<div></div><br> <br>A small request has been sent out to those of minor or major military experiance. The meeting place has been said as a river side north of the capital. It's atleast a two day ride, so the request also said pack well for travel.<br> <br>Ryusho sighs softly as he had a -lot- of gear and pack for himself, because considering the way he had 'military' experience, and being a craftsman, well, he had to not only bring supplies for himself  basically, but he had to bring materials and tools, though lucky being a dragon, a tegu, and a large overall size, at least he can carry quite a -lot- of weight upon his back in a pack..though he can't fly really while having that pack -on-<br> <br>Zevran approaches the meeting place, adorned in his heavy, black armor. The large blade that he is so often seen with is in its usual place on his back. His own pack is slung over his shoulder, filled with food and supplies. He gives Ryusho a friendly wave as he spots the Tegu-Dragon.<br> <br>Walden the Armadillo has come in a rather sharp-looking suit of scale armor with a backpack full of supplies. He has a utility belt with some easy-access medical supplies and a pair of some sort of bladed fist weapon. "Whew, I made it!" he states, breathing deeply. I... I brought stuff."<br> <br>Felix also shows up after a short period of time wearing his own heavier silver-plated armor along with a few weapons at his sides such as a warhammer and musket. Along with that is a backpack slung over his shoulders with a bedroll tied to the back, looks like he was ready enough! "Hey all." He remarks casually with his arrival, a smile showing on his face.<br> <br>The site is empty, the region completely devestated by some sort of explosive or fire. The group a small crater where there use to be a camp, or what appears to be a camp. The smell of burnt fur hangs lightly in the air, the attack is old. But there is a faint sound in the distance, some where to the north.<br> <br>Zevran takes a moment to survey the devastated camp, sniffing the air and picking up the scent of burned fur. "So, exactly how long ago was the request posted?" He queries as he surveys the crater, but his head turns as he hears the faint sound to the north. <br> <br>Ryusho stands there quietly, as he looks to Zevran, "I thought it was recent....This is..Not what I expected to arrive to find either...." he says quietly as he looks around slowly, and begins to check the area for remains of items or materials just to see if he can figure out what happened<br> <br>Walden offers a nod in greeting to Zevran and Ryusho along with a little finger-wiggling wave. "Hello, you two," he says with a chuckle. But to Felix, he smiles broadly and offers his deer friend a big pat on the back. "Glad you could come Felix. I feel a lot safer with you at my side." With that out of the way, he surveys the area curiously, taking note of their surroundings. "So you think this is it? Um... Hey, what do you think that was?" he asks, pointing northward.<br> <br>Felix hmms thoughtfully at the state of their metting point, a hand going to scratch at his muzzle for a moment "Looks like the whole place burned." He remarks, his casual demeanor slowely fading away "And hey Walden, just the person to be in trouble with." He offers, a faint smile showing just briefly as he glances northwards as well "Probably whatever caused this still. Might be worth looking into." The Deer murmurs, hand lowering down to bring his hammer to the ready in case trouble is around the bend, so to speak.<br> <br>Zevran gives a small wave to Walden. "Well then, let's go check it out." He states in response to Felix's murmuring. He seems to be oblivious to Ryusho's searching as he starts to walk to the north edge of the crater towards the sound before stopping and looking back to see if the others are following him.<br> <br>In the middle of the crater what well.. skeletons or what one can assume WAS skeletons of who ever the contact was. The forest around the camp is active with animal life, but the sound from the northen area sounds again, alittle clearer this time.<br> <br>Ryusho rubs his head slightly, "..That...must of been an old posting..these skeletons look clean, and a bit sun bleached to me..so that means this has been like this a decent while..."<br> <br>Walden is more than willing to come along; he looks incredibly concerned. "Y-you don't think... they were all KILLED, do you?" he asks as they see the skeletons. "I-I mean of course they were, but- but- but why?" He looks northward, swallows hard, and takes a deep breath. "It might not have been old. What if it isn't old? What if the things that way did this?"<br> <br>"Well, then our little trip is going to get rather interesting rather quickly." Felix responds to Walden with a glance towards the skeletons "I don't think it was old though, they wouldn't have taken it down." He obviously doesn't like the look of this, or what might have caused it. "Then we shall bring vengeance to the fallen, I suppose, less it would be more wise to just turn back..."