Khanidi is the northernmost province of the region known as the Droia coast. A rich, fertile land that has been kept separated from the squabbles of the great nations of Ki'afisal by the large mountain ranges of Ki'afisal and Asfeltas. Bordered north by the rock formations known as the Fangs and south by the Dah'kin Kingdom of Skarrad, the Droia coastline is composed by over a dozen city states permanently struggling for control and influnce. They are locked in their little world and have become a melting pot of all cultures and races of Lemire. The perfect place for mercenaries and higher swords to make a quick buck and always be sure a small conflict or war will be right around the corner. Here in Droia, there is always someone willing to pay for a skilled mercenary.

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RoL - Khanidi, Arrival
RoL - Khanidi, Joining the Freelancers

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Kussul farm is located about a 20 minute walk out of the walls of Khanidi, next to the Boro river. It is an idyllic place, several green fields, farmhouses, stables and pasturing grounds. Atop the tallest hill in the farmgrounds lies the state of Rovah Kussul, first cousin of the Count of Khanidi. Kussul rules these lands as a feudal lord, renting out land to peasants in exchange for their services, however, it is said he cares little for the problems of his vassals, and his guards will only leave the Kussul state to collect dues and grain. The vassals of Kussul are thus, left to fend for themselves in a place that might seem quiet at times, but is prone to attacks by everything from monsters to pirates. Along the entry to Kussul farms is a small guardhouse, kept only by the son of a local farmer; a young lad armed with nothing but a pitchfork and a rudimentary leather cap, he inspects any stranger heading up the road from Khanidi or other outlying territories.

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Padma moved her legs automatically, while her head watched distractedly everything but the road, seemingly marveled at the green fields around. She stopped when she miraculously noticed she was about to bump into the guardhouse. Noticing the boy standing with the pitchfork there, she politely greeted, "Good day".

In almost a direct counterpoint to Padma's pleasant stroll, Az'rim's smooth glide was purposeful and her onyx eyes peered out of her hood only enough to keep her gaze focused on the target of Kussul Farm. She stayed neither towards the front or the back of the group, but the shortness of her legs required her to take quicker steps than the rest lest she be left to the very rear, following. As they walked, she sighed and adjusted her pace so that she would eventually fall in line with Chese. "I wanted to apologize for our first encounter. Forgive me, I am accustomed to harsher ways in Skarrad and have little experience with humans. If you give me a chance I'm certain you'll find I can be useful to this party, especially since Je'retiel and I work best as a team," she said, looking briefly up to the Rysallean and then looking away as the sun hurt her eyes. (Diplomacy)

For much of the short walk, Je’retiel had remained in proximity to his sister, taking-in brief glimpses of the surrounding farm land along the way. He adjusted his slightly downward attention when Az’rim approached Chese, though he didn’t watch them for long, as he noticed the pitchfork-wielding guard with whom Padma was attempting to exchange greetings.

Even though the treelessness was not particularly to Chese's liking, she enjoyed the views of the fields as well. She did keep trying to peer for any trees around, even if just for landmarks. She was looking at the map to check they weren't going off course just before Padma reached the guardhouse and then turned to look at Az'rim as she came up to her. Chese raised an eyebrow at Az'rim's apology, mostly because she was curious, but smiled at the dah'kin. "Well, thank you. Ah, if you need help on dealing with people, I'd be happy to help you! Don't hesitate to ask", she said. Putting the map away again, she moved closer to the guardhouse to listen in case the boy had anything important to tell them, though it seemed unlikely.

The boy noticed them incoming and grabbed his pitchfork. With a hand holding down his leather cap, he rushed to meet them. "Oi! Good day!" he called out, stopping a few feet away from the group. "Are you the exterminators? from the guild?" he asked. "We've got a big bug making a huge ruckus in mah uncle's barn, or so I'm told."

In the meantime, Chese looked carefully around the path leading up to the farm, the path was flanked by two lines of green, tall and slender trees. Which also surrounded the gate to enter the property. A short walk uphill from the gate was what seemed to be a small cobblestone plaza, adorned with a fountain in the middle. Around the plaza were several rustic huts and houses of different sizes, which probably belonged to the different farmers and serfs living in Kussul farms. To the right side of the plaza was a small church of Nesha and a very large barn, around which several people seemed to be congregated.

Lilee in the meantime, walked bored, behind the others, she felt the urge to let out a warcry or smash something with her battleaxe, but figured it would be not prudent at the time. She stayed quiet and looked towards the barn.

"Yes, that we are!", said Padma to the young guard. "How long has the thing been locked in there?" she asked the boy. She had no idea how to kill an exhorian, but figured that just go and open the door of the barn probably wouldn't be a good idea if they couldn't stop it before it run away to the town. She looked at Chese and asked, "what's the plan?"

Chese thought the fence trees looked kind of snobby, but at least they were trees. Even though she shouldn't climb in them. She then eyed the barn up ahead and came to the same conclusion as Padma. "That place looks like it could be the one", she started and pointed at the barn next to the church. "With that amount of spectators, I think we should quickly open the doors, rush in and close them so it can't escape. Or block the entrance in case it's just waiting behind the door." She shrugged. "That isn't much of a surprise attack, but I suspect that the exhorian has been waiting for a fight the whole morning." She sounded like she was thinking aloud, but looked to the others in case they had any additions or alternatives. "Actually those people should go inside, I don't even want to think if the unthinkable happens despite everything and the beast gets loose on that crowd..."

"Perhaps we should make use of Padma's White Magic before we rush an Exhorian," Az'rim suggested coolly as she caught Chese's babblings. "Depending on what spells she has," she said, now looking to Padma, though she was doubtful that the distracted girl was listening. "She could improve Virgil or Lilee's attack and then Je'retiel could use Heat Beam to stun it and buy time for us to get closer." She paused and looked around to the rest of the group to see if they have any better ideas. "Sadly, my arrows won't be much use on it unless I get an aimed shot at it's eye, which I am more than willing to attempt."

