Jayce nodded, but corrected Gordon by saying: "Mystic Ram sir." before listening to his explanation and perusing the file with all the details of the disappearance. Seemed like the hunters had given up before really searching...looks like they wouldn't be as big of a help as he'd anticipated. Well, at least this gave them an idea of where the hunters had already looked. He was about to agree with Gordon, that is, until Celia piped in with her usual air of optimism that was just disgustingly contagious. That slime chance seemed to be a certainty now, after all, there wasn't anything particularly dangerous in Web Valley anyways, and they could just catch those weird flying fish to eat. Even Noire gave a happy Bark at her petting, once she was done, she ran around Celia in a circle once before going up to Jayce and biting the bottom-hem of his pants.

Sighing, Jayce patted Noire on the head as he crouched down, saying: "Simple as that. Thanks for the help Gordon, we're going to head out soon. Celia, we're gonna need supplies in case this takes a while, so let's stop by the market to get the essentials." As he stood, Noire backed away and ran to the door, and Jayce walked over to it and opened it.

Kori smiled at the woman and shook her head, not wanting for her to misinterpret her surprise for fear. She had definitely seen some unique and different kinds of magic, but she hadn't experienced a telepath before. She doubted that speaking from one mind to another could be used in an offensive way, but she had been proven wrong before. Before she could say anything in response, the woman was showing her a page from her book. She looked at it and nodded with the same smile from before. "I see. Well Laura, We'll need to speak with the guild master about that, but you should prepare yourself for a spar. It's how he usually decides who should be welcomed into the guild."

---

Darren nodded Rutger and thought about it. Apparently they were about to go to a woods area, and if so then his type of magic would be immensely useful. "I can do that. My vibration magic should be able to help in the situation. If there are enemies in the area, then I can affect them by using my vibration magic to distract them."

Mombaki nodded as well, seeming excited at the prospect of the woods and journeying through them on the way to fight this odd Dark Guild and whatever challenges they'd present the group. "Yes. I can hunt far and scout out any traps or ambushes they plan. The woods we go through should be easy to read, so you don't have to worry about getting lost either." Some of his companions probably didn't have such skills in the wilderness, but the forests in the area didn't seem nearly as tangled or large as those of his home.

Shujin cracked his knuckles. "Nina, give us some light with your magic please." He clasped his hands together. "Metal make... IRON SEA!" He released his hands, and a wave of iron was cast deeper into the cave. Screeches of creatures would be heard, and many sets of red eyes opened, shining through the darkness. "Crap! There are so many!" He reset his hands. "Metal make, Shield! Hammerrrrr!" He screamed it so loud, that some of the creatures came out of the darkness, attacking the intruders. He swung the hammer on creation, into the jaw of an oncoming attacker, knocking it against the cave wall. "Come on guys, lets show them what Mystic Ram wizards are made of!" He reset his hands. "Metal make, Scythe!"

Nina looked uncertain when asked to make light. "I've never done anything lasting before," She mumbled, but held her hands out in front of her anyways and concentrated. Flicking her hands once, a ball of fire formed between her hands, but lost it's stability and flared out. Another flick, and crackling lightning made a cat's cradle between her fingers, but it didn't give off much light. Finally, on the third attempt, a ball of glowing light flickered like a torch flame between her palms, which she held out to light the way.

"This would have been easier if someone had thought to pack a torch going into a cave." She mumbled, staring at the ball of light and willing it not to go out.

When they were attacked, Nina was helpless holding the light, not able to throw any other bolts while she had one frozen in mid-creation.

Shujin stood firm, now with both shield and scythe. He swung the scythe in a large circular motion, letting go of it. The weapon flew into the side of a creature attacking the young nina whilst she was mid creation."Crap! this isnt going to work..." He growled. "Nina, forget the light, use your instinct in the dark. We wont let anything bad happen to you. Fight! Metal make, gauntlet!" A golden gauntlet formed on his hand, as he collided his fist into the nose of a creature, knocking it senseless. "Janus! come on!" He formed his normal sword, and held his shield up. "Metal make, silver formation!" He raised the blade in the air, covering the entire cave ceiling in a silver lining. The shine of it from the reflection of the sunlight outside, lit the entire cave. "There we go." He smiled, feeling as though he wasnt stupid anymore. "Here we go!"

