On the way back towards town.
Eve looked up and replied, "I had rather hoped we would be back before sunset. I have no idea how we would do that, although. I am taking a wild guess here but the cloak and the shield with the lion on it are both magical and may well be used to slay the beast. My only qualm is that we must find the sword. There HAS to be one. My guess is that is what is in that other room. So if at all possible we must try not to fight it tonight unless someone is going to stay behind and find that sword."

"No. We all stay or we all go. The village needa us tonight, now. Eve, is June'a spear or Wimena'a shield magical? How about this fabulous helmet?"

"Cedric, we might not have a choice if we fight or not tonight. It depends who gets to the village first. Us or it."

Eve nodded, they were right it was a toss up. If they went bqck to the cave the people in town might die but if they went to town they were not totally prepared to fight the hellhound. "You are right, we can at least keep them safe and make them more protected. We can go back tomorrow if we survive the night. Let's move faster though, it's getting cold out here." She said shivering a bit.

"No that spear, the helmet nor the plainer shield have any magical qualities. They are made of good quality but are just normal everyday weaponry."

As Jason walked about. He was able to find a few places that were interesting to make a stand. He honestly considered leaving the village entirely. He watched as the people began head I side with fear in their eyes. "Dammit Jason, you just can't seem to go with your own business." He stated to himself. He thought for a bit on how he would fight this beast. "If anything, my scent will be new. That might make it curios enough to look for me. I need to find out how I can use that to help me." He looked to see a barn that was a little farther out than the other buildings. He walked inside and looked around. "This place may help me out." With that being the final words to himself, he prepared a trap for the beast.

Wimena couldn't help but giggle as Rockmar donned the helmet and roared. "I think you look absolutely fearsome," she teased. "Anyways, I agree with Tarquin. Almost dying multiple times can be surprisingly tiresome."
As she and the others were taken outside, the adrenaline that coursed through Wimena in the cave began to ebb away. Instead, it was replaced by a jumpiness fueled by the dark sky and the numbness of exhaustion. She stumbled slightly as the weight of the shield took its toll, her short legs managing to keep a slow albeit clumsy pace with the others. A nervous thought poked at the back of her mind. "Even if we found the sword, would it be enough?"

As they rushed back towards the village, RockMar noticed little Wimena lagging behind. He ran back to here and picked her up. He placed her on his shoulders. "Hold on, Wimena. I'll get you back in no time." He held her legs with one arm across them and ran to catch up with the others. He planned on carrying her all the way back.

Wimena blinked in surprise as Rockmar picked her up. "Thank you," she said, relaxing. So this was what it was like to be tall. It was definitely...different, but not entirely unpleasant.

Tarquin seemed to be deep in thought for a while. When a 'sword' was mentioned he coughed politely and shook his head. "The old stories only speak of a lance, or a spear - however you wish to translate it. No mention of a sword there." What was it with humans these days and their fascination with swords anyways? Swords needed constant tending and years and years of training to be used effectively. The tall elf glanced at Wimena who was being carried by Rockmar. "Ah, m'lady you have found a mighty steed indeed to carry you back to safety." He made a little hand movement, like he was saluting with a sword.

"Though now that a sword was mentioned it reminds me of a story of a mighty dragon slayer Aedrik - now this was far in the south so it's not going to help us much - he had a spear the blade of which resembled more that of a sword than a normal spear blade. It had the crossguard an all that. It is said it could slay dragons with a single thrust and control the weather to boot." Tarquin's step became lighter as he began telling the story. "You see, Aedrik was not originally a warrior at all - no, in fact he was a poet, a thief and a scoundrel. His heroism and dragon slaying were more due to circumstances than any true wish to be a hero - or a dragon slayer." The tall elf paused for a brief moment to gather his thoughts. "Now there was this massive banquet being held at the old city of Serpentholm - perhaps you have heard of it? It used to be inhabited by snake people called naga - well anyways. Aedrik saw Serpentholm and it's banquet as a way to get very rich very fast - he'd steal a little from here a little from there, sing his poetry to the nobles... and rob them blind."

With a little dramatic sigh the bard continued "Now, a plan like that rarely goes as well as planned - after all it was quite poorly planned to begin with. Surprisingly enough Aedrik at the very least managed to avoid being imprisoned or hanged. He even managed to leave the city with all sorts of magic baubles - among them the fabled Blade of Slaying and Staff of Storms. Now Aedrik was not a warrior - nor was he a true magi, so neither of these items would be much use to him on their own." Tarquin smiled mischievously and shook his head slightly. "So the thieving poet began thinking and planning and plotting. Every day he kept moving and plotting. Then he remembered the days of his youth being trained in the use of the humble spear - though he was not a master spearman he'd at least had more training in the use of a spear than a sword. As luck would have it the sneaky Aedrik had once done a favor to the blacksmith Gilnenas who had promised to repay it one day." The tall elf shook his head slightly and coughed. "...Maybe I'll finish the fine tale after we reach back the town, eh? Might earn me a few coins that ways."