When Chese pointed, Je’retiel followed the line of sight to the barn and the crowd gather around the structure. He squinted his eyes then tilted his face back away from the sun’s glare and listened to what Az’rim had to say. A small nod indicated that he had at least considered what she said, and perhaps agreed with it. As he stole another glance to the barn, he started to slip his leather gloves off, pulling on each fingertip in turn to loosen them before tugging the entire piece off, exposing his pale, well-kempt and somewhat effeminate hands.

"Let's go closer and take a look at the barn, maybe there's another way for us to sneak in", said Padma. "We should tell the people there to go away, too", she added, and started walking to the place where everybody was gathered. She would eventually bless Virgil and Lilee once they were ready to take action.

"Certainly", replied Chese to Az'rim and nodded at Padma too. "I'll try to disable its leg so it can't move. Oh yeah, there could be an entrance in the ceiling!" she said while looking at Padma and thinking about her suggestion. "Then we could drop on it. But in case there isn't, I guess the plan is as follows: Padma blesses, then opens the door and the rest of us go in and attack right away. Though if we can see it from the door, you two could shoot at it first so it might get stunned", she said while looking at the two dah'kin. She started walking after Padma and continued: "But that's very detailed. Battle doesn't tend to happen the way it's planned..."

Lilee looked at the others as they made battle plans, she remembered the Lions making plans to go into battle too, when it came to fighting enemy clans and the like, though many times, they involved mostly running towards the enemy and swinging sharp stuff. In some occasions, however, some strategy would be required. "Dropping in from the top would be a bad idea!" she growled as her tail stiffened a bit. Then she squatted down and drew a square in the dirt with her sharp catfolk fingernail. "If we drop in the middle" she said, making a dot in the middle of the square. "We have to fight in a circle or our backs're exposed..." she muttered, seemingly focused on what she was doing. "If it's faster than us, it can surround us easy." she said as she drew two lines around the circles. "Better jus' go thru the door, then close it." she said. "We close it fast and we keep our backs to the wall, only fight in one front, all pointy stuff forward, all squishy stuff in tha back line." she added, looking at Az'rim, Je'retiel and Padma when she mentioned squishy stuff.

Beneath his balaclava, Je’retiel seemed to wrinkle his nose when Lilee indicated that he was ‘squishy stuff’. Still, he nodded his head at the lynx-girl and said, ‘I agree with her.’ The dah’kin cast a brief look at Chese while he tucked his gloves into his belt. ‘At least our backs would definitely be covered while we get a handle on its location,’ he asserted, preferring to enter into the fray in such a manner, rather than scuttering up to the top of the barn. Lastly, he looked at Az’rim, as he would not proceed into any situation without her agreeance.

When the little lynx began to draw the diagram in the dirt, Az'rim walked over towards her, watching over and listening. For as obnoxious as the girl might have been, the Dah'kin was grateful indeed for her ability to think plans through with precision. When the lynx called her squishy, a little scathing laugh bubbled from her lips and she tossed a hand in the air dismissively. "As if my arrows would be any use on the front line," she said. "Je'retiel and I work in the shadows, as a general rule," she stated with a fiercely determined growl that she had not displayed before. She looked to Je'retiel and gave a short nod, reading his body language and simple glance with the precision that only years of experience could have given her. Then, she set to unhooking her small black bow from across her back and stringing it. Once it was on, she plucked the string to assure that it was taut enough and a strange smile crossed her face at the sound, indicating that she was, indeed, pleased.

Chese stopped walking as the others suddenly started getting more vocal about the plan. Looking at Lilee, she replied to her agreeably: "That sounds very defensive, which is good too, but we are many and it is just one. I doubt it could effectively surround us unless it has really long arms or is a giant centipede..." For a short moment, she looked odd while imagining what it would be like to fight against a giant centipede. "We have three close combatants, so we can and should surround it to get to ITS back, shouldn't we?" She then added to avoid any misunderstanding: "Of course we don't have to drop on it from above. That way might just be safer considering all the onlookers or the possibility of its escape. And maybe surprise, but we all couldn't move that silently anyway." She shrugged and pulled up one corner of her mouth.

Lilee looked up at Chese and shrugged, she really didn't care much for the strategy they used, she knew she could handle herself if the big bug got around her and that's all she needed. Impatiently, she stood up, her tail making S shapes. "I don't care, just decide so we can go and kill it!" she said to the others as she yawned.

Padma approached the crowd standing in front of the barn, and spoke loud enough for people to hear. "Hello, we're here to take care of the exhorian. Please, go to your houses, we don't want anybody to be hurt", she said, and stood waiting for the rest of the team to come.

As Padma approached, the crowd around the barn quickly turned to her, they muttered to each other and slowly began to step away from the barn, heading into different houses and locking the door. An old man approached Padma before he headed to his house. "Here Miss." he said, handing Padma a huge metal key. "I'm Gilbert, I posted the notice. We locked the beastie into the barn, it opens inwards tho, the dumb monster could only think of pushing it it seems. Still we decided to play it safe." he said and then hurried off to one of the houses.

Virgil hustled in towards the group. He called as he used his hands to steady his sheathe and gear against his body as he ran," Hail all, sorry I'm late. Got tied up with some things back at the guild." The young knight skidded to a halt near Chese and took a second to ready himself before turning to the Rysallean and asked her, "What's the plan?"

Virgil's sudden appearance took Az'rim somewhat by surprise, particularly since she had assumed he was following much closer. Nevertheless, she was pleased to see him and grinned a bit as she saw him. The more swords (or axes) the better, this she knew. Leaving Chese to explain the plan to Virgil, the short, slender Dah'kin walked after Padma, who seemed to have the right idea in clearing the commoners from the barn. Of course, that idea never would have occurred to Az'rim, particularly since she cared little more for the farm than the potential money it could provide her. She had to admit, here, under the garish light of day, her understanding of humans put her at a disadvantage. Figuring she may as well pretend to be friendly, Az'rim walked up to Padma after she had successfully dispelled the crowd of villagers and nodded a little as she blinked a bit. "Well done. Wouldn't have thought of that myself," she admitted, with a steady hand on her bow. "What is this about the door?" she asked curiously.

