Lander had remained quiet the entire morning. After having a small breakfast, he readied his satchel with some extra supplies, mostly fresh Ravencrest which he knew he would not find in the higher elevations of the mountains. The small, sweet-smelling plant grew late into the early winter and acted as a natural remedy for a variety of ailments. Even though he knew they had healers in their group, he still didn't trust anyone completely and if he were to find himself alone and suffering from ice fever, he would be prepared. He did accept a potion from a human woman named Emilia, but only after watching as others drink it first.

"Thank you," he said, slightly bowing his head to Emilia.

They traveled for a while before reaching the foothills of the mountains when they came upon some old ruins and Lander knew something was off. The birds were acting strangely, alerting Lander to an unnatural presence. His suspicions were confirmed when a arrow sliced through the air, banging off of Aldred's armor.

"Get behind something! Keep moving towards the entrance!" Aldred yelled.

Everyone darted for cover behind rocks and tree stumps. Lander rolled into a stone and he winced as his shoulder took the brunt of the hit. He could still hear the arrows flying through the air and he saw the rest of the company ahead of him. He couldn't pinpoint where the source of the arrows was, but he thought it might be multiple archers.

Lander placed both his hands in the snow and closed his eyes. Surrounding his hands the snow melted from the ground and immediately refroze into a thick sheet of glass. He removed one of his hands before the thick circle of ice hardened. Standing up he heaved the giant slab in front of him and crouched down. The thick disc covered his entire body and he began to make his way toward the front where Aldred was. Arrows stuck into the ice, but could not penetrate it. Eventually he made it to where Aldred was taking cover.

"What now?" he asked, arrows still flying above their heads.

“It’s good to see you back to your cheery self,” Aldred commented, smirking at her and Sipley sneered.
“My optimism is infectious, like a plague.” She quipped, not bothering to comment on his next statement about going to the mountains. The woman was slightly worried about traveling through the cold whilst missing a cloak, but figured that her bedroll could be used as one if it was dire.
The woman next to Sipley spoke and Sutton snarled at her in return, hoping she would leave her alone. “I don’t need anything. My nerves are fine.”

---

Sipley beat warmth back into her arms and kept a steeled fist onto her grapple hook. At a moment’s notice, Sipley was prepared to spring into the trees and take out an enemy.

Hissing through blue lips, Sutton could barely appreciate the ruins that stood before her. Nevertheless, she let her fingers glide over one of the stone columns and pebbles fell to the ground from their previously lodged spaces. The architecture was admirable, of that Sipley could not lie, and she was about to say something quite witty about it to whoever was near when an arrow let loose, grazing her cheek.

Immediately, the silver-haired woman sprung behind the column from where the arrows seemed to be coming from, though she was not sure. Dagger after dagger she threw, but she was blind and flung them at random. She didn’t know if they hit anything or not and she hoped that she didn’t strike down an ally because someone would get onto her ass about it.

“Damnit!”

The arrows continued, slamming into the ground and bouncing off of the cover the group went behind. The archers were unseen until the natural fog which covered the mountains dissipated momentarily, revealing four figures standing above the group on top of a large ruin, each of them clenching bows with quivers on their backs. They all wore leather armor and as soon as they realized they were spotted one of them rose his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud whistle, clearly alerting others.

A moment later a group of warriors dashed into the battle, coming from the side, there were eight of them, four wielding battleaxes, the others with swords and shields. They each were clad in iron armor and charged towards the group, letting out battle cries as they moved. Aldred watched it from behind cover, then turned to Lander and the rest of the group.

"Take out the archers first! Those of you that specialize in close quarters combat go for the warriors!" He yelled to the group, then came out of cover, his sword held high as he ran towards the enemy warriors. In mid stride an arrow smacked into his leg, striking where there was a soft spot in his armor.

"Fuck!" Aldred exclaimed, still moving forward through the pain. He swung his greatsword, lashing into one of the attackers with a battleaxe, his weapon colliding with the axe. Two other warriors, another with a battleaxe, the other with a sword and shield, stood near the one fighting with Aldred, Waiting for a chance to strike at the former Vanguard.

