Umbra leaves, following Arianna.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Aiden before departing.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Reese before departing.

It is early morning and the party is starting to gather up to return for another patrol. They have many choices before them. They can head out now. They can wait until it is later. They can got back to where the Shav village was or they can try another location. They are at the outskirts of the forest, having barely entered the wild woods yet.

Tiny Tom arrives, following Sparte.

It is early morning and the party is starting to gather up to return for another patrol. They have many choices before them. They can head out now. They can wait until it is later. They can go back to where the Shav village was or they can try another location. They are at the outskirts of the forest, having barely entered the wild woods yet.

Lightfoot is becoming a sturdy stead for Aiden, whom has once again taken the red dun out of the royal stables for another little jaunt. She's the very mare he road in the show jumping and placed third with, as well as having her with him on the other patrol. He's comfortable in the saddle with her and this time, has come wearing steel plate, offering outloud, "I think we should go try to find the source of these corrupted wolves... We figured there was someone controlling them, yes?" Sterling silver eyes flicker across the group gathered.

Lou reins in her mare and sidles up with the rest of the group. She looks to Silas, who was their defacto leader last time. "So, are we going to check for more wolves or see if we can't find those cultists," she asks, just needing a small bit of direction so she can help with the scouting.

Esoka approaches the patrol party, atop the sturdy courser who serves as her mount. This is a less fun duty for him than the joust. But, tournament's are over, back to real work. "Find the cultists, would be my path to take," she says in response to Lou. "There shall clearly be more wolves of the like unless the ones behind it are dealt with. Like a snake. Must cut off the head."

Silas is still recovering from his injuries dealt during the most recent melee, made obvious by the bandaging around his arms and torso. Still, to be on the safe side, he wears the pieces of armor he could still manage to put on without suffering pain. He sits on his gray stallion, Damascus, as he waits for the group to fully assemble. His attention alights on Aiden and Lou. "We have some good trackers in our group, right? Lets see if we can find some tracks where we found the wolves."

Estaban is on a horse! he is and he could not look any more out of his league but he does his best as he gets closer to them, "I do have some info on them." he gets closer his dog is padding along the side of his horse. "I believe they are called Shards." he says to the group. "Corrupted by the Abyss."

"Someone mention cutting off of heads?" Comes the utterly cheerful call of one Luca the Lazy, who at this rate is going to get new name by way of Aiden. Luca the Bloodthirsty or some such. Still, whether the warrior prince is joking with his comment or actually interested isn't clear, only that the's arriving as late as before, on that big black stubborn warhorse, Gluefoot, and this time with his aide Giuseppe riding an unassuming gray mare behind. Like before, the CHampion's dressed as if he just rolled out of bed, rumpled shirt and cloak and unruly dark mane of hair, blades at ready though for whatever's coming, which he seems content to just settle in behind the gathering, waiting for someone else to make a call of direction. Thank the gods Reese never tries to put him in charge of these things.

Sparte is riding a reasonably friendly horse, which is to say the thing looks aged well and has the demeanor of an animal used to children. Tiny Tom runs up and down both Sparte and the horse, chittering at this or that as they go, while the horse barely acknowledges it is being ridden. Sparte for his part looks pretty used to it as well. He seems to have somehow gotten mixed into this patrol. At the mention of cutting off heads, Sparte grimaces and rubs at his neck.

Sterling silver eyes do a slow deadly march toward Luca when the cheerful call is heard, prompting Aiden's shoulders to straighten and his gaze to hold on the man, "Prince Luca, did you ever come by any information after taking all those heads?" Nevermind that everyone is still talking about what to do, he was curious if the last conclusion actually prompted some results.

Lou glances sidelong at Estaban when he mentions the 'Shards'. Her brow creases somewhat and she seems somewhat uneasy. "Is the info on the cultists or the wolves?" she asks him to clarify, taking his comment seriously. When Silas directs them to go back toward the wolves lair to pick up tracks, she starts her mare off in that particular direction.

Esoka's eyes lock on Estaban, at mention of shards. "I have encountered such creatures before. The corruption was horrific." A nod to Silas. "That is a place to start. We can see what clues we learn there, and go where it leads us." She's ready to ride, when they are. A quick grin and inclination of her head are offered to Sparte as he joins them. And Tiny Tom with him. "Guardsman."

Silas blinks back at Estaban when he reports this news. "Hmm. That could be troublesome... but we must pursue regardless." He doesn't feel compelled to chastise Luca, since he may very well get to chop off some demonic wolf heads. "Good morning, Your Highness. You're surprisingly spry in the morning." He's aware of Luca's supposed penchant for laziness, and expected him to sleep in! He urges his horse in the general direction where he believes they found the wolves. He doesn't feel compelled to be at the very front of the group, especially considering he actually has terrible directional sense. "Glad to have you with us today, Sparte," Silas calls over his shoulder. "We're hunting down the owners of a pack of corrupted wolves. Chances are they're up to no good." Aiden is also given his attention. "If we can't find undisturbed tracks, we -could- possibly ask the birds..."