"It's locked. And it opens inwards, which is good for us. I think. So we should open it fast, hurry inside, and close it behind us. Virgil should probably go in front", Padma said to Az'rim, after thanking the villager who had handed her the key to the barn. She gave a shrug, unsure because she wasn't one to normally make battle plans. She didn't even know what she would do once they were inside the barn.

Chese was again about to go with Padma when Virgil caught up with them. Continuing to walk toward the barn, she looked at Padma and the man who talked to her while explaining the plan to Virgil: "Oh, it's nothing special, Padma opens the door to the barn where the beast is, we get in, attack and she closes the door so it can't escape. I hope flanking is involved." She grinned and prodded Virgil in the side with a finger. "I'll also try to disable it once I get a good aim." Chese took out her fan and fanned herself with it like it wouldn't even be a weapon – not that it even looked like a weapon in the first place. She came up to Padma and Az'rim and waited for the others, since the audience had left nicely.

Je'retiel tread quietly through the dispersed crowd, toward the barn, to settle in a spot next to Az'rim. He gave Virgil only a passing glance as the knight finally arrived before crossing his arms again, waiting to get in to the infested structure.

Virgil gave a smile and a light chuckle to Chese before taking a few steps forward and drawing his sword from its sheathe. He tapped the shield on his opposite arm with the blade to make sure it was secure, "Alright then, let's get this over with."

"Everyone ready?" said Padma holding the key of the door in her hand. "Virgil, you should enter first!" she said. "And our lynx friend should follow", she added, forgetting her name was Lilee. She would go last if she had to close the door. Once they were in there she would figure out what to do next.

"I think the Kahn should go in first," Az'rim said as she checked to see how easily she could reach her arrows by reaching over her shoulder. She took one to be prepared with first, ready to use her discipline with her bow to become as useful as she possibly could be in such a situation. "She's smaller than you, Virgil," she explained simply. "Follow her and the rest of us will follow you. I'd stand clear of her when she's swinging that ax though," she warned, casting a sidelong look to the lynx. Then, prepared, Az'rim pushed back her cowl and let her silver hair gleam brilliantly in the harsh light of the sun. "Let's go," she said, looking to each team member.

"I know what to hit and what not to!" interjected Lilee snarling a bit at Az'rim. "But yeah! I want to go first!" she added just before rushing to the door. "Open! open!" she asked Padma, the lynx girl seemed to switch between awfully violent and awfully childish. "Try to keep up and the thing will be dead before you go in!" she added, turning to the others while she waited for Padma to open the door. "Last one in closes it!"

"All ready!" replied Chese to Padma and looked at the door.

"Alright", said Padma putting the key in the lock. "Three, two, one, go!" she said, turning the key and opening the door, giving entrance to the excited Lilee and the rest of the group. Once everybody was inside, she hurried in and closed the door behind her.

Az'rim stalked in quietly but swiftly, already holding an arrow in place. Though she was one of the first in the door, once she got into the barn she remained pressed against the wall until the others arrived, so as not to botch their haphazard plan.

Chese went in and stayed relatively low since she didn't want an arrow or a spell in her back. She went a couple of meters to the side but didn't back up against a wall. She peered through the darkness and hoped her eyes would get soon used to it.

Je'retiel slipped through the door, also choosing to stay at the back line of the wall.



The group slithered quickly into the barn, rapidly forming up as they had agreed, Lilee and Virgil in the front, with the other four in the back. Drawing their weapons, it took a few seconds for their eyes to get accustomed to the dust and twilight conditions of the inside. Immediately, they noticed the large insect standing menacingly from across the room. Standing atop barrels and ripped bags of grain and hay, the creature seemed to have been feasting on the poor peasant's livelihood until it was interrupted by the freelancers. It screeched and lifted its two, razor sharp blades, it had a shape like a mix between a man and a beetle, large mandibles, chitin armor covering all it's body, two long scythe-like blades instead of forearms and a pointed horn-like protrusion topping it's head. After another screech, it lunged towards the group!


Battle has started!
Turns and positions are as following;
Az'rim (H3, 6/6 HP)
Lilee (I5, 14/16 HP)
Je'retiel (H7, 12/12 HP, 4/14 MP)
Exhorian Soldier (Dead!)
Chese (J4, 4/10 HP)
Padma (I4, 8/8 HP, 9/14 MP)
Virgil (J6, 16/23 HP)

Az'rim's turn! -

Az'rim's eyes were accustomed to the darkness quickly and she saw the beast quickly. The long, scythe-like appendages did little to shake her resolve however and she made a move as soon as she saw that the others were in place as they had planned. Using her swiftness, she crept as quietly as she could to C7, directly behind Virgil, with her arrow nocked and pointed towards the ground as she moved. Once she was in place, she looked around Virgil to gage the distance, and saw that she was still too far away to make any sort of guarantees but she figured she may as well try. Moving out to the side of Virgil a little, Az'rim fired her bow around the knight, aimed at the Exhorian and quickly readied another, still using Virgil as a human shield.

Az'rim moved forward, keeping a low profile and quickly let lose an arrow in the general direction of the exhorian, unfortunately for her, the arrow flew off and hit a nearby column!

Lilee's turn! -

"Raaaaaaagh!" yelled out Lilee, lifting her tabar and rushing towards the exhorian at full speed!

Je'retiel's turn! -

As Lilee moved forward to attack, Je’retiel also advanced (E8), hoping to get a more precise shot and to conceivably not hit or get in the way of the lynx. He raised a steady right hand, forefinger extended, and spat a couple abrupt words to cast a Heat Beam spell at the buggy creature.