Dropping the light, Nina grinned, throwing her arms out to her sides. She threw back her head and laughed maniacally, releasing Bedlam. She felt the power build, reflux and come back twice as strong, and she felt her body shifting. She fell onto all fours as white fur replaced her clothes, and seemed to shine with an ethereal light.

"Come and get me!" The glowing snow wolf called in a distinctly male voice, pouncing on the nearest of the creatures. He barreled it right into, and through a wall, phasing into the stone and back out again a few seconds later alone. His teeth were bared and a bit bloody.

Janus got caught up in the moment as the monsters started flowing from the depths of the cave and didn't react as fast as he wanted which gave one of them the opportunity to attack him. Fortunately, Shujin was right on time and the reflected light blinded the monster enough for him to conjure up an arrow and shoot it straight through the monsters head. Done with the immediate danger, Janus positioned himself on a place relatively hard to reach by the monsters and started raining arrows down on them. "Ugh, didn't expect them to be so many" he said and continued firing away as fast and accurate as he could. Then all of a sudden, Nina transformed into a glowing white wolf, something to do with her magic he assumed but didn't really question it further as he saw her attacking the monsters that were coming towards them.

She would have to fight. Now that was a scary thought. Laura had no fighting ability. She had never fought against anyone in her life and she would prefer it if it stood that way. Her magic wasn't meant to give her strength to defeat anyone. It was meant to help others. She had to come up with some kind of a plan fast. There was one thing that she could do, but to pull it of, she would have to need some kind of distraction. She looked around and then opened her backpack. 'Is there something here?' She thought to herself, but it was mostly clothing. She needed something hard. Something that would do some damage, but there was nothing on her backpack. Then, she looked at her book. It had an hard cover, so it could possibly work out. She was a bit apprehensive about using the book though. All of her lessons were there. Still, she thought that maybe it was time to move on to more advanced lessons, lessons that the book didn't cover. She was determined to enter the guild, so if she had to fight, then she was going to fight with all her strength. She took a deep breath, finally calming her mind and removing all the distractions inside her head. "I'm ready" She said via telepathic message to the other girl. "Take me to him."

"Yay, shopping!" Celia cheered and began following Jayce, waving to the Hunter's Guild before leaving. Gordon simply shook his head in bewilderment as he returned to his duties.

As they wandered towards the market, something was bothering her. And that was rare. It had been 5 days since the travelers were reported as missing. They could have been stuck there for a day or two before anyone took notice. At the very back of her mind, a tiny seed of dread was starting to grow. What if they hadn't been able to survive? What if this spider guardian was real? For the sake of getting things done and maintaining her optimism, Celia put these thoughts very far back.

They arrived at the market, a little north of the station, where stalls lined the outer edge of the plaza. Some produce vendors and bakers were eagerly selling their fresh wares, and a couple blacksmiths had their weapons and armor on display. "Oooh..." Celia marveled at all of the products, before shaking the stars out of her eyes and turning to Jayce. "So, we need food and bandages and stuff like that, right?" She looked into her bag, pulling out a cute little chicken coin purse, to account for her money. Bills and coins were stuffed inside. "...I've got about 5000 Jewels on me." Celia informed Jayce, wondering how they'd split up the costs.

Noire looked up at Celia as they wandered along; She could tell something was upsetting here, but, being a dog, couldn't really understand it. She looked and acted the same as normal, and within a moment the feeling was gone. Noire pushed the thought from her canine mind and simply followed, ogling and drooling at some of the wares. Jayce even had to stop her from trying to sneak a bite in at some of the meats...

