[center][h1][b][color=gold]Lillianna Steiner[/color][/b][/h1][/center] A place called 'The Mazy Hillocks' certainly seemed to be living up to its name, that much she could tell for certain. Hills, ravines, earth, rock, trees, steep slopes, and for all she knew a blasted Minotaur running around the place after some king pissed off a local deity! What else, were they going to be running across an army of undead waiting for them along the way? Witch Queen sending them some kind of fancy welcome to a new world before they even figured out how they got there in the first place perhaps?! Ugh. She liked walking along the beach, and the forest hadn't been bad, but hiking in the mountains or a place like this wasn't her 'cup of tea' to put it metaphorically. And the others had seemingly agreed with her little revelation seemingly without much...er...thoughts of their own really. At least from what she'd heard and seen so far. Not even a hint of doubt for a sudden claim that the enemy knew they had-...ah. No, after the battle it'd make sense if the enemy figured something had happened since that village hadn't been turned into a mass grave. But even then, and admitting to herself that it wasn't as far-fetched as maybe she felt it was at first, did these people not have an ounce of critical thinking to at least ponder if that might sound real? To ask her for evidence or anything to indicate why she'd just said that out of the blue?! Maybe there would be a way to get around this place more expeditiously and lose any potential pursuing party, at least without- [quote=Joji & Adam][color=chocolate]"Is there a way we can get around this thing?”[/color] "I'm afraid not, not without backtracking and losing a ton of time on our trip." [/quote] Fair enough of an assessment, she wasn't the one holding the map after all. But perhaps she could say something and see if they could at least look more at the map to try to find some sort of- [quote=Some Unknown Danger][color=crimson][b]"ROOOOOAAARRRRR!!!"[/b][/color][/quote] ...Nope. Nope nope nope. NOPE!!! A dark roar from the rear meant something wasn't happy, or something was maybe looking for a mate, claiming territory, or maybe trying to scare off intruders or such things along those lines. It also meant the thought of trying to sit around looking for a more carefully-routed optimized path would not be something good either. Nope. Not at all. They would need to keep moving, rationally speaking, so with that in mind the mage would try to keep close to the others within reason due to being in the back of the group. Especially when they'd walked into a DEAD EN-...ahem. A dead end. Right. So all of this meant going right into things, somehow getting past this gorge of a dead end, and through the rest of the-...Mazy Hillocks. Yeah that name was going to come back to bite them hard in the arse somehow, wasn't it? [quote=Adam]The red-eyed man examined his surroundings, finding a small patch of dirt near the group that seemed to transition to the rocky surface of the gorge, and began casting upon it. Four trees, each the width of a person, began growing out of the ground next to each other. They grew horizontally towards the other side of the pit, eventually creating an impromptu bridge that would allow the group to get across safely. Two were right beside each other to provide a walking surface while the other two were angled to provide a sort of railing for whoever was using it. It wasn't elegant, but it would hold up to the strain of the group crossing, two people each. Adam had taken extra time to be sure the root systems of the plants were strong enough to carry that sort of weight. He also made sure that thick and sturdy branches were sticking out at appropriate intervals so that people could hold onto them for extra support.[/quote] Adam was young, but the kid was being rather useful to the party's current situation. She had to admit that honestly. His instruction for crossing would also be useful of course, didn't want to act out of panic and just blitz across like some idiot and mess things up. She wasn't that dumb, she felt, and after he spoke to the wider group she gave a small nod and waited for her turn to cross. Not that Zell almost falling to a potential injury or worse didn't give Lillianna herself a small spook for a moment either. A small squeak came out of her lips before she tightly closed them shut at the scene. Hopefully no one noticed? Maybe. If she was lucky. At least she wasn't as loud in her surprise as James had just been at the same time, however, though MacKensie running off to scout ahead and returning with far-less-than-favorable news didn't help the nervous mage's current state. Not that she was obviously panicking, right? Haha. Who would do that? Totally not someone who was being unnerved a bit by everything that had been going on on this part of the trip! Ugh. No, she had to breathe. Focus. Think. Too many little things trying to get and stay under her skin. Not that there weren't big things either, but she had to control what she could control at least. Breathe. In and out. Lillianna would focus herself and work to calm her nerves, though visibly standing to the side and breathing with focus and her eyes briefly closed was certainly something of an indicator of what she was doing at least. In and out. Focus on the next task ahead, and maybe finally make herself useful- [quote=The Dudes (and MacKensie)][color=lightblue]"Hey dude, just wanted to say thank you, without you we would have likely lost Zell..."[/color] "I grabbed the branch," he said annoyed over his shoulder, like he was already sick of explaining it. [color=lightblue]"...and that would have sucked, even if he is a moron sometimes"[/color] "I'm standing right here bro!"[/quote] For a moment the mage was caught off guard as Zell's exclamations brought her attention back to James and MacKensie, but at the same time... [color=gold]"Pffb-...pff...pfft!"