"Perhaps I should pull the stick out then and beat your head open with it. That way I could prove to everyone how empty it is.", Khar did not like Quill on bit. He thought of himself as funny, being funny was of no use.
Khar then mustered the slothman as he smashed a gigantic branch on the floor, doing heavy damage. The warrior in Khar immediately analysed the movement. The stranger seemed pretty slow, but undoubtedly forceful. He also did not seem to be the brightest, but that was just a guess. Khar's opinion did not matter however since the Grandmaster had to approve him.
"I mean being a capable warrior.", he said to the sloth knight, "Brute force does not prove anything."

"Yes yes, big man, listen to him," Quill said, breezing right on through their little conversation. "I'm not so sure about 'force' but Khar here certainly knows a thing or two about 'brute'! Honestly people this is what's wrong with Li Lian upbringings, so strict and mean. Poor Khar here can probably count on one hand the number of hugs he's gotten."

He settled his hands on his hips, attention still arrested by the giant slothman, and gave Khar an absent wave, as if to dismiss what he'd said. "But in all seriousness, grumpy, good to have you back, glad you made the trip!"

"Oh, for Mothers sake. Knights please! hold your tempers!"

Edward felt he had to intervene before all assembled started duelling one another, such events had happened before.
He assessed the situation for a bit. In his mind the order had two purposes, first and foremost to guard all of Sophitia indiscriminately and secondly to guide affinity born on the right track. Khar had made good points but this sloths powers could be useful to the order, maybe an test of sorts?

"While Khar maybe a bit crude in his expression he speaks truth. I fear I cannot knight you here on the spot. HOWEVER, I will give you an chance to prove yourself. Should you wish, you can join us on our upcoming journey where many will trust you to do your part, prove worthy of our trust and knighthood will be your reward."

Tuyta made his way up the steps and into the great hall. He was almost in before he heard a thump and turned to see a fellow knight had fallen face first onto the ground and some sort of sloth monster was helping him up. He rubbed his temples while puffing smoke from his pipe. If this was his team he'd have the headstone maker start now. He watched Edward, the leader of the group attempt to break up a small fight between the Sloth and someone who looked to have been from the east. Tuyta just laughed. He made his way into the great hall, puffing away on his pipe as he did.

Loduzzro looked at the chief-knight figure, then at the one called "Car", then at the funny beast man who said the thing about sticks, though it had confused Loduzzro, then back at the chief-knight. He pondered this offer for a moment. Go with the knights, help them with their knight problems, and become a knight? It sounded almost too good to be true! Loduzzro, however, was not thinking in terms of anything being 'too good to be true'. All he cared to remember was the bit about being rewarded with knighthood. It was perfect!

"Okay, chief knight man. Loduzzro help for mission." He clumsily attempted to introduce himself at the same time as he accepted the offer. In an effort to make good on his promise, he reached into the poorly-sewn bag that dangled from his waist, and drew a bright red fruit. "Am useful, give you fruit." he held out the fruit to nobody in particular, as if to prove that he had not been lying.

Arthur reached the grand entrance along with two others and saw Edwards waiting for them, he spoke to the other two before directing his attention to Arthur with a salute first and then spoke, "Lionheart, I am glad to have your sword join us on this quest."

Arthur, without missing a beat retorted "You are glad to have my sword but what about me?" He joked, he usually was not one for jokes but when the opportunity arrived he took it.

Soon other Knights began to arrive, one that particularly took his eye was not a knight but was carrying one. The way he spoke made Arthur quite fond of him, gentle was the word that came to mind.

He watched as the stranger dragged a large branch and lifted it into the air before slamming down on to the ground causing floor to crack around it.

Gentle was no longer the word that came to mind.

He was attempting to prove himself to Khar, but Khar was right, he may not have been capable, if anything Arthur now thought he would be more of a danger. Yet, he said nothing, it was not for him to judge. Neither was it for Khar or Quill who were beginning to argue, very unbecoming of a Knight. A popular opinion of Knights that Arthur had heard was that they were so noble, brave and above all else they were strong together because of a bond of knighthood they share, if anyone was to see them now, they would think otherwise.