The other five warriors went in different directions, one charging forward at Sipley, coming from her left side where she was behind the column his massive axe raised. Two others darted at Caspian, each carrying a sword and shield. The last axe wielder went at Lucio, closing in with his weapon ready to swing, the other swordsman not far behind in stride. The archers taking shots at the rest of the group, one of the arrows striking Emilia's horse in the buttock, causing the creature to gasp in shock.

Caspian sighed, he was able to safely get behind cover before any of the arrows even cane near. Whoever was up there had the advantage over us, they could see us, and that had a long range weapon to use. If some one could close enough the the sniper without getting hit, that would give them the advantage.

Caspian was just about to recklessly run out into the open when he heard the battle cries of a warrior coming from his left. Caspian immediately pulled out both of his blades, readying himself for what was to come. They came over the hill towards they, some with swords and shields, other with axes. The little group broke and began to run to the locations of the other. But 2 of them ran at Caspian, and he was ready and waiting for them. Before they could get close enough to use there swords, Caspian ran up a large rock and jumped over the men. Landing behind them he thrusted his blade into the neck of one of the men, and danced out of the reach of the second man to prepare for another attack.

“I don’t need anything. My nerves are fine.” The Assassin sneered at Bregil.

Bregil just shrugged and turned to Emilia.

"It's good to meet you Nyx, and you as well Bregil. It's good to have another Healer along for the journey. Maybe later we can compare notes?"

Bregil nodded, “Absolutely!”

Aldred called that it was time to head on their way. Bregil stood and grabbed her bow,arrows and satchel. When she got outside she whistled for Faervel who ran up to her. She gave him a pet as she followed the company. Some of them were riding horses, they were beautiful horses. Bregil was nervous to start this journey. It was no longer just talk she was heading out now, she wonder what kind of dangers and adventures she would face. She smiled as she trudged on.

They walked for a while till they reached some ancient elven ruins. Bregil looked at it in awe. Suddenly arrows started to descend down on them.

"Get behind something! Keep moving towards the entrance!" Aldred yelled.

Bregil and Faervel ran behind a large rock column. She peered from behind it to try and see where the arrows were coming from. She grabbed her bow getting ready to shoot. At that moment iron clad warriors came out. She tired to concentrate on summoning a large force shield. She was having a hard time trying to summon one large enough.

"Take out the archers first! Those of you that specialize in close quarters combat go for the warriors!" Aldred yelled to the group.

She broke her concentration and shot an arrow towards and archer on a ledge above the ruins.
Aldred let out a yell and Bregil looked over to see him take an arrow to the leg.

“Damn it,” she cursed looking back over the ledge and shooting another arrow. “Faervel stay by me and keep covered.”

She tried to concentrate again to summon a force field large enough and yet again she couldn't do it. She let out a frustrated yell. Useless absolutely useless.

“I've got good news and bad news,”She shouted to Aldred. “Good news is I can summon a force field, bad news is it can only cover two people, three tops maybe. Who do you want me to cover?”

Mel was quiet on the hike up the mountain. Her mind wandered to her friend Eargen, wondering what his fate ended up being and if she could ever see him again if it was favorable. Everyone was quiet, though, so Mel didn't feel so bad. The only exception was Lucio was quietly humming in rhythm, which was a welcome break from the howling wind.

---

Their trip was relatively short but the wind was finally subsiding and the blinding effect of blowing snow was clearing just enough for the sun to shine nicely on the patch of green in front of this ruin. Ruins were something Mel knew and they were about the only thing she knew about civilization, barring her experiences with Eargen. Her father always favored them as place to rest for a night. It was the seclusion and as he told her, "the fear here keeps those eyes away". He always had a fear of other people but Mel never managed to figure out why.

Whatever the conclusion of that train of thought would lead to, it would have to wait. A clung of iron hitting iron and a commanding shout, shook her awake. Aldred desired for everyone to take cover. At first, Mel didn't react but with everyone scurrying behind rocks Mel sprung into action. Mel threw off her bearskin cloak, even letting go of her metal staff, before clapping her hands together. The earth started shaking around Mel and suddenly a large spire-shaped silver colored stone burst through the ground. It was wide enough to protect at least four people, standing shoulder length apart. Mel lightly leaned up against the spire and watched her comrades scurry about. Arrows strafing everywhere, her comrades hastily trying to fire back. It was a bit amusing in a non-serious environment but now was not the time to not be serious. Swiping her hands through the air, she whipped the wind up just enough to blow away the gathering clouds that cloaked parts of the mountain, showing the culprits to the arrows.