<br> <br>Zevran shrugs at Walden's concerns. "Not much we can do about it now." He replies to the Armadillo before looking towards Felix. "Vengeance sounds much better than turning back." He says to Felix. "So, are we going to wait here all day, or are we going to find out what's making that noise?" He asks the group as he glances towards them. It seems as though he has already made his own decision, as he turns and starts to head in the direction that he last heard the noise.<br> <br>The sound of a whistle, or what sounds like a whistle, screams from over head, a ball, trailing black smoke soon can be seen coming into distance. A tactical weapon? But the weapon seems aimed directly at the group.<br> <br>Ryusho only stops for a moment, before he puts two and two togteher -really- quickly, "....We need to move -NOW-" he says simply as even with all that weight he begins to -take off- running, even if it is in the direction of where that thing is comming from, "Because I think that might be what made this crater!"<br> <br>Walden lets out a shriek of terror, grabs Felix's arm, and runs after Ryusho. "I think vengeance is NOT our priority!" he calls out. "Aaaa! Creators save us!" He doesn't know where he's running to. He's merely following-the-leader.<br> <br>"UHMMM IT'S A TRAP!" Felix yells as the whistling ball of death heads towards them as he in turn runs off towards where the previous noises were coming from as fast as he's able with Walden nearly right at his side!<br> <br>Zevran looks at the flying ball headed towards them, a bit confused as to its purpose before Ryusho gives a warning and starts running towards him. Zevran mutters a few curse words under his breath as he realizes what the ball might be and takes off running towards the north, into the forest and hopefully towards the source of the ball. <br> <br>So the little insects scatter, the crater is struck a second time, The ball of death  explodes, sending the four men scattering, forcing some to slam into trees. The bones evaporate from the intensity of the faire ball, but no following blaze begins.<br> <br>Walden clings to a tree, panting for breath. At some point, he holds out a hand and waves it incomprehensibly at the others and nods, jaw slacked. Poor armadillo is just speechless.<br> <br>Ryusho had half covered his head as he ran, though he had glanced back after the impact, "..Well that hit the same damn spot..I am going to guess someone expected us to be standing ther estill trying to figure it out as he mrphs,"..Well this isn't good." he says simply, "We better try to stop whatever that is at the very least..."<br> <br>Zevran is unable to get far enough away as the bomb explodes. The concussive force knocks him into a tree with a loud thump. He falls to the ground, but after a few seconds he begins to stand up. His heavy armor and thick skin were luckily able to take most of the impact for him. He stumbled a bit, still slightly disoriented from the blast and collision with the tree. "I agree." He replies to Ryusho as he puts a hand on the tree trunk to steady himself.<br> <br>Felix isn't too good at dodging blasts and whatnot, and as the blast strikes he goes flying a bit forwards, striking the same tree that Walden is clinging to, panting for breath some as a frown quickly shows on his face. The armor covers up any damage that may have been done, though.<br> <br>Walden looks Felix over worriedly, and he gazes out at the others. "A-are you all okay? Is anyone hurt? I have medical supplies. Also, what was THAT?" The armadillo is trembling, clutching onto his tree still. <br> <br>The sound can be heard once more, 'click... click... click.' heavy heavy sounds as if something is being reloaded.<br> <br>Ryusho grumbles a bit as he brushes himself off, "...and here I have all this damn supplies." he says to himself, "...was expecting a non-crater, but well...I would like to say it was something that violently -exploded- when it heard...as he thinks, "and considering this sould we heard before the last shot, and the sounds going on right now, May I guess they are working at getting ready with another shot..."<br> <br>Zevran glances into the forest in the direction that the sounds had come from before the shot. "Well then, let's stop them from firing another." He says simply as he stands to his full height and starts moving purposefully through the woods in the direction that the sounds had come from.<br> <br>"It's a catapult, those take a few people to use, there's going to be an armed group probably, let's go take them out before they hurt more passerbys." Felix states matter-of-factly as he once again begins to move in that direction with weapon drawn "Come on guys, don't get left behind, I'm mostly fine though."<br> <br>Walden blinkblinks. "Wait, what? We're gonna take that thing out? W-wait for me," the armadillo responds, following after the others. "Just- just remember, don't make this about vengeance. This is about protecting ourselves and our people!"