"Oh, I'm sure there was some info, Aid. Mostly all I got from it was that your cousin Ribbons is still set on disallowing me having my skull collection in our bedroom." Luca offers back to Aiden with kind of a pouting sort of roll of eyes. It's almost assured he's doing it to get under the skin that way, with the teasing light air about it. And also almost equally assured that Giuseppe was tasked to ride herd as the kindly old Lycene man makes a little coughing sound that leaves the feckless Champion to glance back to him and sigh a bit before adding more seriously for Aiden. "I passed the heads off to others to look into. I admit, there was some talk of Shards. Though those were more in context of men touched by the Abyss and twisted into bestial creatures rather than beasts twisted into even...well, more bestial sorts of things." Settling lazily into his saddle as he sidles up towards Sparte, Luca adds with a grin for the young guardsman after Silas greeting. "I figured it wouldn't hurt to have another good man in case of running into something more fun than the wolves. Besides, we might come upon a river and Spar's the best at saving me from those!"

Estaban nods his head, "The wolves, I asked Lady Eriene Malvici to look into the samples I got and gave them to her. She said they should not exsist that her findings were all wrong and she spoke of them as shards." he points out as she moves to follow Silas he has his bow already drawn and easily fits his hand while holding the reins.

"You know me, sir. Corrupted wolves are a new one, should be exciting at least." Sparte glances over to Luca, giving an uneasy grin that quickly fades at the further talk of skulls and such. He glances over to Esoka, nodding distractedly to them before replying to Luca. "I brought a fishing hook and everything."

Silas checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 8 higher.

Luca checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 10 higher.

Esoka checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 35 higher.

Luca checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 9 higher.

Aiden checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 13 higher.

Lou checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 36 higher.

Estaban checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 3 lower.

Silas laughs at the exchange between Luca and Sparte. "I'm gonna try to avoid raging rivers, but I'm glad you came prepared." He purses his lips as he mentally muses over Estaban's intel. "Well, thankfully we have alaricite weapons among our number..." He looks ahead, wary of anything which may seem out of place...

Aiden checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 22 higher.

The party continues further into the gray forest. They are able to make their way in the right direction. They head back toward where the wolves and the Shav were last time. They are not there yet, but they are getting close. Estaban has lost his way and is rather confused about where they are, but the others are likely able to guide him along the right path. It is still morning and the forest is bright, but the trees do provide some shade. Once again the forest is quieter than it should be, not having as many animals and the like. Lou is at the front of the party, seems to have an especially ken sense of direction. She get them right back to the abandoned Shav camp if she wishes.

Lou checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 25 higher.

Sparte checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 7 lower.

Sparte checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 2 lower.

Estaban checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 8 higher.

Esoka checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 43 higher.

Aiden's mouth holds into a flat line when after all that head chopping, there were no answers other than what Lord Saik provided. "Good to know," he says with a flat tone of voice, riding up alongside to Silas, murmuring, "I'm in steel today so my scouting might be limited. My brother's armor is quite heavy. How does someone fight in this?" He complains and then nudges Lightfoot onward, to trail behind Lou. Then he offers, "No one happens to know how to destroy a shard, do they?"

Silas has rolled a critical success!
Silas checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 15 higher.

Estaban looks to the ground as they move along his hand comes up in a motion for everyone to stop, "Tracks." he says in a lower voice pointing to the ground, "Not sure how many."

"A dozen," Aiden supplies to the echo of Estaban's voice, sighing quietly, "And a dozen more animal tracks I'd wager. I should hope that the wolves that are with them are not corrupted... this time. Let it be that they are normal wolves and normal shav'arni!" He glances toward the tracks and swoops his horse around to confirm, "Lou, did you catch a direction on which way they're headed?"

Sparte glances between the others before looking to Aiden. "Well, I, um... I don't know for sure how to deal with a shard, but I'd like to learn." His ears redden slightly, and he draws his attention towards the stoat and his horse rather than tracking. When people speak up about the tracks he lifts his eyebrows, nodding slowly before smiling at Luca. "There is enough for all of us, that is fantastic news."

Esoka keeps tabs on Estaban and Sparte as they ride. She does not want anyone getting separated from the group in the forest, with giant wolves about. When they reach their destination she dismounts, to get a closer look at the sets of tracks on the ground. "A dozen men, I'd count," she mutters, squinting and nodding to herself. "And near a dozen wolves with them as well. Some ordinary ones, but others look like the paws of those great brutes we fought last time. These are not old. An hour perhaps?" She looks at her other track-y companions for confirmation.

