Living Moutains In Snow

(Post order:

Naraca
Ophelia
Talen
Quote )

Mission Details:

____________________________________________

A deep breath of cool air filled Naraca's lungs as his boots sunk into the thin layer of snow on the long trail ahead. He was told he should get into the wagon in the front, yet he said if they wanted to use his tracking skills that they better leave him outside. So he walked out in the front with the wagon behind him and his comrades inside.
The day was dusk, it was going to be dark soon and the sun shined through the dark clouds that were looming over the sky. The air was cool but not freezing like how it would normally be in the water tribe. The summer was still young at this time, and the weather was rather cooperative. Yet it was going to be much colder soon as the night drew closer.

Several neighboring villages, all experiencing attacks by what was only described as "Living Mountains" as so proclaimed by the contact of this job. From the footprints that were spotted however this was an exaggeration, yet not one as big as you'd hope. They weren't as tall as mountains, yet they were unmistakeably giants. There was no doubt in fact. Supposedly they acted feral, attacking everything insight indiscriminately. They were wild no doubt, yet there was no reason for the rage. Giants haven't been seen or heard about for that matter in a very long time, could these things be angry at the villages that desecrate there land? Or perhaps scared by the change? Being controlled or work of a powerful wizard was possible. However wizards of the ranks within the wagon wouldn't have been called if that was the case.
Naraca knew the way to the next village they were supposed to go to, the next place where the giants were supposedly going to touch down on. Before being wizard, Naraca was a soldier, and before that, he was a hunter and a tracker,. Being a man who lived almost his entire life as a nomad, he always preferred forests and jungle type environments. However he had experience in all terrains, he was no stranger to the tundra and arctic.
The mission was to reach the village and help the people fortify and defend there village to prepare for the attack.

Naraca walked normally with a long black coat on with a hood over his head for warmth. Underneath that was more traditional combat gear built for the cold. It felt stuffy and tight, he liked walking around and fighting in looser clothes, or no clothes, the less the better. He has his large great sword strapped to his back and a long chain connected to the end of the hilt wrapped around his arm.

Inside the cart were other members of his guild, the people he was to perform the mission with. There was Talen, whom he knew and had worked with before. Ophelia Katulai, a rock user who was an up and comer in the guild. Then there was Ni-ju, a young boy who...Was clearly not fit for this mission.
Yet when a forth person was needed, the boy was only one they could recruit, although Naraca would have preferred it to be just the three of them, Ni-ju supposedly was not going to be a liability, so they said.
Then there was the only other man with them who was not apart of the team, the driver of the wagon, who drove at a snails pace, about as fast as Naraca's walk.

"It's gonna be dark soon!" The driver yelled out in a shaky voice, chilling white breath expelling from his mouth.
"How much further is the village?!"
"It should be just up ahead!" Naraca replied with narrow eye's trying to pry there way through the fog to see signs of civilization.

Hopefully things were more comfortable inside the wagon...

There was a light sobbing from inside the wagon where Ophelia laid curled up. Sadly, the poor girl had never experienced temperatures lower than 15 Celsius and was literally freezing. She layered herself in clothing while still trying to maintain her fabulousness.  Ophelia wore a black wool walker coat that concealed a white cotton sweater and a pair of black leggings that stopped at her ankle; it was a rare occasion for her to wear what some people considered to be pants.  To top off her winter outfit she wore tan leg warmers with brown cowboy boots.

”Light snow… Light snow! They said light snow! This doesn’t feel like a light snow!” The noblewoman whimpered as she drew her knees close to her chest to keep warm. ”If I were to cry right now my tears would freeze upon contact with the air! I want warm tea…” Ophelia had the urge to complain the whole ride, but she was weary of others around her and quite frankly she was at the point where she didn’t care anymore.

Why had she even agreed to this in the first place if she was going to complain the whole ride? Well it was quite simple really; She was just wanted fast cash, and since there will be others who will be joining her the job would be supposedly simple. Ophelia’s statistics could be wrong though and the job may end up horribly, but she’s willing to take this chance.

Ophelia gritted her teeth as she buried her face into her knees. ”I can feel my nose dripping. This weather is disgusting.” She said, her voice muffled by the clothes. This is what would happen if you took a spoiled rich girl from the tropics to a mountainous region, and the results are rather comical. "Lord kill me now, I need the sweet release of death." The noblewoman sniffled, "Can't this thing go any faster than it already is?" Slowly she turned aggressive and crabby.

"Maybe I should not have come here." Talen mumbled to himself. When Naraca had first asked him to join this mission, Talen had jumped at the idea. It had been a little slow as of late around the guild hall and he wanted to get away and visit somewhere new. The veteran had said that this mission could be dangerous, and that Talen, being one of the stronger members of the guild could be needed. This had only given Talen more of a reason to go. Naraca had mentioned at the end that it may be a little cold where they were going, so he had better bring warm cloths. This had been an understatement. The very air around him seemed to be drawing the heat from his body. Talen had brought a few extra layers with him, but not enough. He was no stranger to the cold, he had been homeless for meany years, and on quiet a few nights he had to  sleep in the cold. However it had been nothing like this.

As Talen sat across from Ophelia, he once again considered summoning one of his spirits for warmth, but he dismissed the idea as soon as he had it. Artemis did not like the cold, it killed her favorite plants, Melissa would never agree to it, Medusa was cold blooded, he did not want to have any of Dionysus's wine before the mission, Scorpio would not help much and Aello would take things to far.

Talen hear sobbing form the other side of the cart, and the summoner looked over to see Ophelia crying. She had been complaining more and more as the trip had progressed, and It was starting to annoy Talen. "Ophelia," he said, "We are all cold." He knew pointing this out would not help, but it made him feel a little better.

Talen head the cart driver say that they were almost there. "I hope the village is warm." Talen mumbled to himself. He was not sure how much more of this cold he could take.

