A whole new world [Donovan, Perun, Mila, Jule, Anzu]

[Drei]

This island so far was just an entire shroud of question marks. As the ashen haired shaman shuffled near the back of the group, he quietly let his gaze drift. When no one was talking, and they were left to the quiet sounds of their footsteps along the dirt paths of the pine filled forest, Drei pondered what exactly they were expected to find. The ground had slight sink to it, footsteps leaving a soft indentation and occasional segments of dirt to cling to the bottom of his boots.

The scent of pine hung heavily in the air, with bristling pine trees infesting the area. In the distance before they entered the woods, he remembered seeing mountains that rose upwards high enough to be surrounded by misty peaks. Drei, who wasn't especially fond of heights, hoped Mila didn't get the urge to follow. By the time they had entered the woods, a thick fog had rolled in that'd made it difficult to see too much where they were going. Luckily the trees were not so dense that they made it uncomfortable walking. No set trail really guided the way, but the way the needle laden floor looked it seemed that the way was easily accessible enough for navigation.

So far they hadn't run into the horrors this place was supposed to hold. He'd heard tales that gruesome creatures stalked the woods, intent to disembowel anyone who approached. When they'd gotten to the wooden colony that seemed to serve as a hub for trading and the sole nexus of civilization upon the new lands, people had been abuzz with the prospects of wealth and riches galore. Which..didn't entirely fill him with unbridled joy. He disliked people honestly. Mila, had probably been one of the few recent exceptions. The others were slowly starting to grow on them. If he had to kill everyone he disliked, he'd certainly have saved them for last at-least. This venture was a bit out of his element though. While he did enjoy traveling to see new places and things, he wasn't too sure on what to expect here. Not that any of them likely were. Quietly walking aside Mila, the shaman shifted his bangled hands into the violet robe sleeves that were still a bit too large looking.

Then there was the slight chill. It was enough to make the hairs raise on the back of his neck. Was it cold air from the mountains? Was that how it worked? He didn't know..but between that and constantly being in the shade from the trees and fog, it just felt colder. That in turn made it less hospitable. He'd no doubt however that this was certainly Mila's environment. Unknown places and unknown dangers. That, and it wasn't underground. He was sure she'd feel great about the trip as a whole. Then again, the only reason he was here was for her sake, and because he didn't want to hear she'd been eaten by some monstrosity. Not if he could prevent it at-least.

[Perun]

Ooc: A new fantastic point of view!

The orange giant walked at the front of the small pack of adventurers. He let his shoulders swing as the group made their way, Perun particularly enjoying himself. Everything about the island was entertaining for him, or at least made him feel less odd. When they reached the little fort village, the people had given him odd looks, but they had given every outsider odd looks. On the mainland, he was always one step behind the others, always not knowing where he was or lacking an understanding of colloquialisms. Here, they were all as clueless as he was, and it was fantastic to feel like he was useful for something besides his axe.

That wasn't even considering the feeling he got from the island. There was a chill running along him, and the Ilian man did love the cold. In a low temperature his excess flesh and fur served to make him feel comfortable, just as they made him sweat when he was in the hot. Taking air in his lungs, Perun felt extremely crisp as he swung his shoulders and bent his legs. He couldn't explain it, but since waking up that morning, he felt ready. His axe haft bumped his ham hock of a thigh as the bear walked, but Perun didn't need it. He had his bow in hand and his quiver on his shoulder, with an arrow between his right index and middle finger lazily held against his bowstring.

Perun eyed the small band's surroundings for a moment, then spoke, "Perun is being thinking, are we being looking in right direction for what we are being search for?"

[Mila]

Mila could hardly contain her excitement. Everything about this island filled her with a sense of excitement and joy. Not even the strange mist in the air could dampen her spirits. Her mind kept thinking about all of the things that she could possibly publish. All of the "new" and "firsts" knowledge that she could possibly write up and present to a league of scholars. Something that people could positively recognize her for. And the rumors that were floating around about giant beasts only further strengthen her resolve to come here. She was glad at the fact that she managed to convince her friends to join her on this expedition. She saw the potential that everyone could do a lot of good here.

She spent the first few days on the island recovering from after effects of being out at sea. She was also one of the few people to arrive at the settlement, that was somewhat fluent in staff magic. So she couldn't exactly run out into the woods to explore people kept calling on her to heal. But today was the day that they were finally out and about. And the young sage was happy about that, perhaps a bit too happy. She took a deep breath of wonderfully fresh air of the island and sighed a bit. She needed to bring her head back to reality.

