Attack on Dar Havark [Those Who Scouted]

[Lichen]

OOC: If your PC went ahead with Duncan to scout out the area, then this is where you're posting.

Late Darkening, Kalendryas 25th
Era I of the Celestine Mandate
Era X of the Age of the Darkening, the Mageocracy of Julos the Mad
Paradigm: The Coronation of Queen Sharinya of the Fae

IC: The night air was warmer than normal. In the distance, the fires still burned steadily, consuming the northern side of the forest in an inferno that burned still though the first section of battle that created it was long over. The light gave the woods an ominous red glow, casting strange flickering shadows everywhere in the forest. Despite the fire that could be heard crackling everywhere, the woods were relatively silent. There didn't seem to be any signs of life in it... perhaps it had all fled when the zombies had come to town.

Off in the distance they could see the profile of Dar Havark against the fire-lit sky. It's pointed form served as a beacon for the small group, an indication of exactly where they wanted to go. Despite the fact that it wasn't a great deal taller than the trees, it's shape was very distinctive... there was no way they were going to mistake the tower for the trees, even in the dark and at this distance.

[Duncan Sythe]

Like Marnia Duncan had many questions, the Mystic however was somewhat more used to the mental barrage that never let up, like waves crashing against a cliff with a fine filter built in the questions crashed against it. The odd one with some possibility of being answered and not driving him more nutty than he currently suspected he was being let in and processed.

Having hopefully found his horse and mounted Duncan let a grey cloak fall around him, grey being much better than black despite thoughts to the contrary, grey because he was usually a city man and so didn’t exactly do ‘natural concealment’ very well. The ability to sit in a shadow and look out was elementary rather than a skill in a dark alley without using a black cloak that looked like a shadow in a shadow – standing out, the skill of hiding in trees was a different matter though. It one Duncan didn’t know anything about but he still tried.

The plan so far in his mind though was to advance to the edge of any tree line surrounding the tower, or until he heard or saw undead, then head in on foot to prevent getting swamped… Mainly because what he did know about fighting in woods was that mounted men were at a disadvantage to a mob, a mob of undead even more so because the stupid things didn’t die when you stabbed them.

Mentally shrugging that aside he hopefully led his small trio forward, hands free of sword hilt and on the reins, eyes scanning, mind in Meditation as he looked around for anything Arcane as well as physical, the relaxed state of calm only really possible through a sense of utter resignation, what was going to happen would happen, the world liked to play its tricks and Duncan had seen quite a few. Oh he could be surprised, the deathly thing that had attacked him earlier had been a surprise in fact but the surprises were getting fewer and usually less difficult to deal with.

“We ride till I say then we walk.”

He said quietly to the other two.

“If we get seperated and you can’t find me in a short amount of time then head back to the tavern as fast as you can, don’t try and scout ahead.”

Because its pointless he added mentally. Not because it was really insulting but a simple truth, the other two didn’t really know what they were looking for, talking for now wasn’t an issue either but later? Later he’d have to work something out. For now though he could at least try and make the other two feel better about all this…he recalled at least one had been willing to provide ideas.

“If you have anything to say, ideas, comments, then you might as well say them now…we’re not in danger until we’re close to the tower or we hear a band of something we don’t know.”

[Calvin]

The surreal quiet of post-battle surrounded the scouts as they drew near the ominous black tower. Smoke and embers burned behind them, blotting out the stars as the thick forest foliage served to prevent their line of sight moving forward. In all, it was a dismal situation for a scouting mission, but the group moved onward regardless.

As they drew nearer to the tower, the thick forest floor became dotted with footprints barely perceptable in the dreary light of the pitch black night. They were not, however, those of the undead. These were much smaller and had a creature-like feel to them. They could possibly have been made by animals fleeing conflict or perhaps they were those of a smaller race, such as ratta. It was difficult to tell which exactly.

Suddenly, tho their left, tiny voices could be heard chittering away. They were moving quickly toward the scouting party's position and the group had but a moment to act before the voices would be upon them.

[Larien Gil'dae]

A wave of fear passed through the body of the maiden as she watched the tower in the distance, its form very distinct. She couldn't turn her intense gaze away; her eerily light green eyes were riveted upon it, even as she listened to the instructions given by Duncan. Nodding when it was appropriate, the maiden tried to remain calm, though a small shiver raced down her spine when she finally managed to pry her eyes away from the menacing structure that they seemed to be heading towards. Giving Duncan a quick glance, the young elven woman then looked around for their other companion Telc; she needed as much comforting as she could get at the moment, and the sight of both the men was a very comforting thing indeed.