Je'retiel moved forward and pointed his finger at an exhorian, immediately, a small beam of searing hot, red energy emeged from his finger and struck the exhorian squarely on the shoulder. However, the beam did little more than burn the outer layer of its armor and did not manage to penetrate it. Annoyed, the exhorian screeched again and rushed forward to J5, it's blades raised up in the air! Once there it tried to slash Lilee with one of them!

Lilee snickered an raised up her axe to block the blow whiled she yelled out at the exhorian. "Yeah! come at me ye big bug!"

Lilee's ax managed to absorb most of the blow as she lifted it over her head to meet the downward slash. However, the weight and height difference between the little catfolk girl and the enormous exhorian played a part. The handle of the ax took the blow and was then pushed down, colliding with Lilee's shoulder, and so did the exhorian's blade. Lilee received a deep gash over her clavicle, which dealt 2 damage!

Chese's turn! -

Chese saw she couldn't have enough time to move and attack the exhorian right away, so she settled for coming close enough to do so the next time. She headed to I4.

Padma's turn! -

Padma blinked a couple of times to get her eyes adjusted to the lack of light. She saw how Lilee rushed towards the exhorian, and since she seemed to have the bug's attention and would probably keep being the target of its rage, she decided to cast bless on the lynx.

A halo of light appeared around Padma as she seemed to offer a prayer, and then simply faded away as mysteriously as it had come. Though the other may not have been able to tell the difference, Lilee felt much stronger now!

Virgil's turn! -

"Shit!" Was the only word to leave Virgil's lips as he saw Lilee rush into the fray alone. Sure, the lynx girl was strong, but he didn't know how hardy she could be just swinging that axe around. In the full clang of his gear, the young knight rushed forward, sword drawn and shield at the ready. He came hauling rear up to the overgrown insect's side(J6), giving him a posistion to draw the bug's attention to, "Hey! Ugly!" he cried to try to draw the attacks onto him instead of the slightly more squishy targets forming around it.

Az'rim's turn! -

Once Virgil moved forward, Az'rim quickly scanned the dark interior of the barn with eyes accustomed to the darkness and she found a place where she could easily gain some cover. Swiftly, she ran to G3 and dropped to her knees so that she could use the boxes around her as cover. With another arrow nocked and ready, Az'rim took careful aim to see where her best shot would lie and then quickly stood up when she found it. With a trained eye, she let loose another arrow towards the Exhorian soldier, hoping to hit it in the eye.

This time, Az'rim's arrow flew straight towards the exhorian, hitting it on the side of the head, however, it bounced off harmlessly off it's chitin armour!

In the meantime, Lilee, energized by Padma's spell, groaned and pushed her axe up, getting the exhorian's scythe off her. Then she swung it sideways with both hands, trying to hit the creature's chitinous underbelly!

Unfortunately for the girl, the bug simply used its other scythe to intercept the incoming blade and deflect it, sending the little girl stumbling to the side!

Je'retiel's turn! -

If he was displeased with his apparent lack of judgment and efficacy with his last attack, Je’retiel didn’t readily show it. Instead, he continued forward and a bit to the left (H7). With a great intensity in his eyes, he recited the words to bring a curse upon the creature’s defenses.

With all his focus, Je'retiel spewed a hateful curse onto the Exhorian, imemdiately, fetid boils and pox began to appear on its shell, as a corruption of sorts growing upon its side. The creature screeched as its chitin armor softened under the influence of the curse! Taunted by Virgil, the creature turned to the knight and tried to cut him in half with a scissor maneuver, using both scythe-like claws!

"THat's right, you hunk of carapace, swing over here!" Virgil exclaimed as the beast swung his scythe-like claws. The knight steadied his shield to deflect one and raised his sword in defense of the other.

Virgil attempted to block both blows and managed to stop one of the blows with his sword, however, the second slice was going too low for his shield and made a deep gash on his upper thigh, dealing 7 damage! The knight could not help but scream as blood began to pour from his leg!

Chese's turn! -

Chese took a five-foot step to J4 so she and Virgil could flank the exhorian. Now that Je'retiel had also successfully cursed the thing and made it much squishier, she figured it was as good a time as any to try to cause it some more inconvenience. Therefore, Chese chose a particularly vulnerable-looking joint in its arm and attempted to disable it. (Disable)

With two consecutive slices of her fan, Chese made a deep cut in Exhorian's arm, the first cut dealt 3 damage whereas the second cut dealt 5 damage and scored a critical hit. The exhorian wailed as its arm was loped off clean, flying off and a sticky white liquid began pouring out of it. Enraged and in pain, the beast immediately turned to Chese.

Padma's turn! -

Padma just moved closer to the group, so she could be in range to use her spells. She advanced to F6 keeping her eyes on the exhorian.

Virgil's turn! -
"For Nesha's sake!" Virgil called as he felt the blade dig into his leg. The warm blood trickled down his leg as he felt the sharp, stinging sensation of the cut in his muscles. Recovering from a bit of the injury, the young knight swung his short sword twice as the exhorian's midsection, trying to cleave the insect's carapace.

Virgil rapidly slashed the exhorian's stomach twice, his blade managed to chip the softer stomach caparace of the creature and deal 6 damage!

Az'rim's turn! -

With her next arrow already prepared, Az'rim watched as Chese slashed off one of the Exhorian's arms and grinned at the sight of the destroyed creature. The human woman was certainly turning out to be quite the addition and she was even more glad that she had decided to play nice and apologize. However, once Virgil's wound was obvious to the Dah'kin, she narrowed her eyes and waited for an opening in the mass of bodies. Finally, she saw one and stood up immediately from her cover of boxes. With careful aim, she let loose another arrow, headed for the creature. (Aimed Shot)

Az'rim notched another arrow and let it loose at the Exhorian, hitting it in the back this time. With its shell softened, the arrow sunk into the chitin, drawing some white viscous blood and dealing 3 damage!