Ni-Ju sat in the wagon bed, carefully checking and rechecking the contents of his pack nervously. The smell of damp wool and canvas permeated the wagon, putting him at ease and reminding him of his early years, travelling the length and breadth of Fiore with his parents. On the other hand the sound of Ophelia's displeasure with the cold was beginning to grate on even his nerves. Taking this as a sign to start doing his job, Ni-Ju took a small candle and camp service from his pack. Hopping off the back of the wagon he filled the service with snow before climbing back into the wagon and resuming his seat. Once settled comfortably, Ni-Ju dropped a small packet of herbs into the service and lit the candle with a match, setting the service atop the flame. While waiting for the tea to be ready to be ready he set out a small stack of tin travel cups and produced a thin paper twist of sugar. " Mistress, tea will be ready in just a few minutes."Ni-Ju said quietly to Ophelia. "If anyone else would like some tea, I would be happy to oblige." He added, gesturing to the cups.

Finding that the tea had warmed sufficiently enough to ward off the chill, Ni-Ju fixed his mistress a steaming cupful and presented it to her with a small bow. Thinking it only polite he made another and poked his head through the front of the wagon, delivering it to the burly driver along with his thanks for the pleasant trip. Ducking back inside, Ni-Ju tucked his pack into the same corner where he had left his shotgun when he had first got into the wagon and resumed his seat with a soft "thump". Taking the silence as an opportunity to both provide a little distraction and learn a bit more about his guild mates, Ni-Ju asked "Just curious, but how long have you all known you could use magic?"

(OOC: Roll post)

The member 'Naraca Breaker' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

(OOC: Whoops, meant to do more, sorry for the sloppiness. Re-roll)

The member 'Naraca Breaker' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

(OOC: Well since there's no monster for rolling the weak monsters, we're gonna say they are adolescents of the Strong monster Ice Wolves. Attacks with fangs and claws do C ranked damage, they go down in 1 B ranked hit)

Things weren't doing much better in the wagon from the sounds of it. The faint cries of Ophelia could be heard from the wooden confines of the wagon. It musta been warmer in there then it was out here at least. Naraca's abilities allowed to control his feelings of discomfort, and thus completely remove his discomfort of the cold around him. Yet he was aware that being out here for too long would give him frostbite regardless of how much pain he was able to shut out.

He felt like his ears might be the first to affected if anything. All though covered, they could hear only the sounds of frozen winds and snow being crushed underneath his boots. He could make out the trail with his currently narrowed eye's as well as the tracks that lead to the village. Among them however his eye's caught, off the trail and to there right towards the unshoveled and undisturbed sparkling snow, a trail of some sort...Like something was being dragged.

Following the trail with his eye's as he continued to walk normally, he saw a rather tall, broad shape. It wasn't long before he could distinguish what it was. A...A tree?! It was a tree!

Lifting up his right hand, curled into a fist he called out.
"Hold!"
The driver let the wagon come to a slow stop so as not to shake the passengers. The driver knew upon hearing that command he would stop the wagon and not or do anything unless told.
Naraca was aware of the dangers of this place and how it was far from safe. Yet a tree in the middle of the snow was an unknown. With the magic worked now a days, he wanted to be safe and make sure it wasn't a threat.
He walked closer to it to get a better look, it felt odd being suspicious of a tree.
It was a fairly large tree no doubt, perhaps 15 feet tall with a fairly wide trunk. It had long branch's with white leaves, like the snow painted it over. Thick frost had accumulated on the bark, it didn't look like this thing should be alive. Looking down at it though he wondered, how could it's roots be connected to the snow?
The tree had strange written all over it. The strangest thing of all though, were the bend of the branch's from the wind. That was just it, the branches weren't being blown in the direction of the wind, nor the leaves, instead they were going towards the wind, opposing it. Just what the hell kinda tree was this?

More!

Two more tree's were behind it, identical to the one he was just looking at. They were in a triangle formation and appeared as though they were watching him with unseen eye's.

He should be looking at these things anymore...This was too dangerous.

He lifted his hand up, about to give the signal to proceed when he saw in front of there path were three ice blue wolves with 3 pairs of crystal like eye's that were narrowed. They were bigger then standard wolves yet no where near the size of a Glacial Wolf. These had to be teenagers. What made Naraca stopped in his tracks upon the sight of them, were the icicle looking fangs that they bared as they gnarled up a growl.

"Talen! Could you come out here?" Naraca called out in as casual but careful a voice as he could. He didn't want to startle to wolves nor scare his teammates and the driver. He slowly lifted his hand up to the hilt of his great sword.

He would wait for Talen to arrive before making any moves. It wasn't that he could handle these things on his own, it was that he wanted to decrease the risk of damaged the wagon or getting any unnecessary injuries.

Tea, thank the Gods. Her butler was a smart fellow, especially for his young age. ”My magic? That was a long long time ago, when I was around… 13? 14? Maybe? My it was awhile back.” The change in topic made her forget about the harsh cold, at least it helped her forget for a few seconds. ”My nanny Heidi taught me, she was a delicate old woman.” It made her reminisce on her more pleasant memories.

The wagon stopped moving... This caused Ophelia to sit up and peer out the back of the wagon. "What's happening?" She muttered as she began squinting to get a good look of everything. The noblewoman could barely see the figures that approached the wagon, but she did manage to realize that whatever was out there definitely was not human. This mission was already going down the drain.

Naraca then called for Talen, whom was in the wagon with them. Should she just stay inside with Ni-Ju? Calling out the much more stronger wizard was a wise choice, if it were Ophelia she would have to dig around in the snow for some form of rock formation or dirt. She exhaled, her breath fogging as she did so. The noblewoman attempted to keep her voice and breathing quiet, at least quiet enough not to upset the things that surrounded the wagon.