Arthur returned his attention back to Grandmaster Edward, so this stranger with no name had been granted the privilege of joining them on their journey. Speaking of which, the messenger had stated the assignment they were all summoned for was urgent and of the utter most importance, why was the Grandmaster allowing someone untrained to accompany them?

Though not everyone had yet arrived at the bastion (had he been too demanding of the young messenger?) Edward decided it was time. He raised his gauntleted hand in the air and proclaimed:

"Knights! If you´d follow me please."
As usual, Edward spoke with manner of kind words with a tone however that expected to be obeyed. As he turned to walk deeper into arcane bastion he hailed the guards at the outer door.

"If anyone on this list comes looking for me, or Lao wakes up, direct them into the war room, keep the doors open."
He handed an small rolled parchment to one of the guards and ventured onward.

He and those following him entered firstly into the great hall and even further straight into an large atrium of sorts, this was the war room. It had no chairs to relax in for matters discussed here usually demanded full attention of participants. Its walls were laden with weapons of orders founders as well as trophies from vanquished foes. In the middle of the room was an huge map of known Sophitia carved beautifully from oak wood, it shimmered ever so slightly as it was enchanted to display information of varying types when it was needed to.
Edward took his place on far side of map table looking over it at his assembled knights.

"Without further delay, we are riding to western Silvercliff, near Al Zidoan borders rises an mountain known as Sunfang. We are to perform an assault, of sorts, on that very mountain."
He let his words sink in for a while, as it was known that fighting monsters on their home territory was extremely dangerous.
"As most of you have probably suspected, there is more to this one than mere monster hunting, so Ill let the man who requested this operation tell you the rest."
With an flash of heat and swirl of sand, Hastuk the unseen appeared next to Edward, overlooking the map table.

"Greetings and Sands blessings knights, you have been chosen and summoned here by your grand master to partake in operation that will prove vital to survival of Sophitia. As those of you with eyes to the world know, Silvercliff and Al Zidoa are commencing negotiations for an military alliance in few weeks time consummated with an royal wedding. This alliance however has been in planning for much longer in fact, two years to be precise. Two years ago when I was tasked by an certain man within the sultanate to slaughter the whole of Silvercliffs peace convoy, as I felt this was against the will of Sand I refused. He must have suspected that be my answer from the start. As I turned to leave the palace I was assailed by another clan of assassins, Viper clan, misguided group of fools who think they know the will of Sand better than us at the Silent Scorpion clan. However misguided they are, their martial and arcane prowess is deadly, driven with fanatical purpose. After teaching them a thing or two in Al Zidoan swordsmanship I was forced to retreat, wounded, to Silvercliff.
From then on I have kept my eye on the movement of Viper clan, as elusive as they are I have found an lead. They have an outpost on the Sunfang mountain from where they can quickly send operatives into both nations as needed."

Here Edward paused Hastuk, believing he had made his point.

"With new attempt at negotiations we have every cause to believe that these vermin are planning something to spark an all out war between two great nations, we have to take initiative here, if civilizations of Sophitia start duking it out between themselves, we could all fall prey to ravages of monsters. We shall ride within few hours time to Sunfang, locate Vipers stronghold and raze it to the ground!"

Hastuk replied.
"AFTER we find out what exactly Viper is planning next. So, questions anyone?"

They got to visit the mountains and kill people? Quill could hardly believe his luck, was it his birthday? He cared little about politics, the unity and calamity of nations, but keeping up with them did occasionally offer these kinds of benefits. Hunting monsters was all well and good, integral even, to the foundations of the order, but Quill loved when they got to to handle these sorts of things. It helped shed light on how dangerous people were to themselves, on top of the monster threat, there would always be humanity and company to wage some war or another.

"One here, yes, a question," Quill proclaimed, hand in the air. "Now, I'm with you one-hundred percent, sandy-man, raze the Vipers, spill the blood, love it sounds like fun. But, with that goal in mind, do we have an actual plan or are we in a more improvising mood? I'm good either way really, happy to come along plan or not."