Eve pondered the thought that there may not be another magical weapon. Just the two defenses seemed strange to her though. She could give the weapon some powers with a spell even though not being made magical from the beginning up is like seasoning a chicken vs marinating it. There would be a big difference in the strength of the spell vs. something with magical beginnings.

They were getting closer to the town. "Tarquin? I need to know something...if we get into trouble and need him would your brother help us or would he be likely to hurt us or help the beast? I'm not judging I am just trying to figure out how much danger we are in."

@Marcus XVI

Tarquin glanced at Eve and rolled his eyes, obviously the woman's need to ask something like that annoyed him to no end. "What reason would he have to help a beast like that?" Without another word the tall elf turned his back on the woman and began walking faster.

"Tarquin? What are you up to?" Eve almost ran to catch up to him. "Why did you start running when I asked you that? What don't I know?" She hadn't told anyone about his secret but he was going to make people suspicious if he kept acting so odd.

@Marcus XVI

Tarquin did not answer, he did not pay any attention to the woman. The way he moved, the silence and slightly twitching fingers of his right hand were a very good indication of the fact that pursuing the matter further was for now completely out of the question. Though he kept a calm face deep down the tall elf was was absolutely livid. The foolish woman and her foolish questions... Why in the hells would Taroyn help a maddened beast with whom you can not bargain with? What reason would he have to turn against the group? None, damn it!

Still with a calm face, in silence the elf kept pushing forwards.

Eve gave up and let him go ahead of her. She caught her breath and it was only a moment before the others had caught up. She could see the town and she could hear the hellhound. It sounded like it was already in town but maybe they could get into the building before it got to them. "Hurry!" Eve said worrying. She was glad of the magical boost she had gotten at the caves. She was afraid that she was going to need it soon.

June was just leaving the cave she had looked in the crawl space once more and it was still closed off. Once she moved outside she let out a squeal of delight as she shot into the air once she was up around sixty feet she stopped and looked around at the darkened scenery and began to giggle when she remembered seeing Rockmar with the bear helmet on letting out a roar.

She began slowly but steadily floating towards the village watching the horizon. She loved the dim light of the moon over the tops of the trees making the forest seem almost magical. She began humming a song she had heard once before in a tavern back when she was still on the main land, but she remembered it perfectly. She liked her life here with her crew mates more than her old one.

After flying for what seemed like half an hour she spotted the group ad she thought of something funny to play on Rockmar and the halfling. She floated quietly up above Rockmar, suddenly June shot for Rockmar and snatching him up and flying high up in the air holding him in her arms. Once she was around sixty feet again she said "ready?" And let go of them both but kept them in the air with her powers just to give them a little spook.

"Hahahahaha" she let out a laugh then settled down a bit and said "look at the view, the forest is beautiful under the moon light isn't it" looking at them both hopping she didn't scare them to bad. @Fubsy@Garth

Rockmar was quickly heading back to the village carrying Wimena. He let out a little whelp when his feet first left the ground. Then he sighed and smiled when he realized June was holding him.

"Ready? Ready for what?" He gasped when June let go of them. But then he smiled and laughed when he didn't fall. He wouldn't say he was afraid, (he wouldn't admit it to anybody) but he did hold on to June's cloak pretty tightly. He took in the view. It didn't bother Rockmar to look off in the distance, but he didn't like to look straight down.

Wimena's arms wrapped around Rockmar tightly, loosening only when she realized it was just June. "You startled me there..." she sighed in relief. A sharp jab of anxiety shot through her as June asked if they were ready. The halfling gulped. "Ready for whaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She shut her eyes and June let go of them. When the sense of dropping didn't come, Wimena warily opened her eyes to find that they were still in the air. She shakily laughed, embarrassed by her shrill scream, and followed their gazes towards the forest. "Y-yes...I-I suppose so."

To set the mood..... youtube.com/watch?v=4cmwYleMXxQ

--

Even though the party had made good time back toward the village, the sun sank below the horizon before they crested the top of the hill. The steady mist that had fallen all day now became a damp fog that hugged the low lying area around the coast, obscuring the view of the village, but even from the distance, they could make out two red eyes near a barn...

The beast circled the building once, trotting around is if to investigate... then threw itself against the barn doors, splintering the wood as it burst into the building...

..

Jason smirked in his hiding place as the beast burst through the barn door. His grip tightened around the handle of his short sword. A tapping noise could be heard in a corner of the barn. Jason hoped that the beats obviously aggressive nature would cause it to rush where the sound was and attack. Once it was distracted, Jason would lunge out from his hiding spot and try to take a strike at one of its hind legs. His immediate goal was not to kill it but to immobilize it.

His plan seemed to work as the aggressive beast lunged straight toward the tapping noise, claws outstretched...