No comments or ideas came to her mind as she sat deeper in the saddle, keeping a firm grip on the reins while also trying to not yank back constantly from her nervousness at every small sound that she imagined that she had heard. Larien didn't know this strange steed the way she knew her own, but like all experienced riders, she had confidence that she would be able to remain upon his back, even if he were to act up like Huturo had told him not to . . . thinking of the other woman brought her a small amount of comfort as well. She had a duty to that woman; one that she would carry out. I'll bring Kol back to her safe. Knowing that she had a promise to carry out to some person set her jaw a bit more firmly and made her feel slightly more confident, but then, the sight of that tower once again sent it all melting away.

"I'm frightened."

The young woman's melodious voice rolled out in barely a whisper, hardly audible, but due to her closeness to Duncan, for she had been keeping Kol as close to the other's mount as she dared, the man probably had heard her; which would be just so embarrassing. But who wouldn't be a little bit frightened in such a situation? It was then that Larien's elven ears picked up on chittering sound. Keeping her firm grip upon the leather reins, she sent Duncan a slightly frantic look, her intense gaze riveted upon his face as she awaited for him to tell them what to do.

[Duncan Sythe]

“You’ve got every right to be.”

Duncan muttered dryly, his left hand slipping to one of the bundles tied under his saddle at that point, pulling free a normal looking Katana that was far less shiny than the one at the mage’s hip. Without wasting movement Duncan handed the blade across hilt first, a two second instruction course following.

“It’s only got one blade so swing it only in that direction and don’t try to stab, its long enough that whatever these Rattas have It’ll probably outreach them, just stay back unless you have to use it. Take my horse and hold her but keep back unless you have to defend yourself.”

With that Duncan lifted himself up in the saddle and unhooked his right foot, stopping the horse and dropping to the ground on his left side, a single hand extended to aid his fall. Looking up from where he’d dropped Duncan used his state of Meditation to Focus and then Channel Psionic essence from the planes, with this he created a half-dozen balls of energy, modified at first to be simple Sentinel spells, that would hover around him and using a combination of conjuration – the existence of the balls and divination – searching, looking, he would be able to look around in the darkness a bit better, to discover the location of the oncoming Ratta.

To Duncan the chattering made them Ratta, he’d seen Ratta before and had no great love for them but also knew they were cunning and, if possible, cowardly, if he could scare them off then that would be one problem solved. To that effect he was prepared, if he saw the Ratta within reach of such a spell, to Shape the Orbs rather than fight the Ratta in physical combat, to turn them from scrying devices into simple Psionic Orbs, conjured blue balls of energy to send flying towards the Ratta and stun them.

The thing was given he had two others with him he couldn’t afford to make mistakes, not that he ever could but now more than ever, so he waited to see what the Sentinel spell brought him on the surrounding area

[Larien Gil'dae]

The maiden's head was spinning as she tried to take in all the information, her left hand moving to take the hilt of the blade even as she switched the reins over from her right to her left hand so that she would be able to keep a hold of the man's horse easier. Taking hold of the other's reins, she then gave him a quick nod to show that she understood--she wouldn't do anything unless it was a life-or-death situation--even as she watched his face with a small amount of curiosity playing from within the depths of her light green eyes. He was such a strange one, well, not actually strange, but just . . . different. His eyes, the way he carried himself, what he could do . . . the young elven woman felt a small flutter of worry as she continued to watch him, and it took her at least a full heartbeat to gruffly remind herself that she should be worrying about her own skin instead of Duncan's--he could take care of himself just fine.

Prying her intense gaze away from the face of the man, she then tried to turn her head about to locate where exactly the chittering sound was coming from. Larien had never heard that sound before, and so, she was at a loss for what it was . . . Duncan had called them Rattas? Shaking her head lightly, the maiden sat upon the excited steed, trying to remain calm so where Kol would remain calm . . . blast the brute. At least she had been smart enough to pull back her long hair before leaving the tavern so where it wouldn't get in her way. What in the Carmelya's name is a Ratta? Well, whatever it was, the young woman was just glad that Duncan was there . . . surely the Master Mystic would be able to take care of them? And of course, they also had the sea-elf, though, she wasn't too sure how much he could do or how much training he had had with a blade. In fact, she knew nothing about him whatsoever, just like she knew nothing about Duncan; but there she was, willing to put her life in their hands. Irony rears its ugly head.