”We haven’t even made it to the town yet…” She murmured as she leaned back, her focus on Ni-Ju and Talen. ”You should definitely head out.” Ophelia glanced over at Talen and moved to the side so he could have an easier time to get out. Sadly, the tea would have to wait, and Ophelia would have to endure the harsh cold a little longer than usual.

It was times like this when she wished she hadn’t accepted a job that was away from the comfort of home. She began to slow down the pace of her breathing and tried to remain calm.

When Ni-Ju offered him some tea, Talen gladly accepted. The hot drink would help to take away some of the sting from the weather. Ni-Ju then asked when he and Ophelia first learned that they could use magic. Ophelia answered first, talking about her nanny, who had taught her. "Well," Talen said when Ophelia was finished, "I have been able to use magic for as long as I can remember." Talen smiled as he spoke. "In fact my earliest memories are of Melissa raising and training me." Talen thought back to those days when the gambler spirit had been his only companion. Life had been hard, but enjoyable back then living from day to day.

Talen's reminiscing was interrupted by Narraca asking him to come out of the cart. He heard Ophelia say that he should get out, and he agreed with her. Naraca would not ask him to get out unless it was important. The summoner hopped out of the cart, and walked around to where Naraca was standing. "Hey What's..." Talen's question trailed off. He saw three large blue wolves standing in the way of the cart a little ways out. The three beasts had either not noticed the group, or they did not really care about them, both were possible. Talen doubted that the wolves had any ill will towards the group of mages, and they probably did not really care what happened to them. Maybe we could just get them to leave, Talen thought to himself. Often times when he had been out with Artemis, they had encountered large dangerous creatures. Artemis had always just asked them to leave the summoner and spirit alone, and they would. Maybe she could do it again.

Talen looked over to Naraca and said in a quiet voice, "I have an idea that may get them to leave peacefully. Let me  try that first, and if that does not work, we can make them leave." Talen pulled out Artemis's key from underneath his extra layers of clothing. "Gate of the Huntress, I open thee, Artemis!" The brown haired spirit appeared, with a very annoyed look on her face. "You know I don't like the cold," She said in an equally annoyed voice. "Could you ask those wolves to move?" Talen asked the spirit. "I would rather we not have to fight them." Artemis sighed and looked at the wolves. They were young, apparently juveniles, and seemed to be minding their own business. "Fine," Artemis said after a moment of silence. "Wait here."

Artemis hated the cold. She preferred warm forests and jungles to the frigged mountains. Normally she would not have been so short tempered with Talen, but he knew that she hate the cold, and yet he had summoned her here. That was not the only reason however, she had seen the large muscular human that had told her to aim her shots better. Artemis could not stand him. The mage presumed that he could order her around.

The spirits walked out the the wolves, stopping a respectful distance away. She called out to them, asking if they would mind moving somewhere else.

OOC:
I'll let Naraca decide how the wolves react.

Ni-Ju listened intently to the stories of Ophelia and Talen's past, filing away the tidbits for future reference. After all anything he could learn about his fellow wizards counted as a win in his book. As Talen finished his recollection of his upbringing by someone by the name of Melissa, the wagon came to a sudden stop and the voice of Naraca rang out, calling for Talen. The carefully controlled tension in Naraca's voice boded nothing but trouble for the party. Realizing the good probability of this being some type of ambush or attack, Ni-Ju moved to the side allowing Talen to pass by and grabbed his shotgun from the corner of the wagon. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as Ni-Ju loaded his weapon and racked a salt shell into the chamber. Given the dangerous nature of the beasts of the area and his lack of a more useful magic the idea to use his salt rounds as a just-in-case distraction had seemed like a great idea before he had left the guild for this job. In retrospect Ni-Ju could think of at least ten or eleven things, off hand,  that wouldn't  flinch even if he emptied his whole drum directly into its face. Shaking off the chill accompanying the thought of some sort of freakish snow creature attacking, Ni-Ju poked his head out of the back of the wagon and began to take stock of the situation.

Wolves. Could be worse. He thought just as Talen closed the distance to the front of the wagon and began to speak quietly with Naraca. Coming to some sort of agreement, Talen produced what appeared to be a small key from underneath his clothing and with a gesture and a few shouted words, lost to the wind, a strange looking brunette woman appeared before him. Ni-Ju stared in awe at the complex flows of magic that seemed to branch out from the strange woman's chest towards her arms and legs and seamlessly flow back to its start.(Eternano sight) For some strange reason the sight of her reminded Ni-Ju of something primal as if a river or forest had decided to take a humanoid form and strut about. As she passed Naraca, Ni-Ju did a double take, the large mans aura seemed to hold something vaguely menacing, a dark series of flows, but upon further inspection he appeared perfectly normal, as if it had never happened.The bare instant of unnatural feeling convinced Ni-Ju that a future talk with Naraca might be a good idea. Ni-Ju abandoned the thought for later as the strange woman approached the wolves and as if to further poke at his curiosity began to speak to them in a series of yips and growls.

Three wolves weren't a threat, not even three growling wolves, even if they were teenagers. Being in that young age they were less predictable, however it wasn't difficult to handle situations like this peacefully. It wasn't even that Naraca needed Talen, it was more of a precaution. A large wagon, a large man, and another man, were enough in terms of presence for such a small amount of wolves to stand clear. However even so it was just a matter of as little damage as possible, he would have called the others as well. He knew Talen had his spirits which would provide more of a presence for the wolves to leave.

Why were the wolves here, in there path, and more importantly, why could they be showing warning signs? Were they in there territory or close to it? Perhaps this was a hunting ground for them? There were a few reasons why.
Naraca's eye's shifted from the tree's to the wolves for a couple seconds, those odd, out of place wooden towers.

Talen climbed out of the wagon and walked to Naraca.