At Celia's mention of the necessities, as well as her budget, Jayce looked up for a moment before saying: "...Hmm...I got about..." reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his plain, old leather wallet and sifted through it. "7030...We got plenty. Might as well stock up a bit extra for the party." Giving Celia a light wave, his ever present smile still there, he said: "Leave the bill to me; put that money to something more worthwhile. Got any allergies I should know about before I go get the stuff?"

Noire was just about to bite into some kind of sausage link before Jayce, in an almost terrifying motion, picked the dog up with his artificial hand. With his kindly smile now looking almost malevolent, he said: "Ya know Noire...maybe I'd be able to sell you for a couple thousand to the hunter's guild...bet they don't see your kind much..." at that threat, Noire settled down, behaving almost like a show-dog, sitting attentively, and ignoring her primal urge to eat those...delicious looking sausage links.

"Rather than distraction, I was thinking that the vibrations would help us get a better picture of the surroundings. You can use it to do that, right? Like the way a bat uses the echo of its voice?" Rutger said to Darren. "If you can do it without an enemy detecting you, then between you and Mombaki we'll have a great way to neutralize their home turf advantage. That would make setting up an ambush and avoiding their guards way easier."

He looked over at Artemis, who had been quiet thus far, immersed in the magical book. "Sorry, Artemis, I just realized I'm kind of stealing your thunder. You're the S-rank, so what do you think we should do?"

"Hmm?" Artemis looked up for his book, noticing for the first time that they were in a forest. "Oh, uh, yeah, sounds good. That's most of the reason I asked Darren to come anyway." He turned another page without looking and put his hand over the paper. "I'd better get ready before we get any closer."

A soft light shone from the pages of the Dreamtide, and after a second Artemis's hand sank through the paper, reaching into the book up to his elbow. He grasped something and pulled his arm out of the artifact, bringing with it a thin bladed sword that shimmered as it moved, the metal changing colors. He held the sword at his side and dropped the book, which settled itself at his side as if hung by a strap.

Celia didn't really want Jayce to cover all of the costs, but she did have to conserve money for her rent and her own groceries. With a bit of a sad, "Alright...Thanks, Jayce." Her grin was back, especially watching Noire try to get some of the meats. To the poor thing's dismay, Jayce stopped her each time, and Celia couldn't help but laugh. Taking a moment to ponder if she did have any allergies, she responded to Jayce's question, "Well, I don't think so...oh, wait! I did get a bunch of hives when I ate a radish one time! So radishes are probably a bad idea. Unless you like radishes, then I'll just stay away from them!"

When Jayce picked up Noire with his mechanical arm, causing the large black creature to suddenly become the most obedient and docile that Celia had seen her. This got another chuckle out of Celia, before she decided to go look around at the textile stalls while Jayce took care of the shopping.

"Metal make, iron birds!" He clasped his hands forming little iron birds. They grouped up and flew forward, slicing into some of the oncoming attackers. They circled back around and did another run, before deforming. He grinned, forming his sword, and slicing through another. "Janus, show me what you've got. Show me powerful magic." He grinned and gripped his sword tighter. He sprinted forward, jumping into the air, launching his sword into the hide of a creature, where it deformed. In the air he brought his hands up. "Metal make, Platinum pillar!" He formed several huge pillars in the centre of the room. They crunched, before beginning to fall. They toppled on top of many creatures.

Jayce went off to go pick out the supplies, making sure to not get any radishes...not like he liked them anyway. Picking out stuff that was cheap and filling was the hardest part, but, by the end of it, he had spent only about 5.6 thousand jewels, and all the food, water, and duct tape was packed safely in his rucksack on his back. Within half an hour, he and Noire returned, Noire even had a bundle of minor supplies wrapped up in a handkerchief, being held up by a stick clutched in her mouth. Eventually finding Celia at one of the textile stalls, he gave her a wave before approaching and saying: "Got all the essentials, and at a bargain. Hey, you find anything interesting over here?" He'd never been one much for anything involving cloth, but some of the fabrics did look like a bargain for their quality.