This was uncharted territory and disturbingly enough she had seen signs of monster activity. The furs on the trees matched the one she kept in her notes. The claws in the bark, were similar, and larger then the ones she noted in Elibe. She even ran into a few samples of doog scat. She was glad most of the samples lacked human bones but she did note that there were large quantities of animal bones instead. Which meant that this island was rich in wildlife. What disturbed her was the size of the bones she had been seeing. She told her friends that.. sadly there is monster evidence.. and that it.. was bigger then normal.. which might have raised some concerns. Perun raised an interesting question.

"Uhm.. possibly? To be honest since most of this place is a mystery.. we may.. or may not be heading in the right direction. But so far all signs point towards the mountains.. there are trails hidden among the woods. Which means that someone or something have.. been coming in and out of the woods. Could be friendly.. could be hostile.. Could be those humans the first traders made contact with. Who knows!" Her voice wasn't loud, but it was full of enthusiasm. She turned around and walked backwards so she could face large orange haired man a give him soft smile.

[Donovan]

The silver tongued mercenary looked at his ecstatic friends walking in front of him. It made sense that they might feel at home in this strange, uncharted island. Mila was a scholar, fascinated with discovery and the acquisition of unknown information. Perun was, for the first time since leaving his home valley, not looked at as the strangest thing the commoners they encounter have ever seen. While the giant never showed any sign of being bothered by the odd glances and distrusting eyes, his friend knew how much it must get to him. There were few people kinder than Perun, Sure he could tear a man’s arm off, if he felt the need to, but ultimately he just wants to be there for his friends like anyone else.

The mercenary clad in green was not quite as thrilled to be here. Sure, he was interested in what the Island had to offer, he was sure that there would be some chance for a truly lucrative discovery. But there was something off about the place, beyond the enormous doog like creatures that had attack Aurion before their arrival. There was a… pulse? Lingering in the air. He couldn’t quite grasp what he was feeling; whether it was the uncertainty of what they’d meet in this untamed land or something else entirely. But either way, Fragarach never left his hand. Not that that was hard, with the blade so preternaturally light.

“Do we even really know what we’re looking for out here?” He quipped. Of all of his friends, he felt most out of place on this unexplored Island. Perun’s strength would certainly be a necessity, Mila’s ingenuity and curiosity had never been more satisfied, even Jule was biting at the bit to see some undiscovered creature, and if anything got too serious, she’d probably have the best chance of the lot of them at running away. Don just assumed that Drei, the strange quite shaman, was happy as long as Mila was by his side But Donovan didn’t care much for new, undiscovered monsters. That just meant that they were more likely to be killed and eaten. And sure, he was stronger and faster and had a more of a magic sword than most folk, but the one thing that he’d always been able to bring to the table when the going got rough was now off the table. There was no way to talk your way out of a fight with a monster, or conning those things that go bump in the night into giving you more coins. He was out of his element. And he couldn't shake the feeling that the Island knew that.

[Jule]

Y'know, it was strange. Jule had never wondered why she had been brought along on this roundabout trip across Elibe. Not when they left Lycia, not when they boarded the ship, not even when they docked on a landmass so far away from the coast you couldn't even see the shores of the Isles anymore. Only now, walking through the woodlands of an unknown place did she consider why they brought her along. Then she shrugged it off. It wasn't exactly a crowded city square, but Jule was in her element out here. A whole island full of strange beasts waiting to rip her to shreds for their daily meal? That sounded like a good time! The air was thick with the smell of life and... something else. The swordswoman couldn't quite put her finger on it. Though it was humid, the air had a comforting tingle that when she inhaled it sent a refreshing tingle down Jule's spine. Strange. But not altogether unwelcome.

What was unwelcome, however, was this dang fog. The girl couldn't see ten feet in front of her(though that might've been because Perun had the lead). Jule's eyes wandered, unable to distinguish a branch from the hand of a ghoul lying in wait. A shrub could be a hound waiting to pounce her, or a branch cracking under the giant's foot being a trap. She wasn't scared of no monsters she couldn't see, but it kept her on edge seeing things in the corner of her eye. Being caught off guard was exactly what Jule didn't want, and it was the exact reason why their weapons came out when they left town. The tiny girl wrapped both hands around her sword's hilt and clutched it tighter, just to be safe.

"You know where we're going, Mila?" She called from behind the adults' conversation. "I'm not the best with direction but it feels like we're walking in a big ol' circle to me. I wish this dumb fog would go away, 'cause I can hardly see where we're going." What was it that they were searching for again? Jule was certain she was there for the memo, but she must've tuned it out. Or forgotten, that was a possibility. "Say, Don..." she skipped a bit forward to keep pace with Donovan, and, lowering her sword stance, leaned in close to the Mercenary. Drei wouldn't mind being left a little ways back; he seemed a thousand miles away to begin with. "Why are we out here again? I uh, I didn't forget! But being in this haze is starting to make me go a little hazy too, that's all." 