Running over Duncan's instructions a couple of times more in her head, she watched and waited for the . . . Rattas to come. Though she hated to admit it, there was a small bit of the curious little girl from Natura still left in her wanting to see what these creatures were . . . but of course, there was also the woman who had been blooming eversince she had left her hometown not really caring and only wanting to see them dead so where they could go about their business. This is what I get for hanging around only men for the past few months . . . I'm starting to think like one.

[Calvin]

Sinister creatures looking like overgrown rats entered the area between two tree trunks, coming into plain sight of the scouts. There were ten of them, each lightly armored in leather and armed only with the bare essentials. They looked like more of a patrol than any kind of military threat and acted in such a way. The moment the scouts came in sight, the little band chittered excitedly to each other in their foreign tongue and one of them, the smallest of the bunch, scampered off most likely to inform others of the little group's presence.

Of the nine that remained, four of them were equipped with weapons meant for close combat. Five others carried short bows or light crossbows for bombardment. The little animals spread out in a formation that would allow for easy retreat and optimize their use of long ranged weapons. They eyed the scouts and tittered nervously to each other, waiting for something to happen.

Duncan gave them something to think about. He launched his Psionic Orbs at the ratta, knocking down melee-ready ratta and taking out a couple of bowrats as well. The others screeched to each other and let loose their shots hastily as they backed away behind trees.

Chittering in the darkness, one of the ratta squeaked out a warning. "You're trespassing. If you don't leave, our friends will come to fight you. You won't like our friends. We're...we're not very nice."

[Duncan Sythe]

“Get down off the horses and tie them off next to a tree, both of you, someone mounted stands out too much.”

Duncan commented in a low hiss, he’d planned to ditch the horses eventually and, as it was, now was as good a time as any. Quickly and with an economy of motion and noise that was hardly trained but simply experience he swept towards the nearest tree between himself and the Ratta scouts, half-kneeling in the dirt and folding up the hood on his cloak, the grey would hopefully seem rather…indistinct in all this darkness. Black of course stood out, darker shadows, but grey was shadow itself.

Of course where he was now he didn’t know anything about the other group, his priority was killing the Ratta with bows before they started sneaking through the woodland and picked someone off, he knew as well as anyone else that a crossbow bolt didn’t stop for magi, it’d hurt him as much as anyone else unless he was prepared and he couldn’t afford to prepare unless he had to, it would be wasted energy.

So he decided to look ahead, glancing over at the other two who were hopefully on the ground by now he waved to the woodland, hopefully they’d just follow his lead and hide behind a tree while he worked.
The spell was a simple one when it came down to it, in this darkness even easier as people couldn’t see him already; he was just giving them a bit of a boost. Invisibility just operated on the basis that the person within it was a void, a non-existent entity, the mind painting what was beyond, it had worked in a crowded Alleria Prime street and it’d damn well work against a couple of Ratta.

When it came down to it though he doubted he’d get them all, one or two, hopefully only with daggers or swords, would get through and attack the other pair but they’d be scared, scared of him. At least that was the plan as he drew on essence, mixed it with Vis, altered the shape and divined the spell into it, along with the little addition… ‘this is not a spell.’ All that meant was an opposing magia would have to be very lucky to see the Arcane residue of the spell, let alone Duncan.

Provided the spell worked Duncan moved past the two other scouts, whispering quietly as he did so.

“Stay here until I come back, if I don’t come back then go back to the village.”

Relatively simple, they could make up their own time limit. With that the Captain, who, not to his knowledge, was going to be promoted when he got back to Alleria Prime crouched low and started moving out towards the tower, eyes slitted, avoiding looking at the lights of the tower to try and preserve his night vision as he searched for Ratta shapes in the darkness or even…something else, he doubted they’d have much more to fall back on but you never did know.

The invisible chameleon like shape would continue though, looking for Ratta, looking for anything in the darkness around them. Since Ratta were cunning rather than intelligent after all, they’d probably try to flank or simply run, no, he couldn’t do much about them having run off but from the way they’d spoken he doubted they had much to bring against a trio of trespassers, even if one of them was a magi of negotiable power. As he moved he’d kneel and cut the throats of those he’d already stunned, meanwhile heading on to find those still alive, only to find them however, just to see where he stood.