Lilee's turn! -

Now that the Exhorian was surrounded by her allies, Lilee gained her bravado back. She leaped towards the large bug swinging her ax back and forth.

The first swing of the Tabar glanced off harmlessly of the Exhorian's one good arm, but the second one slashed through the side, making a chitinous plate fly off and dealing 6 damage!

Je'retiel's turn! -

As the exhorian suffered continual damage, Je'retiel stayed put, extended his right hand again, and carefully targeted the creature with another Heat Beam spell.

Je'retiel's heat beam this time fell on one of the boils he himself had caused to appear on the Exhorian's shell, easily piercing through and coming out of the other side of the exhorian and dealt 7 damage! For a second, the searing spell left a clean hole near the insect's back, which quickly filled up with viscous blood.

Immediately afterwards, the exhorian turned to Chese, the profuse bleeding on its arm dealing 3 more damage. Once in front of Chese, the creature tried to bite down on her waist with its massive mandibles and pin her to the ground!

"Uh oh", said Chese when the exhorian turned to her, and wondered why it was supposedly better to fight with one's back to the wall, or in this case box, since now she couldn't back down. She then just braced herself and tried to fend off the insect head with her fan.

Chese tried to push the exhorian away with her fan, but the beast was too strong for her, pushing her down towards the ground. Once the woman was pinned to the floor, her arms trapped, it closed its pincers and tried to crush Chese's ribcage, dealing 7 damage! Chese felt as if her lungs had been pushed together as she began to cough up some blood!

Chese's turn! -

"Gah!" Chese coughed and had her arms not been trapped, she would've attacked the thing again to kill it as soon as possible. But for now, she just tried to push the pincers and head away.

Luckily for Chese, she managed to push open the creature's mandibles just enough to arch her legs forward and put her feet up on the exhorian's chest! Then, wish a big push of her legs, she got the beast off her and freed her arms!

Padma's turn! -

"Ouch" Padma said as Chese was attacked by the exhorian. Seeing how hurt the rysallean was, she rushed towards her with the intention to heal her, while at the same time hoped the others would be able to keep the attention of the beast away from her and the rogue. (First Aid)

Padma had but a few instants after Chese pushed back the exhorian, while her allies kept the beast occupied, she managed to stop the bleeding on one of Chese's shoulders, healing 1 HP!

Virgil's turn! -

With the Exhorian now facing away from him, as it was busy with Chese, Virgil aimed to put his sword through the creature's carapace, and if not slay the beast, at least get it's attention back to him. The knight drew up his sword and stabbed twice at the creature's back with strong overarm thrusts.

Virgil pushed forward and stabbed the creature twice in the back, but on both occasions, his blade glanced to the sides after hitting the carapace, weakened as it was, it was still considerably hard!

Az'rim's turn! -

Swiftly, Az'rim moved forward one space to H3, now nestled between a pair of boxes that she hoped would help protect her. Reaching over her shoulder, she drew an arrow from her quiver and shot it at the Exhorian.

Az'rim's arrow flew into one of the weakened spots of the Exhorian's carapace, piercing through without much trouble and dealing 3 damage!

Lilee's turn! -

Lilee roared as the exhorian turned away from her and towards Chese, swinging her ax back and forth, aiming at the beast's head and neck!

With a massive swing, Lilee's ax struck the side of the exhorian's head, pulling out one of its mandibles and dealing 8 damage! The exhorian did not even get to screech before it collapsed onto the ground, dead!

Battle has ended!
Everyone gained 176 XP!

The exhorian dead, the group gathers to lick their wounds and claim their reward. A strange, chemical smell comes off the viscous blood oozing out of the creature's wounds, its tough chitin armor pierced and cracked at several spots. As the dust settles, the adventurers plot their next move.

Chese spat out some more blood before straightening up, holding her hurt ribcage. "Awesome", she said quietly to everyone. She looked at the fallen exhorian and after figuring that talking didn't hurt any more than not talking, she continued in a normal tone, smiling: "That went well. But damn, that thing's squeezing hurt. Maybe I need better armor..." Chese grinned and kicked the dead creature lightly just for the heck of it and then leaned on the box to rest for a bit.

Seeing Chese spit up blood, Virgil's first reaction was to hurry to the Rysallean girl, "You alright Chese?" He asked in a hurried tone, knowing she wasn't exactly in perfect health. He mentally scolded himself for not being able to keep the beasts attention off from the squishier fighters around him. The knight turned his head to Padma, "Hey, can we get a little healing over here? Chese is spitting up blood," He asked in a bit of a calmer voice as he took hold of Chese's shoulder, trying to check the wounds.

"Nice attack against its arm," the coolly calm voice of Az'rim spoke from behind them as she stood up and put her bow on her body. She was useless for first aid and figured it was probably better for her to stay out of the way while the humans dealt with each other. Looking over to Je'retiel, Az'rim walked calmly over and took a sweeping glance over him. She purposely refrained from mentioning the use of his spells to deal significant damage and instead asked, "Tired?" with a slight inclination of her silver brow.

After Lilee's final blows felled the exhorian, Je'retiel watched impassively as Virgil tended to Chese, and glanced at Padma as the knight mentioned the possibility of her healing the bleeding woman. His shoulders rose and fell with a labored sigh that could be interpreted in any number of ways before he looked down at Az'rim. 'A bit, yes,' he admitted while he slipped his hands into his snug black leather gloves.

Padma nodded at Virgil, seeing how useless the first aid she had first applied was. She hoped they wouldn't be fighting anything else for the day, but she remembered she had a couple of potions in her backpack in case of emergency. The girl rolled up her sleeves and concentrated on the rysallean's wounds, casting a healing spell on her. (Heal 2)

Padma focused on Chese and began to glow with golden white light, immediately, the light moved on to her hands, which were close to Chese's back. Immediately, the Rysallean felt a comforting warmth on her back and her breathing became much easier, her wounds closing up and leaving only a few cuts and bruises!

