The Search For Mana

[Chrono Blackwyng]

More and more of his dream went on until Chrono was greeted with the sun right in his eyes. He grumbled a few unintelligble words before nudging Ember with the flat of his sword, then got up and stretched before kicking sand onto Lazaryos. Yet, he did aboslutely nothing to Vosur since it seemed to his half-closed eyes that he hadn't fallen asleep at all. "Come on, the sun is up and we've only got a few more days until we risk missing the pre-"Crimson Blue" window!" of course he had no real idea how long until the Crmson-Blue started, but he had to at least make it seem remotely urgent to not continue sleeping.

[Vosur Aekira]

His sleep was rather restless, though he didn't move until Chrono spoke to them, his eyes moving to a fully-open position as he looked to the others. After a while of stretching and brushing the sand from off of his clothing, he pulled some of the smoked meat from one of his pockets and began eating on it while he waited for the rest to wake up. After finishing his breakfast, he started to adjust his gear while the others were still waking up. "Alright, we've still got a long trip ahead of us if any of the rumors of where the Mana lies are true." he grumbled out while he was stretching.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos got up, brushing the sand off of himself. "Indeed. However, we're still far from the end of the Guild's territory. We still have to be very careful on where we tread... well, speak of the devil. Quickly, into the trees." Lazaryos ran over behind one of the bigger trees along the River and peered around the corner. A ways back to near their original travel pack, a large group of Guild members walked out of the trees and met up with an even larger black-clad group. Lazaryos let out a low growl, the Tri'Malis. The leader, whom Lazaryos can only assume is Chrono's father, stepped up and bowed before three others brought forth several chests filled with gold. The Guild members smiled and surrounded the black-clad group and led them through the forest, and disappeared into the forest.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember jumped up quickly with her staff in hand when Chrono nudged her with his sword, her eyes open and darting back & forth. When she realized that it was just Chrono she relaxed her stance and muttered something that couldn't be understood. She had already rolled up her mat and reattached it to her bag when Lazaryos was halfway through what he was saying. When he told them all to move into the trees, she slung the bag over her shoulder and ran over the trees, standing behind one and peeking around it to watch what happened between the Guild and the Tri'Malis. She sighed as all of them disappeared into the forest and rested her forehead against the tree.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono brushed back his hair when he looked on as his family got passage through the woods. "Great, he was able to pay for safe passage, well...." He looked about before heading towards the trees and minding his steps for any small worms. "Lets have them clear the road for us, shall we?" he said as he stopped to look back at the group, all three of his eyes moving at the same time.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur burst ahead of Lazaryos when he said to go to the trees, jumping over one sand-ant pit and stopping to turn around and trigger it to let everyone know of it's location before he continued on the run to the forest and giving a very kid-like grin when he got to the cover of them. To the first one that he got to, he glanced it up and down, mentally gauging its strength before he went onto the next one, doing the same before he jumped up and scrabbled up a fair amount, using the added height and cover to look to the other set of travelers, letting them go a certain amount of distance before he climbed down and dropped out of the trees, unbelting his sword and putting his dominant hand (left hand) on the hilt as if he were ready to strike. "So they hired Guild members back then... these guys would probably freak to see me now as I'd look like a ghost to them." he said under his breath, the kid-like smile gone and replaced with an almost devilish one.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos hushed the two rowdy children who were itching for some action. He kept his voice low, "Don't think that that's their only numbers. Their path and group are probably heavily guarded from the treetops. Remember, this is their territory. The closer we get to the heart of their area, the more numbers we'll see against us. Even if most of them are amateurs, sheer numbers would be more than enough to take us all down. For now, we stay along the forest edge, along the River. We don't fight unless we absolutely have to. If you want proof, look closer, near the feet of where they were meeting and all around us. You just have to pay attention." All around them, in the thicker parts of the bushes and near the area where they all saw the meeting take place, there were skeletons of all types and species, some bodies were even still fresh. "Now let's head north. The river originates from the mountain, so we just have to follow the only vegetation in the desert." Just as Lazaryos took a step forward, one of the bodies got up and he tripped right over it.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember lifted her head off the tree and turned around, glancing around at the skeletons and bodies. She noticed that one in front Lazaryos was actually breathing but before she could warn him, he had already tripped over it as it started to get up. She stood at the ready, gripping her staff tightly just in case the new guy decided that he wanted to fight. She knew that she would have to be quick just in case the guy decided to go after Lazaryos while he was down, but she hoped that the guy wouldn't want to fight at all because she didn't feel like it wasting her energy.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono could only grin at the mage, but drew his sword in case the person who got up would become hostile. "What was that about us having to 'pay attention', because I didn't qutie hear it over the sound of you hitting the ground." The mage seemed to be an endless source of amusement whenever he wasn't trying to fry, or recently decaptitate, him. However, that did not stop him from being serious when the need arose, which it did.