[Larien Gil'dae]

In her wanting to take in all of the information thrown towards her, the maiden had forgotten the most important, but Duncan's hiss soon reminded her. Feeling much the fool, but wasting little time for such unimportant thoughts, the young elven woman dismounted swiftly from her mount; it took little to no time at all to tie the horses to the nearest tree; she had done it so many times before that it was a bit like second nature to her. But then what? Still holding the katana that the man had let her borrow, the she-elf then darted behind a nearby tree, crouching low and pulling her forestgreen cloak about her as she did so. It was such an awkward thing to be doing, and she felt like such an amateur, for indeed, she was--very much so.

Trying to collect her thoughts for a brief moment--daring to shut her thin eyelids for the time it took for her heart to beat twice, and considering how fast it was beating, her eyes weren't shut that long--the maiden then looked about for Duncan while still remaining low to the ground in a crouched position, the katana laying flat against her right knee as she continued to clutch the hilt with her lithe fingers. She felt as though she were in a dream--the Rattas had been so . . . there wasn't a word, but they hadn't been what she had expected. Small and nasty creatures they were in her eyes, but the fact that they carried weapons brought a small, unconscious sense of respect from the young woman which caused her to be wary of them. She knew that she could not protect herself, besides the fact that she then had two blades with her. Anyone could hold a weapon, but did that make them a warrior? You could give a child a sword, but does that mean that they will know how to use it?

Pondering over all of this, the maiden glanced up just in time to see Duncan pass. A small flutter of relief filled her as she let her light green eyes fall upon his form, but, that flutter was soon crushed as her keen elven ears picked up his whispered words. ' “Stay here until I come back, if I don’t come back then go back to the village.” ' Panic. No. Giving a small nod of understanding, though he wouldn't have been able to see it, Larien continued to stay in her crouching position, throwing her intense gaze about to see if she could locate the position of her other companion--at least she would still have him with her, even though Duncan was gone. Knowing that brought a rather strong emotion to ripple through the she-elf's body--was it fear? Or something else entirely?

[Telcontar]

The cracked wooden door swung open without warning and slammed noisily against the front wall of the tavern. Groans and muffled cries of agony filtered out through the brief space of opening when the rushed Tëleris burst into the opening and passing by as the rectangular piece of wood rebounded off the wall and slammed shut just moments after it had been thrown open. A sold wall of stench seemed to physically collided with the Elf as he caromed from the tavern’s entrance straight into the middle of the street, lacking any of the natural grace akin to every Elf, causing him to gag visibly, the odour of burnt flesh and wood smoke forcing its way through the hand he held over his nose and mouth. Inhaling several quick deep breaths to accustom his sense of smell to the lingering stench, Telc hastily picked himself up from the half crouch he had skidded into and whipped his head from side to side, searching in vain for a stray horse. He had been unable to find anyone with a steed to spare, indeed, from what he had pieced together, there were no horses left in the village beyond the two stepping irritably before him.

It was due to the lack of findable horses that the Sea Elf now appeared from the building slightly later than he would have hoped to come out. His grey-on-black eyes slid across the now familiar scene of destruction, lacking the former chaos evident only and hour ago, and settled upon the human and female elf who he was to accompany in the scouting mission. Larien, her name still unknown to the Tëleris, certainly appeared quite nervous if not fearful of just being there, while in perfect contrast Duncan was relatively calm. Little things of the like were often the ones to stand out in situations of an abnormal nature, and the one they now found themselves in was something less than normal, at least in his case. If Duncan’s life has been anything like the way he acts, I’m not sure I want to know about it.

Coming late to an agreed time and place sometimes resulted in the missing of valuable information, which in his case could turn out to be disastrous. Duncan’s words telling of where to go if they became separated and that they would be riding for a time failed to register while he was making his entrance, bits of dust and dirt clung stubbornly to his clothing as evidence, were missed despite his uncanny ability to hear things others couldn’t. What Telc did pick up on was the invitation to speak, finally. Almost as if it had been specifically directed at him. He frowned ever so slightly the thought, Duncan had been less than accommodating to him so far, why should be start being nicer now? Taking the moment as his time to finally speak up about what he had been brooding on, he spoke loud, intoning small bits of sarcasm into his deep voice.

“I don’t know how sure you are that ‘Darksoul’ is the cause of these attacks and the destruction of the town, if you are as set as Mila is then what I say will be quite useless.” Regardless of confirmation or not, he continued. “When speaking to Mila I discovered that Avanthar is not the only one to have attacked the people of Acumin in recent history. From what I gather, Esh’lahier raids—from where I don’t know—were quite common, though never hard pressed enough that their militia couldn’t turn them back. With my limited experience I do not wish to make any false assumptions, but could it be at all possible they are the ones responsible for attacking? A bit more time to dig into the history of this place may have been helpful…” Telc trailed off into silence, remembering his lack of mount with which to accompany the lady Elf and Duncan. She would undoubtedly be a much more pleasant riding partner, so instead of approaching Duncan and asking to share a ride, he turned his feet towards the woman and strode gracefully to where she sat atop the horse.