Noire just kinda stood there, panting slightly as she held her little bag of supplies in her teeth.

Celia had jumped to various textile and accessory stalls, finally stopping at the one Jayce and Noire found her. There were several bolts laid out on the table, with a few hanging over it and some in the back. The stall was run by a sweet-looking elderly woman, with silver hair in a ponytail, and slim, happy features. Celia's hand fell onto a particular starry print, noticing how soft the material was. It was marked at 500 Jewels. Usually, cloth that cheap was coarse and porous, but this was actually exceptional for it's price.. "Excuse me, ma'am?" Celia asked, getting the vendor's attention. She turned around, "Yes, dear? What can I help you with?" She asked warmly. "I really like this starry fabric...could I buy it and come back later to get it? My friends and I are on a job." Celia inquired just as kindly.

"Why, certainly dear. That wouldn't be any trouble at all." The vendor responded, causing Celia to squeal in happiness. She pulled out five 100 Jewel notes, and handed them to the older woman. With a "Stay safe!", the vendor put the bolt under the table to await Celia's return. The young wizard turned and nodded to Jayce. "Yep! I'm gonna make some cute scarves and bows out of that fabric!" She was probably way too stoked for sewing, but then again, Celia was way too stoked for everything. Now that they had all they needed, it was time to get to work.

A determined look in her eye, she clutched onto her bag's strap. "Alright, guys. Time to save some travelers!"

Jayce couldn't help but chuckle at how ecstatic Celia was at getting to buy the fabric, thinking: "Well, now she's got a good reason not to get lost in there...". It was something at least. Noire, being a dog, didn't really understand her excitement, but barked in turn, spinning in a circle once, and barked again. Jayce scratched the back of his head, glad that she had the sensibility to not bring the cloth along with them into the valley. he would eventually nod at her, saying: "Onwards and downwards...alright Noire, you know the plan, right?"

Noire nodded, her usual blank...dog...expression replaced with a slightly more determined...dog...expression. Whatever, she was ready to go to work, and she knew plan all too well, just needed to get to the valley first. Jayce pointed forwards to the gate leading out of town, saying: "Company, March!" before starting to walk to the valley, his pack slung over his shoulder, and Noire with her hobo-stick bundle.

With the question about his magic, Darren nodded his head to Rutger. He was fully capable of using his magic to act like a bat or dolphin, but he wasn't sure how effective it wouldn't be it her were to use it in a dense forest. The magic would hit so many things and it might make the world 'blurry' and not understandable for him. "I can do that with my magic. It's effectiveness in the mission is what I'm worried about. It could hit too many things and I won't be able to sense the world."

"Him?" Kori asked, curious about what the telepathic woman was talking about. "Do you mean Master Talon?" She asked somewhat rhetorically, assuming that her answer would be a nod of the head or a telepathic agreement. She smiled and chuckled to herself. It speaking telepathically was her main power, Kori wasn't going to even think about letting her fight a brute like Talon. He would surely get carried away and used his Diamond skin magic on the poor woman, and that wouldn't work out at all. The woman shook her head and walked around the counter. "No, you won't be fighting me. Most likely you'll be fighting me, possibly Volta if he was around at the moment. We just need to tell him that you're applying."

The monsters kept coming so the arrows kept flying. "..84...85...86...THIS IS FUN!" he laughed. Shujin wasn't doing half bad with that metal make of his though, he helped him a lot with that silver lining that reflected the light but he knew Shujin's magic didn't last for long so on the sound of Shujin calling him out to use powerful magic, Janus didn't waste a second and started casting Radiance, absorbing the light from the reflecting surfaces of the cave. "You'd want to stand back now" he said and with a circular motion of his hands unleashed several light beams towards the mob of monsters in front of them. The beams crashed onto them and burned them alive and little craters formed in each beam's landing point. "I sure hope that finished them off..." he said, seemingly tired from the sudden use of so much magic power. He hadn't used much of his powers at all since he left his home to travel to Middlemist and had neglected training so as to arrive faster.