A light went on in Loduzzro's head as he heard the plan. It was a very dim light, but it was still there. An idea. If these strange monk-men were living in the mountains, carrying out attacks, surely there were casualties. And if there were casualties, surely there was a need for new membership. "Am have idea for how get good information." Loduzzro's words echoed a bit, like the songs of a forlorn whale. "Maybe I go for pretend be Viper man, learn plan and signal for attack." He was very confident in this poorly thought out, half formed plan.

Realizing none of the knights had taken the fruit from his hand, he held it up. "Offer this as joining fee, maybe. Is good fruit."

Lao's lunch break ended as quickly as it started. He had ate hundreds of plates worth of food, anyone who had to clean them all was up for a challenge. Lao wiped his mouth stood up from the table, he was not here to eat, but he was called here on urgent business. Lao glanced at the lady servant who had graciously brought him all his food and smiled. "Thanks, oh and give my second thanks to the chef." He said as he waved and walked out of the dining room. The servant simply bowed and started to gather the discarded plates that were left on the table.

Lao was directed to the War room, and made it inside just as the explanation begin. So 2 of the many kingdom were discussing thr possibility of a military alliance through royal marriage. It was the generic thing that almost every kingdom did to make sure they were safe in the end. Allegedly, this man was sent to kill the convoy that started the negotiations. He refused, but was attacked by a group of strong assassins. He escaped, and know he know where they are located.

Lao was perplexed, why would this man see it fit to kill them. If they went around hunting every single assassin they could find, they would be dead within a week. But if they were planning to incite a war, then it made sense that they would have to destroy them. Anyone who wanted to destroy the relative peace that they lived in, Lao despised them. The questions wetr the ones that were starting the perplex him. In all seriousness, why plan, what were they gonna do, plan out some elaborate scheme to fight assassins, didn't make much sense to him. "Formulating a plan to fight trained assassins does not make much sense to me, they won't hide from us, and if there do, we find them." He simply with a smile on his face. "But, if a plan in truly needed, I believe I have one." He said quickly. "Trying to fight them in an environment that they are familiar with may be dangerous. A group of use should lead them way, while another infiltrates there hold, the plans may be inside." He said scratching his check throughout most of the explanation. "We should probably use, Hastuk to draw them out, have him lead them to use, and we fight!" He proclaimed. This was only one of the many plans he had in his head, but this one seemed to be the best of them all, or better then the furry beast man's.

To Quill Hastuk shot an sideways glance.
"...We only know the rough estimates of their position on the mountain, we´ll formulate plan of assault when we know exactly what were up against."

One could not see under Hastuks face wrappings but surely his face was twisted in a scowl when Loduzzro presented his idea. Edward seemed to be pleased with it though.
"How about it friend? Dont you desert dwellers love fruit?"

"Misguided as they may be, Vipers are true men and women of Al Zidoa, their recruits are trained from childhood to wield blade and spell with deadly purpose. At best theyd throw any would be infiltrators into an box in ground to scorch and at worst..."

Then Lao made his proposition.
"...For now I forgive the arrogance at using me as some glorified bait as that might actually work. We will see when we get there."

Edward nodded and made an sweeping gesture trough the air.
"What ever your favored method of transportation is I suggest haste, Should the enemy suspect anything is up they would surely relocate their operations. I have sent some squires ahead to set an base camp near Sunfang. As always our stables are at your disposal knights. Will you ride with us Hastuk?"

"I prefer my ways trough the land, Ill meet you at the base camp. Good hunting and Sands favor to you Knights"

Arthur followed the Grandmaster and others into the war room, the trophies are what caught his eye. Arthur's dream was to someday have something to place inside this room, he hoped in his life as a Knight he would have done enough good and displayed enough bravery to be remembered like the founders and some of those before him. Arthur stood among his comrades around the map table and listened as Edward spoke.

They were to slay foes on Sunfang Mountain, Arthur has slayed many foes before but whether this mountain would make a difference was something he'd have to see when they got there. A mini sand tornado appeared on the opposite side of the table, the tornado gave off a burst of heat, which Arthur felt on against his face, as Hastuk arrived. Hastuk address Arthur and his fellow knights mentioning the royal wedding. Arthur preferred to stay out of affairs of the royals but as it was his duty he had no choice.