“Serale, lady. I’m Telcontar, or just Telc.” He extended as way of a greeting, while at the same time springing from the ground with a powerful leap and settling himself behind her in the saddle, one hand holding firmly to her waist. The mesh armour thrown hastily over his out clothing tinkled quietly like raindrops in a small pool. “I hope you don’t mind, well actually we don’t have much of a choice, there are no more horses. Would you mind terribly if I doubled with you?” If there had really been any other option he wouldn’t have immediately gone ahead without waiting for an answer, but the women looked as if she desperately needed some comfort, and while he was no expert in giving any, perhaps another presence would help calm her down. He fully agreed with Duncan’s statement, the lady had every right to be frightened; he was himself even if there was a distinct lack of anything showing on his face. Being hard both on the outside and the inside could keep him alive a while longer than being weak, and possibly even keep another from slipping away into the cold grip of death.

Though the indistinguishable footprints could not be picked out by Telc’s limited vision, especially in the dreary light they had to see with. Had it truly been the blackness of midnight then he might have been able to see them, but as it was his diminished eyesight could not. However, where his eyes could not tell, his ears most certainly could. Long before the human or even Larien’s sharp Elven ears could discern the sound of chittering little voices moving in their general direction, Telc had caught wind of them and whipped his head straight to the sound, ignoring the wayward whips of white-blond hair flung over his eyes. Rats. The chittering was far to familiar, served as too much of a reminder of his short but unpleasant stay in the catacombs beneath Port Constantine. Eight too many legs and those bloody poisonous teeth. He shivered noticeably behind Larien.


“If it is anything like a Chesley then you’re not going to like it.” Muttering quietly to the lady, his vocal cords vibrating enough to make his low voice heard. At Duncan’s handing over of the impressive bladed weapon into the lady Elf’s untrained care the Tëleris absentmindedly fingered the mace handing against his leg. If her reaction to being given the weapon were any indication he had a slight bit more experience with the weapon, if that really meant anything. Why did I buy this bloody thing in the first place? Snatches of brief dreams of a young and naïve mind floated to the surface, back from the days when he had decided that he would help save the world. Hopefully the recent escapades in Acumin would properly remind him of the problems associated with such a piece of craftsmanship. “Needless to say, it won’t be pretty. Here, let me take one.” Reaching over he deftly snatched one of the set of reigns from Larien’s grasp, coincidentally Duncan’s horse, and held onto it tightly as he slid carefully over the rump of the beast and landed slightly heavier on his feet than normal, the armour weighing him down.

At the sudden appearance of the troublesome rats the Thëlyri male had instinctive started forward, forgetting momentarily the horse he was leading, but jumped back just as quickly when several of the more trigger happy creatures let loose an random volley in their direction. He acted quickly on the Mystic’s command, urging both the horse he lead and the one the lady sat upon towards the cover of the trees. When they had reached the temporary shelter Telc nodded silently to the direction he assumed the human was moving, in his rush to make it to the trees he had missed the making of invisibility and was going on the assumption that it was too dark to really see the man. Quickly tying a knot sufficient to hold the horse to the tree, the Tëleris glanced around and unclipped the mace from his belt, taking a tight grip on the sweat absorbent hilt as he called out no more than a bare whisper. “Larien, where are you?”

OOC: Sorry about the slight intrusions, just wanted to work me in there. And for the last speech part, I’m going on the assumption that Larien introduced herself. If you need me to edit something, just let me know.

[Larien Gil'dae]

OOC: Lol, feel free to make that assumption, because yeah... she would have introduced herself .

IC: Larien knew nothing about the Thëlyri, and so, she knew nothing about Telc not being able to see well. The rough bark of the tree was uncomfortable beneath her slender hand--scratchy and hard--yet she let her digits continue to rest upon it, for at least it was something that she was familiar with. The deep brooding of the landscape around them was enough to send a shiver of fear down the maiden's spine; so it did. Nothing seemed right, nothing was right. The earth beneath her booted feet did not feel right and the air that she breathed in and out certainly didn't feel right. There was a certain sickening taste upon the wind that crept into her mouth and nose; worse than even that that rose from deep within the destroyed town. Perhaps it was just her imagination, perhaps it wasn't. But all she did know was that she didn't want to be alone.