Lou gives Aiden a grim look, shaking her head. "I can give you information on who initially created the monsters, during ancient times. But, not how to kill them. They once called her the Green Mother, the Emerald Lady or the Princess of Corruption. I'm sincerely hoping this is not the same person." Lou shudders a bit to think so. "This was long ago, of course. Most of the scholars scoff that such a person exists, or the safe havens -- shard havens -- she created ever existed. But... we've seen evidence that abyssal creatures exist." Lou does indeed keep people to the path, as best as she possibly can. She pauses in her dialogue with Aiden to take a closer look at the tracks she finds. "About a dozen is right," she confirms. She starts searching around to see if she can find where the people tracks are going. "Don't quite have a direction yet - they seem to be mingled with the wolf tracks a bit."

Silas is not much of an outdoorsman, but the larger prints do not escape his notice, and intuitively he deduces they are far more recent than the tracks he was expecting to find, at the clearing where they fought the wolves. His brows crease in concern. This was a promising party to be travelling with in terms of combat ability, as well as survival ability, but... could everyone fend off several demonic creatures and their presumably more intelligent masters. "Dame Esoka is correct. Be on your guard -- we will find them soon. And they'll be big and mean... but if they bleed, they can die."

"Like most Abyssal things. Holy fire or water, alaericite or diamondplate, decapitation in lieu of the rest. The usual." Luca's cheerfully proclaiming to Sparte with a confidence of someone for whom those things have become 'the usual' in the insane world they now all live in. Not even just cheerful, he seems eager. Still, he's following along, grunting agreement to the tracks he's giving cursory attention to, grinning that lopsided cheshire fox grin to Aiden's wishing, offering up. "Forgive me if I hope they aren't normal wolves. I have a feeling if they attack us with normal wolves and I kill them, that you'll shit golden bricks and try to lob them at my head." He's grinning aside to Sparte at this teasing of the other prince as much as at the talk of enough for all of them.

Lou glances up from her search in the mingled tracks. "There's some bear prints there too, but the human tracks go to the north east." She both nods and points in that direction.

"And there may be, uh, bigger things than mere wolves." Silas doesn't come across bear prints very often!

Aiden shoots a look back over his shoulder toward Luca, "No, I'll merely mis-fire my aim and add to your collection of arrow heads in your ass!" The Grayson afterall was more an archer than he was a particularly skilled swordsman, swordsman not at alll in fact! He warns the party, "I should like the opportunity to save any wolves that are the normal again, if I may!" He then quiets, listening to the others and noting the methods, "Holy fire?" He glances toward Sparte, as if the guardsman would explain further since that's where Luca directs the conversation.

"Well you wouldn't be the _first_ Grayson certainly." Luca quips in a dire mock-disapproving scowl to Aiden's quip, the faux-glare all for Lou up ahead.

Sparte blinks at Lou, then hurriedly digs in his pouch for something to write with. Tiny Tom hisses and scurries to hide in the hair on the horse's head as Sparte takes notes. He glances between Luca and Aiden a moment before continuing to write. "I blessed a flame a while back in a ceremony at the Shrine to Lagoma. Used it to help fell a bringer that used illusions. My eyebrows took forever to grow back."

Esoka snorts at mention of bears. Checking the sword at her hip. Nothing better than good steel, so she mutters to herself, "Decapitation, then." It's a plan.

Aiden can be heard chuckling in response to Luca, a quick grin flashed back at the man, "You did like collecting heads... She can't be blamed for merely helping you gather a few more!"

Estaban breaths deeply looking between Aiden and Luca with a ertated look on his face then looks to silas, "If there are normal animals again we will do out best to save them, if they are curropted then they die."

Lou turns her horse to follow the tracks, giving Luca a very innocent look when she does. "Your ass will be glad to know that I've learned a bit more about how to handle my crossbow before coming out tonight," she states with a wry smirk, though there's a twinkle of merriment in her eyes. She glances back to the ground to make sure they stay on path - however, occasionally looking up to make certain that there are no dangers ahead as well.

Over the banter, Aiden reverts his gaze to Sparte, brow lifting, "I don't suppose you can bless some more fire in the middle of the wood?" His gaze turns toward Estaban with a smirk, as he decides to hang back. Steel doesn't really make tracking realistic, leather was better to mask noise, so he lets Lou take the lead and settles in beside Silas, dropping his voice and murmuring to the man.

The tracks continue to toward the north east and this party is easily able to follow them. They are quite the survivalists and scouts. They continue along a path in the forest that has been formed by the passage of many animals and people. They will travel for an hour before they run into anything. But they do eventually into things.

Aiden checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 32 higher.

Lou checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 32 higher.

Luca checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 39 higher.

Silas doesn't seem very confident at the notion of saving the normal animals. "If it isn't dangerous to try, we will... but with these beasties..." He urges his forward, but Aiden's whisper causes him to chortle in surprise.

Silas checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 1 lower.

Esoka checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 30 higher.

