Hazel was growing increasingly uncomfortable. Hazel knew this treatment was to be expected, but that doesn't mean she was prepared for it. She was at least relieved when Mari returned with only pencil and paper, as Hazel expected some hideous torture devices or a scalpel or some other instrument of mutilation. As Mari moved towards her Hazel not so subtly scooted away.

This is weird. Was the only internal dialogue Hazel could muster.

"So... uhhhhh..." Hazel feigned a smile, "What's the paper for?" Hazel said, meekly pointing to where Mari set down her 'tools'.

Hazel, while appearing entirely calm on the outside, was becoming acutely aware of the danger she was in. Mari may have been 'perfect' in her eyes, but she also knew that she was a powerful mage that has tried to kill her before and might chance another attempt. Hazel knew precautions had to be taken. Giving no sign for the other girl to pick up on she began to form a sort of magical 'barrier' around herself- not immediately discernible to Mari, but obvious enough if she tried to hex her, as it should nullify any spell used against her.

"The paper? Oh that's just to help me collect valuable notes and data," Marianne said with a smirk. "And I have to say Miss Hazel, the information you've been giving out so far has proven to be very I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.I.N.G."

Well that was new. That was the first time the dark mage had referred to the other girl using her name. It made her actions right now all the more stranger and suspicious.

"Is there a problem Miss Hazel? I thought you wanted to become closer to me," the girl said, almost taunting. "Well I'm right here. Would you like me to get even closer?"

Hazel eyed the dark mage suspiciously. This was certainly some sort of trap. Mari's sudden change in attitude coupled with the fact that she was now referring to Hazel by her name made her very suspicious to Hazel.

But Hazel was still, as always, a nervous wreck. "W-w-w-w-well, uhhhhh, I... Uhhhhhh... Okay?" Hazel stuttered her way through the sentence, but her embarrassment was visible.

"Oh come now Miss Hazel, surely you're a little happy to see me? Aren't you just a little giddy over the fact that I'm even spending my time with you? That seemed to be the case a month ago," Marianne put in. "Don't tell me I've already gone and lost your interest now."

As she said this, the dark mage's hands began to glow a deep purple. She didn't move to cast a hex, instead merely sitting in place. And then it was gone, the aura around her hands extinguished as she stood up and backed away. Her smirk did not dissappear but she had done something, that much was for sure.

That something would arise in the form of something impossibly cold gripping onto Hazel's hands. A pair of pale white hands manifested from what appeared to be the shadows themselves, gripping on and not letting go. Actually, the whole interior of the tent seemed to have darkened even more as more and more of the ghostly appendages slithered from seemingly nowhere.

Marianne only stood with her calm grin, the hands doing no more than snaking their way across the other girl.

"I don't mean any malice," the dark mage said calmly. "I just want to T.A.L.K."

Mari may have been calm, but Hazel certainly wasn't. She almost let out an involuntary scream, but quickly cut it off, coming out as only a squeak. To say Hazel was now uncomfortable was an understatement. Her last bout of fire may have been involuntary, but this was anything but. This time it was a more constrained blaze, a sheath of fire seeming to encircle Hazel but avoiding the flammable bits of the tents, which she hoped would discourage the groping hands as she wildly batted them away.

"Stop this right now!" Hazel cried out, now to panicked to let her embarrassment get to her.

It didn't seem like Marianne was listening to her. Or if she was, she chose to ignore the other girl's demands. Instead she took the paper and pencil and began jotting down notes with little care to her subject at hand. However, she did look up from her writing to stare at Hazel uncannily. Had she not done so, the pale hands would have continued their path towards the fire mage, regardless of the flames. With their path halted, the dark mage frowned and she took one step closer to Hazel.

"Miss Hazel, apologies, but I think you're receiving the wrong message. After all, isn't this what you wanted? I've noticed your glances at me you know," she said, smirk returning. "I know how you look at me. And I think it would be quite fun to E.X.P.E.R.I.M.E.N.T. In other words, I like you too!"

The dark mage was finally returning the other girl's affections, although probably not in the way she had been expecting. Of course there was more to add in but Marianne waited for Hazel to calm down. She had backup in case her tent was burned down but she had the feeling Hazel wouldn't like sleeping in the human sized holes she had dug behind her makeshift home.

Hazel's fire quietly diminished. In fact, it seemed that Hazel herself diminished. She blinked wordlessly. Oh Atros what do I say? I never though I'd get this far. She kept blinking, her mouth hanging stupidly agape.

"Uhhhhh..." Was all Hazel mustered at first.

That's no good! You idiot! Say something! The voice inside her head yelled at her. Hazel paused for a moment to collect herself, preparing to speak.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Was, once again, all she could say.

Please, say something smart! Why won't my mouth work?! It seemed her body and her brain were not on the same page. She tried so muster up a sentence again.

"I... I... Uhhhhhh..."

In the end Hazel was unable to speak, instead only furthering the appearance that she was a bumbling idiot, her face now burning a bright red.