[Drei]

Out of all the trees in the world, or that he'd seen, (because trees was the first thing everyone noticed about a place; obviously) Drei thought he was fond of pines the most. They smelled nice, and looked pretty cool. As far as trees could possibly look at-least. Their sap was also good for flavoring meals. The needles were also nice for boiling into water to make a special type of hot tea. It was a rare treat considering the average tree in Elibe. Especially Lycia. Lycia's forests were boring, and lame. The ashen haired boy felt his thoughts detract from the quality of tree within Elibe, as Mila and Donovan and Perun all began to talk. Though he was comfortable talking to Mila, and could even talk a bit otherwise he just..hadn't felt much up for conversation lately. It happened from time to time. Still occasionally shifting back into his reclusive persona as his mind shifted to the things he'd lost.

No matter how hard he seemed to dwell on it, unparticular moments seemed to seize him with a powerful swell of depression. It wasn't easy for him in those moments, but as much as he disliked groups or crowds, this was admittedly helpful. Though he would've sooner died then admittedly openly, this group had a bit of a charm to them. Perun was...in his own way a lovable individual. He was genuine. Spoke his true intent. Er..or spoke something. Jule was..enthusiastic. This also particularly annoyed him at times, but the liveliness was also energizing. Donovan made sure that it never got too quiet. That was nice in it's own way. He continued to remind himself of this while they walked. His amber hued eyes squinted to a narrow point as the shaman attempted to better visualize what exactly was ahead of them. They could make out a bit ahead of them. Usually large branches and trees in the distance was about it.

Their sense of hearing was reliable sure but, not much to pick up besides the rustling of their steps and twigs being utterly obliterated beneath the heavy foot-falls of Perun's exceedingly large steps. Until the rustling started.

It was heavy. The jostling had..force, to it. As if the sheer size of what was being moved could be felt. The sound of trees being pushed aside. Tens of twigs being crushed at any given moment while a cacophony of snaps destroyed the quiet in-between words. The heavier snapping sounds as entire branches were broken from unknown tension. The young shaman immediately halted in his tracks. Hairs stood on the back of his neck now, not from the chill, but tension. Drei felt in that moment a single instinct. A brief overwhelming bodily reaction, as he took a few steps back with his gaze fixated on the direction ahead of him. Seldom one to think about actions before performing them, he certainly acted first in this instance. For that one thought, echoing through his entire body?

"Danger"

His bodies sense of self-preservation was almost blinding. By the time the colossal shadow had started to become a looming image, the violent and inky shades of nether magic woven by his will had started to take form. The crunching and rustling grew to an immense volume in alternating intervals. The shadow developed a shape. Until tree's had been brushed to the side as an immense eight legged monstrosity appeared.

With the top of its bloated rear cresting at the height of twenty five feet, the immense creature cast a shadow over almost any living thing Drei'd ever seen in his life. Fear briefly filled the shamans gaze as his eyes widened with shock. Sharp legs impaled the ground before it with heavy thud filled impacts as the creature turned to face the group. Its movements halted briefly. Within the distance they were, Drei could see it a bit more clearly. The trees had thinned slightly, as if they were in a small clearing. The colossal Bael had crimson fur budding from its back and upper body, with dull grey shaded limbs. A trail of thick adhesive like fluids dribbled from the long vicious twin mandibles that twitched wildly while it examined the party through a series of small eyes atop its head.

In the distance, a quiet howl echoed into the forest; the monstrous Bael hissing suddenly at this sound and seeming to drive into a frenzy. Long powerful legs stabbed and slammed into the ground as it stomped in place before turning to directly face the group and rear itsself. The bael charged forwards with a sudden rush, viewing these creatures before it merely as such: "enemy." In its frenzied state, it did not act nearly as similar as its fellows might have. It charged the group, with obvious intent not to stop and seemingly fixated on assaulting the closest individual as its twin mandibles snapped wildly.

[Perun]

Perun had noticed the trail of course, he simply wasn't sure it was the right trail. Mila knew more about the type of things there were on this island than he could probably ever understand. However, now that he knew that these tracks and signs were what Mila was looking for, and therefore the point of their little expedition, he would be the best to find it. With a smile he pushed past her, and began to allow his keen eyes to pick up on all the signs of movement. Many tracks were obvious, and if he had to guess who in their group could find this thing other than him, it would be Mila, but of them all Perun was the only tracker. He'd spent years hunting, and knew that a patch of bent grass wasn't just weak against the wind. He churned his legs as he walked forward, and his eyes picked something up. The pines on the ground had been scattered as they fell, and scattered further by the wind, so that the little needles were crushed under the travelers boots even this far from the treeline. However, Perun noticed that there were broad circled where the pines were moved, or stamped against to ground.