<br> <br>Ryusho nods a bit, "indeed, Though it is partly to avenge the fact they just blew the heck out of a camp that as far as we know, did nothing to them.." he says simply, "so we need to do something -anyway- as an act of retailation for being attacked."<br> <br>The forest is no long quite as the animals have fled the assult of the massive machine of war. But the clicking suddenly and then the screaming sound can be heard again and once more the blast strikes it's target, no one becoming injured. Then once again it starts clicking.<br> <br>Ryusho glances back, "..You know, I don't think they know that there -was- or was -not- anything there, they keep hitting the same spot.." he says softly..."that or they are just guessing and failing horribly..." he mumbles quietly (sorry for early post)<br> <br>Walden frowns as he comes to the same conclusion. He shakes his head, not as startled this time since he knew it was coming. "That is very strange. It really is strange. Well, there WAS something there, but it was destroyed. Acutally... actually no." He shakes his head and points at the crater. "Those skeletons were people investigating the blast and the crater, aren't they? They didn't know about the blast, and it caught them by surprise. That thing's just auto-firing indiscriminately at the same spot. It's... amazing, and scary. Something's wrong, isn't it."<br> <br>"Well let's go dismantle it if it is the case then, can't have anyone else getting blown up by it...Anyone happen to know who, or what the posting came from?" Felix asks loudly as he continues running towards where the noises had been coming from.<br> <br>One whistle, two whistle, three whistle. Suddenly other sounds from above sound and suddenly the camp is no more. Blasted to complete nothingness. Whistles in the distance are different, like made by a hand as someone yells orders.<br> <br>Zevran continues to run through the forest, now a bit more sure of his direction as he heads in the direction that he can hear the orders and whistles coming from.<br> <br>Ryusho would be running after zev, though he knows he is going to set this damned -pack- of his down before they enter combat, so he can have his mobility without being overbalanced in one way or another....<br> <br>Walden's ears twitch. He heard that. "It's deliberate," he realizes as he runs after the others. "Ohhh, no, this is terribly wrong! I don't like this one bit!" He straps on a bladed battle glove and makes sure he has adequate medical vials and salves handy in his big utility belt.<br> <br>Felix takes note of Walden's glove "That isn't the exploding kind I hope." He remarks with a faint smile as the group continue on their way to whatever the contraption is, ready to take it out.<br> <br>Once the group nears the edge of the forest, all that remains is a small group of men and one Trebuchet. Runed along it's edges with divine math. The device is being packed at such a quick rate it's almost impossible.<br> <br>Zevran stops near the edge of the trees as he spots the group and the trebuchet. He studies them for a moment before walking out of the trees. He makes sure he is far enough from the treeline that he hopefully won't draw attention to the others in his group before adressing the trebuchet loaders. "Hey, what are you doing?" He asks in a strong, authoritative voice.<br> <br>Walden grins at Felix and says, "I still haven't perfected that design yet. But give it... time..." He stops as they reach the edge, and Zevran steps forward and actually speaks to them. "Ohhh, no, I don't like this," he worries. He stays in the back. He's not quite the fighter Zevran and Felix are.<br> <br>Felix stays back in the trees as well, swapping out his warhammer for his musket instead just in case. "Well, it's an interesting thought, but please take your time with the overall design." The deer remarks with a faint smile.<br> <br>The crew look up and one yells to what looks to be give Cliffside soldiers, all heavily armed. The warriors all armed with long swords and shields, as well as heavy armor rush towards them. two wolves, a bear, and two tigers.<br> <br>Ryusho shifts as he notices this as he takes his pack off and sets it down, sighing as he draws his weapons from it, and armor, he was half expecting more preperation for a fight as he quickly gets his gear equipped and himself ready, "Alright then, Now I'm actually -ready- for a fight.."<br> <br>Zevran smirks as he sees the Cliffsiders charge. "Bad move." He says mostly to himself. "The bear is mine!" He shouts back to his own group. He turns towards the bear, lowering his head so that his horn is pointed directly at the bear and charges.<br> <br>Walden trembles nervously seeing so many enemies. "O-oh no, that's... That's suicide!" the armadillo exclaims, starting to chant and formulate some earth mathematics.<br> <br>"Tsktsk, not a very wise move, can see why they're doing it though, bastards." Felix mutters as he readies his rifle from where he still is within the treeline to fire a shot at the uncoming swarm towards Zevran.