Four archers and Aldred commanded that they die first. Mel could do that. "I'm on it!" She shouted with a hint of excitement. After she finished, she began shrinking. Feathers began popping out from her skin and her feet closed in. The form she had taken was a little white woodpecker. She fluttered her wings a bit before taking off in the air. The white coloring should have made her tougher to see with all the snow on the ground and the rather overcast day. Using that cover, Mel flew around and eventually behind the four archers. She was still hovering above but she dropped and began swooping down. Halfway before landing, she began morphing back to her own form. It was choreographed perfectly as the moment she had finished morphing, she landed right on feet. Wasting no time, Mel clenched her fists, flaring fire from her closed palms. She swung both fists, sending a two waves of fire at the archers.

Lucio wasn't much use against the archers, he didn't have a way of fighting back against long range attacks. He could avoid them for a while, but everybody slipped up eventually. He was going to have to rely on the others for the time being. That's when the warriors appeared. Eight of them total. Three went to Aldred, three went to other people. And two went for him. One with an axe and one with a sword. While backing up and still trying to stay out of the archer's range, Lucio switched the dagger to his left hand and unsheathed his sword, holding that in his right. The axe wielder was ready to take a swing.

This wasn't good, Lucio was a fighter who relied heavily on movement and now there wasn't much space for him to move in. Every single step had to count and be perfect. Or else he was going to get hurt, or worse. He stepped to the side and avoided the swing from the axe, only to have to jump back to dodge the sword. An arrow flew past his face, slicing his cheek open. A few more dodges and he found his opening. The axe wielder over committed to his swing and lodged the axe in the ground. The bard danced forward and drove his sword into the gap of armor between chest piece and shoulder armor. Angling it perfectly to pierce the heart.

A graceful roll got him out of the way of another sword strike, only he rolled straight into an arrow. He cried out, more in surprise than anything as the arrow lodged itself in his right shoulder. He reached up and snapped most of the shaft off, leaving enough that it could be removed later on. He'd deal with it later, there was still one more guy to take out. Ducking a high slice aimed at his head, Lucio moved forward so that he was face to face with the swordsman. He drove his dagger up into the man's throat, though he could have used his sword his right arm didn't need the stress at the moment. The man let out a gurgling noise and then dropped. With both his opponents dead, Lucio turned to see how the others were faring. Making certain he was in the cover of the rock as to not take anymore arrows.

An arrow slammed into one of the archer's neck, killing the man in with a splurge of blood shooting out from the wound. The three other archers turned as they watched Mel, as she appeared behind him they tried to drop their bows and reach for melee weapons but they were too late as the flames hit the three of them, burning their skin alive, the archers screamed in pain as one stumbled off the edge, smacking into the frozen ground below. The two others dropped dead in flaming heaps.

Meanwhile below, the first warrior went down as Caspian's blade drove through his neck, the enemy's companion swung low at the pirate in response, trying to knock Caspian off his feet and into a vulnerable position. Aldred was nearby and was locked in a battle with another enemy, he went low as the opponent swung his battleaxe high, Aldred then swung the blade into the man's hip, slicing through the armor with ease, causing a howl of shock to emit from the warrior as he went down.

"Figure it out yourself, I'm a little busy!" Aldred said to Bregil as he went towards the other man who went after him, his greatsword making contact with the shield, the power of his swing causing the enemy to stumble backwards, almost slipping over. Three enemies now stood including the one he was attacking, One closing in one Sipley, another locked in battle with Caspian.

"Try to take one alive, I want to know what they were doing camped up here." Aldred said in his commanding voice as he avoided a swing from the opponent he was in battle with, the man clenching his shield on the other arm. He always hated fighting shield users, they could be tricky.

The fighting was intense but most of the others were handling themselves well. Emilia was about to advance when Hansel suddenly bucked. A more experienced rider might have been able to stay in control but Hansel was a workhorse unaccustomed to battle. She was thrown clear off landing hard in the snow. She threw up a barrier around herself instinctively as she heard Hansel running off somewhere. Unfortunately she was now in the open and a few arrows were striking her barrier.