"There's no need to say anything Miss Hazel," Marianne finished for her, unfazed by the sudden intimacy they had just entered. "After all, you're my friend and friends always know what's best for each other right?"

She giggled then before closing the distance between them. Again, the idea of personal space was lost on Marianne as she smiled happily right at the other girl, her one red eye meeting with the other's directly.

"Actually, it's easier for me this way. You see, Mister Amadeus has grown...trite in terms of my art. But you on the other hand...well, you'll live a bit longer for the research I have planned," Marianne said before her smile dissolved into a jeering smirk. "There's also one other thing."

The dark mage reached over, gently placing her hand across Hazel's throat. Her fingers did nothing more than curl softly along the flesh, a look of questionable sanity burning in her gaze. She leaned in closer to Hazel's ear, wanting her words to be whispered and kept secret just between them.

"Don't get me wrong, you're not half bad yourself. But don't get the wrong idea Miss Hazel. This is the easiest way for me to kill you if you ever put yourself between me and big sister. And I assure you, I will K.I.L.L. you. But seeing as you're also my F.R.I.E.N.D I'll have to do so in a manner most befitting of you. Or I could wait until you die in battle before doing so many wonderful things with your body...that's all I wanted to say."

She said this indifferently, the idea of murdering Hazel little more than a past time for her to conjure up. But the threatening tone she used was now gone as Marianne moved back and flashed a polite smile.

"We're officially a C.O.U.P.L.E. now!"

Hazel blinked. She was absolutely sure now she was dreaming. Mari was certainly insane and erratic, but Hazel didn't expect this at all.

"We... We are?" Hazel briefly thought of Harley. She was sure that he wouldn't like this new development. Hazel was unsure whether to be excited or terrified. She had never been in any sort of relationship before, or, for that matter, had friends up until a month ago, and being a couple with Mari was diving into the deep end.

But Hazel still returned Mari's smile, albeit slightly nervously. She had no idea what to think of this

"Of course we are," Marianne reinforced brightly. "Oh and by the way, if Mister Try Hard gets in the way, I'll force feed him his eyes while hanging him with his own tail. Just so you know."

The tent seemed to have returned to its natural coloring and lighting, whatever that was. Gone too were the otherworldly appendages, no trace of their existence lingering behind.

Hazel wasn't surprised that she threatened Harley's life. Hazel sighed. Regardless he was probably in the same amount of danger from Mari either way, since Mari didn't exactly need an excuse to 'force feed him his eyes while hanging him with his own tail'. Hazel wasn't sure how to proceed forward, since she was entirely inexperienced in the field of relationships.

Hazel brushed a strand of her own hair with her hand nervously. "So... uhhhh... what now?" Hazel asked cautiously. She was sure that Mari had some perverse 'research' that she wanted to pursue.

"I'm sure you've been waiting for this moment for quite some time," Marianne said in an amused manner. "I'll let you figure that one out~"

"Dammit!!!" Kazeharu yelled as he and Amadeus stood in front of Hazels burnt tent, the younger of the two crossing his arms with a smirk.

"Pay up." Amadeus said with his hand out.

Kazeharu scratched his head, "Just take it out of my first pay check Mini Boss." he said still alittle irritated, "How the hell did you win?"

"Luck?" Amadeus said, lying.

"Well whatever. Say, is there a place around here that sells Sake?" Kazeharu asked

"Well I think tha-" Amadeus began to say as he was stopped by the sound of yelling, The two looked at eachother for a brief second before running ahead towards the sound.

Amadeus and Kazeharu arrive at Nilara's tent where they see the two guards who stood in front of her tent laying on the ground, seemingly injured, and Nillara fighting what seemed to be a [Insert description of winner here].

Nilara struggled to get the damned creature off of her. It had sliced up her right arm pretty bad and now it was on top of her trying to take her head off. The sorceress would have none of that as she kicked it from behind and threw it off her. Despite the rather powerful kick the creature seemed to only be slightly dazed by it as it took a moment to collect itself. In the meantime Nilara frantically crawled over to the chest where she had hidden Leech. If she had a taken moment longer the monster would have had her but fortunately she was able to pull out her sword and jammed it into the jaws of the creature, it's maw of teeth were still dripping with her blood and with another good push Nilara forced her sword further into the creature to the point where if she wanted to she could spit-roast it on a fire.

Once the creature lay dead, Nilara pushed it off from atop her once more and rose to her feet. That's when she noticed Amadeus and Kazeharu at the tent entrance. She let out a grin before grabbing her injured arm. Before she could say anything two more of the things broke into the tent and began to close in on the three.

"Well Kazeharu, you ready to earn your first paycheck that you will immediately lose?" Amadeus said in a joking way as he unsheathed his Eclair, getting into a sort of fencing stance, "Arma!" He said as a light engulfed him and his armor appeared on his person.