"Hey what's..." His words were halted by the site of the trio.
"Try not to startle them, they don't look happy to see us." Naraca said quietly in the name of caution.
"I have an idea,that may get them to leave peacefully. Let me try that first, and if that does not work, we can make them leave." The summoning boy explained as he searched in his pocket.
"If it comes to that you leave it to me, just keep them away from the wagon if they'd get close" He explained, addressing what to do if things got violent as he leaned in a little closer to Talen so as not to let Ni-ju and Ophelia hear if they were watching.

Talen pulled one of his keys and in a flash of light and movement he summoned Artemis. Naraca remembered her from the first mission he had performed with Talen and Quincy. The spirit was indifferent to humans, and didn't seem to like him much either. He didn't put too much thought into her dislike of him, yet starting things off with the way they did wasn't the best for a first meeting. Even if he was doing it as a way to show her respect through equality.

Artemis was a hunter spirit, could she really talk to these wolves? Naraca knew how to communicate through them via body language and noises when required, but was there actually a way to talk to them through word of mouth? The question came with a childlike curiosity, he wanted to see how she did it.
She approached the wolves, keeping a good distance away, then just starting...Yipping and barking away...He half expected some ancient language or telepathic form of communication, but nope, just some rather creative noises her throat could pull off. The frequency and pitch she used was unique though, certainly beyond that of noises a human could make.

The wolves stopped there growling when she spoke and there eye's looked more curious as there ears perked up and they sniffed the air. The wolves began to look as though they were calming down and ready to go elsewhere.
Naraca smiled at the result.

"Looks like they listened, nice job..." His voice trailed down and got darker at the end as he saw one of the odd tree's begin to out stretch one of it's branches like an arm. On the branch were pine needles that had an odd raidence to them, a shine rather, like they were made out of crystal.

Just by seeing the tree move, and the odd needles on it's wooden arms, Naraca connected the dots as to why the wolves were looking hostile.

"Oh no..."

Several of the needles disconnected from the tree branch and zipped towards the wolves, going through there thick fur and piercing into there bodies.
All three of them collectively flinched and whined as they staggered away from where there wounds were before they turned there heads back at Talen, Artemis and Naraca and growling with a thick snarl.
These tree's were irritating the wolves in this area, making them in pain, therefore scared and violent.
Naraca's eye's narrowed as he quickly ran forward, towards the wolves, they were about to attack.

"Talen! Protect the wagon" Naraca shouted as his feet dug deep into the snowy trail upon his rapid approach towards the wolves that began to run towards the wagon, one of them coming straight for him.

He lifted his right hand up instinctively to pull out his sword, yet he stopped himself. He did want to kill them, just a little damage to scare them off would be enough, he was sure of it.

The wolf approaching Naraca lunged forward with an open mouth and ready to bury it's cold teeth into his face.
He threw his left hand around and into a hook, his fist smashing into the side of the head of the wolf. Naraca's brute strength causing the wolf to instantly be carried by the force and hit the snowy ground, rolling through the snow and kicking up white snowflakes before it got to it's paws and ran away.
The other two wolfs ran for the wagon, Naraca cursed under his breath as he saw one was closer then the other. He'd only be able to stop one, Talen would have to deal with the other.

With an amazingly fast sprint Naraca raced for the wolf farther away from the wagon and reached his right hand out and took a firm hold of it's tail, stopping the wolfs approach. It turned around to bite his hand but he quickly lifted it up off the ground and with a mighty swing he tossed it into the air and away from the wagon. He made sure it would fly in the direction of the thicker snow so it wouldn't break any bones.

Now there was just one wolf left with was up to Talen. Yet Naraca still ran after the last wolf to help in case things went bad for him.

What was going on outside? Ophelia had an urge to head outside of the wagon, but she knew better… [s]Also it was cold and she didn’t have the patience to deal with whatever was outside.[/s] The noblewoman drew her legs to her chest, her chin resting in between her knees. Her cheeks and the tip of her nose were flushed from the cold that crept into the wagon. The life of a mage was harder than she originally thought it was.

It had gotten quieter inside of the wagon and outside. This caused her to raise her head slightly and stare at the entrance of the wagon. What was taking them so long? Slowly, the girl began to scoot towards the entrance to get a better look. She was close to peering out though there was a sudden yelp, causing Ophelia to flinch and scoot back to her original spot in the wagon. There was a mixture of grunts and growls, mostly from the wolves that were outside.

A small feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her feel somewhat upset for not being more useful, though evidently she was much more useful inside of the wagon then outside causing havoc.

She resumed curling back up into a ball to preserve warmth. ”So…” Ophelia muttered while the other two fought outside, ”How about that tea? Because quite frankly I’m parched.” She let out a small chuckle, a feeble attempt to lighten the mood. Being inside the wagon certainly had its perks. The noblewoman turned her head back towards the entrance of the wagon, her eyes practically frozen open. She looked for any motion outside signaling that the battle was still commencing or finished. The girl was almost tempted to go outside and check herself if it weren’t for the fact that her life would be in danger and the fact that she may be putting the whole mission in jeopardy. Ophelia rested her head on the wall of the wagon and let out a sigh.

At first, it appered as though Artemis had managed to difuse the situation without the need for bloodshed. The young wolves agreed to leave the humans alone as long as they did not disterb the wolves. However just as Artemis turned to tell Talen and the other mage about her sucsess, something strange happened. The needles on the trees near the edge of the road stuck straight out before launching at the wolves, embeding deep in their hide, drawing blood. The wolves yelped in pain, before turning to the humans and briefly growliong at them before running at them with ferel eyes. The huntress felt her hart skip a beat when she saw the pained expression on the young faces of the wolves. Artemis started to run after the wolves, ready to act to defend Talen if needed.

