A party of adventurers makes its way through the valley and up the slopes of Sacred Mountain, heading toward the Sacred Grove and the monastery built in its heart.

A shadow occasionally passes over the group, cast by an equally shadowy avian outline from above.

A roar like rumbling thunder echoes through the valley, and an arc of lightning shoots across, temporarily illuminating the darkening sky.

Positioned at the center of the party, the Water Mage walks faster than usual. Her narrowed eyes and tense features show a certain obsessed concentration. Her footsteps fall lightly, perhaps not heard by the others, for she is quite light. "I need not tell you to keep your guard. Hurry, we must reach the cave before night falls," she mentions to the others. Distracted now by the dragon, she lifts her head to the sky and frowns. "I am coming. Just give me time," she whispers.

Suddenly, something black comes crashing through the trees, landing on the path, saber drawn. It's Kensington!

The Khatta spins about, brandishing her polearm. "Yaaa! – ah. Kensington! Don't do that!"

"Attackers in th' trees," cries Kensington. "Crossbowmen! Take cover!" With that, he lowers himself down, face grim, to launch himself back into the air toward the foliage.

Roho stays close to the main group as the Korv sounds the alarm. He grips the staff he carries in both paws now.

Scarlet turns to face the landing mercenary. She nods to his words and dashes off towards the safety of cover to hide. "Quickly, take cover! Someone move the healer!"

The rat shrieks, and runs off of the path, diving into the foliage.

Just at that moment, something whistles from the trees … and something sharp strikes Roho in the side!

Roho was just about to turn and follow, when he's struck. He lets out a low grunt, and drops to the side that wasn't hit. He gropes blindly for the shaft, trying to see what hit him.

From the bushes, the sound of a speeding projectile can be heard. It is not from the trees but from the ground. Upwards flies a stake of pure ice into the trees.

The stake of ice shoots through the leaves, knocking several free, then soars into the air, disappearing from sight.

The Khatta rolls to the ground, spinning her polearm about as she looks for her attackers. She hisses in anger, then seeks shelter under some of the low-hanging boughs of a nearby sugarfir.

Roho grimaces as he feels the barb, and feels a creeping numbness stealing from the wound into his muscles. He takes a deep breath, and yanks out the dart, covering the wound with his paw to staunch the blood. He drops the dart, and starts digging in his bag with his free hand, until he finds a small pack of herbs. He presses them to the wound, then binds them in place. He takes a second pill orally, swallowing it quickly, then trying to get out of the open despite the wound.

The hidden Aelfin does not comment on her missed attack. Instead she reaches for her wand and lifts it towards the sky. "Light up the sky, flare!" she invokes.

The Korv corsair disappears into the foliage … and a high-pitched scream can be heard from one of the trees beyond the path, followed by the sound of something crashing through the branches. At that time, the wand sparkles with energy, and a blinding flash fills the immediate vicinity.

"YAA!" cries out the Khatta, as she tries to shield her face with her hands from the bright glare.

Loud squeaked Eeee curses can be heard from the trees.

A whine issues forth from the launch point of the flare as the Aelfin blinds herself with her own magic.

Roho's overlarge ears swivel back and forth, suddenly focusing in. He hisses at his companions, "Two." He points in the general directions of the noises he can hear, "That tree, and that tree."

The Khatta hisses again, adopting a defensive stance, twirling her polearm about to create a wide arc of death in her immediate vicinity, trimming a bit of the undergrowth in the process.

Still blinded, the Aelfin makes no attempt to attack the targets, instead huddling behind cover until she can at last see.

There is a *thud* from somewhere above, and a squeaky, "Ungh!", followed by another sound of something large crashing through branches.

Vision refuses to yet return to Scarlet or the Khatta, however … and not to Roho, either, obviously.

Roho starts breathing heavily from his spot at the side of the path… He wipes at his brow.

Something whistles through the air … and something small can be heard smacking into a tree.

*GLORP* *GLUP* Strange noises issue from somewhere just beyond the path, to the left.

Then, there's the sound of wings flapping overhead.

A startled squeak can be heard off to the left of the path, somewhere up in the trees…

The strange sound causes the Aelfin to speak into the shadows she cannot see. "Is that you? My daughter? If you are here, please answer."

There's the sound of something rushing overhead, and the beating of wings … and then another crash, and a squeaked exclamation, followed by the sound of something large crashing through trees … and then a wet *SPLAT*.

Light starts to dimly come back to the eyes of the blinded…

Roho listens to the strange noises in the trees, moving a little in that direction, before a sudden (but not unexpected) pain causes him to double over for a moment.