Lilee remained quiet as the others spoke, she walked over to the exhorian and sniffed it a few times. She circled it, looking for something and finally began hacking at its back with her ax.

"Oh, I'm alive and not permanently damaged", said Chese and looked at Virgil. "Pain isn't nice though, as I'm sure you know." Grinning, she poked Virgil's leg a little above the big gash the exhorian had given him. She only had a fleeting moment to smile to Az'rim before Padma came and casted her healing spell, making almost all the wounds disappear. "Ahh, that feels much better". She smiled to Padma as well before looking toward the sound of hacking and raising her eyebrow at Lilee.

Virgil winced slightly as Chese poked his leg, but then smiled, "That's only a scratch. At least I wasn't coughing up blood." The knight stood straight up and pressed on the area around the wound, causing a little blood to leak out of the wound. The knight felt the pain, but was more concerned about everyone else's well-being. Looking around, Jer was physically strained from draining himself of so much energy, He had the gash, and he couldn't tell about anyone else so much, espeicially Lilee, since she was busy hacking away at the creature's body.

Padma took a deep breath and released the air blowing through her mouth, taking a moment before turning away from Chese after having healing her. She smiled at the result of the spell and quietly thanked the spirits for granting her this ability. "That went pretty well", she commented about the outcome of the fight, glad that they had finished the task. Noticing Lilee hacking at the dead exhorian's body, the caerhamian woman looked just as surprised as Chese. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

Each time Lilee struck at the exhorian a little bit of its shell flew off. Eventually, a large piece fell to the floor, exposing a lot of horrible looking tissue underneath.

Lilee looked at the exhorian for a second, and winced at its awful smell, then, noticing the larger piece of chitin, she bent down and picked it up, wiping it clean with some leftover cloth from her belt. "Chitin." she said simply, as if it was obvious. "It can be used to make stuff, it's tough!" she added with a large grin. "Though its hard to get off the bug, so most of it gets broken and stuff.... now what do we do?"

Az’rim turned her attention upon Lilee and considered her answer in respect to the lynx girl’s treatment of the beast’s carcass. It did make sense. ‘Perhaps we should check-in with the Guild and notify them of our success. Then…’ she started in reply to the question,’…while I do not necessarily speak for myself, some members of our troupe might do well with a little time to recuperate.’ She swept her black gaze back over to Chese, Padma and Virgil.

While the exhorian’s corpse was defiled, Je’retiel did not seem to appreciate its odor. His face appeared to contort a little beneath his balaclava, as the smell permeated the area. He did not weigh in on the question of what to do next, for he’d simply follow everyone else, regardless of his opinion on the matter.

"Ooh. I wonder if exhorian shoulderguards would come in handy?" said Chese and poked her previously hurt shoulder, wondering if more rigid armor would restrict her movements too much. "How much are those carapace pieces worth? Should we take more?" After looking at the corpse assessingly, she added: "I hope they don't expect us to clean that up..."

"This one is the only one big enuff to make something off, I think..." said Lilee as she handed Chese the piece of Chitin, the rest of the caparace seemed either heavily cracked, pierced, or was covered in boils from Je'retiel's spells. "So back to the guild then?" continued simply the Lynx girl as she headed towards the door.

Padma nodded in agreement with the idea of returning to the guild. The dead exhorian smell was starting to bother her too, so she approached the door of the barn and opened it. She stepped outside, which she supposed would be enough to let the villagers know they had succeeded at killing the beast.

Taking a moment, Virgil wiped his sword clean on the end of his sash-belt and slid it back to its sheathe. Silently, he turned for the door and walked outside.

Saying "Ta" to Lilee, Chese took the piece of the ex-exhorian, quickly eyeing and touching it before her mind was interrupted by Virgil's cleaning of his sword. She figured she should clean her fan as well, so she used some of the hay from the floor to do that. She didn't really mind the smell, though it obviously wasn't pleasant either. Things stank, that was nothing new. Carrying the exhorian piece, Chese too turned toward the door and followed the others outside, where she eyed the buildings to see if any people were at their windows or coming out. (Spot)

As the rest of the group exited the barn, Azrim cast Je’retiel a sidelong glance and followed suit, repositioning her hood before stepping out into the daylight.

On the heels of his sister, Je’retiel emerged from the farming structure. He quickly squinted, not appreciating the sudden brightness, though he did take a generous breath of clean air once outside.

Outside, most of the farmers were still hiding out in their houses, the little plaza was completely deserted. As the freelancers walked out of the barn, the old man who lead the farms poked his head out from behind his door. Noticing they all seemed to be alive and only marginally hurt, he smiled and walked towards them. "Did you do it? did you manage to slay that horrible beast?"

With a smile and a nod, Virgil spoke to the farmer, "Aye, the beast has been slain. Your barn is safe once again, and I believe only minimal damage has been done by the beast."

Chese likewise smiled as the farmer came forth and added: "The creature's quite a mess of blood and shell pieces now." She knocked on the piece she was carrying. "Who knows, maybe it's good tool material as well. Oh, at the guild they said one of you should sign this paper. Please?" asked Chese and took out the paper from her pocket.

"Ah, of course, of course." replied the old man as he retrieved a small quill and a vial he was keeping on his belt. After opening the vial, he dipped the quill in the black in inside and swiftly signed the paper. "I'm glad that's done, let's hope we don't get another one of those. There's a hatchery nearby, you see?" sighed the old man as he gave the paper back to Chese.

Lilee had been walking around absent mindedly, sharpening her axe on various rocks and the sort, when she heard about the hatchery, her Lynx ears perked up almost immediately. "Hatchery? Will there be more bugs there?!" she asked, then, before the old man could even reply, she began tugging on Chese's shirt. "Can we go? please?!"