Estaban checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 23 higher.

Amethyst - A Clever Raccoon arrives, delivering a message to Aiden before departing.

Sparte lifts a hand. "I didn't actually do the blessing myself, it was part of a big ceremony. I tried to recreate it on my own, but... Well, it didn't work even a little bit. Lord Cassius bailed me out of that mess. All of us, really." He pulls out equipment from his kit for a fire - the mundane kind. Some rags, a bit of lamp oil, and he hops down to look for a suitable stick. "I'm told some people just have the touch for such things, I don't seem to be one of them. Of course, fire is fire. If they're the ordinary sort of beasties, I'm sure a regular flame will ward them off."

Sparte checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 3 lower.

Lou pulls her horse up short and holds up a hand. Very quietly, she points toward the birds, and then towards the various platforms. She turns around to make certain the party sees her motions, then points them out once more in case someone missed it.

Estaban happen to look up as he becomes annoyed with the bickering anf his happy he does, "Up, up." he pulls his bow up with a nocked arrow letting go of his rains stopping his horse looking up watching the birds.

Esoka brings her horse to a sudden halt at Lou's motion. Raising a fist. "Hold." It's said very low. She points toward the bird shapes and whispers to her companions, "Lookouts, I think. They have a...wrongness about them." She shudders.

"Huh. Haven't seen those before. Kind of greenish eyes, eh?" Luca's offering up on the heels of the rest as he spots the birds a bit off, hand resting languidly on hilt of blade as if anticipating the things dive-bombing them. "Platform up ahead with archers on it too. Out of range still, but I'm assuming if these ugly things start making a ruckus, we might catch some attention."

Aiden was apparently flirting with the Lord Commander, well enough that it might be reason why the man is distracted! All the same, it was the directional waves and signals that has Aiden's silver eyes lifting and noting the birds. "Hm... not regular ravens .. not with those green eyes... Same look as the wolves had." His gestures nudge Silas, "There's archers ahead... too. On platforms if I can see Lou's signal properly." His gaze flicks back toward the birds, "They might not yet see us... but they'll give warning."

The second they - the ravens.

Sparte glances around a bit distractedly. "Hrm, what? Oh, enemies already?" He fishes for the rubicund helmet at his belt, popping it on his head and tightening the straps. "Skip the torch, then?"

Silas pulls his horse to a sudden stop when everyone else stops, because it seems like a smart idea. His eyes go to the front first -- to Lou -- then to Esoka. He frowns, having completely missed the birds! Thanks to a particular bird prince. The groans when the archers are pointed out. "Do we want to take a chance and try to engage them, or... do we want to sneak up on them ourselves?" He lowers his voice, though it's unlikely they're going to hear them at that distance.

"And by 'engage', I mean talk," Silas elaborates.

"They have abyssal ravens with them. About 10 of them. Do you think they will be pre-disposed to talk?" Lou quietly asks Silas, once more pointing out the birds in the trees. She also glances to Luca and Aiden to see what their opinion might be.

The birds peer down at the party and seem smart enough to realize they have been spotted. One of the creatures caws rather loudly and likely alerts the archers on the platforms. He ruffles his feathers and looks about to start flying or maybe he is about to dive down and attack. He is about to do something anyways. Sometimes raven learn words and a second bird says. "Eyes. Caw. Eyes."

Aiden checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 12 higher.

Lou checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 7 lower.

"I vote you try to sneak, Si. I wanna see that." Luca quips from the back where he's watching the forest for threats, unable to bite his tongue against the temptation. To be fair, rubicund does tend to make sneaking a bit more amusing and Si loves his rubicund. When the creepy demon-raven pipes up, Luca's growing more serious though, grimacing as he offers up. "I think the element of surprise just went bye bye. I'm willing to charge the platform. I've got best chance of getting up to it without getting full of arrows. My ass's showing in last patrol notwithstanding."

As soon as the birds start chatting it up though, Lou follows Aiden's lead and attempts to shut them up. Of course, her bad archery luck sticks with her and she misses!

"No," he answers Lou plainly. "But we can't reach the archers and they have hei--" Silas blinks as the birds begin to caw and move and suddenly there's arrows flying!?

The answer to Lou's question if the archers would be pre-disposed to talk is sudden movements from the bird Prince. He's loathe to do it but his bow is raised and an arrow nocked faster than anyone can possibly predict from the Grayson. The arrow wizzes loose and takes down the first raven that takes flight, "They're alerting the party up ahead...!"

One of the raven's goes POOF in a flurry of feathers as Aiden's shot hits and strikes it down before it can caw again.

"If they are shard creatures, I fear there's little hope in talking with them," Esoka says. Tone a touch sad for it. And then there is creepy caw'ing and the shooting starts. She draws her sword. "I've little gift for stealth. But I can provide cover for Prince Luca if he makes a run at the platform." She /is/ capable of being big and distracting.