Talen smiled when the wolves looked like they were going away. Artemis was an amazing nagotiater and the summoner was sure that she could get then to leave peacefully. The smile turned into a frown when he noticed the trees at the side of the road moving strangly, then to a shocked gasp as tiny needles hit the wolves. The wolves started to run at the wagon, and Naraca charged to meet them, shouting at Talen to protect the wagon. Talen shouted back, "On it!" as he pulled Titan's Hammer out from under his winter clothing. The summoner took a defensive stance infront of the wagon and waited for the wolves to reach him. Naraca dispached the first wolf by simply punching it with enough force to send it flying. He grabbed the next one's tail and threw it into a near by snow bank. As the last wolf approched, Talen saw Artemis right behind the wolf, and said, "Trap him if you can!" The spirit nodded and nocked an arrow mid stride and started to mermer to herself. When the arrow started to glow with a fait green light, Artemis fired the arrow into the ground infront of the wolf. When the arrow head hit the ground, large roots came out of the snow and wrapped themselves around the wolf, preventing it from moving.

Talen sighed, "So," Talen shouted to Naraca, "What should we do about the trees?"


OOC
Sorry it took so long to post this, I get internet on the ship, but it is SUPER slow, and half the time I can't open the pages. Also I am sorry about all of the spelling issues, the spell check on the site is not working on this computer. I will try and post more when I can.

Ni-Ju pulled his head back into the wagon, curiosity sated. "Nothing to worry about Mistress, Talen and Naraca are handling things quite nicely." He remarked, somewhat guiltily,retaking his seat. The candle beneath the tea service flickered, reminding Ni-Ju that in his rush to look outside he had forgotten to blow it out. With a small pinch of the wick the flame sputtered and died, the smoke wafting toward the back of .the wagon. Having finished that he propped his shotgun up next to him and began refilling the recently discarded cups set about the back of the wagon,mopping away at any spills with a handkerchief he produced from his breast pocket.Task completed, Ni-Ju tilted his head back against the seat and closed his eyes in anticipation of a quick nap, secure in the knowledge that everything he could check had been checked and if he was needed someone would surely wake him.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as it had ever since he had accepted the request to join in on this job, refusing to allow him anything resembling a peaceful nap. Giving up on the idea altogether, Ni-Ju grabbed his pack from the corner and began cleaning and stowing the tea service, humming softly to himself all the while. Finding himself without something to keep him occupied, Ni-Ju turned his attention to the small bag where he kept his meager supply of medicinal herbs and his travel journal. Removing from it his leather bound journal and a small fountain pen kept there for exactly that purpose, Ni-Ju wrote down what he had learned of his fellow mages pasts and a careful description of the auras he had seen from both the strange woman summoned by Talen and the if possible even weirder aura he wasn't sure if he had even really seen slumbering away inside of Naraca. "Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable Mistress Ophelia?" He offered, looking up from his writing. Ophelia's discomfort was plain to see."Perhaps you would care for a cinnamon tart." He said gesturing to a small tin poking out from his bag.

His eye's were only able to watch as the last wolf went after Talen and Artemis. Naraca's energy was on fire and ready to act but he trusted Talen would take care of things. The boy's spirit was able to quickly ready an arrow and launch it. The mountain man had a brief flash of Artemis's actions back with the Vulcans. Yet any worry that memory might have brought was quickly quelled as she performed her trapping act that he'd seen once before.
He was surprised she was able to do it here though, in such a cold, dead location she was still able to call up the tree roots like before.
With the wold trapped, Talen asked what was to be done about the tree's.

Naraca didn't answer but only turned around to face the three ominous wooden constructs. They stood still, with the same movements as before, their leaves being carried in the opposite direction of the wind and there long branch arms making very slow, wave like movements. They were alive...No doubt about that now, and aware of what was around them.
How aware were they? Did they know what they just did? Was it an act of hostility towards the wagon or just a defense mechanism against the wolves? These things were not safe no matter the case. But would it be necessary to chop them down? If they did, why not suspect all the trees? Naraca laughed at the thought, what tree's? No normal tree's would be in this environment.

His eye's remained on the tree enigma's. He walked up to them a little closer, slowly pulling out his great sword. Would they react?
They did not.
He walked a little closer so he'd have to now look up in order see the branches. The muscles in his forearm as although his hand was to his hip, the sword was raised up slightly so he could quickly defend any of those needles again. He was in the range of them now after all. From the speed of which the needles traveled however, he bet they could shoot farther.
The tree's didn't do anything sudden, but they leaves seemed to now blow more in his direction, the action alone brought a feeling of imminent danger, like he had a gun pointed at him. They didn't shoot though, not like before. The wolves were growling, did the tree's see the wolves growling and in a lunging kinda stance more of a threat then him just standing there with a sword?

The tree's seemed ready, but not willing to attack.

Keeping his eye's on the tree's but using his other hand he waved the driver of the wagon over.
"Come on through, it should be fine" He called out, giving the driver the clear signal to continue along the path. Naraca didn't move from where he was, and he continued to keep his eye's on the tree's as the driver would get closer and closer, eventually passing behind him. The tree's wouldn't react much, just the leaves pointing in there directions now.
He figured he's be fast enough to react if the tree's tried to fire, either block the needles or chop the tree's down, he could do it he figured.
He figured Talen would follow the wagon so he wouldn't turn his head away from the tree to check on him.
Eventually the wagon would completely pass, then Naraca began to sideways, keeping his eye's and shoulders in the direction of the tree's until he was out of there range.

"We should be close now" He said with enough volume that as he passed the passenger section of the wagon Ophelia and Ni-ju would hear him, but so would Talen and the driver.
"You can go back inside Talen, I'll let you guys know when we reach the town." He tell the summoner boy as he'd pass him to go back to walking in front of the wagon.

It was only another 10 minutes before they were able to reach the town.
Finally...