"Might as well." he said solomly as he also got ready for battle, unsheathing two of his four swords.

Amadeus ran forward with Eclair at lightning speed, easily stabbing the monster on the lefts leg before anyone can react, "OBFENUS!" He yelled as lightning from his blade spread through the monsters body, paralyzing it in place. "NILARA NOW!!!"

Nilara didn't waste time, with her good arm she cast her Soul Drain spell on the creature and watched at its life force was siphoned from its hideous body. The thrashing only added to the sheer unpleasantness of the thing as it tried desperately to escape Nilara's spell only to have the life sucked out from its eyes. At the same time the cuts on Nilara's arm quickly bega to heal till they were nothing but faint scars. "More to the collection", she thought to herself before turning her attention to the remaining Velelu.

Kazeharu immediately threw the two swords in his hands into that air as he clapped his hands together "MABAYUI" he said as the blades of the swords began to glow and shoot light into the beasts eyes.

"Lunaris Arrows!" Amadeus chanted as balls of light appeared around him and then shot towards the monsters legs, bringing it to its knees. "KAZEHARU! NILARA! Decapitate it in one move!" he yelled.

In a fraction of a second Leech sensed Nilara's need for a fire enchantment and the runes etched into the blade glowed fiery red. Nilara ran forward before sliding past the creature. Leech had done its job and in that swift slide swipe the sword, which was hot as molten steel, sliced the creatures stomach open leaving it to spill out it's guts onto the ground, "You're up!".

Kazeharu, seeing what Nilara was doing, unsheathed Chiruppi, his prized enchanted blade, and ran a finger along the blade. Not a second later, the blade burst into flames. "Holy flame, burn this monstrosity and cleanse it from this earth! FENIKKUSU!!!" he said as he did a downward slice, shooting a wave of fire towards the fallen monster. It began to burst into flames as it eventually turned to dust.

"Shit, Nilara do you know what the hell is going on here?!" Amadeus asked as he looked around at the chaos engulfing the camp.

"Hell if I know, those sonsofbitches weren't just attacking though. The two that came after the first was back up. These things are organized. Maybe someone trained those...things, questin is who. Nilara looked over to find her tent guards laying dead on the ground, "That explains that then, sorry bastards".

Amadeus wide eyed at this, "Velelu are naturally antisocial to each other, if they're working together then that means a special one is nearby, controlling them."

"What do you mean special?", she asked. If the boss Velelu was anything like the ones they fought then it wouldn't be that much of a problem. However, things were never that easy.

"They're called Mindflayers, Velulu's who're incredible intelligent and strong willed. They can use magic and control other Velulu's"

"Well shit, if that's so then we might need to find the others. While I know I'm capable, I can't watch over the both of you"

Amadeus looked at the dead bodies on the ground, "I have two theories, either the Mindflayer is weak, or its far away. If it was strong, these Velulu's would be regenerating. We have a chance of killing it if we find it fast and strike faster."

"Let's hope it's the former of those theories, eh?", Nilara scanned the battlefield that was once the camp, shit would be a lot worse if they didn't take out the Mindflayer soon.

"Let's" Kazeharu said solomly as he looked around, wondering where the Mindflayer is.

"Well then, lets go look for this Mindflayer and show it what happens when you fuck with the strongest warriors in Astrea" Amadeus said

"Wait, whats that noise?" Miles asked Kelsier. "Probably just someone getting drunk and starting a fight." Kelsier replied dismissively. "I don't think so..." Miles muttered. He took a step forward, and suddenly this thing came barreling through a tent and took a swipe at Mile's exposed back. But just at that moment, the tent cloth got in the thing's face the ropes tangled up it's limbs and Miles tripped and stumbled forward. The things out stretched claws missed by a hair. "What the Hell?" Miles shouted. Both Kelsier and Miles acted instinctively, Miles pulled Vindication from its holster and Kelsier grabbed Silver and started swinging before it was clear. Mile's shot took the three quarters of the thing's head and Kelsier's slash cut the thing in half.

They stopped to catch their breath. "Allow me to reiterate,..." Miles panted "What the Hell was that!? "I think, that was a Velulu. I have heard of them, but never seen one. Miles bent to examine the corpse. "Well whatever it was its ugly." "Then you two might get along." Kelsier said. Miles looked up at him, "It tried to kill me." He said. "So did I." Kelsier responded. Miles thought about that for a moment, "Good point." He admitted. He stood up and they turned to go. But then the thing suddenly convulsed and grabbed Miles ankle. "Gahk!" was all the repartee he had as he fell on his face. "That thing is still alive!" Kelsier shouted. The Velulu pulled Miles closer, claws raking with mindless ferocity. Miles kicked his legs but the thing was too strong and it held on. Fortunately, Kelsier reacted by stepped in and cutting the thing's arms off.

