The Dead Forest (Increased Orc activity due to skirmish)

[Eternal Dirge]

" Kinda figured you were going to say that." Damion said, his body quite still. " But Nicolai....the only problem with giving over to a demon of decay? There is no coming back. Destruction, true destruction, carries with it the seeds of Creation. Worms can't create anything but dirt." He lifted the hand that held the fork and pointed it at the large man.

" And Before this is over....I'm going to put this in your eye." The islander said, a certain level of assurance in his voice.

Nevermind that he felt like he was on his last legs, nevermind that he was largely unarmed for the moment and even if he did have a weapon it would undoubtedly drain him more, for the moment he thought of none of it. He just wanted to put the innkeeper in the ground.  

[Maximos]

Ivan was not advancing, rather he was removing this from duffel bags. In this case he removed two massive belts which looked quite like ammo belts only instead of bullets they held hand axes and were roughly 8ft long each. He draped both belts over his shoulders, hooking them to his pants, front and back. And then, as Damion pointed a stern finger at him, the earth elemental would see Ivan pulling a rather large two hand great-axe with a gigantic blade from the second bag, and then a large fat extension. The extension screwed onto the back of the great axe making its staff nearly 6ft long and its blade 4ft wide.

Neit.

Ivan said, hefting the large axe over his shoulder and taking his first steps forward. Each step carried with it the sound of dozens of axes grinding against the floor. Suddenly Ivan's Lumber-jack attire made more sense.

Worms till the soil, zhey clean infection, zhey make good soil. Fresh start.

It was a slow swing, nothing forceful or fast about it, just a pass of one arm from one side to the other carrying the massive great axe. In that one pass the chairs dividing both men, as well as a few tables were shoved to a side clearing an empty space between them.

Vee do not need do this Damion.  

[Eternal Dirge]

" I'm afraid...we do." Damion said, quite still as one would when something is thrown at them unawares. He turned around slowly to face Ivan, stabbing the fork into the door for later grabbing. " There doesn't need to be a scourging of the world, an eating away or washing away of the old. Human Kind, as a whole, is capable of great works and acts as they are." As he spoke Damion's flesh rippled, skin darkening to the deep blue of the ocean, muscles tensing and tightening. Black claws replaced his fingertips, droplets of bloow captured on the sharp tips before falling to the floor in a soft and brief rain of blood.

His jaw distended, cracking as his mouth was forced open by gleaming white fangs, the sound of clothe ripping accompanying the sound of wood on wood as the tables and chairs were swept away by the axe, the last sounds as they settled. Damion's shoulders gave a startling pop, dropping down as his shoulder blades became more pronounced.

" So...Let's do this...." He exhaled, panting softly as the pain took his breath away.  

[Maximos]

I em sorry to be hearink' that.

And then there really was nothing left to say, only actions left to perform and an outcome left to be achieved. With a caucophony of scattering wood and debris Ivan slammed his gigantic weapon into the ground beside him and with surprising speed drew two hand axes. There motion was nearly incredulous. The axes were in his hands, then his hands were moving, and then his hands were full again. If one blinked they could miss the chuck and grab easily.

Now two, soon four, then six axes would be chuckled toward Damion filling the air with a "whub whub" sound as the sped toward their armored daemon and worm infested target.  

[Eternal Dirge]

Damion would hit the ground with admirable speed, moving on all fours in a way most animals couldn't manage on their best days. He scuttled sideways, keeping low to avoid the deadly axes and listening to them shatter the wooden wall behind him. Damion never rose from his hands and feet position but instead simply moved forward with his sideways motion.

His sharp claws dug deep channels in the ground, leaving a trail behind him as he made for the nearest table, flipping it over and using it as cover for all of 5 seconds before grabbing the nearest chair, one of those that had surrounded the table, and throwing it in Ivan's general direction.

The Daemonic Islander wouldn't waste time with insults or anything along those lines, he just didn't know the words to say to get under the other mans skin.  

[Maximos]

Damion was fast. Faster than nature intended for a predator to be. And yet that alone marked the success in his transformation. Humanity as a whole, always seeking to better its surroundings, to better itself, to grow, to evolve. Damion was a testament to this. Hand axes sounded out high cadence drum beat as they thudded into the wall, floor, and finally into the overturned table.