Kensington's harsh, corvid voice exclaims, "Darr! Stand down, ye flyin' mudpuppy, lest I be forced ta redden the slop through yer neck."

Scarlet rubs her eyes for a moment and peers carefully into the trees. Realizing her vision is returning, she sits up and turns once again to study the tree for friend or foe. Upon hearing Kensington's words, she calls out to him, "Who are you fighting?"

As vision slowly returns, Scarlet is able to spy the Korv struggling with a bat, the latter half buried in a big puddle of mud.

"Ain't fightin' nobody no more," comes the Korv's not-entirely-true statement. He eyes his mud-spattered feet and trousers with some distaste, and takes it out on the even grimier Eeee with some attempted stomps. "Quitcher wrigglin', ye yellow-bellied, flyin' rat!" He raises his head again. "Are the rest of ye all right?"

Roho stands up, one paw holding his side, the other gripping tightly to the staff, which seems to be bearing most of his weight, "Yeah, I'm fi – " He doubles over again, and gagging noises ensue for a little while. When he straightens up, his ears are noticeably paler, "My apologies, it's the antidote."

The Aelfin girl stands from behind the tree she had been using as cover, and lifts her hand to the Korv. "I am fine. I regret however I could not help more, but you seem to have done well fighting in blinding light," she answers him. Shortly after, she rushes over to the Zerda's side and folds her hands as she leans down towards him. "I am sorry I did not realize your injury sooner. I may have removed the poison in far more comfortable ways."

The mud-covered Eeee gives Kensington a few foul curses in the Babelite tongue.

Kensington replies to the Eeee in his oddly squeaky-sounding tongue, returning some choice curses and an implied threat, pointing the tip of his sword at what he assumes is the bat's head. In Standard, he continues, "I counted two others, mates: one dead; the other's watchin' stars o'er yonder. Some'un get 'im." He points in deeper into the forest.

Roho smiles at Scarlet. "I appreciate that, but I should be fine. The poison was a mild dose, and the wound itself isn't serious. If it had been an arrow, that could have caused some problems."

The Khatta salutes Kensington – her vision obviously restored – and takes a few steps over toward the unconscious Eeee … making an acrobatic bound over a fallen log to reach him.

The Eeee stops struggling – and shuts his mouth as well.

The corsair looks grimly satisfied, and takes his foot off the bat.

Roho starts hobbling over to Kensington and the fallen bat. He looks a little unsure of what to do in this sort of case.

Something else starts squirming in the mud … and it rises … a Skreek-shaped mound of mud! "Yatah! We got 'em!" it cries.

The girl smiles at Roho before standing up. She actually giggles at the sight of the mud-covered Skreek, and shakes her head. "You certainly are one with your element, fellow Mage! Allow me to clean you off?"

Roho reaches the muddy area. Not trusting his footing already, this decides him: the Eeee can heal themselves! He sits down on the log, catching his breath.

"Clean Sludge off? Hschak! Nothing ista cleaner tana Mooder Urt!" the rat protests, as bits of mud slough off him, slowly making him more recognizable as a Skreek rather than some sort of earth golem.

Meanwhile, off to the side, the Korv seems to be making pointed comments to and asking stern questions of the highly soiled prisoner in the high-pitched (though slightly less high from the Korv) language of the Eeee.

In Eeee, the Korv corsair caws, "All right, bilge breath. Yer gonna tell me who ye work for, and iffen there's more o' ye roostin' in the branches. I wanna know numbers an' layouts, an' I think that maybe, maybe I'd rather 'ave this info than me own pair o' bat-ear coin purses."

The Eeee responds in his high-pitched tongue, "Ah … Blasted Aelfin dragon took out the ship! All hands lost or captured. Save us three – Just us three, keeping a watch for Captain Dagon! Can't fly out, or get eaten by that blasted three-headed monster!" Actually, his speech is littered with a sprinkling of choice profanities, but that's the gist of it.

Since the Earth Mage seems to enjoy the mud, Scarlet nods to his want to remain soiled, and turns off to walk towards Kensington. Upon nearing him she begins addressing him in that very same high-pitched language, her already high voice adapting fairly well to the straining vocabulary. "Yes, good idea to question them," she says before turning to the Eeee and speaking to him herself. "Do you know who I am? I suggest you avoid referring to the dragon as a monster. She happens to be my daughter, and I am here to avenge what happened to her mate. I believe you now realize you are on very thin… ice."

