[h2]Road To Nabsezal[/h2]

"I apologise for our lack of ability," said Abbas. The tanned man had an apologetic look. Coupled with the dark rims around his eyes and his haggard face, one could only describe it as a pitiful state.

"Doesn't matter," Isen'roy was the next to speak. "At the end of the day, we're just dealing with an overgrown tree." He scratched his head, being empathetic wasn't his style but Allush had clearly put effort into his task. Though his words were mostly meant to console Allush, they were still a half-truth. Their opponent wasn't to be understimated; that was crucial information in and on its own. 

"An overgrown tree that can fight back."  Jade fought the urge not to roll her eyes as she made her remark.

To his own surprise Ashaad grinned slightly from beneath his shemagh. "A normal tree can kill a man simply by falling over", Ashaad turned to face Isen'roy with emotionless eyes. 

"A person pitiful enough to die from a mere falling tree doesn't have the right to call himself man." Isen'roy roared with laughter. 

This time, Jade could not contain the urge to roll her eyes. She wanted to laugh as well, but instead, turned her attention to Reiner so that she could keep a straight face. 

After a second of silence, she spoke up, "Accidents happen all the time. You mean to tell me that if some tree came crashing on you right now, you'd be pitiful and we would have reason to deem you lower than men?" Jade turned to look at Isen'roy with amusement now, wondering how exactly they ended up with him as a teammate. Surely there would not be a dull moment around this man.

"Except if by such a miracle a tree fell on top of me, I wouldn't be dead." 

    The over confidence of others would usually pass by Ward, but this guy's cockiness was definetly not easy to accept. Ward wasn't one to judge, but these warriors were gathered by higher powers to defeat beings bigger than life - literally. His desire was to speak, tell this guy to chill and just calm down before everyone gets on edge, but what was the point? After all, wasn't this supposed to be fun? 
    
        Hence with that mindset, the sniper went ahead and just stuck to his own business. He looked down at the talisman, pupils nearly touching each other at how much he stared. "Hmm" he questioned, unsure if this was an asset to their mission, or a liability. "We're getting paid for this right?" he asked, though it didn't seem anyone heard his question. 
        
        His eyes returned to the talisman, thinking about the ability to find other warriors with such magical gems. If this was a race like the all-so-powerful-dude-that-spoke-at-the-beginning said, then the first to arrive with news of their prey's death would get more coin. Therefore, couldn't some competators kill each other and take their prey's death notice and call it their own? After all, they all knew where everyone else was. 

"Yes, teams will be paid individually based on their accomplishments. However, if Sir Reiner is concerned with the potential of traitors... then precautions have already been taken." Abbas was referring to the way the teams had been split. No team was composed of a singular kingdom; the intentions were simple. It was less likely of soldiers of opposing nations to collaborate and if a lone kingdom attempted it, it would give the remaining two a reason to ally up. In short, the risks far outweighed the benefits.
            
        "UGH!" Ward exclaimed in desperation. All these thoughts were getting to him as the other's conversation continued to heat up. With what most would call migranes, Ward unstrapped his weapon from his back, let it fall off him, then removed his feet from the straps and fell off his horse. He was hungry. "I'm gonna get some food" he said, signaling the others with a hand gesture. The horse just continued to follow the others. 

"Ishtar!" yelled Abbas and all the horses screeched to a halt. "Sir Reiner, this is not the time for games!"

Jade would have retorted with something snarky to Isen'roy if it wasn't for the fact that the sudden sound of something falling onto the ground had drawn her attention, causing her head to turn quickly over to see if Reiner was okay. 

"Wha..... What are you... Ward stop playing! I have food in one of these pouches.... Get back on the damned horse." The woman first pointed to her friends horse, then quickly grabbed the small pouch she had packed with rations of food in, shoving it in Reiner's direction, but not throwing it.

Isen'roy burst out laughing. He had always considered himself to be a person to follow his own pace but this Reiner fellow was taking it to a whole new level. 