Spoiler:

The had reached the town, the sight of the amber and dark orange lights were like floating orbs in the white haze of the wind. They're wasn't much noise coming from the town, not like walking into a city like Magnolia where you'd be hearing engines and machines from the distance. However a couple vehicles seemed to tread there way through the roads of the town, as evidenced by the sounds of it all.
"We're here!" Naraca announced to everyone.
Before going into town, they came across a bridge that had a large, thick gate that didn't look like it belonged there. Why? Oh yes, the giants...
A little gate like that? Well it was better then nothing. Maybe the giants would trip on it and fall, letting the people converge in and attack there heads. Entertaining the thought was somewhat amusing.
To one of the sides of the gate was a small shack, likely a guard post, inside there being a guard sitting behind a desk who noticed him right away. Anyone could tell the guard looked uneasy. A small spoiler to what he behavior of the rest of the town would be no doubt.
Naraca walked up to the window of the guard desk.
Before he could even say anything, the guard with nervous eye's spoke.
"Who are you?" The guard asked.
"I'm Naraca from Lamia Scale, we're here about your Giant problem." He replied.
The guard looked unsure still, but unknown to Naraca the man felt a huge relief hearing that.
"Okay...I'll just need to see your proof" The guard told him.
Naraca didn't want to go through the trouble of taking off all his clothes to reveal his tattoo, so he reached in his pocket to reveal a Lamia Scale I.D card with a small signature from Zuo on the bottom of it.
The guard took a moment to examine it before he sighed with relief.
"Oh thank god you guys are here, please go right in!" he said with renewed vigor as he reached underneath the desk and pushed a button to open the gate. He then picked up some kinda radio from the desk and said that they were here to someone.
"Our town mayor Conner will be outside waiting for you" The guard added.
"Thank you" Naraca replied with a nod.
The gate opened quite cleanly, no screams from the hinges and only minor cracking of frost. That only added to the knowledge of this gate being put here recently.
Naraca waved the wagon over to go through the gate.

They walked along the bridge made of wood and metal, the town mayor waiting on the other side.
Upon walking towards him, the mayor stuck on his hand and smiled.
"Hi, you the guys we've been waiting for?" He asked with some anticipation in his voice.
Naraca nodded his head and firmly shook the mans hand.
"Yes sir, I'm Naraca, in the wagon is my team" He informed the rather short man clad in thick coat.
"Great to hear. Well you boy's must be freezing, lets get you all inside with a hot drink before we get down to business." Conner explained with a delighted smile, some typical country hick kind of voice underneath his business man type of demeanor.
Conner lead the way over to a large mansion like building, it was the Town Hall. The place wasn't quite as run down and poor looking as Naraca might have thought. It was actually quite posh, it had elegant, bright lamps, big ice sculptures, snow men and the building being decorated with different colored light like it was Christmas.
With the wagon parked nearby Naraca would wait close by for everyone to get out before leading them inside the Town Hall.

(OOC: Think I'll stop here, let ya'll react before we move on)

"A cinnamon tart? Where do you put all of these things?" The noblewoman was surely living in a lap of luxury. She was tempted to eat but in the end she rejected the tart.

Ophelia felt the wagon move again, it must have been finally safe judging from the sudden quietness. For the remainder of the ride she kept herself warm by wrapping a scarf around her neck. She was slightly more peaceful during the ride, since she was anticipating a warm drink, which was probably better than the tea her butler had offered before gesturing towards the tart.

Ten minutes had passed and the girl had been waiting patiently for the ride to be over, her eyes often times glancing towards the entrance of the wagon, just to get a good look of what was going on outside, though since it was covered by cotton curtains, she would only get a small glance when the wind blew, allowing the curtains to rise ever so slightly. Soon, the wagon came to a slow stop, causing Ophelia’s eyes to widen.

”We’re here!” Naraca’s voice was faint, but thankfully Ophelia heard it.
”Thank the Gods, if the ride were any longer I probably would have frozen in place.” She let out a small sigh of relief before scooting over to the edge of the wagon. She carefully lifted the curtain to see the gates behind them as they went on to find a place to officially stop. It took awhile, but the wagon stopped, this time to allow the passengers to get out and finally walk freely about. Ophelia gladly got out of the wagon and stretched, extending her arms and standing on the tips of her toes before peering around the wagon to see Naraca talking to the mayor, and at the mention of a drink, she squealed as if she were a small child. ”You better have offered a drink, because we spent hours being cold!” A small scowl was on her face, her sudden happy behavior turned into her usual cranky one.

Both Talen an Artemis watched with apprehension when Naraca approached the mysterious trees. Talen was worried that his teammate would be attached by the strange trees. Naraca raised his sword to one of the trees, and its needles stood on end, ready to launch at the mage. A hand flew to Talen's hip instinctively, ready to summon another spirit, maybe Aello, she could deflect the needles. However the needles stayed attached to the trees. After a moment Naraca signaled to the wagon that it was safe. The wagon driver hesitantly proceeded, still concerned about the trees.

When Naraca said that Talen could get back into the cart, he nodded and turned to Artemis and asked, "So do you want to ride with me and some of my guild mates for a bit, or do you want to go back home?" Talen was not sure which the spirit would prefer. On one hand she hated the cold, a lot, and he doubted that she would like the company of humans, there were few she likes. but on the other she also may want to spend some time with the mage, she was always asking why he did not summon her more. She decided on the former. "I would like to return home," Artemis said with a sigh, "It is far to cold," she looked at Naraca, "and human." "Alright then," Talen said as he closed the gate of the huntress and sent Artemis home.

Talen climbed back into the wagon as it rolled along slowly. As the mage sat back in his spot, he was reminded of the harsh cold and shivered. During the fight he had been kept warm with adrenaline, but  now the chill settled back into his body.

After about ten minuets Naraca said that they had arrived in the town. Talen got up and left after after Ophelia careful not to slip on the snow covered road. Talen stood next to Naraca, and watched as he showed their employer his guild ID. And I thought those would never come in handy, Talen thought to himself with a chuckle.