Miles scrambled away and stood up, Breathing hard. He winced at the pain from the cuts on his legs and ankles. "Can you stand?" Kelsier asked quietly. Miles drew in a deep breath and breathed out. "Yeah, but I won't be running marathons any time soon." he told him. "Good," Kelsier said, "Because I think we are surrounded." Miles and Kelsier were back to back, with velulu on every side in various forms of ugly. Kelsier finally got a good look at them. [Insert description here.] "Well, crap." Miles said. "Yeah, that sums it up nicely." Kelsier replied. Then the monsters were on them in a wave of claws, fangs, and red eyes.

The trees were all rustling quietly in the gentle breeze, every so often a stronger gust coming along and shaking the branches harder. John walked along through this forest alone, listening to the birds chirp as he continued towards his objective. He had seen smoke up in the sky some time ago, but it had long since disappeared. He began to wonder if he was still heading towards where the smoke came from, or if he even should. For all he knew that smoke could've been from bandits, or from a group of campers that could've already packed up and left...but, then again, maybe the fire was a signal for help? All the possibilities swirled around in John's mind and began to make him more and more anxius to find the source of the smoke.

Not too far away from him were the unlikely group of Solanne and Harley. It seemed that the mention of everyone's favorite dark mage had cowed the boy into silence seeing as their conversation was apparently at an end. Sadly, Solanne didn't have the time to taunt him about the subject before the familiar smell of smoke and flame reached her. The redhead merely sighed, shaking her head and slowly turning back in the direction of camp.

"Smells like your girlfriend," she said to Harley, commenting on the smoke.

She didn't need to voice the fact that they had to return to camp and she expected Harley to follow...eventually. Solanne thus made the long trek back to the source of fire, walking at her own leisurely pace. It was because of that pace that she spotted someone new for once, a man with dark clothing.

"Oi! What's up Leather Licker?" she called aloud, already making a nickname for the newbie.

Upon hearing the voice John stopped dead in his tracks, and upon hearing what he had just been called he reached for one of his revolvers with his right hand and a sickle with his left; but once he turned around, he stopped...again.

"What did you call-?!" He started to say.

His eyes then widened in a nervous sort of way as he looked over the woman who startled him, not sure what to make of the situation other than that she was one beautiful lady. He slowly lowered his revolver and sickle as an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Y-You're...wow..." John sputtered out before realizing he needed to regain his composure...or what little he had.

Raising the gun and sickle back up slightly, he didn't want to threaten her but he wanted to be ready. He didn't know her, and though she was very pretty, he didn't need to trust her...not yet. So he tried to think of some questions to interrogate her with...but he didn't quite seem to have himself under control, much less the situation.

"W-Who are you? What are you doing here?" He asked, mentally slapping himself for that being all he could think of.

"Hey Leather Licker, my eyes are up here," Solanne said with crossed arms and an amused grin on her face. "What, you haven't heard of me? I'm one of the big trends in the Sky Kindgom, y'know. The Crimson Hound? Ring a bell for you?"

She didn't know if this man was one of the warriors found in their fighting band. It made sense since there were so many at this point that it wasn't unrealistic to think she had overlooked a couple. Then again, this guy probably wouldn't be wandering around in the forest if he was one of the warriors and would instead be back in camp.

"Say, you're new here, aren't you? Well if you're looking to join the forty-two, the camp's right this way, y'know. But if you're an enemy sent to spy on us, well..."

Solanne cracked her knuckles as the area around them instantly began to boil and heat up. She was unaffected by the steadily rising temperature of course and she wanted to see just how this new face would manage.

John's heartbeat certainly did rise when she spoke to him again, and just kept raising when he saw her crack her knuckles. He could feel the heat she was generating and instinctively responded by emitting a more chilly aura to balance out his own temperature. His emotions were quite confused, but he knew he had to stay calm and react accordingly...so he decided to point his revolver back at her. Perhaps not the brightest choice, he thought, but it probably wouldn't matter as much as his choice of words. And come to think of it, he might have heard that name around...

Solanne raised an eye as she felt the air return back to normal for brief instances. It took her a moment more to realize that no, it was only the air around this newcomer. Well that was intersting. Ice magic was it? That thought only made the Crimson Hound's grin all the more wide.

"Uhh...n-no...well...maybe...I left the Sky Kingdom several years ago...after my sister." He started saying. "But, yeah...wait! No...? Look...I'm not a spy."

Internally, John was screaming and hitting himself over how embarrassed he felt. How hard was it to answer a couple of questions without freaking out? All he had to do now was answer one more, he just hoped he could answer it without making a fool of himself.

"But, sure, I'll follow you anywhere." He said, wincing after he realized just what he had said.

To that, Solanne dropped her flames and the temperature was instantly reduced. A roll of her eyes was directed his way while she placed her hand on her hips before saying, "Aw jeez, another pervert. If you really wanted to kill me, I think you would have done it by now instead of eyeing my up Leather Licker. Well, whatever. That just adds one more walking army into our mix."

"A...a p-pervert? - No, no, no, I - just - you - ah..." John attempted to explain, but to no avail.