Damion had found cover, a very important factor in dealing with a ranged attack. There was a thud, and then a pause. A pause just a hair longer than any of the pauses between previous axe throws. And that was all the warning he was going to get. By the time he heard the thunder it would be too late.

The chair, hurdling through the air was sliced clean in half as if it was designed to be perforated and it was not. Ivan, with speed that utterly belied his size had scooped up his massive great axe in one arm and was swinging it with violently from left to right. His foot struck the ground like thunder, shaking the foundation of the tavern. His axe sliced the chair, and would slice Damion and his table directly in half if allowed.

Forgive me brother.  

[Eternal Dirge]

" Hmmm?" The elemental's now spikey eyebrow quirked upwards in confusion, the lack of sound not what he'd been aiming for. The splintering of his thrown chair, on the other hand, brought a smile to his face as he mistook the noise for an impact, popping up to his feet in a rush, his rigor mortis grin seemingly stretched farther than normal. Imagine his suprise as the axe and it's very angry wielder came in at him.

His stomach would suck in, his back would arch backwards and out his arms would extend, the heavy axe head passing a hairs length from his stomach. The wide green eyes somehow got wider, and the demonized elemental went scurrying, dodging any direction he could to avoid getting smacked with that heavy axe, all thoughts of offense thrown from his mind.

Little bits of the floor rose up to help, interplacing themselves infront of Ivan's feet in the hopes of tripping him up, trying to make him fall. Damion's own feet moved in a rapid shuffle that would have made a championship boxer proud.

" So when did it stop being your plan? When did Nicolai take over?" Damion shot at the large man once he'd retreated a safe distance, scooting to the left in his shufflings.  

[Uberwulf X]

Quest "Rocky Information"
Begin!

This part of the forest was relatively quiet. There was a wind that blew through the black trees, filling the air with the ever-present sound of blowing leaves and giving some relaxing ambiance to this day. While outside of the forest might be a bit too warm for some peoples' liking, the shade from those great oaks had the temperature drop several degrees within so that it was pretty comfortable for all.

One would have to venture a bit inward for this shade, though it seemed to be slightly cooler just in the entering. The edge of the forest was notably sparse in its vegetation, the trees not so grand, the moss not so neon. However, just as they could look about and see the Leviathan Stadium, they could see that things did get notably thicker ahead.

Despite being the Dead Forest, it wasn't all doom and gloom. Pockets of water from the last rain (likely days back, since the ground wasn't mud) were easily visible, those small pools reflecting the light of some fluorescent mosses and flowers. With this, the area seemed almost painted... dark, heavily shaded, a bit misty, but with just enough mystical light to make it all seem nonthreatening. Beautiful, some might even venture to mutter.

There was a path at the feet of the adventurers, beaten and worn by the feet of other such men and women trekking through the area. However, there were no fresh footprints to see in the ashen-brown dirt. Despite this, it was undeniable that this was a major through path, a pedestrian highway with its five foot wide clearing at most visible points.

There were few birds in the sky, fewer squirrels in the trees. No sounds of distant fighting in a distant house, and no immediate signs of what they were looking for.

But that's why it was called a quest.  

[Chen Ning]

The atmosphere was fairly pleasant for a forest that went by the name of “Dead Forest.” Sure, the misty venue gave the place the eerie factor, but it wasn’t something you would come to fear if you knew nature when you saw it. Genuine shoes stepped through a puddle of water as someone walked themselves along the beaten road, his hands stuffed into the leather jacket on his body. Chen was accompanying Tenkai on this little quest as a ways of getting to know the guy while doing some common good. This quest held no relevance to the cop, but he figured he help out his new monk friend as a way of socializing. You wouldn’t think Chen was a cop from a first look, or a second, or a third. He just looked like your common Asian guy dressed in a blue shirt, some dress pants, and shoes of the same quality. Shades were worn upon his face, so unless you could tell an Asian by their fine hair and light skin tone, you wouldn’t think anything else about it.