She made a break for cover and found herself next to the bard, Lucio. She could see that he had been hit by an arrow, although most of the shaft had broken off. A few steps away were some dead warriors, apparently the bard was more adept at combat than she had originally assumed. "Two of them by yourself? Not bad. Let me take care of that arrow, it won't take a moment."

Sipley cursed under her breath as she continued to fling dagger after dagger at the archers. She peered around the column to see if she had hit any of them when she saw the armored man making his way towards her. She didn’t have much time. Sipley withdrew two daggers for each hand and a poison vial. She emptied the contents of the vial onto her hand and smeared it onto the blades. By the time she was done, he was on her.

Sipley rolled away from his axe’s blade that fell unto the ground with a thump. She uncurled, crouched, and leapt at him. She was not strong, but fast and flexible and she used that to her advantage. Bending backwards to avoid the axe that went to cleave her in half, she kicked her legs up and wrapped them around his neck, twisting her body until he fell onto the floor and slit his throat.

Smirking, she called to Aldred, “Need any help, weakling?”

Caspian pulled his blade out of the dead man's neck and danced away, avoiding the man's blade. Caspian had planned on ending the guy quickly and finding another fight to join in, but he heard the iron golem request for a survivor. So Caspian did just that, twirling the blade in his and he began to circle the man, as if he was the predator and the man was his prey. Out of now where Caspian started the attack, he swung low, trying to get the man in a vulnerable position, just he tried to do to him.

Lucio jumped when a female voice sounded next to him. He high on adrenaline at the moment and ready to fight again at a moment's notice. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Emilia, the healer who had given them the potion before. He grinned at her while wiping his blades off on one of the bodies. "A bard does have to know how to defend himself. We do travel alone." That was kind of a lie, most bards traveled with other people. Whether adventuring parties in need of entertainment, other bards, hired help. Whatever it may be. Lucio just had a very different upbringing than most of his kind.

The healer offered to take care of the arrow. And while Lucio wasn't looking forward to it, it did need to be done at some point. He took on a expression that looked much like that of a wounded puppy. "Yes, please take care of the arrow." He sheathed his now clean weapons, keeping an eye out for any more warriors. But it seemed that everybody had their battles under control. Lucio silently hoped that all their battles went this smoothly, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. They were going to run into trouble at some point. It wouldn't be an adventure without it.

"You're Emilia right? I'm Lucio, as you already know, I'm a bard. So if you ever feel the need to hear some music, just let me know." He introduced himself, but left out the usual exaggerated bow, there was still a battle going on. Taking one arrow was bad enough, he didn't need more because he stopped paying attention.

"Stop! I yield," The warrior Aldred was dueling shouted, the man going backwards in a full defensive position, dropping his sword in the process. "That old kook isn't worth dying for!" He continued, his shield still raised as Aldred stopped wailing at him.

The warrior fighting Caspain seem to have heard this and turned his attention towards Aldred, avoiding a low sweep. The foe swung at Aldred who blocked the blow at the last second before parrying it into a counterattack, driving his greatsword through the man's chest, the blade gouging through out the other side. The move caused the other warrior who surrendered to wince slightly at the sight of the attack. He clearly had not seen much battle.

"I got it under control, darling." Aldred said to Sipley in his sarcastic tone as he started to pull his blade out, the body sliding away as he did it. Then with his blade still drawn he turned towards the survivor and rose it towards the man, who quickly lifted both hands in order to show he was now harmless.

"Lose the helmet and shield, then starting telling us what 'old kook' you were fighting for." Aldred stated, his eyes focused on the man, the tip standing out in the man's fearful returned gaze.

"The one in the fortress in the mountain, deep inside, called himself Dax, grey beard, looks like a harmless old man, actually an incredibly powerful mage able to summon giants and apparently see the future. Also a total nutcase." The warrior replied, tossing his sword shield aside, then his helmet, which removed to reveal the face of a young man, one in his early twenties, quite young for a paid sword.

"Wait, see into the future? Summon giants, that must've been him." Aldred replied, lowering the sword, but not quite sheathing it.

"Yes, he predicted a band of mercenaries, all of which match the vague description he gave me and the others, among now meaningless predictions," The man said, lowering his hands and calming himself down.

"How did you make acquaintance with this, Dax?" Aldred asked.