Sighing, she smiled in a more genuine fashion before offering out her hand.

"Name's Solanne by the way. Solanne Luxonne. Crimson Hound and resident ass kicker of course. Nice to meet you Mister....?"

John canceled out the chilling aura and put away his weapons, reaching out to shake Solanne's hand. "I'm John Reynolds..."

At that moment, the sound of screeches were heard. Like the fire, it was coming in the direction of the camp. Solanne turned in that direction before smirking at the newbie.

"Sounds like trouble. Say Leather Licker, you up for some skull crushing? Consider it a way to prove how much you wanna join our club. And how much you really want a date with me," she added with a wink.

John melted inside...and not cause he was ice and Solanne was fire...well, maybe. He just didn't know how to react or what to say, because almost everything he did he screwed up...at least, to him. What about to her, he wondered, how strange did he appear? No! There was danger, he needed to clear those thoughts out of his head and focus. Think! How should he respond?

"S-Sure thing..." He replied simply, which he regarded as a great success in his mind.

"Right then. We won't be saving too many lives just standing around staring at each other like this," Solanne said, leading the way back towards the camp. What she saw the culprits of the unholy screeches, she had to a double take as she got a good glance of the horde of Velelu.

"Holy Atros, these things are ugly. They're supposed to be smart right? Yeah, I refuse to believe anything looking that has even half a brain."

The Crimson Hound's smirk didn't falter regardless and she unsheathed the blade, Duster. At once, a scorching pillar of flame erupted from her sword just by the motion itself. It was enough to make several of the creatures turn their way, distracting them from two other warriors it had corned. The brunt of the pack leaped towards the two, drawn in by the light.

John looked from Solanne to the alerted Velulu, offerening only a nervous sigh as he charged electricity into his hands. The beasts were closing fast, but John figured that lightning would be faster...and it could arc between them if given the chance. But what if it doesn't, he thought, what if they're resistant? He tried his best to push the doubt out of his head, and unleashed several bolts of lighting from his hands at the incoming Velulu.

It was silent at first. The individual Velelu would kill an unaware soldier, then groups would be attacked and soon the entire coalition encampment was in the midst of a bloody battle for survival. Ashaad had been on his way to the blacksmith to have his weapons repaired but was ambushed by a lone Velelu. The creature knocked his off balance but Ashaad quickly got back on his feet. His blades were dulled but their tips were still sharp, as the Velelu readied itself to attack again Ashaad held his blade up to his chest with the tip facing his enemy. There was a moment of silence though despite being for only a moment felt like minutes as Ashaad's senses heightened due to the massive amounts of adrenaline in him. The Velelu charged the sandman and he did the same. Just when he was within striking distance of the creature Ashaad fell to his knees and slid under the Velelu. Before he passed under Ashaad stabbed the creature just below the sternum and as he slid his shamshir sliced open the Velelu's torso allowing blood, guts, and the pieces of its previous victims to come gushing out.

With the Velelu slain, Ashaad thought quickly of his next course of action. There was no point in securing the limits of the encampment as the enemy had already overrun their position. All he could do now was to try and save as many men as he could while taking out as any Velelu along the way. "They would rally to the center of camp, I should aid those I find along the way. Once I'm at the rendezvous point we can try to push these abominations back", with a plan now in his head the nomad made his way through the camp, enroute to the camp center he found a few, five in total, coalition soldiers who were in need of assistance. After putting down what Velelu they were engaged in the men followed Ashaad towards the rendezvous point. On the way their Ashaad saw a strange sight, a woman who looked relatively familiar. He wasn't entirely sure who it was but in the fraction of a second Ashaad felt as if his past had come back to haunt him. Hopefully it was just another one of his flashbacks, and with that Ashaad continued on with his troops.

Thunderous cracks lashed through the air as John was casting several bolts of lightning at an incomming horde of Velulu, and though the lightning seemed to be hurting them...he began to think he was only slowing them down, if even that, because some of these creatures were actually dodging his strikes. But he kept up his attack, and soon enough a few of the Velulu dropped to ground...but only a few. The Velulu were now seconds away from John and Solanne, and John couldn't remember there ever being a time he was more scared than now. He wanted to run away so badly, but he knew he shouldn't. John closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he pulled out his sickles.

When he opened his eyes, he charged his sickles with electricity and ran at his foes, slashing at their legs and waists as he passed through them. He could hear the shrieks behind him as he kept on, until he had passed them all and turned around. He let out an exclamation of surprise at the sight of many Velulu standing at bay...looking at him as he looked right back, as if ready to charge at him if he were to move. He stood there for a moment before hearing a roar behind him, turning around to get smacked in the chest and sent flying. Upon hitting the ground, John hurried to stand back up; the Velulu were charging at him now...and he didn't much care for getting smacked again...or worse. In one last effort to attack, John threw one of his sickles at the Velulu, hooking it straight between the eyes and killing it there. Then he ran. He looked back at Solanne as he was being chased away, and felt ashamed of himself. He mustered up the strength to charge his sickle with electricity and threw it back at the Velulu attacking Solanne, but he did not stop, he kept running...cursing himself for leaving her like that...but he felt he had no choice.