<br> <br>The men rush forward, the shot fired by Felix hits one of the guards, he doesn't die but he's knocked off his feet from the unexpected round. The two wolves seems to be working together as they head for Ryusho first, the two tigers pass the wolves and one heads into the treeline while the other moves to flank, unware of Walden's pressence yet.<br> <br>Ryusho would step back a bit as he takes a defensive stance, glancing around as he readies himself, though his thick armor is actually 'medium' weight, it is built to his frame and build as well, as he shifts, axe in one hand, held defensively, sword in the other and more -offensively- gripped as he adjusts his position, though he promtly turns to try to breath fire towarsd the charging pair of wolven beings.<br> <br>Zevran continues to charge as Felix's shot knocks over the bear. With his former target on the ground, Zevran continues to charge towards the group near the trebuchet. He assumed the rest of the group could handle the few soldiers. The momentum of his charge and his sheer size allowed him to force his way through part of the group guarding the trebuchet. As he neared the weapon, he drew his own blade and unleashed a downward slash in an attempt to destroy the machine. The divine mathematics on the device flared, and the sword smashed into an invisible barrier a few inches above the actual trebuchet. It seemed that Zevran's old sword had seen too much battle to handle the impact, and the blade shattered. He turned away from the machine, now realizing that he was surrounded by soldiers with more weapons than he had. He immediately began throwing punches at the soldiers, and the scene seemed to erupt into a brawl with the occasional soldier being thrown away from the group by the might of the Rhino. Eventually, the sheer numbers overwhelmed him. As Zevran went to block a blow with his armored forearm, he realized too late that his opponent was swinging a warhammer. The hammer impacted his fist, and a loud crack could be heard as most of the bones in his left hand shattered. He grunted with pain, and although he was hurt, he attempted to continue to fight. Of course, he was now being overwhelmed by the group of soldiers around him, and more injuries were appearing on his body.<br> <br>Walden outstretches his hand toward Ryusho as the wolves attempt to flank the Tegu. His hand lifts up, and the very earth surrounding Ryusho gives up some of its mass to form protective plating on his body and armor to shield him from the inevitable danger. "That should buy a little time, and- NO! You fool!" There goes Zevran, charging into what he fears may be certain doom. <br> <br>It's worth noting that the earth surrounding Walden is churning and rumbling as though protecting him. (Sucking Mud)<br> <br>Taking notice of Zevran charging into the middle of the fight without thinking of a tactic first, Felix merely sighs a bit and puts his musket aside for the time being to draw forth his warhammer.  Weapon drawn he quickly steps nearer Ryusho to assist with the coming flanking, weapon prepared and ready to strike back at any soldier who comes near.<br> <br>The wolves seems to say something between them, it's to quick to understand or catch fully but it sounds like cut. The pair dash to the side as one of the tigers reappears and drags his blade down Ryusho's armor, the earth protecting it very well while the other tiger seems to notice Walden. "Hmmm, a mage eh?" she growls with pleasure in her voice as she flips the wicked looking blade in hand and strikes at Walden cutting his clothes but not him. --- Zevran's attack leaves him injured but not useless, but a pair of fox have broken off and seems to have started attacking him, delaying him as the Trebuchet is moved hastily away from the fighting.<br> <br>Ryusho would shift, swinging and blocking with his axe as he swung and struck with his blade as he shifts, and swings, using his weight as a weapon as well, his size to cause leverage and hard swings as he then shifts, turning to bring the axe around swinging -behind him- as his wings stay folded -tight- to protect them as best as possible as well<br> <br>Zevran attempted to fight his way through the targets to try once more to destroy the trebuchet, but was unable to do much against the group. His attention was drawn to two foxes attacking him, and he attempted to defend himself. He glanced towards the others of the group taking the trebuchet away. "Your mistake. Now I get to make you pay for what happened to my hand." He grunted as he charged one of the foxes. He would attempt to knock the fox over with his horn and then stomp on the fox's hand, using his full weight.<br> <br>Walden winces at the blade that came close to him, but the earth around him springs up reflexively to try to interfere with the attacking wolf. Walden was ready, however, with his bladed battle glove, and the scale-armored "mage" throws a couple of punches at his assailant. "Down, girl!" he hisses.<br> <br>Seeing the seige weapons attempt at escape, Felix begins moving as swiftly as he can in it's direction, intent on one thing, stopping it from causing any more damage! As he nears the device a spark of light would engulf his warhammer as he swings it towards the nearest of the intendents.