"A pigeon arrived at my house carrying a note which promised gold for my services. Once I came up here and met the others, we went inside and found the mage sitting in his seat near a large fire, the mage explained why he asked for us, then told us to post up out here and watch for people matching your descriptions which he gave to a point," The warrior said, pausing for a moment. "The gold he was paying wasn't enough to die over, and besides, he's an unsettling man, on the brink of madness, who knows what he had planned next?"

"How do we get to him?"

"You don't. He closed the doors behind us and then put up some powerful forcefield, swords and axes can't break through, but you look like you have magic users among you, if you hit the forcefield with enough spellpower it should go down, then you can kick the doors open and find him." The man said, then backed away as he lifted an arm to point towards large metal doors not far from where they were.

"Alright. What happens if I let you go? Will you give up this foolish lifestyle, sell your armor and get a safer job?" Aldred asked, putting his blade away.

"Yes, I will, please let me go. I have family in a town not far from here."

"Fine, starting running and do not make me regret it." Aldred said, raising his hand to his face to rub his eyebrows.

"Thank you so much, I won't sir, I promise!" The man replied, then jogged away, out of the sight of the group.

"Anyone know how to knock down a really powerful forcefield?" Aldred asked, turning to the group, his eyes on the mages in particular.

With Lucio's approval Emilia placed her right hand just below where the arrow had penetrated with her fingers on either side of the entry wound. With her left hand she grabbed what was left of the arrow. "You might feel a bit of discomfort." Her right hand started to glow as she applied magic to numb the wound, then she slowly removed the arrowhead with her left hand. Once it was clear of his shoulder she cleansed and closed the wound quickly. "All done." It was a simple treatment and it was done soon enough for Emilia to listen in on Aldred's interrogation and later his request.

"Anyone know how to knock down a really powerful forcefield?"

Emilia had plenty of experience with forcefields. "I suppose I could but it really depends how strong a caster this Dax is. I doubt he's a pushover if he can summon giants." She started to make her way towards Aldred, leaving Lucio since he would be fine now. Unfortunately Hansel was no where in sight. At the very least Hansel was trained to return home if he ever got lost. She wondered what the townsfolk might think when Hansel returned with an arrow in him. Emilia made a mental note to send a letter soon so they wouldn't have to worry.

"He must be a very powerful mage if he can summon mythical beasts." Aldred said, then moved away towards the door, he placed a hand against it, then tapped it three times with his armored hand. The metal banging in reply. He could feel the forcefield on it, though it could not be seen, he had dealt with similar scenarios in his past as a Vanguard, but never one as strong as this.

"The door will be a piece of cake to pop open once the forcefield is down. But, that's the issue, it may take a while in order to knock out the forcefield, so we may need to set up camp nearby while working on it. Thankfully, Dax doesn't seem to be going anywhere." He said, coming back towards the group, the arrow still jotting out of his leg which he seemed to notice as he winced in pain, moving his hand down towards where the arrow was, noticing blood on his hand after touching the wound. The adrenaline from battle had worn off, and he now felt the familiar pain of getting shot by an arrow, thankfully they had a healer who could aid him with the problem.

"Emilia, my dear, if you would please, I hate arrows. This brings back unfunny memories." Aldred said, a smirk appearing on his face.

“Suit yourself.” Sipley shrugged, kicking the dead body of her once-opponent.

She watched with sick fascination as Aldred interrogated the guy, but wished there was more blood, more torture. That would have brought back pleasant memories of when she didn’t have to think about problems, just had to do. Assassinating came so easy. Of course you had to think of how to get in, how to not be noticed, but it wasn’t as hard as it was in the beginning. Entry plans came to her easily, and it helped that her targets never had freaking force fields preventing her from getting her money. Sighing heavily, audible to anybody near her and a clear sign of her waning patience, she offered a potential solution.

“Is the force field just on the door? If it is, we could find a weak wall and push it in. It shouldn’t be as hard as a normal wall considering it’s a ruin, and ruins tend to be pretty old and frail. We could always try while the magic users are attempting to bring down that insufferable force field.” Sipley ran her hand through her greasy silver hair, thinking of a hot shower that she was in dire need of. She smirked as she added, “We could always have Aldred run into the wall and it’d probably collapse easy with all that useless armor he wears. What’s the point of it if you’re going to get hurt anyways, darling”

It was quite easy to see that the earlier endearment didn’t settle well in Sipley’s gut and it was with pleasure that she spat it back out at him, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow with malicious glee. The assassin glanced pointedly at the arrow sticking out of Aldred’s leg, yet to be healed.