One Raven falls to Aiden's arrow and nine remain. It was the raven who started to fly that was taken down and this buys the party a little time. The other nine ravens all ruffle their feathers and start taking off into the air. They might fly away or they might attack.

Aiden suggests over toward the party, "It would be a bad idea to charge platforms with archers on it! I know because I used one of those platforms to take out the wolves in the last patrol!" He warns aside to Silas, "We should hold ground!"

Sparte wields Knothole Stave.

Aiden checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 6 higher.

Lou checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 7 higher.

Estaban wields Wither.

Estaban checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 13 higher.

Silas grunts as the rest of the birds take flight. There is no way the archers are likely to catch all of them, whether they fly off to alert their masters or attack them. He nods in Luca's and Esoka's direction. "If you can find a way to -reach- them, it's as good an idea as any. Otherwise the rest of us will be sitting ducks." He wheels his horse around, intent on moving himself, and looks to Aiden. "We need to act. Those of you with bows, take cover and start shooting!"

Lou grumbles under her breath about missing the first shot and so takes better aim this time - and manages to hit! She seems surprised she actually hit!

Estaban checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 20 higher.

As the first arrow flies. Luca's laughing and diving off his big stubborn steed, gleaming mirrorbright alaericite VIper's Soul whipping out in his hand as he starts to do just what Aiden said not to, calling quietly as he goes. "So we'll make sure to move when they shoot at us! Kill the green-eyed bastards in case they can call reinforcements!" Grinning fierce, joyeous grin to Sparte then, the Winged Fox of Grayson takes off like a demon towards the platform, clearly intending to be on the archer(s) before they can get off TOO many shots at him, and leaving the birds to those with arrows to take them.

Sparte doesn't quite have the initiative Luca does, but he knows where there is danger - typically where Luca is heading. He grabs his quarterstaff and runs off after Luca with barely a pause, leaving the rags and lamp oil lying in the dirt. "Tom, watch the horse!"

Another quick fire shot from Eagle Strike, Aiden's rubicund bow, snaps loose and pops another raven launching from the tree before it can flight off and alert the main camp. Aiden grunts at the command, watching another raven spiral down toward the earth and land with a sickening thud. "Forgive me," he notes and then aims ready another shot. Aiden watches Luca charge off but then has to wheel and turn, to ready another shot as the birds swoop down!

Sparte checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 20, rolling 38 higher.

Aiden has rolled a critical success!
Aiden checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 20, rolling 49 higher.

Silas checked dexterity + medium wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 75 higher.

Lou checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 20, rolling 3 lower.

Sparte checked dexterity + huge wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 46 higher.

Aiden checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 15, rolling 48 higher.

Esoka checked dexterity + medium wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 1 higher.

Silas rides through foilage and past Aiden to cleave one of the winged buggers diving for him in half. It's going to be a noisy mess of galloping, dust, and feathers! He wheels around with the intention to kill more, but pauses to assess what was happening with Luca's brilliant plan!

Aiden was no longer using his hands on the reins of Lightfoot, in fact, all those training sessions with Tristan and archery mentors like Fiachra, allow him to duck a swooping raven while he pivots on the saddle and looses another nocked arrow. Another raven goes down in a big feather explosion, oily feathers bursting as the momentum of the arrow tags it. He watches Silas ride passed and smirks at the heroic antics, his eyes searching again in the sky for the birds remaining.

Estaban looked up and takes aim and hits one of the birds that took flight and then again quickly he aims for another and takes it down he frowns he turns to try and spot any others me may try and get at before he is attacked.

Luca checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 20, rolling 41 higher.

Esoka is mostly in fighting form today, but she's still feeling those deeper bruises from the tournament, so her swordstrokes have a slowness to them. It's enough to get the job done, though, and she rides in to bash one of those strange-eyed fowls with her blade. It's not a pretty swing, but at least it connects.

Lou's skill at riding and fighting birds in the air isn't quite like it should be. She attempts to dodge one of the ravens coming after her, and instead ends up getting attacked, and possibly even raked. "Stupid bird!" she calls out in a grunt as she moves about to try to get out of its way.

A raven swoops toward Aiden intent on pecking out his eye, but Silas is there to save his face and the bird never makes contact. The raven is skewered by the Baron's blade. Not that the raven would have touched Aiden, the prince is being quite nimble at the moment. He is able to save Lou's eye in turn, taking down the bird on her. Esoka is also able to stab a raven. They are down to just two ravens. Sparte and Luca run toward the platforms and are attacked by the remaining two, but they are very nimble and able to evade such. They will reach the base of the platforms soon.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Reese before departing.

Aiden checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 19 higher.

Lou checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 27 higher.