This quest involved information gathering, a skill Chen was nearly an expert in. He was the Chief Detective of the Gaian Police Department, Durem division, after all, so if there was any sort of investigation that needed to be done, he was clearly your man. However, there was a difference between Tenkai’s way of going about this and his way: the monk enjoyed the pleasure of stealth, while Chen was casually walking along the beaten road with little regard to remaining hidden. Tenkai was more intune with nature, while Chen enjoyed the better pleasures of something as civilized as a road already paved for you. Already a difference in their philosophies was seen clearly by their approaches to this matter, and only more was to be revealed as this quest moved underway. Though Tenkai was a bit faster than Chen in moving along, Chen did some jogs now and again to keep up with the man, the monk visible through the various trees and limbs that were between the two.  

[Chen Ning]

Chen came to a stop when he heard the whisper calling of Tenkai toward the guy. It seemed the monk was pretty concerned about his way of just walking down the road, having the cop give a small laugh. Walking up closer to the line of tree, he said in a response back, his voice a bit louder than a whisper, but still low enough for it to be just clarified between the two as he leaned forward against a tree.

"Relax, Tenkai. I understand that this mission is an espionage, but how do we know there aren't any other people being stealthy as well. Think about it, if there are people out there doing something that doesn't want to be seen, they are likely going to do all they can to keep their activity hidden. Now, assuming whether this is true, it will be best to have two sides to our operation: someone who can be seen and someone who cannot be seen."

The cop looked off, as he was explaining his case. "Tell me, if you can see someone, would you commonly think there is someone who cannot be seen?"

It sounded like a riddle, but it was actually more of a witty way of saying that he was a diversion who would be the guy that "could be seen." The logic counted on the general weakness that everyone was always narrow-minded. Whether these people were hiding or not, if they at least saw Chen, he would be the focus of their attention, not Tenkai. It was the same concept of using a bigger sound to cover a much smaller sound.  

[Chen Ning]

It was meant to be both clever and somewhat annoying because Chen was told something like this back when he was a kid by his father during his stay in that remote "Childhood Daycare" he was raised in. His father always wanted Chen to be wise about the situations he was going to get in later on down the road, so he told him different proverbs to help develop his intellect. The teachings stuck, but for someone as casual and laid-back as Chen, it was a teaching he was not fond of having. Just saying that to Tenkai alone made him feel a bit old.

He took heed to Tenkai's words and went on walking at his usual pace. At this point, Chen felt like the deeper they were going, the closer they were likely to run into something out here. He didn't know how long the road went on, but he hoped to eventually come to some key point. He brought his right hand to his temple as he manifested the first of his psionic powers. To Chen's eyes, the visual distorted a bit as a pulse pushed itself out in a circular manner with his body as the origin, covering over 30 feet in range. With this radar out, Chen had awareness of anything that even thought of the word "hostile" or had the concept of aggression growing from inside them. This was his way of keeping tabs on what was around him, and made it so much easier to walk into criminal hangouts with little worry of getting backstabbed or the like.

Power Used

Quote:

PP (Psychic Points): 27 - 3 = 24 Left

Level 2 Power Detect Hostile Intent - Cost: 3 PP; Duration: 1 hour; While the duration of this power lasts, you become aware of the presence of any creatures with hostile intent within 30 ft of you, and their direction from you (not their specific location). The power detects active aggression, as opposed to vigilance. For instance, if you walk up to a door with an assassin behind it, you sense the hostility is somehow associated with the door. However, a soldier assigned to guard a door will not register. Those who are susceptible to mind-affecting powers cannot surprise you. The power can penetrate barriers, but 3 feet of stone, 3 inches of common metal, 1 inch of lead, or 6 ft of wood or dirt blocks it.

 

[Uberwulf X]

The deeper they went, the darker it was from the promised increase in tree thickness. It was rather gradual, nothing too alarming, but it was definately there.

What was not there, was a hostile presence. Instead, the pausing and relative peace and quiet would allow them to hear ever so faintly the sound of... something. It was periodic and sporadic, and sharp. It as as if the leaves all shook at once in a place not too far off. Along with the sound came the smell of some sort of meat that was dangerously close to cooking too long.

The observations would be made in the general direction of their current path. Perhaps more to note that there was a small stream curving out from the west and moving to the path, going parallel with it some 30 feet ahead.