Lucio wasn't entirely sure what to expect with getting the arrow taken out. The one thing he had expected was pain. Which was the only thing there hadn't been. It was odd and not the most pleasant sensation he had ever felt. But it hadn't hurt. It didn't take too long at all for the whole thing to happen and once it was done the wound was healed. The battle seemed to be over, so this time Lucio did bow. "Thank you, milady." He said with a grin. The turned his attention to Aldred. He wasn't interested in the interrogation part that much. There were more ways than one to get people talking, and Lucio personally didn't like this one.

He shrugged when Aldred asked if anybody knew how to handle force fields. "Sorry magic isn't my thing." The closest thing to magic that Lucio could do was use his charisma and words to charm people. But that was pure skill and not some fancy mind trick. He didn't have anything against magic, he just personally didn't know how to use it, or understand it. He grinned when Aldred and the grumpy assassin lady 'insulted' each other. It was so flirting though. "I ship it!" He said loudly when the two of them stopped for a moment. "I think we all know what those two will be doing tonight."

Ah causing trouble and making people laugh. His two favorite things to do. Other than sing, play music, and dance of course. But, you know, a person had to have their hobbies. He was carefully eying the two, ready for any weapons, spells, shoes, bottles, live animals, or anything to thrown at him. He had really seen it all in his line of work.

The battle ended unexpectedly when iron golem sent the last fighter away to his family. Before the man left he gave them some information about a man who lived inside a cave and summoned giants and had a force field protecting him and his cave. Unfortunately Caspian was a pirate, and to him magic was just a fools story. The iron golem asked if any one was proficient in magic.
"Aye unfortunately I'm a pirate, magic is I've taboo to me." he said gruffly.
Caspian took a sip of the Gin he had taken from the bar and waited for the group to come up with a plane, Caspian was not good with anything involving magic so he would sit on the side lines and wait for now. Caspian took a seat on one of the many rocks.

He said, my dear. Those were the words he had chosen. Did she hear a hint of affection just then? No, he was probably just being polite, she thought. Emilia approached Aldred and examined the arrow. It hadn't penetrated much further than the arrowhead and thankfully it missed anything of major importance. Another simple treatment for Emilia. She knelt down, placed her right hand once again with her fingers on either side of the arrow and her left on the shaft. "I don't blame you. Most men dislike being penetrated..." She numbed his leg, removed the arrow with ease, and closed the wound. "...by arrows, that is." She tossed the arrow aside and looked up at him. She suddenly felt very small in the presence of such a man. She stood once again and still felt very small in comparison.

"In regards to the barrier blocking the door, it may take me some time but I'm certain I can remove it. Barriers are like tightly woven fabrics made of pure magical energy. I just have to keep pulling threads until the whole thing unravels." Emilia moved to the door and placed both hands on it. The barrier that Dax had put in place was intricately crafted but there was something else as well. It was linked to something inside, probably Dax himself. "Once this barrier goes down he'll likely be alerted to our presence if he hasn't been already."

"The door is the only way in. It should lead to a tunnel, the mountain surrounds the door and it is very hard to break through a mountain. Though we could look around more while our mages work at it. Also, I think you missed your calling as a standup comedian, Miss Sipley," Aldred said, glancing at Sipley. "Me and her? I'm pretty sure she'd cut my hands off if I ever tried to touch her. Not that I was planning to."

"Thank you," He said to Emilia with a smile. "Well, we have the time, we can set up camp here if necessary. I imagine there has to be a cave we duck into during the night to avoid the even colder temperaturs when the sun goes down. Maybe get a fire going." He said, his eyes brightening up at the thought of a nice warm fire.

"As for Dax, he can apparently see into the future, so I'm sure he's expecting us." He added. "Emilia, you can get to work on the force field removal, anyone who can help you with that can. Everyone else, try to look around for a place out of the open, ideally a cave where we can set up base camp for the night. We're gonna be here awhile..."