"From what I 'eard, ye might well be tellin' th' truth," muses Kensington, finally shaking the blood off his saber to resheathe it. "There's only two o' ye now, an' if th' Gear 'adn't been shinin' over ye, th' Cutlass woulda left ye with less."

"Your daughter?" sputters the bat, followed by more profanities. He then makes a very crude statement about the probable nature of the father of the dragon that should not be repeated in polite company.

Kensington rubs his beak thoughtfully, having lost interest in the prisoner, and still being a little edgy after the fight. He strolls to one side, cupping his face with a wing to rasp, "'Hoy, beautiful! Didja find th' one takin' a nap yet?"

There are some scuffling noises from across the path, and then silence. "I've got this one trussed up!" reports the Khatta.

"Do you realize that in moments I could simply impale your head upon a shaft of ice? Tell me why, why did you come here and threaten Aelfhem?" Scarlet asks with her arm outstretched and her palm facing the Eeee.

"'At's some fine work," caws Korv, grinning in the direction of the feline voice. He falls to muttering to himself, pacing around. "Hmm… bloke name o' Dagon, eh? Peh… "

The Eeee stammers, then spits out, "Because it was high time to take some of those dandy treasures from those high-falutin' 'monks' up on the Sacred Mountain, that's what. High and mighty little… " He uses a rude term here. "… think they're so exalted and higher than everyone else. About time to lighten their purses, I say! Easy pickings!"

Kensington taps the end of his beak with a wing-claw. "I'll tells ye why they done it. Dagon be nothin' but a thug in cap'n's dress. Back in my day, it was ship ta ship, blade ta blade, wit' th' booty goin' ta th' fiercest." He waxes nostalgic for a few moments, then shakes his head as if to rid his mind of some unpleasant thought. "'E was a small-time chump… an' if 'e still be alive, 'e's even less now."

"You take that back!" spits the Eeee, struggling … but remembering the blade and backing off again.

The corsair laughs cruelly, loosening one of his sabers in its sheath with a thumb. "I'll takes it back th' day 'e faces me, man ta man, an' not some village o' peasants armed wit' rakes."

Scarlet's ears lay back and she frowns before continuing in Eeee. "So, that is all? They are just monks, living in their home with their laws. You had the sky, a home that could travel anywhere. You could have found riches without robbing the innocent. Now you may all die, for nothing." Her ears lift once again so she can listen to the Korv while talking. She sighs a bit and speaks to the wonder of the words. "Is that all? Ashtoreth was killed, for money?"

"Ah – Ah now! It was that boy that the monks were keeping hostage that killed the dragon!" replies the bat. "And that was in self-defense! It was going to toast the airship!"

The Khatta wanders back, dusting off her hands. "I hope someone is going to start talking a sensible language again sometime, instead of all this squeaking." She's speaking in Rephidim Standard, of course.

Kensington eyes the Khatta, his head tilted to one side and a smile on the corners of his beak. "As ye like, m'dear. Nuttin' much ta be hearin', really. This be th' lot o' them, an' their cap'n weren't so dangerous, e'en whens he 'ad a ship."

The girl glares at the Eeee for a moment and steps back from him. She shakes her head and clenches her right hand, shaking slightly. "He would not be dead if you had not attacked Aelfhem. You would have safe if you had left the monks alone. I should slay you here and now, but be thankful I still have some heart, even if it is cracked," she tells him in Eeee before switching to Rephidim Standard and addressing the others without moving her eyes. "Can anyone drag the wretches back to camp?"

The Khatta hmphs, and walks over, pulling a length of rope from her side, cutting it with her polearm … then setting the weapon aside and methodically binding up the bat's limbs. The bat struggles a bit … but Kensington's blade keeps him from getting too bold. At last, he's trussed up like the other one.

The Skreek volunteers, "I can take care of them. No problem at all! Just give me a few minutes… " He shuffles over behind some bushes, and can still be heard chittering to himself.

After considering the Eeee for a moment, Scarlet turns to face the others and lowers her head. "I hope you all do not find me strange. I fear I may be obsessed. I am not usually so violent, or cruel, I… I just do not know what to do. All I know is I have to save Keeper of Storms."

"Think nothin' o' it, cap'n." The corsair, satisfied with how secure the prisoners are, stretches his wings and ambles over near the Khatta. "Ahh! 'Twas a good workout, crew. Say, gorgeous, 'owzabout tiltin' one back wid me at camp? I be sure we gots some from ship's store, an' it's always better in th' company o' a lady, dear… ah… say, did ye run yer name by us yet?"