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante sat up after having been tripped over by a bumbling tiger. He rubbed his eyes groggily. "Morning already?" Looking around he saw a couple others with their weapons drawn ready to use. He held up his hands nonchalantly. "I surrender, I surrender. Heh...Well, who're you guys? If you were with those guild bastards I don't think I'd be alive this long. At least not a second time." he said standing himself up using his large wooden cross to help. Once up he sheathed the cross on his back and offered to help up the tiger who tripped over him. "Should watch where your goin', pal." Once Dante had helped him up he dusted himself off. Brushing some dirt from his almost skin tight attire.

[Vosur Aekira]

Turning around to see Lazaryos fall over and seeing someone rise from the massacre-site, he took a defensive stance almost immediately due to being instinctive for an ambush. Getting a better look at the individual and noticing he was much like a cleric, his stance relaxed as his dominant-hand left the hilt of his sword and went to one of the pouches he held the set of non-coated cards in, ready to throw one if he had to at a moments-notice. His right hand lowered at his side as he looked back to the direction that the guild members and the other mages, no longer seeing them. "Crap... my bone to pick with them will have to wait another day." he muttered under his breath, his hand still lightly gripping one of the cards as he looked to the two mages getting up. He reattached his sword-and-sheath back onto his belt with only his right hand, raising his now-free hand up to push his dark-tinted glasses on his face to hide his red eyes from individual resembling a cleric. "C'mon, we've got no time to waste here." he called out to Lazaryos, now trying to keep his eyes hidden from the individual with the cross.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos nodded over to Vosure as the newcomer helped him up, "Agreed. Quickly, now. I don't know who you are, but if you want to live, I suggest you get moving as well. I'm sure we'll acquaint ourselves later if you're not a threat to us. Until then, be warned. One slip-up, and we kill you without question." Lazaryos turned and started to head north along the forest's edge, leading the group.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember relaxed a little but still remained aware to what the new guy was doing. "Yeah, you may look like the type who may not hurt a fly, but I don't fall for that." Ember said as she passed Dante and followed after Lazaryos. She surveyed the area around them as she walked, looking out for any signs of possible trouble. She also remained alert to anything Dante might do even though he acted to innocent.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono quickly slid his blades back since the priest lacked any sort of bladed weapon and followed Lazaryos along the forest's edge. His eyes shot from left to right as he scanned for any holes, only bothering to nudge Lazaryos if he was leading the group into an ambush.

After a few moments of looking around, the scales on his neck started to itch like crazy and the wind or the humidity alone had no effect. So, he wrote it off as his family just playing around with their magika while they walked with their escorts. Its almost sad to see how bored they get when they can't kill anyone around them

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante shrugged after Ember had said what she did. "Tough crowd." He turned and followed after them, in a laid back stride as if this was just a casual stroll through the forest. In any case, he didn't really care. It wasn't likely these four were taking a casual stroll, he figured they were going for The Mana Droplet too. A free ride didn't come along that often and it wasn't like he could refuse the chance.