"Its a butlers job to always be prepared for the needs of those hes serving." Ni-Ju replied to Ophelia,setting down his journal and tucking the tin of tarts deeper into the confines of his pack. "Although I feel I must apologize for not considering your personal taste in this matter, Mistress." He added shamefully, face practically glowing. The feel of the wagon moving once again helped to steady his nerves as it continued over the tightly packed snow. Taking this time to think over the future of his service to the Katulai household, Ni-Ju found the prospect of trying to earn his mistress's respect faintly disheartening.

The sound of Naraca's voice calling out startled Ni-Ju from his melancholy introspection. Having missed what Naraca had actually said, Ni-Ju made due with the assumption that the wagon had finally arrived at its intended location. His thoughts were confirmed as he watched Ophelia scoot her way across the seat and step out of the back of the wagon, followed shortly after by Talen.
I really hope this doesn't take a turn for the worst on this one. Ni-Ju thought, slinging his pack over his shoulder and grabbing his shotgun. As he stepped from the tailboard of the wagon Ni-Ju realized that he had left his journal on the seat and ducked back inside the wagon to retrieve it. Finding the slim leather book right where he had left it, he picked it up and placed it inside his vest for safekeeping. Checking over the interior once more before he left, Ni-Ju found it just as empty as when they had first stepped aboard. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, He lightly hopped from the back of the wagon.

His first view of the town hall brought to mind the tales he had learned as a child of Father Christmas and his industrious group of magical elves. Getting back to business, Ni-Ju shouldered his shotgun and took a position behind Ophelia.

Naraca was in no hurry to get out of the cold, however he certainly liked the sound of that drink, anything warm right now would be good for them. Once everyone was out, he could see they were all cold and could really use the rest inside. Sure they were sitting in a wagon, but being that cold for that long saps your energy, the rest inside some place warm would certainly be a big deal.
Naraca's feet dug deep into the snow on the concrete path. Conner, the town mayor, opened the double doors and walked in, holding the door open for the members of LS.

Walking inside, his boots clomped on marble floors that he could see his own reflection in. He took off the hood was wearing the moment he walked in. The first thing they saw was a large front desk with one man and one woman at the reception desks, on either side of the desks were glass doors that lead to a series of hallways filled with doors for different rooms and offices. The place was indeed very well lit and shiny, the place clearly had a significant budget poured into it. The sight came with some disdain from the nomad however, he had known all too well the corruption of money and the power of greed. Yet he didn't put any thought into it for now. This was the Town Hall and fact they were being given a warm place and he bet there'd be some refreshments. He'd consider these people as generous as Santa.  
He was happy to be inside, yet no sigh of relief, no running to an immediate heater or fire place, he simply waited for Conner to show them where to head next.
"Right this was lady and gents" He said while walking
The mayor walked through one of the glass doors, and Naraca followed.
They'd be lead down the hallway, a left turn, a right turn, and then into another double door, this time wooden. Walking inside it was revealed to be a lounge.

"I figure the meeting room wouldn't quite as comfortable, so I had this place cleared out. Please make yourselves at home, have some hot coffee or tea over there" Conner offered pleasantly, his hand motioning to a desk with two coffee makers, one kettle, and one water heater.
Naraca would have been completely absent about filling his body with any warmth, he'd be just as comfortable without anything.
"Thank you sir" Naraca replied thankfully.
However he knew his body needed it, so he pulled off his coat and hung it up on a coat hanger before walking over to the table, grabbing a large mug and filling it with the black coffee before taking a large gulp.
"Ahhhh..." He exhaled after swallowing, the warm steam of the liquid heating his breath and relieved the numbness in his lips.

The longe room was as you'd expect, it had tables, chairs, conchs, arm chairs, all of seats which were thick leather and poofy with cushioning. Naraca walked over to the biggest couch sat down on one end, his long, thick legs stretched out along the whole couch. He was biggest guy after all, so naturally he took the biggest seat.

He figured he'd let everyone get themselves comfortable before getting down to business.

”Finally” Ophelia sighed as she followed behind the mayor and Naraca. She crossed her arms and shuffled along, attempting to keep warm on their way to the town hall. Her eyes often glanced behind her to see if her butler and Talen were close behind. She was somewhat relieved that the mayor was kind enough to let them settle down someplace warm.

”Praise the heavens!” The noblewoman muttered as they walked inside the town hall, feeling an immediate gush of warm air. Her eyes glanced about the elegant interior of the hall, somewhat amazed, though it wasn’t like she hasn’t seen this sort of thing before. ”Not to be rude but…” Ophelia said, her voice echoing throughout the hallway as they headed towards a lounge area. ”Shouldn’t the money you used for the town hall be used for something more efficient for the town? Oh, I don’t know, say a wall?” Her words didn’t appear to bother the mayor, he simply kept his grin, glancing over his shoulder to give her a small glance.

The group entered yet another room, the lounge in which the mayor explained her cleared out. This made the girl feel particularly special.

”Ni-Ju, I hope you brought that cinnamon tart along, it sounds very good with tea at the moment. Also, be a dear and hang up my coat, thank you darling.” Ophelia cooed, removing her coat and handing it to the boy, almost draping it over his head. She wandered over to the tea kettle, pouring hot water into a mug and sticking a tea bag into it. ”This isn’t chamomile, but I suppose it will do for now…” She spotted and arm chair and sat down, her legs crossed as she dipped the tea bag repeatedly into the hot water. Ugh, the cup felt so warm and comfortable in her hands, secretly Ophelia wanted to press the cup up to her face. ”Anywho~ Onto business yes?” She looked up at everyone and gave them a small nod.

