as well!" 

Toot strains to hear, but does not make out completely what is said. The sun's glare was a wicked thing, almost blinding Toot, so he was unable to even make out the clothing of this person. 
"Wait! Hola! Waaaaaay! Iby jon tether, need of sting awell!" is what Toot heard.  

Toot continue to trudge on...at a slower pace for this person to maybe catch up. The distance between the two gets shorter...at a very slow pace. 

"If I can't hear this person, soon enough, I will leave at a fast pace. No time to waste!" 

*OOC - Jamie has more than just the main reason he's in Upper World. he's also here to look for his twin brother Scott. and he feels that it might be beneficial to him and Toot if he went with him. If that's okay with Sidewinder*

Running even faster than before, I catch up to Toot, out of breath, I stand breathing hard for a while, "Man I haven't run like that in a whi... HEY ! Come back here ! Don't just ignore me" Toot continued on ignoring me. "Okay, I'm gonna follow you then, whether you want me too or not." As I follow Toot to wherever we are going. "Oi mate, where are we heading ?" No answer. "Ugh, I hate surprises."

Toot is walking at a fast pace, polishing his inadequate long sword with his glove. 

"I wonder where my father's sword is...I can't believe I lost it! And now, I lost one of two rather expensive long swords, and they aren't even good now." 

Toot thinks to himself, "why has Jamie followed me? I meant to go unnoticed, but apparently he has an issue that he feels would be easier solved by travelling with me...now to think about it, I never really knew anyone well, besides Jabbin, and yet, he too was a stranger. A kind stranger. My friends, from before hand...have all abandoned me, or have died. Loneliness is all I really know...how will I take care of us both?" 

Toot takes a quick glance at Jamie. He notices him a little out of breath, but a determined look in his eyes. 

"Boy, nothing's gonna change his mind." 

Toot still walks a fast paced, Jamie still keeps up. However, one thing kept plaguing Toot's mind..."how will I ever take care of the both of us? I couldn't do a thing when my sister was taken away...I abandoned that rag-tag team of princess-rescuers, even after seemingly vowing to protect Sael...I am useless..." 

*OoC - It's no problem, zeross. I wasn't expecting this so suddenly, kinda was going away inconspicuously, but hey, another plot twister, why not? All the more fun *

Luna, Quhark, Juilen, Sael, and Jabbin

Running like mad, weaving between trees, ducking low overhanging limbs, and trying their best not to lose their footing, the adventurers flee for their lives. An unfortunate thing for them, but the creature giving them chase is faster than they are, due to the large strides a beast it's size can take. As the chase continues on, and the creature gains ground steadily, until at last, they come to a cliff.

"Jump!" Quhark says.

"Are you out of your mind?!?" Jabbin shouts.

"Just trust me!" Quhark answers, as he continues charging toward the cliff, and jumps over the edge.

The others all start to hesitate, but a growl not ten feet behind Luna, convinces them to leap as well.



Toot and Jamie

As the two journey on in silence, each deeply troubled by their own thoughts, Toot only hopes they can manage to catch up with the men that have his sister -if she is his sister- since they have no beast to ride upon.

A few miles later, as fortune would have it, Toot spies a horse wandering through the meadow, saddled.

"Where...where is that beast's owner?" He wonders aloud. He and Jamie walk over near it, and spy a dead elite on the ground nearby. "It's one of the soldiers who were with my sister! What evil befell them?!? What if she's hurt, or..." the words hang out there for what feels like an eternity.

"Let's not be too hasty to jump to conclusions, Toot. Surely if there had been a massacre, more than one body would be here. And I see no lady anywhere nearby. It would appear that this is the only one that was picked off of the group." Jamie offers.

"You're right, Jamie." Toot answers, only slightly comforted. After a brief silence, he adds "If that is indeed an Elite's horse, then he should be accustomed to changing riders often...Perhaps this is our ride then." Toot says to Jamie, forgetting that he hadn't spoken his wishes for a horse out loud earlier.

Indeed, as Toot had anticipated, the horse was most compliant with a new rider, and even permitted Jamie to ride along with Toot. With this new horse, the journey would be much faster. Now Toot would only have to fight the urge to ride the horse harder than he ought, in an attempt to catch up.



Luna, Quhark, Juilen, Sael, and Jabbin

To the relief of our heroes, the drop was a short one of about six feet, and they were up and running again quickly.

A loud roar pierces the air, causing them to look behind them, and see the creature jump down the cliff. Fortunately, it's size causes it to land even less gracefully than did they, and it ends up on it's side, struggling to correct it's position.

"Keep running! We're almost there!" Quhark shouts, and the others willingly oblige. Soon, the creature is upright, and in pursuit again. Tired of running, and becoming winded, they begin to slow their pace, causing the creature to gain ground on them.

At last, in the distance, they see another cliff, and below, a River raging. They all too willingly plunge in, letting the waters sweep them where they will.



Toot and Jamie

Finally, after a long ride, the sun sets, and Toot finally gives in and stops to set up camp. After a few hours of sleep, Jamie wakes to a strange presence. His eyes struggle to stay open, and his vision is blurry, but somehow he manages to glimpse something run past his bed (if one can call a thin pile of leaves a bed) and into the woods. He sits up, far more alert after somewhat witnessing what just happened.

Silence and stillness follow.

Jamie still senses a presence, and that troubles him. Still, the presence isn't an evil one, but rather, a calming one. Someone or something is indeed out there, just beyond the trees -of that, he has no doubt- but what it is, he has no idea. All he can tell is that whoever or whatever it is, it makes him feel safer than he has felt since he came to this land. Nay, safer than he has felt since he was a child, at home with his parents and his brother Scott...Ah, Scott...the thought soothes Jamie into the sweetest of slumbers that one could imagine, and before he know what's happening, he finds himself waking to the breaking daylight.

Suddenly, he remembers the presence. Sitting up, he looks at Toot, who is marveling at a strange sack.

"Where did you get that sack?" Jamie asks, trying to steal a glimpse of what's inside it, without Toot noticing.

"It was here when I woke. It's...full of food. My favorites too." Toot answers. Jamie instantly suspects the being that had been in their camp last night. Normally he would hesitate to eat this food for fear it might be a trap, but not so this time. He knows it was left by someone that wanted to help them. Whatever or whoever that was last night, they left this food for them, of that, Jamie is certain, and it brings a smile to his face. A smile that has been a long time coming.


(OoC: Edit. Typo. 'I' comes before 'A' in compliant. )