With a dainty hand, Az’rim now toyed with the edge of her mantle, more than actually adjusting it, as Virgil and Chese took care of business with the farmer. Within the shadowed recesses of her hood, a sardonic smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she regarded Lilee’s somewhat childish behaviour after she’d displayed some rather brutish feats.

Though it might appear that he was staring at the ground, Je’reteil really only held his downcast gaze to keep the sun from his eyes. His ear was cocked to listen to the exchange of words, and he hazarded a sidelong glance at Lilee when she eagerly inquired about the possibility of seeking out further buggy type interaction.

Thanking the man, Chese took back the paper and looked a little thoughtful as he mentioned about the hatchery. She then chuckled at Lilee's enthusiasm. "First we need to find someone who'll pay us for killing them!" she said happily and patted Lilee on the shoulder. "And I think that even they would defend a nest fiercely, there might be who knows how many of those things there... Would either of you know anything about exhorians' nesting habits?" she asked from the two dah'kin.

"They don't HAVE to pay us! It would be a noble.. uh.. thing, right?" asked Lilee nudging Virgil so he'd justify her desire to go and smash stuff. "Besides I'm sure there's tons of loot to be had there." she added, extending her arms apart to indicate how much loot she expected with her hands.

"Uhh...Hmmm..." Virgil pondered the idea. The possibility of the nest infesting the city was certainly a problem and needed to be stopped, "Well, we do need to ensure safety for the city. Maybe if we were to just go ahead and kill the exhorians, someone will find it in them to pay us for the deed. But definitely, we should stop the menace before it spreads."

"But money is a great thing to have! Then you could pay someone to have your axe made even more awesome", said Chese happily to Lilee. Having heard what Virgil had to say, she responded: "Yes, it would be good to get rid of them. Still, rushing head first into a nest without any information is, well, quite dumb. I say we at least try to get some more information and find someone who would pay us." Chese turned back to the farmer before they scared him away. "Could you tell us where the nest is approximately?"

The farmer mumbled a bit before he replied, he could not believe there were people who would willingly storm an exhorian nest. "About an hour, south of here, good warrior." replied the old man, pointing in the general direction of the nest. "I've never been, but they tell us the bugs come from there, hidden under a hill and a huge rock, the town guard cannot spare enough men to clear them out and the exhorians don't get as far as Khanidi... so they have little motivation to do so..."

Az’rim again smiled from within her hood as Chese inquired about any further information she and her brother possessed on exhorians, then listened as the farmer explained the situation regarding the nest and its location. She certainly had her opinions about presently pursuing an even greater number of said creatures. ‘It’s your turn, unless you’ve been rendered mute by exhaustion,’ she said quietly to Je’retiel.

With a touch of sullenness, Je’retiel grumbled something, and turned his attention away from the current exchange to glare a bit at hit sister. His eyes were already narrowed in the sunlight, so the expression lost some of its power. The dah’kin was quiet as he delved into his memory on exhorian nesting and behaviour. (knowledge)

Je'retiel had learned quite a bit about Exhorians living in Daerah, after all, they had attacked the city during the war of corruption, no doubt put up to it by Thadre himself. Exhorians would look for warm and moist environments to raise their young, most hives were composed of a queen, which lay eggs, then those hatched into larvae and developed into many other strains. However, a newly established colony would rarely have a queen, eggs would be transported from a bigger colony, and a new queen would hatch from one of those. Once a queen hatched, however, the new colony would grow incredibly fast... before the queen hatched, it would only be a few soldiers and a dozen workers taking care of the eggs and larvae.

‘As Az’rim previously mentioned,’ Je’retiel began, ‘…the nest, or colony, is ruled by a queen. The colony grows as she lays eggs, which hatch and become the varied denizens of the nest. However, the severity of infestation is dependant on the stage of development of the colony.’ He paused to give the farmer a look, as if he were sizing him up, wondering if he had any clue as to how long the area in question had been infested. Instead of asking, the young man continued his explanation in his strangely muffled drone: ‘Our success might be contingent on these circumstances: If this community of exhorians is recent, there will be no active queen; the few soldiers and other workers present will be waiting for her to hatch, while also tending to the other eggs and larvae. If the queen is hatched and producing, it will be a swiftly well-established network,’ his gaze swept over the small group, pausing on Virgil, before he looked pointedly at Lilee,’ in that case, without adequate resources, it would likely be a suicide mission.’

"It's even more likely to be a suicide mission if we wait to find someone to pay us. And if we don't go to stop them, then we may as well have commited genocide against the people of this countryside. We need to atleast get a survey of the area to see what we're up against and try to put an end to it before the exhorian population can explode. And think of it this way, Chese, even if we don't get paid for this job, it will certainly get our names out there for stopping this menace," Virgil said, suddenly overcome by a sense of need to get this mission done.

"That is pretty extensive. Thank you, Je'retiel!" said Chese casually. She then pondered the information for a moment and was just thinking of scouting the nest area to gather more information when Virgil went on with his speech and mentioned the issue. "Surely, if the situation went dire, the town guard would certainly help. ...Right?" Chese wasn't all too sure if they would help, seeing as how in Decima things had been so bad that the people themselves didn't even want to rise up against their poor conditions. "It is of course better to deal with them when they're more easily manageable, yes." She then thought about the reputation they would get and grinned – even though she would have preferred the money over the fame. She smiled and shrugged, looking at Virgil. "Oh, fine. But I do claim that we shouldn't do that today! You still have that gash, and I suspect that the more magical ones of us are all out of magic. And we can afford to spend a few hours finding out if anyone would like to pay us for doing this favor!"

Padma nodded in agreement to Chese's words. "I would appreciate some rest", she said. Fighting just one exhorian had tired them, a whole colony would be quite complicated. "We should return to the guild and see if we can get some extra potions and prepare for the journey to this nest", she added, then looked at the sky distractedly, apparently looking at the shapes of the clouds above.