Lou rights herself in her saddle, replaces the arrow in her crossbow, and then takes aim. She remembers the lessons that she had from Leola earlier in the day, and tracks the raven very carefully, feels the breeze on her face, and all that jazz until finally she lets it loose, the bolt reaching its mark through the raven's heart. Afterwards, she spurs her horse forward in order to get in closer range to the archers on the stands.

Aiden didn't really need his help, but he looks valiant nevertheless! He peers up at the remaining two birds, and believing the three archers of their party are more than capable of taking care of them, he wheels his steed around once more and gallops in the direction Luca and Sparte ran off in. Esoka follows suit, and the duo officially has back-up on the way!

"I will find out who corrupted these birds and they will pay..." Aiden notes with some grit through his teeth as his nocked arrow lines up to take aim at another raven, loosing it with a snap of his fingers and sending the arrow spinning toward the raven. A sudden squawk is all that is heard when Aiden ends the life of another corrupted bird. "This is worse than the wolves...!" He notes in his own gloomy remorse as the raven's body thuds to the forest floor. Grousing over the bird's loss, he will look to where the others are going.

"Six!" Luca calls out behind him to the others as he comes in view of the archers, a little _too_ much joy in his voice at the prospect. And he's not stopping in the slightest, taking a flying leap up towards the trees, blade resheathed mid-flight, moving in practical blur trying to get up to them as fast as possible. What archers would actually expect someone to be stupid enough to try and climb to them? Maybe a few will be too stunned to open fire.

One of the remaining ravens is taken down by Lou and one is taken down by Aiden. The party is now safe to continue and they all have their eyes, so that is good. Luca and Sparte reach the platforms. Six archers have bows trained on them. This might hurt a bit. They fire.

Sparte gets up to the base of the tree aaaand stops. He looks up the tree, then around the area nearby and swaps to his greatsword. "Hello up there! Nice tree you've got here. Be a shame if anything happened to it."

Sparte checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 3 higher.

Sparte checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 34 higher.

Sparte checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 30 higher.

Luca checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 21 higher.

Sparte wields a massive rubicund claymore with garnet inset guard.

Luca checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 51 higher.

Luca checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 43 higher.

Luca wields
Viper's Soul, an elegant extended-hilt Lycene sabre of Alaericite.

Luca checked strength + athletics at difficulty 20, rolling 42 higher.

Estaban checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 8 higher.

Esoka shakes some feathers off her sword and continues apace. Sticking close to Silas. Eyes on Luca and Sparte's advance to the tree ahead of them letting out a low whistle of some admiration for their approach. She grunts as she reaches the tree. How will her bruises hold up to the climbing? She will see.

Aiden is picking up the rear and nudging Lightfoot to hurry him into position. It'll take some time to dismount and duck behind cover, while ensuring Lightfoot is out of harms way!

Silas arrives at the trees, on his horse, and looks over his shoulder to Esoka. "We picked a great time to participate in a Melee," he off-handedly comments before standing in his stirrups and jumping up to latch onto the nearest tree. He takes a big breath and looks up to deduce Luca's exact location...

Lou nudges her horse to go a bit faster, so they might get closer to the platforms. She keeps an eye on the archers, ready to duck should they shoot in her direction.

Luca's laughing by the time the first arrow is headed his way, landing clinging to the bark of the tree as he shifts just enough for it to pass his ear, then he's leaping again, higher to a branch, which he actually swings upward from, the second and third arrow just barely missing his ass, on upward towards likely upset archers. "Alive or dead?" He's calling out as he goes, either for intimidation purposes. After all, he seems awfully confident he can live up to that question. Then again, maybe he's actually looking for direction in this case. Perhaps that means they don't look obviously demonic or something.

It is hard to shoot people who are literally under your feet. Sparte goes about walking around the tree, smacking at it with his sword and cutting into the bark. It isn't a deep cut, but the sort that will eventually kill a tree anyway. Poor tree, it'll die - eventually. Poor archers, can't hit a guardsman humming lumberjack tunes. Poor Luca, climbing the shaking tree.

The six archers seem a bit spooked by Luca's and Sparte's ability to evade their blows. Most normal people would be bleeding profusely by now, but not these two. They go after them again. Can Luca still dodge while climbing a tree? One of the archers is hit by Estaban and looks badly injured. Another tries to revenge his friend and fires toward him.

Esoka lets out a low "Heh" to Silas. "Gloria is teaching me the honor of yielding, I think. At least I quit the field before I broke something." So she has a chance to break something //today//. She keeps her eyes on Luca and Sparte's progress, finding a tree that looks like it'll support her as she goes up.

Silas also looks around the tree, at the guardsman seemingly trying to chop it down. "... I hope you're just intending to be a distraction..."

Sparte checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 15, rolling 40 higher.

Estaban moves with silas getting closer to the Archers he is going to cover Silas and those with him if needed, "Shall I try and take one down Lord Commander?" he asks knocking a arrow in his bow.

Luca checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 50, rolling 2 higher.