Talen followed behind Naraca and Ophelia into the town hall. The mage was surprised by well furnished the interior of the building was. A beautiful marble floor, glass doors, and expensive looking wooden desks. The fancy interior did not match the more humble exterior, or even the small town they were in. However Talen had no intention to say anything about it, he was too happy to be in a worm building after the long wagon ride. To Talen's surprise it was the noble women, Ophelia, who said something about the extravagant interior. She suggested that the large amount of money that had obviously been used for this one building could have been put to better use. Talen looked to Conner to see what the man would say in defense, but instead of defending himself, the mayor simply laughed to comment off. Talen shook his head at this, annoyed that the elected official would not defend his actions.

Talen followed Naraca and Ophelia through the hallways of the building until they reached a large wooded double door. Conner explained that this was the lounge, and that tea and coffee were being served inside. Talen made a beeline for the tea, and after Ophelia, poured himself a cup. The mage did not care for coffee, he had tried it before, but the he found the drink to bitter for his tastes. Talen took a tea cup and poured himself a steaming cup of water before adding a tea bag. Talen took a seat in one of the large, overstuffed chairs, and inhaled the sweet aroma of his tea, and he felt some of his body thaw out. Talen took a sip of the steaming drink.

Although Talen wanted to finish the job so that he could go back to Hargeon, he was in no hurry to be back in the cold. He sat and closed his eyes for a moment, releasing a sigh as he relaxed. He was about to fall asleep when Ophelia said that she wanted to discuss business, and Talen reluctantly opened his eyes and looked at Connor.

Ni-Ju trailed behind Ophelia and Talen as they entered the Town Hall, getting a last view of the village before everything became too serious to take any joy from it. Stepping through the doorway with a sigh he found himself surrounded by an interior that practically dripped opulence. "You have got to be kidding me." He whispered under his breath. His first view of the place left few doubts in his mind to the corruptibility of the man who headed up this village. Finding himself falling behind, Ni-Ju picked up the pace, getting behind Talen just before everyone was lead through a large set of oak double doors.

Paying no attention to Conner's explanation of the room Ni-Ju took up his normal position behind and to the right of his mistress. ”Ni-Ju, I hope you brought that cinnamon tart along, it sounds very good with tea at the moment. Also, be a dear and hang up my coat, thank you darling.” Ophelia cooed,turning to him and removing her coat before heading directly toward the steaming kettle. Taking the offered coat, he folded it over his arm and took it to the stand beside the door, hanging it, with care, beside the two that already rested there. Having accomplished the first of his two minor tasks, Ni-Ju took off his pack and removed the tin of tarts from within. Leaving his weapon and the pack beside the door for the sake of efficiency, Ni-Ju approached his mistress and presented her the open tin. After offering the tin to everyone once again and passing out tarts to those who wished to assail their hunger he set it next to the tea kettle and resumed his position behind Ophelia. Once again in place, Ni-Ju retrieved the notebook and pen he always kept in his pocket while on duty and,propping it open, began to copy down his observations of the Town Hall and surrounding village while it was still fresh in his mind.

Everyone was inside and seated in the waiting room. Naraca realized he still had his great sword attached to his back. He put his coffee down on the coffee table to use both his hands to unstrap the sheathe and lifted it up and over his head so he could rest it on the floor leaning against one of the arm rests.

____________________________________________________________________

Conner briefly observed the great sword with awe and look of distance. The sword was almost as big as Naraca. He saw a shotgun by the door that was brought in by the blue haired kid. The posh looking girl didn't seem to carry any weapons, in fact she hardly looked the part a wizard with her delicate features. There was finally the man with the brown hair who seemed to carry nothing more then a set of keys.
Were these really the people they sent? A wizards abilities was apparently not determined by looks so Conner wasn't one to judge.
"Onto business yes?" The posh girl asked.
"Of course"
Conner placed his hand on a large rolled up paper on the side of the coffee and rolled it out flat, revealing a map of the entire village a large space around it of the surrounding mountains and glaciers surrounding it. He pulled out a red felt pen and pulled off the lid.
"Two weeks ago we received reports earthquakes and small avalanches here." He explained, placing the red ink of the felt at mountains on the south sign of map, almost at the edge, roughly 50 miles away.
"This was quickly followed by reports of people hearing low groaning in the mountains just off the main road here" He added, guiding the felt to the left on the eastern side of the map and close to a small collection of mountains close to a small neighboring town which he marked with an X.
"This continued for about three days before we suddenly lost contact with the town here, known as Jackville" He pointed at the neighboring town next to the mountains where the groaning was.
"We sent some people to check things out over there only to find out that..." Conner paused for a second his face taking a more grim expression.
"Jackville was completely destroyed." He finished before taking a quick breath.
"There were only three survivors. Two of them described what happened by saying that the mountains came alive and attacked them...After what we saw there I'd be inclined to believe them."
Conner then drew an oval circle ahead of the town which lead to large glaciers then to a gap in the mountain by an ice river. This one being about 30 miles from a mark that looked like an encampment, which was just a couple miles away from the village they were in now.
"Tracks were found here, leading up to another small village. It was just built recently in fact. It was destroyed as well...This time there was no survivors." He explained, his voice sounding a bit more cold as a way to hide any sorta feeling of sorrow.
"So...After that they went back into the mountains just up here" He drew a line on the path way into a large collection of mountains that ran to the edge of the map.
"After this we starting fortifying what we could on our village. Based on there path, these...Living Mountains have only two ways to go from here" He told them, drawing two lines, one line going more west and towards the ocean and another line leading to the village.
"They could go the ocean, but unless they feel like swimming they can only come down to us. Which is why we put the word out we would need help."
Conner placed the felt pen down on the map and looked up and the Lamia Scale wizards.

"So now here you are. The job as you know by now is simple. Protect the village and stop whatever these things are by any means necessary." Conner told them all.
"Any questions?"

(OOC: I'll stop here for ya'll to react, next post I'll have Naraca's questions come.)