    With a menacing puff, the man jogged at a slow pace - with his rifle - in attempt to catch up to the pouch - not so much the others. He used his pony's movement to jet him forward even faster, taking the pouch from Jade's hand. "I knew you had food, I was just....." he shut himself up, opening the pouch as he walked alongside his little four legged animal. 
    
    There was a couple of fruits and some vegetables, but nothing fancy that would satisfy his cravings. "Jade, you're soooooo boring!" the man said, his head jerking backward as his mouth opened in agony. He started digging under the 'healthiness' and nope, still nothing.  

Jade rolled her eyes and slid out her scepter from it's place on her back, smirking at Reiner. "How about.... I jam this pretty, blue sphere in your mouth... And I fill you up with water? Would that make you satisfied, sweetheart?" 

    "If it tastes better than this crap" Ward said under his own breath. His wrist jittered and the food pouch 'accidently' fell from his hand. With a baby hop, the grown man jumped on the back of Tyrome Rutherford Carter, his itty bitty pony. 

Ashaad was deep in thought when the party was forced to stop. The resulting bickering between Ward and Jade caused him to release a sigh of frustration but he did not turn to face the two of them. "If I die on this quest it will not be the creature's doing", he thought to himself as he finally turned around give his new found "friends" a silent stare which could only be described as, "Shut. The fuck. Up."

    Looking up and sensing irritation amidst, Ward decided it was time to spin the conversation wheel - hoping he'd hit the jackpot or whatever. "So..." he started, his voice most likely annoying the great sandman warrior of the sand....of the sand. Anyhow, he continued. "....How long until we get to wherever it is we're going?" 

"If we continue at this pace, we'll be there by tomorrow night," responded Abbas. "However, fighting under darkness would work against us since we do not know the geography of the forest." In short, the soonest they would be able to fight Nabsezal would be the two days from now. Under normal circumstances, the journey would've taken four days but their steeds were equipped with enchanted armored hooves. Even Reiner's pony was much faster than a regular full grown horse.

"Shall we start devising a plan? Or is the plan to just go in, guns blazing while shirtless?" 

Ashaad overheard talk of a battleplan and now seemed as good as any to inform the others of his plan. "The creature is made of wood. All wood burns. If any of you can wield fire then we simply need to get close enough to set the beast aflame."

"Wood? It's a tree! I could easily remove-"

    "Oh shut it Jane, you'd just help our enemy grow. With your water mumbo jumbo stuff." 
    
    "That's NOT my name!"

"I believe thats the exact reason I'm here," said Isen'roy. Though he didn't exactly possess magic, fire and heat were elements he could wield with his sword.

"As I was saying. Before I was rudely interrupted." Jade shot a menacing glare at Reiner, who stuck out his tongue at her. 'I'm going to murder him' she thought before turning her attention back to the others, crossing her arms, "Nevermind... Carry on." 

If he wasn't wearing his shemagh the others would see an annoyed Ashaad staring at them for a good while before breaking the gaze. "If the creature cannot burn then you must drain the water. Once it is weakened we will attack its limbs specifically the joints to immobilized it. If that all goes according to plan one of us should able to deal the killing blow" Ashaad paused for a moment to acknowledge the fact that with these people he had spoken more than he would normally do...It was uncomfortable for him to be honest. Working as a team meant he was accountable for lives other than his own. "Once we arrive, leave the horses and take to the trees. If we attack from the ground we give it an advantage."

"I like it." Jade said, feeling a bit smug that someone else, besides her, had the same idea of taking the moisture out of the plant. She turned to look at her dear friend and smiled at him as if telling him 'I told you so'.

Isen'roy nodded his head approvingly. It was a simple plan but it was precisely because of that that he approved of it. Elaborate plans were pointless when they knew nothing about Nabsezal.

    Ward also agreed upon the set rules and regulations. He gave his pals a warm and sweet smile before raising his right index finger and "Check Pleeeeaaaassseee."