Luca checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 50, rolling 5 higher.

Luca checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 50, rolling 14 higher.

Sparte calls over to Silas. "I'm not a strong climber!"

"Take them down unless they yield!" Silas calls out, for anyone asking for directions! He begins his climb up, slowly and carefully.

Lou pulls her horse up short once she's in range again. She notches another bolt in her crossbow and starts to take aim at one of the archers - hopefully not the ones near Luca!

Silas checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 20, rolling 29 higher.

Lou checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 10 lower.

Esoka checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 20, rolling 25 higher.

Estaban checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 21 higher.

Aiden checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 11 higher.

Wish, wizz, fphat! Lou's bolt misses the mark completey. She grumbles under her breath and shakes her crossbow as she knocks another bolt. "Need to remember to practice more," she calls out a reminder to herself. "Can't expect everything to take in just a few hours." Though clearly she thinks it should!

Silas makes good progress on his climb... which may be impressive given he was clad in an interesting combination of bandaging and rubicund steel armor. Sure, there's a good likelihood he won't be able to dodge arrows like sword ninja Luca, but perhaps they'll just bounce off him instead...

Luca checked dexterity + medium wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 40 higher.

Aiden waits for a moment to ensure his shot doesn't accidently butt-hurt someone. He aims for one of the archers not currently being assaulted by climbers and lets his arrow fly. The shot is clean and it is good. The aim is great. The impact as it drives into one of the archers is sufficient enough. It may prevent them from targetting one of his party members, at least for a moment!

Estaban lets his arrow fly as they climb, the diamond plated arrow wiza by them and sinks into one of the archers, "Grab my arrow while your up tehre will get it back after." he calls to Silas in a low tone.

Luca is...a little insane. That's almost indisputable at this point. But he's also ungodly good at evading arrows it seems, for even as he's leaping from his branch that he spun up off of, he's twisting in the air past two arrows that catch little bits of his rumpled clothing so close were they to skewering him, but no blood is spilled! And as then he's landing in an almost feral crouch on the platform of likely stunned archer nearest him, Viper's Soul whipping free to deflect the third arrow aimed at his head almost casually, leaving him to rise fluidly up and give an almost predatory grin before quipping loudly enough to carry to each of the archers. 'You heard the man, gents. Here's the chance to yield." Even saying that though, the Champion Prince is dancing forward, blade whipping out at the nearby archer in a blur...and not connecting with him. Instead he's cleaving through the Shav's bow as if it were nothing but a twig, an arched brow questioning whether he's going to be foolish enough to persist and draw a blade.

Esoka looks more than a little pained by the time her climb is done, but she gets up there. Nothing broken yet. Once up, she just pauses to behold Luca's work. As it //is// a thing to behold indeed. Her sword's at the ready, but the first thing she does it bark in Crownlands shav, 'Surrender, and you shall be treated fairly.'

The archer in the tree with Luca is a man in his late twenties. He appears to be quite frightened when his bow string is cut. "I yield!" He cries out. One of the archers was killed by Estaban and another is injured by Aiden. Only three remain. "Don't yield!" One says and fires not toward Luca, but to his surrendering companion. The archers are all men and women who are somewhere between twenty and forty they appear to be Shavs. Silas and Esoka are able to climb up their trees and reach an archer if they wish. The other two archers fire. One fires at Lou and one at Aiden.

Lou checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 20, rolling 1 lower.

Aiden checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 20, rolling 8 higher.

Reese GM Roll checked dexterity(3) + dodge(3) at difficulty 20, rolling 14 higher.

Silas finally arrives at his destination and once he hauls himself onto the platform, quickly moves to disarm the bow in the archer's hand instead of attempting to harm the shav himself. He doesn't speak to the man -- he attempts to use the surprise and his reflexes to his full advantage. His alaricite flashes through the air in front of him...

Aiden checked command + leadership at difficulty 15, rolling 12 higher.

Aiden shifts his body just in time to prevent an arrow from landing in his chest, instead, it thuds into the ground behind him and near his foot. He was taking aim on one knee. "We need to find out if they're responsible for the corruption!" Aiden yells ahead, though his voice may not be heard over the commotion. They /could/ slaughter every archer... but Aiden is looking to wound the others and not kill them with his own aim.

Lou checked composure at difficulty 15, rolling 3 lower.

Luca checked strength + athletics at difficulty 50, rolling 5 lower.

Twang. Thud! The shav's arrow manages to pierce Lou's left shoulder. She jerks back when the arrow point goes through her, and nearly loses the grip of her cross bow. She also lets out a series of rather nasty curses. "Dammit!" she screams out, along with some other VERY COLORFUL phrases. Not princess like //at all//. Perhaps even some Eurusi is thrown in there for good measure. It takes her a few moments to get her composure back, and once she does, she aims again for another archer. She's not looking particularly merciful at the moment.