Ashaad lead the group of men under his command through he camp. Despite being few in number their efforts seemed to make a difference in the turning of this battle, however small that may be. The squad had come to a clearing in the camp grounds there the soldiers, Ashaad included, witnessed something they wished they had not seen. A group of soldiers had made a desperate final stand here. Most did not have time to equip their armor and were forced to fight in their clothes. They had been overrun quickly with some of the dead falling into the fire pit at the center. Ashaad looked to his men who were checking around to see if any Velelu were still nearby. Most of them were like the ones who dies here, no armor with just their clothes and sword to protect them. "Take what armor you can find on the dead", Ashaad ordered but found shocked expressions on the faces of the survivors. One soldier even replied, "But sir...it's the dead, shouldn't we show some respec-"

"We can respect their sacrifice by surviving this night", Ashaad's men hesitated at first but after realizing what that meant quickly scavenged what armor they could find. They were mismatched, some wore a combination of heavy and light armor as many of the dead did not have all parts of their armor sets. Once everyone was ready they were about to move on when an individual came sprinting into the circle. He almost hit Ashaad but the Sand Stalker managed to step aside before grabbing him by the arm. "We fight together or we die alone", his words were not as if he was a hero rallying he troops but a man, a man who spoke the cold hard truth of the situation.

Upon being grabbed by the arm, John was halted and could run no more. He looked down, then back at the pack of Velulu that had chased him, and then nodded at the man who had grabbed him. Though, unknown to John at this current time was that his chest was actually bleeding from the smack he had received before. He continued to pay no mind to it as he pulled out his revolvers and took aim.

"I've already made mistakes...I lost two of my weapons and was separated from...a woman named Solanne. I've never encountered anything like these...they don't act like normal animals...do you people always fight this kind of shit?!" John said as he opened fire at the Velulu that were chasing him, shooting sharpened shards of ice from his guns. His shots landed on some of the Velulu, but not enough to kill any of them, then he unleashed several bolts of lightning to fry a few of the Velulu whom he had shot with ice.

The Velelu were injured but they kept up their assault. Ashaad counted three in total heading for them and as the closest one approached it swung its arm at one of the soldiers. The man went flying across the clearing and to his misfortune landed on spear. With his rope dart in hand Ashaad threw it as hard as he could towards the nearest Velelu. The dart landed in the chest of the Velelu but it did not kill it, instead it gave Ashaad the opportunity to pull and launch himself at the Velelu. Once he was within range Ashaad aimed his sword tip at the head of his enemy and in an instant the shamshir found its way into the Velelu's skull and out the back. The creature fell with a satisfying thud and Ashaad moved onto the next one.

Before Ashaad could reach either of the other two Velulu, thin chains tipped with blades connected and embedded themselves in the flesh of their victims. Upon a simple glance in the direction opposite of the Velulu, one would see the chains were linked to devices in John's gauntlets. Suddenly lightning began to course through the chains and into the bodies of the Velulu at the other ends, keeping them paralyzed with pure voltage. John kept up the charge for some time, in fact one might call it overkill...as the bodies of the creatures began to burn and smoke from the prolongued exposure to the lightning. This went on for over a minute before John let go and allowed the bodies to fall, retracting the chains back to him before looking to Ashaad.

"Thanks for the help...but...I should try to get back to my new friend..." He said before turning to run off in the direction he had come from.

Ashaad nodded in acknowledgment before having his men regroup. "Follow him, we must add to our numbers", the coalition soldiers ran after John with Ashaad leading them. With luck the group would reach this friend of John's before it was too late.

Time seemed to have slowed as Adrian rushed Isen’roy. There was a big ball of “something doesn’t feel right” knotting up his stomach, but the archer couldn’t quite place his finger on where it was coming from. That was of course until he realized that the noise that had been creeping into the background was in fact the sound of a battle. Not the stupid sparring match that he had found himself involved in, but one where lives were being lost.

With little more than a glance, it was clear that the Phoenix had noticed as well. Adrian gave him a silent nod, acknowledging that they were done here, and immediately made a pivot and sprinted for his bow. Ears strained, he tried to piece together what the hell was happening, but all he could hear was shouting and some ungodly noises that he could only assume were coming from the camp’s invaders. Adrian quickly scooped up Whisper with one hand and checked his quiver with the other.

“Eight normal arrows and four vial ones. Awesome,” he grumbled, kicking himself for wasting some on Isen’roy. But just as he was beginning to wonder if there truly was a battle going on, Adrian rounded the corner and came face to face with what had to be the most hideous amalgamation of things ever. The glowing red eyes and claws attached to its absurdly long arms were the first hint that this was one of the things causing the ruckus. The second one was that it was currently in the process of disemboweling one of the rank and file camp soldiers. Without breaking pace, Adrian released an arrow with a soft “thrum” and pierced the things neck. He then continued on his way to the center of the camp, which was where it seemed like people were making their stand.