The Viper clan would be dangerous and highly skilled but the Arcane Knights would surely defeat them, something Arthur truly believed. He listened as Quill, the sloth man...Loduzzro and Lao weighed in on the mission. Arthur had no questions or plans of attack to contribute; he would follow orders and do as he was needed to do.

Arthur had no use for the Order's horses, he hoped his own Stallion had been fed, watered and rested; he would use no other horse as no other horse would suffice.

Loduzzro thought for a moment. Transportation... Horses were too small for him, but he was much to slow on his own to arrive in a timely manner. It had taken him hours to simply make his way up the steps leading to this very room! The issue was a puzzling one, a difficult puzzle, like the one that involved stacking the little orb lines into a pyramid. Loduzzro could never figure out that puzzle when the ascetics showed it to him, and he was having difficulty figuring out this puzzle now. Perhaps if he rode two horses at once? No, that was a foolish idea. A makeshift sleigh for the horses to pull him along in? No, that was too complex. He thought, and thought, until he came up with an idea.

Turning to the chief knight again, Loduzzro attempted to ask a question. "In stable, you have... The big fur one? Isn't horse, is growly, but not cat like..." He was trying very hard to remember what the animal he needed was called. "OH! A bear? Is bear maybe could ride?" That was it! A bear, the perfectly-sized animal for him.

Edward

It had taken the day to gather necessary force for such an high caliber mission. Evening was beginning to cool the air as Edward the kind set for the stables with the assembly of following knights. While they had no bears there for Loduzzro he was offered an enforced carriage of sorts, normally used to move around magitech cannons, it should prove strong enough. Edward somewhat understood sloth mans plights of transportation, even he was forced to use quite a bit of his essence mastery to lighten his bulky armor as to not crush his trusty steed. As he mounted his white war destrier he held aloft his sword and shouted.

"Knights of our esteemed order! We ride for Sunfang! For Sophitia and Mother!"

Taking on both mountain monsters and Viper clan at the same time was not going to be easy, Edward however had strong faith in his assembled knights and he happened to know that few knights outside his initial list of names were nearby Sunfang on monster hunting duties, and would surely respond to magical presence of so many affinity born gathered in the same place.

Quill never rode horses, could neither afford one nor possess the patience to learn to ride one. He was close enough to beasts as he was just existing, he saw no need to lord himself around upon the four-legged monstrosities. Instead he opted for a more natural -or at the very least more entertaining- method, and summoned up his wind affinity.

Being a very light person, his mana-forged winds had little trouble carrying him upon soft breezes. He folded out the staff that had dangled compressed at his side and sat upon it like some witch from a child's stories, floating along with the caravan and whistling happily.

He listened to Edward's rally, his grin turning cynical. Drifting down amidst the other horses, he spoke more or less openly to any that would hear. "Mother, Steel, Vine, Sand. Perhaps I should change my name to Dirt, have people pray to me too. We've got a long journey ahead on the Dirt, only seems appropriate."

Viper´s hold

On the parapets of an old, long since abandoned dwarven fortress stood a beautiful young woman of amber skin and deep black hair, her stance and gaze however were those of an field general twice her years. She cast that steely gaze on their decrepid walls, those should be fixed if they had the time, then she dismissed the thought. They were assassins of the great Viper clan, theirs was not the fate to build things. An young beast man, canine race, run up to her.

"Executor Jizan! I bring news!"
Her gaze like cold desert wind was enough to compel young messenger to go on with it.
"The convoy of sultanate has left Al Zidoa and are on their way to Silvercliff. Also we have reports of increased monster activity within the mountain!"

For a while Jizan considered beheading the messenger for bringing self evident news to her, she decided against it for now. She dismissed the messenger and rubbed an scar on her left arm. Parting gift by Hastuk the unseen, that outcast would feel her wrath one day, she had an strange feeling that day was growing ever closer. That heretic dared to claim he knew the teachings of Sand better than high priests themselves, even that he could actually converse with their great god of life and death. If that fool dared to stand in Vipers way he would pay the ultimate price, for Jizan would not fail killing an mark twice...