Estaban checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 1 lower.

Lou checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 35 higher.

Aiden checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 2 lower.

"Good bo....oy!" Luca's starting to praise the man on platform with him for backing down, just as the arrow nearly takes the guy's head off in front of him. Irritated, Luca turns to glare at the shav who shot, muttering aside. "You stay right there and behave. I'll take care of your rude friend." With that, Luca's eying the distance to the platform of the one who tried to shoot the yielding shav, crouches down low for lack of a running start, and LEAPS!!! He looks like a pouncing jungle cat, all elegant lines and beautiful grace, flying towards the likely suddenly startled archer with blade swung rearward and fierce predatory glee in his eyes! That is, until he realizes he's going to come up a little short! At that point, Luca's growling out a loud "Fuuuuuuuuck!!!!" And windmilling his limbs as if trying to push himself just a little further forward. He's going down, and he's going down hard! That is, unless someone managed to catch him.

Esoka checked dexterity + medium wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 3 higher.

Silas checked dexterity + medium wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 58 higher.

Lou finds one of those archers in her sights and gets all squinty eyed, setting her sights on their hand - aiming to injure the archer rather than kill them - but also to put them out of commission. It's hard to shoot with just one handed after all. Once she's certain her shot is set up she pulls back the trigger and lets the bolt loose, aiming for the hand pulling back the string, rather than the one steadying the bow - but really any part of the body that puts the archer out of commission without killing them will do for her.

"I've got you! I might have you! This is probably going to hurt!" Sparte leaves his sword buried in the side of the tree, going over and trying to catch the falling Luca. It is difficult though, what with his helmet restricting his vision and Sparte not being the greatest at judging distances. He walks into one tree branch himself while trying to get to where Luca is going to land.

The archer glares at Silas and makes a sudden movement... which doesn't bode well for either of them. Instead of knocking the bow out of the man's hands, he instead lops off his forearm. The poor shav'arani screams in horro and pain and crumples in a heap, and Silas sort of blinks at the sudden, unintended gore. "... Oops."

Sparte checked strength + athletics at difficulty 40, rolling 29 lower.

Luca takes serious damage.

Taking an arrow to the shoulder.

Lou takes moderate damage.

Sparte is there, a few feet out of position with arms raised when Luca crashes into the ground. He looks over, wincing. "Nope, didn't have ya." He goes to plan B, going to give Luca some medical care for his injury.

Esoka slams her blade - the flat of it - toward the shav archer. It's not a killing blow, but she's a strong girl, and she hits him harder than she intended. There's bleeding, but at least nothing is severed. A sort of abashed look is exchanged with Silas, before she just tries to use the gore to their advantage. "Yielding would be wise..." It's meant to be said stoically and intimidatingly, but kind of trails off when Luca goes flying. Ending in a wince.

Aiden looks aside as his arrow bounces off somewhere harmless, no one's butt at least. The reason he looks aside is due to the fact that Lou takes an arrow, which has him shifting over toward her, "Let me see if I can help you! I know field medicine..." He looks toward her, seeing if she's willing to stop firing arrows for a moment so he can do that!

There's hope! That one shining moment of blazing hope wherein Luca sees Sparte below him! Sparte who saved him from a river! Sparte who has stood beside him on the battlefield! Sparte the deceptively-strong and gawky-looking wonderful brother in arms! Sparte's going to save him! And so Luca's going practically ragdoll limp into the fall, giving into that hope for Sparte's salvation! And...so it is that Sparte's tripping into a branch right then leaves Luca crashing flat into the ground with a loud enough THUD that even the enemy Shavs are likely to stop their combat and wince at it! For a goodly few seconds, long enough for Sparte to get over to the downed warrior, there's no movement and it looks as though the Winged Fox may have just died crashing into the ground! That is, until he's shifted over onto his back, at which point a wheezy, rasping sound escapes in single emphatic definition of Luca's current state. "Owww!"

Lou glances aside at Aiden, and nods. She stops firing long enough for him to do his thing.

Luca goes crashing and Sparte fails to save him this time. Sometimes the recklessness catches up with the languid prince and things go wrong. This is one of those times. One of the Shav is is clearly yielding. One is dead. The others are all injured. Esoka and Silas are both in tree with a Shav. The archers look frightened. "We yield!" The one with Silas says and this time he isn't shot at. The others are just too badly injured to do much. The party has won, it seems.

Estaban arrow bounces off a tree and he growls it must have been the sound of Luca crashing to the ground and he winces, "What the fuck Luca!" he looks over at the prince on the ground and Sparte moving over to him.

While he might not be first or even last pick at a game of catch, Sparte at least knows how to tend wounds in the field. He pulls out a few salves from his belt and some supplies, going about minimizing the damage from Luca's fall. "Just scream obscenities if I touch anything that hurts, and keep lying down for a bit."

To be continued......