Except life, like usual, didn’t want to cooperate with his plan. The Velulu that he had just poked a hole was coming straight for him. How something that big and lanky could move so fast was a puzzle Adrian couldn’t waste time sitting on. So instead, he aimed to correct the problem rapidly approaching him and fired another arrow. This particular one had a vial on it and as it began its journey to the Velelu’s jugular it cracked.

“Hystros diffuses,” he intoned, causing the water in the vial to break out of its confinement and spread out in a flat arc along the shaft. “Glacialis,” he finished, the water now freezing into impossibly sharp ice. The spell finished just as time, as not even a heartbeat later the arrow that now resembled a spade passed straight through the monster’s neck, taking the head with it.

As he retried his arrow next to the Velelu’s head, he noticed the black blood seeping back into the creature’s skull. “Yeah, that's normal,” Adrian muttered, hating the hunch that was forming in head with every ounce of his being. Putting his increasingly poor mood aside, the archer continued on to his destination.

The rumbling of battle made Marianne frown and she turned away from her newfound source of affection to peer outside her tent. Apparently the others had gone and gotten themselves caught up in a Velulu attack. How fitting. Even so, a cloud of dark, purple energy began to light up the tips of her fingers and she turned back to Hazel with a gleeful smile.

“Ah, it seems like our friends have found themselves in quite the predicament Miss Hazel. We should probably go out to assist them. After all, anyone and anything that hurts my F.R.I.E.N.D.S. deserve a rightful evisceration!”

She said this cheerily, grabbing onto Hazel’s arm and dragging her outside into the middle of the fray. Of course, it was also a great opportunity to collect materials for her research but at this point it was pretty much a given for the Corpse Collector. As those two quickly entered the struggle, Solanne was fighting elsewhere in the camp with that ever present grin on her face.

Ugly these things were, but not too bright if they thought they could take on the Crimson Hound. Slashes of scorching fire as hot as magma kept the creatures at bay. And when they didn’t dare to approach the fiery redhead, she leapt in and pounded them with flaming fists, setting their innards alight. Arcs of lightning covered her flank as John fought alongside with her. When there was a break through the enemy’s defense, she turned around to give him a thumbs up. It was to her surprise then to see him flat out abandon her to run off somewhere.

“Oi! Don’t tell me you’re scared! It’s just a few ugly creatures….okay, maybe a lot more than a few….”

Twirling Duster in her hand, Solanne dashed forward in John’s direction. Twirling flames danced around her as she hacked and slashed with expert ease and quick accuracy. The group that had now surrounded both her and John were now little more than steaming limbs on the ground. Once they had been taken care of, she ran in pursuit of where she last saw John. If he was easily spooked by a group of Velulu, then she’d have to keep him close by and protect him.

“Like now,” Solanne muttered, seeing John running back to her and a stalking Velulu launch itself from the side, claws extended. “Heads up Leather Licker!”

Using her flames to propel her, Solanne jumped forward and twisted her body in midair. Eyes burning with passion, she dropkicked the Velulu just mere moments before it swiped its claws at John, sending it sprawling back with lingering flames eating away at its body and consuming its mawed flesh.

“Sheesh. I’m pretty sure we’ve got better chances if we stick together, y’know,” she told John, landing from her dropkick.

John was surprised to see Solanne flying in his direction, and was even more surprised to see how close the Velulu that she had dropkicked had gotten without him noticing. He was shocked and thankful, but hearing her call him "Leather Licker" spurred a more annoyed look to appear on his face. But in a moment he returned a smile, having thought of what he saw as an appropriate response. Though, as always it would seem, he somewhat stuttered in her presence.

"O-Oh, so you c-care about me? M-Maybe I'm not the only one who wants that date then?" John replied in the most playful tone he could manage. "Sorry I got cold feet, but I'm here now...and ran into a few new friends."

John turned and gestured towards Ashaad. "Uh...them." He said plainly before looking back at Solanne. "Didn't have time for names, I wanted to get back here as soon as those beasts that chased me off were dead. Speaking of which...I lost my sickles..." John explained before looking around.

He saw one of his sickles embedded in the head of a Velulu lying on the ground nearby and went to go retrieve it. He reached down and put on foot on the body as he grabbed the hilt of the blade, then pulled. After a moment the blade was retrieved from the creature's skull, but as John looked around for the other he couldn't find it. "Damn...where's the other one?"