[/color] The talk between MacKensie and him about Zell, after the poor guy was saved, and while he was standing right there did help to kill the tension in her opinion. On second thought, it made her chuckle for a few seconds more despite it all, attempting to stifle a laugh from her mouth and attempting to avoid standing out somehow at the same time. Not normal for her, but it did help her let out some of the anxiety as she'd been trying to calm herself. It wasn't personal, but the timing was perfectly comedic when her head was in the right headspace to just be slipped up by something as little as that. Once she regained control over herself, however, the mage would seem to return to a somewhat calmer 'normal' (she figured) and would follow along with the group to the next juncture. With MacKensie having scouted the right path, then, with Fenna now also pointing out the vultures circling over what looked like somewhere down the left path in Lillianna's eyes. Yes, scavengers did make sense in an area where terrain made it harder to survive, or where predators were lurking about. That many vultures going around though? That wasn't a good sign in her mind either. [color=gold]"Perhaps we should take the central path, given what we know so far, but keep a rearguard in case-"[/color] Her words trailed off into a dead silence as her eyes picked up on 'something'...distinct. Well, at first it was just one 'something' at least, but as she began to look about more she began to notice more and more of those 'somethings'. Floating. Walking. Sitting on terrain. Flying about in the air. Whatever they wanted to do really. And all of these 'somethings' were moving wistfully or angrily or hopelessly or otherwise about the place, moods as variant as the weather and many of said moods obviously negative looking in nature or sounding like such through wailing and moaning and so forth. Their forms all were distinctly somewhere between translucent and transparent, see-through by nature but not as clear as glass or water, and yet no one else seemed to take note of it but her. Men mostly. Some women. Children. Animals. Some looked all intact or there, normal enough to not be too wild-looking. The majority otherwise, however, had obvious signs of injuries or missing limbs or semi-attached heads and exposed bowels and-...ugh. No, no, breathe. Focus. Yes. Ok. There was only one movie line she'd known in life that described this most succinctly, though she wasn't sure using it here would convey much in detail. So another approach would be needed then! After swallowing a gulp of air the mage would looked calmly down at Adam and the others and pipe up for the first proper time since they'd entered this place. Maybe she'd even get a chance to say more if she was quick enough, before she looked even more crazy. Not that landing in a world full of magic and such, finding a magical connection in a cube made to make undead leaders for undead armies, and making a shelter when it wasn't rainy or such outside, wasn't already abnormal enough on its own. No, then this. At the same time, however, the idea popped into her head that this could be useful perhaps. Potentially. [color=gold]"...-ok, so does anyone else other than myself see the large amount of spirits of the dead, as in ghosts, all over the place here?"[/color] Her eyes then went up to look at the ghosts once more, only for a face to pop up in front of her suddenly and make her visibly jump backward. The younger spirit that popped up in front of her then looked a bit startled himself, though would float over to her slowly but gently and put his hands out as if to show he wasn't a threat. It was enough to get Lillianna to slow her heartbeat down and look at him more closely as well. His body seemed clad in a basic gambeson type of armor that covered his arms and had a tall neck on it, with a shirt of chainmail covering this as well as his torso and upper arms. Thick woolen pants covered his legs, and likewise came over the top of what she assumed was a pair of boots. A medieval-styled metal helm, rounded on top with a brim around the outside of it to give the eyes and neck shade, covered his head. Finally, a pair of leather gloves and pair of metal bracers on the spirit's hands and forearms. All he was missing was a weapon in hand, really, but no sheath was by his side either. [color=silver][i]"I dun' mean no harm, but...you...you can see us, miss?"[/i][/color] [color=gold]"Y-Yes. Ahem. Yes, apparently I can."[/color] [color=silver][i]"It's been so long. One who can see the spirits, I've heard the stories about you's. By the Quinity, even my little sister could see em' too. Got trained by the local church healer she did, though we was lucky we had one back in village as small as ours."[/i][/color] [color=gold]"Umm...[/color] The spirit seemed to look briefly surprised again, before pulling off his helmet and holding it over his chest. His head of messy and roughly-cut short sandy brown hair would likewise become visible as he did so. [color=silver][i]"Ah! Sincerest pologies', miss, ah' didn't mean ta' go so long as I did. Just...been horrible in these parts since ah' died. Alone. No one else ere' to talk ta' that wants to. But none of is' ere' is really important anymore really..."[/i][/color] The mage paused for a moment, mouth half-opening before closing again. Something seemed to flash over her eyes, as if something 'clicked' in her head, and her expression would briefly soften for a moment. After a few seconds would pass, then, Lillianna spoke up again to the spirit still floating in front of her (and at a more proper distance now for conversing at least). [color=gold]"...No. No need to apologize at all in this case. If I may ask, though, do you know anything about the paths ahead?"[/color] [color=silver][i]"Er, that might not be what yous all needs right now, miss. Really, your lot here needs ta' get ready fast. I just wandered back from tha' south and there's pack of the direwolves that're following you. Comin' to attack they is, seens em' myself. Just a small pack, but em's deadly ones tryin' ta' get yous all from the rear here."[/i][/color] Wait, wolves following them into this place? Or had they come from here? No, never mind that now. The mage looked back over at the party and spoke up [color=gold]"Ok, so one of the dead spirits here just let me know there is a small pack of direwolves coming from the south. I don't care if I sound crazy, and I don't know if these wolves followed us here or are from here already, but we need to get ready for an attack from our rear. [b]Now.[/b]"[/color]