Caressing the tree's trunk lightly with her pale fingers, the young elven woman then moved her hand to the front of her cloak to pull it tighter about her slender body. But even the thick material of her cloak could not hold back the chill that kept biting at her flesh. Snuggling deep down into the cloth, the she-elf tried to force all thoughts of the horrors which she might encounter out on this little trek, leaning her body up against the tree even as she remained in the crouching position. Try as she might, though, the words of Duncan, while they had still been back at the tavern, kept coming back to haunt her. Why had she left that small piece of safety in the first place? Why, she could have still been back there with Huturo, waiting for it to all be over and to listen to the tales told by the others who had been more deeply involved . . . No. A flash of the young woman's old self flared up from deep within her body--the old Larien; the one who had shown herself while in Mystique, about to be sworn into the Sacred Circle. Clamping her teeth, the maiden tried to bring that old Larien back to her; tried to let the fierce haughtiness flow through her limbs that were numb with fear. Using the same method that she had used with that phantom (oh, how it seemed so long ago), the young elven woman told herself firmly as anything: I can do this. Duncan wouldn't have chosen me if he had thought otherwise. It is alright for me to be wary, but not a weakling. I am Larien Calafalas, and I can do this.

It was then that she heard the whisper float to her keen elven ears. Cocking her head to one side, her silky brown locks that were pulled back at the nape of her neck cascading over one of her shoulders, the elven woman then turned her head about upon her slender neck to let her light green eyes fall upon the form of Telc, the man who had ridden behind her on Kol. His strong hand about her waist had been quite a little bit of comfort, and just knowing that he was there had been even more of one--but then, with Duncan having disappeared, Larien started to feel herself become a bit frantic from not having one of them close to her (despite her attempts to keep calm); so, one can see how relieved she would have been over letting her intense gaze fall upon the form of the sea-elf. But one thing puzzled her . . . Telc didn't seem to be able to spot her in the swirl of green about them. I didn't think that my cloak matched that much . . . Shrugging off the matter, the she-elf raised her lithe body up a few inches from her crouch (her calves had started to cramp anyway) before forming her lips into a small 'o' and letting a soft whistle escape from them. Lifting one of her fingers into the air--while still clutching the katana with her other hand--the maiden motioned towards the man, her cloak falling open to reveal her slightly lighter green dress beneath, before she dropped back down into her crouch, sending him one last glance with her eerily pale orbs before turning her attention back to waiting for their leader. It was some moments later that the said leader passed, whispering to them his instructions which sent Larien into another wave of panic, which she tried to fight back by setting her jaw and repeating her thought from earlier. She wasn't going to give in to weakness.

[Calvin]

Duncan: As the mystic expanded his Vis to complete the invisibility pattern, he became unaware of any arcanic traces within his immidiate vacinity. The patrol of ratta did not seem schooled at all in the spheres of arcana and his two companions, if they were unbound, were not manipulating the Planar Planes at the moment. However, he did note that there was a strong pulse of arcanic activity coming from the direction of Dar Havark and that the further along he traced the pattern, the more powerful it became. Regardless of these facts, he quickly glimsed another consciousness attempting to locate him before he erased any trace of his spell's existence. Now it was time to hunt.

Although Duncan was invisible to the naked eye, he certainly wasn't any less quiet as he moved across the forest floor. Even trying his best, his footfalls still managed to crunch the occasional leaf or bend back a rogue twig. He could hear the ratta as well. They stirred behind their cover, intimidated by the sounds that seemed to have no maker. More than once, he saw a furry head poke out of a thicket or out from behind a tree to look in his direction. They began to chitter nervously to each other as they reloaded their tiny weapons, hoping that they would be able to ward off their unseen foe.

Larien & Telcontar: The pair waited in the relative quiet of the forest for Duncan to scout out the area for them. The pair of horses whinnied occasionally and tossed their manes against the bondage of their reigns around a tree trunk. Even though they couldn't see Duncan anymore, they could hear him walking away and Larien was even able to glimpse the occasional movement of tree ferns seemingly caused by nothing.

After he and his sound disappeared, they waited quietly. Soon, however, the little rattas that had been knocked out by Duncan's round of Psionic Orbs began to stir. They got up, one by one, and shook their tiny heads while looking around. It didn't seem that any of them were able to see the two scouts anymore, but after a few chitters from the commander, they spread out and began to search the area. It would only be a matter of time before they were spotted.