Suddenly, most of the monsters near Solanne, Ashaad and John stared going crazy. The next moment there was a gunshot and about five of them where caught in a fiery explosion. Then, while they where still confused, a warrior with a flaming sword came out of nowhere and killed the rest in what appeared to be an instant. "Hey!" Kelsier panted, "Are you two alright?" Miles, the other man, took out his knife and backed toward the group. "They're coming back, save the chit-chat for after the battle! Then you can all get cozy, assuming we live through this. "Right, hold on..." all of a sudden, the sounds of combat turned into a meaningless din, and all the action slowed to a crawl, everything out side of a five meter radius appeared to be going in slow motion. "We are in. I will make this quick," He said, addressing all three of them. "My name is Kelsier, the other man's name is Miles. We can talk later, but for now lets stick together as a group and search for survivors. If we work together, we might survive." His brief speech over, he waited for their response.

“That all depends Leather Licker,” Solanne said, snapping her fingers to dispel a brief flame. “Maybe I saved you cause you’re cute looking. No need to thank me of course. I’m sure you’d do the same,” she added with a wink.

Their happy reunion was soon cut short as a newcomer made himself known after John found his one of his sickles, the surrounding Velulu around them suddenly combusting into balls of rocketing flame. Then a swordsman with blade alight with burning passion leapt forward to greet them all. Solanne eyed the two newcomers with a smirk, crossing her arms.

“Flashy entrance, wouldn’t you say? Glad to see there’s another person copying my style. First Fire Eater and now you Knight Squeaker? Geez, I thought I was the only cool one with a fire sword.”

Still, the Crimson Hound appreciated the help of this Kelsier, even if he did seem like some stereotypical knight in shining armor. She watched with an impressed eye at how time seemed to lower all around them, the actions of the monsters now rendered meaningless.

“Oi, there’s no need to treat us like kids Knight Squeaker. Pretty sure I’m older than you anyway, y’know. Right. Seems like we’re getting new comrades every day. Shall we get going then?”

She then hefted Duster onto her shoulders, casting a grinning look over at John.

"This is getting old real fast!", Nilara yelled as she pushed an attacking Velelu off of her. Of course she hadn't done this only out of physical strength. With a free hand she casted Soul Drain on the beast. It became weak within seconds and before it could hit the ground it was dead. Unfortunately for the Velelu that was not the end of its suffering as Nilara resurrected it as her undead thrall. "Controlling one is useless, I need more. Thankfully I field a field f these things to pick from", Nilara smirked as she raised her hand in front of her. A green glow began to surround her hand and her eyes shined a bright emerald green before she slammed her hand onto he ground. A burst of green light shot out in all directions and on the way latching itself to the corpses of the Velelu. The undead monsters rose from the ground and moved to surround their master. "Ten? Not bad, I can work with it", she remarked before giving orders to her soldiers. "Go forth, kill my enemie-", Nilara had to halt her command as her "enemies included the coalition guards in her mind "Kill the creatures attacking the camp. Don't stop till they've all been destroyed or you have". The undead squad of Velelu turned to combat their master's attackers but before they all dispersed Nilara had one final order. "You two stay with me, I need bodyguards", the chosen Velelu were the two least damaged of the group. Nilara would need cover while she raised more undead and having shambling corpses as protection wasn't the best plan, she needed fully functioning undead.

Nilara had lost Amadeus and Kazeharu a long time ago, now she was fighting on her own. Unless she found survivors soon the necromancer would take whatever undead Velelu she could and flee. That's when she noticed the group: Solanne, Ashaad, John, and Kelsier. They all stood together completely unaware of the approaching group of Velelu. "You two, attack!", she barked at her thralls who quickly charged over to slam into the Velelu. Nilara from behind cover casted a seal of containment on the Velelu including her own thralls. What came next was unsettling. Nilara knelt down and with her hands held out she began to chant something dark, Zuut beal us zen, Searalus, duaak dor slen ahrkan at dor laan. Am zen ahrkan Zuut feint ahkith him bahrok". Once the chant was complete a apparition began to take form before the group. The gluttony demon Searalus, had been summoned and was now at Nilara's service. It stood nine feet tall with skin as black as volcanic ash. It's eyes were yellow which shined like torches. The demon's skin was leathery but with patches of hard, jagged scales. The worst part of all was it's hands. The demon had no hands, instead in his left hand were a series of blades which met at the base to form a bowl snap. The right hand was replaced with a spiked mace that had barn wire wrapped around it and the entire right arm. Searalus looked down at the necromancer with eyes of delight and hunger. "Does the girl have a meal for me? Of does she offer herself?", it asked in a voice which sound as if his mouth was full of phlegm. Nilara pointed at the trapped Velelu before saying, "There". Without another word Searalus lunged towards the Velelu and swung his mace at their bodies. The sound as their bones shattered all at once was sickening and it was made even worse when the demon cut open the torso to allow the Velelus' internal organs to plop out onto the ground. The demon wasted no time in feasting on its kill. It devoured whole chunks of the Velelu before it had finished leaving nothing but the blood soaked ground as a remined of what dark magic took place here. Once the deed was done Nilara banished Searalus before turning to the group. "You're welcome".