<br> <br>The pair of fox are no match for a true fighter, they have only limited training as one screams out as his wrist is crushed. In the distance a loud horn is sounded, a roar of troops can be heard as if calvery is appraoching. The fighting around Ryusho is slow going for the cliffside troops as the dragon keeps them at bay enough to not allow them to fully surround the group. The TIGER grins at at Walden. "oh, you play for keeps.. I like that." She grins as she bare fangs at the man. With felix's attack another one of the men drop, leaving only five on the machine, slowing it but not stoping it.<br> <br>Zevran raises his foot above the prone fox's head as though he plans on finishing him, anger in his eyes. His foot comes down swiftly, but it stomps into the ground next to the fox's head. "I'll let you go, this time." He says in a low voice before taking a few steps back and turning to the other fox. "I'll give you one chance to run away, or you'll end up worse than him." He threatens the fox, baring his teeth menacingly. He spares a glance towards the trebuchet crew, noticing that Felix is trying to deal with them. He might try to go help, mostly to get revenge if he gets a chance. As he hears the horn, he glances towards the sound and attempts to see whether it is allies or enemies that approach.<br> <br>Walden glares at the TIGER before him, now that he has a much better view of just what she looks like. "Shame you're on the side of- of- of the other side," he tells her, and he throws a few good punches her way, trying to take advantage of the claw-like blades on the cestus on his right hand.<br> <br>Felix continues chasing after the siege weapon, hoping to knock out operator after operator so the thing stops moving, on that note, he moves to the next one and takes a heavy swing at their legs in attempt to knock them over!<br> <br>The sound of the horn grows louder, shortly after the horn a series of horsemen, thirty in total ride down a near by hill side to support the attacked seige engine.<br> <br>Zevran looks towards the sound of the loud horn and spots the Cliffside horsemen. As he spots the larger force, the anger in his eyes dissipates as he realizes his group may be overpowered. "We need to go. NOW! There's too many of them." Zevran shouts across the battlefield to the others as he turns and starts moving back towards the forest. He highly doubted the group could overpower the Cliffsiders now, and the smart option was to run, as reluctant as he was to do it.<br> <br>The riders first moves towards the engine, a single woman, she shouts orders to support the five warriors. Ryushou, showing wisdom retreats, grabing pack and all. The five fighters grow bold as they continue to press their new found advantage and try to secure the group.<br> <br>The Tiger bounces back and forth and one wrong step lands a heavy fist from Walden right in her jaw, sending her flying back, knocked out, but not dead.<br> <br>Walden is all too willing to follow Zevran's order to retreat, but not without concern: he isn't too sure what sort of condition Zevran is in. Using the defensive earth around him as cover, he chants earth mathematics once more. Only this time, there is no shielding done; instead, the ground begins to shake in an effort to slow down the enemy and help his allies and him escape! And so he indeed joins in the escape.<br> <br>Ryusho would be swinging that pack onto his back quickly after sheathing at least one weapon, though he has to try a second time, luckly if an enemy tried to get close with him holding that pack, well, that heavy, large pack considering it contains various crafts tools, some metals, leather, and other things, that it would make for one heck of an impromtu bludgeon.<br> <br>Zevran continues to run for the cover of the forest, his adrenaline and experience allowing him to put the pain of his shattered hand and other injuries towards the back of his mind. He still lets out the occasional grunt of pain and attempts to attack an enemy fighter if they get in his way. He would attempt to gore the enemy with his horn and then toss them out of the way.<br> <br>The enemy halts their attack as they have defended the engine. Orders are once again shouted in a female voice this time as the assault on the scout camp has been completed.<br> <br>Walden makes sure Felix gets out of there too, and he breathes a sigh of relief as they all make it away from them. "What. Was. THAT?! Since when were we at all-out WAR?!" he exclaims to the others. "Oh Zevran! Ohhh, you're hurt!"<br> <br>Zevran looks towards Walden, holding up his rather swollen and bruised hand. "Oh, this? It's just a flesh wound." He replies to the concerned armadillo, attempting to give a reassuring smile. He tries to wiggle his fingers, but only manages a small twitch that causes him to grunt in pain.<br> <br>Ryusho cringes slightly as he looks over at Zevran, "..Yeah..thats...not good...Looks like you really hurt yourself bad with how swollen that is.."