‘If we decide to pursue this endeavor,’ Az’rim piped-up, ‘…I agree it might behoove us to carefully survey the area instead of flinging ourselves headlong into some… regrettable… situation.’ While she spoke, she looked first at Virgil, then inclined her head toward Chese. ‘I am feeling up to the task, if I had at least someone else with whom to make the trip out there.’ She tenderly rested a hand upon the crook of Je’retiel’s arm. ‘My brother… and Padma… and anyone else in need of further tending… could use this time to rally their strength.’

Je’retiel only bowed his head slightly, acknowledging the Rysallean’s comment on his proffered information, as if speaking any further might cause him some great discomfort. He nodded slightly in agreement when Padma voiced her opinion on needing rest, and again when his Az’rim spoke. Lastly, he looked at Virgil, who seemed quite gung-ho on the entire idea, wondering if the knight would be placated between what Chese and his sister had said.

Virgil quickly caught Je'retiel's eyes for a moment before looking over the rest of the group. The knight reached down, feeling the blood oozing from the gaping wound in his leg now that his adrenaline was wearing off a little more. He felt the sharp sting as the pain shot up his leg from touching the open wound, "I do need to get my leg patched up, but I don't want to stray too far from the village. We need to be able to take down the exhorians as fast as possible. We do need someone to scout the area, and even better, two people. Does someone want to go with the lady to find out what we're up against? Chese? Khan?"

Chese took a short moment to realize they could go investigate right away. "Oh, we could go now? Well, why not." She waited for the others to finish speaking and then said to Az'rim: "I'd be happy to join you. She looked at Lilee and wondered if the little lynx could stay hidden. She was small but noisy and they probably didn't need a third scout. Only if they were attacked, it might be better to have even a slightly better meat shield than Chese. "Are you good at hiding and moving silently?" she asked from Lilee.

"So we're splitting into two group?" replied Lilee her ears perking up once more as she heard the exchange, it would seem the possibility of clearing out the exhorian den had not been ruled out. "I'm decent." she replied to Chese, a bit defensively at anything which may challenge her perceived skills. Lilee was a boisterous individual, but her lack of heavy equipment other than her ax meant she did not necessarily make much noise when walking.

Replying to Lilee, Chese said: "Seems so. After all, hiding is one of the very few things that isn't improved by a shining knight in heavy armor!" She said the last part like a compliment rather than some kind of restriction and smiled happily at Virgil. "Even three scouts might be risky, but I'll leave it to you to decide. Or do you have objections?" asked Chese, turning to Az'rim.

‘I have no objection,’ ’Az’rim candidly replied. After all, it couldn’t hurt, if anything should go somehow awry; it would just be another body to go through before they got her hers. ‘As long as it’s understood that we are just looking for the time being.’

"Alright then, I'm heading back to the inn. We'll meet there later?" Padma asked to Chese, assuming the matter was settled. She looked at Je'retiel and Virgil, as they were supposed to go back with her. Just then she seemed to actually look at the knight's hurt leg. "I can see to your wound when we're there..." she said, her voice apologetical because she wasn't able to heal him at the moment.

Virgil smiled and snorted a laugh from his nose, "I'll be fine until we can get back to town. We should hurry on our separate ways though," He said and he held fast to his thigh. He began to walk with a slight limp for a few paces before he straightened out to closer to a normal stride. He was clearly feeling the pain from his leg, but he did not want to let it get in their way, "Hurry with the scouting and get back with us at the inn as fast as you can. Though maybe one of us should carry our contract back to the guild so we can just go as soon as you get back?"

Chese replied to Padma: "Yep." She then lifted her hand to wave to the farmers, and remembered she still had the paper when Virgil asked about it. "Oh right." She went to hand it to Virgil. "Here... Wait, you really want to go there today?" She continued in a calm manner, not aiming to argue: "The rest of us aren't in top condition either, and I really think at least that would need a night's rest!" She pointed at the knight's leg and almost poked it, but she didn't want to hurt him more even if it would help make her point.

"We should probably just check the place out and then spend the night in town." Lilee reluctantly agreed, disgruntled, she sat down on the floor and began twirling her axe around. "That way we can go in tomorrow all prepared-like and kill everything!"

Thinking more about the time of day, Virgil nodded, "Alright, well, get the scouting done and catch up with us on all the details when you get back to town," He said, taking the paper from Chese and looking her in the eyes as if he was trusting her to lead the other three.

'It should only take a couple of hours, plus a little time to see what's there,' said Az'rim with a glance to Chese. 'We'll be quick and cautious.' With that, she slipped her right hand between the opening of her cloak and produced the room key, which she put in Je'retiel's hand, and closed his fingers around it. It was warm and a little moist from being kept in her cleavage. She carefully watched him before continuing: 'There will be plenty of time for carnage tomorrow,' for the benefit of Lilee.

As the course of action was decided, Je'retiel listened, like always, quietly to the conversation. When Az'rim put the key in his hand, however, he seemed lost in a moment, looking into the seclusion of his sister's hood, fingers wrapped around the small metal thing. He cleared his throat and slipped the key into his pocket.

Chese smiled at Lilee's comment and then was about to leave when she saw Azrim give her key to Je'retiel. She then figured that she too should give hers to Padma. Chese dug for the key in her pocket and noticed she still had both of them, so she gave one to both Padma and Virgil. "You probably have use for these sooner than I!"

Padma took the key and thanked Chese. "Alright then", she said, "I'll see you all later", she said with a smile and started heading back to the town, happy about the idea of resting a little after the long journey in the ship and the fight against the exhorian.

---

Characters
[Ms. Steel] - RoL - Je'retiel Avreh
[Roma] - RoL - Az'rim Avreh
[Sturmi] - RoL - Padma Fatih
[Duredhel] - RoL - Lilee Kahn
[Veltzeh] - RoL - Chese Fenpollen
[Lepellier] - RoL - Virgil Argentus