Perun stopped swinging his shoulders and set his back rigid. He began to step deliberately, quietly after he heard something else moving. Without thinking he began breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. It was easier for him to stay quiet when he did so. The Ilian behemoth was just about to tell the others to stop when a real behemoth revealed itself. He could feel it crushing the earth as it moved toward him, and began to see through the trees something moving. Trees were falling around it, and Perun didn't think that could be interpreted as a good thing by anyone, even Mila. The trees nearest the party began to rustle, and Perun pulled his arrow back on its string.

A good thing about his size, Perun had vast lungs. So when his shoulder blade had glided across the rippling sea of his back, and the bow was as bent as it could be without snapping, Perun was able to hold his breath. Breathing was an important part of shooting a bow, if you breathed too much, you'd shake and miss your shot. Then, it happened. Trees were swept out of the things path, and Perun stared into the face of one of the most hideous things he'd ever seen. It was vile, like an especially disgusting spider blown up to an ungodly size. Perun quickly noticed something, it had eight eyes to go with its eight legs. Perfect. It seemed to be making a dash for him. Perfect. He aimed, and loosed.

The shot hit the bael just above one of its eyes. "Yeblat." The arrow was stuck there, just portruding from the beasts exoskeleton, and the giant spider didn't seem phased at all. Perun pulled another arrow from his quiver and shot one more at its eye, but he was hasty, and the arrow sprung from the bow headed for one of the beasts legs. It didn't even pierce the beast. Perun let his bow on the ground, and oped it wouldn't get damaged. He had the other, but his bow was his bow, and the only weapon besides his axe he still had with him. He pulled his axe from his belt, and called out as he began to run, "ROLLING THUNDER!" Donovan would get into position, and Perun would enact the maneuver. He sprinted toward the bael, but as the beast was just lifting one of its deadly legs, Perun darted away from it, to his right or the spiders left. He swung at one of its legs that was still on the ground.

[Donovan]

The Giant began to walk back in the lead, he appeared to be having a great time being a hunter again. Finally getting to utilize all those years of tracking in the wilds of Ilia. The Angle of Death came up behind Don, "Say, Don..." The Gwyglli slayer prompted, “Why are we out here again? I uh, I didn't forget! But being in this haze is starting to make me go a little hazy too, that's all." The mercenary in green, shook his head and laughed before responding in a quiet tone. “I'm not too sure any of us know why we're out here. Or rather what exactly we are looking for. But we are on somethings trail, so I guess the only thing left to do is hope it's not strong enough to kill any of us…” The mercenary’s voice trailed off as he saw Perun suddenly look up, in a way Don knew could only end with a fight.

The ground began to shake, and Donovan knew what Perun had been looking for. The creature that emerged from the tree line was not unlike a spider. If a spider was 25 feet tall and the kind of creature that haunts your nightmares for the rest of your life. The ancient sword I his hand seemed to speak through him, “Jule, don't attack right away. Let us probe this things weak points first. When you strike, just try debilitating it, don’t put yourself too much in harm’s way.” Before the silver tongued merc could give any further directions, The creature had begun to charge. Perun fired a couple shots from his bow and began to charge at the creature, "ROLLING THUNDER!"

Don began to run after his friend, preparing himself for the inevitably hellish fight, while trying to think up the best plan of attack he could. He had one, an absolutely insane one, but a plan none the less. He began to run as fast as humanly possible while calling out to his friends, “Drei, try to focus on getting it away from me, limit its movement! Mila I'm gonna need a hole!” As the Giant leapt out of the even more giant creature’s attack, Donovan dropped down on his leg and slid - beneath the now closed pincers - underneath the Bael’s stomach. Fragarach flashed twice at preternatural speeds underneath the spider, where Don hoped would be a softer underbelly. He felt the blade bite into the beasts body, though he was disappointed to find the hits were far more shallow than he'd expected them to be. The problem now would be getting out from beneath the creature without being crushed, his only hope was that Mila would come through.

[Mila]

Mila resumed her normal walking while the group made small talk. Mila felt that Don's answer was enough to satisfy Jule's curiosity. But the young theif and alleged "angle of death" was right, this fog was so thick it was hard to see where they were going. So the sage had to rely on alternate means of tracking to ensure that they weren't heading in a big circle. She took note of the tree's... Huh.. that's.. a pecular claw mark.. She took a note of the ground. What are those strange circles? The noise of the rustling trees.. Hang on.. there's no breeze.. and.. that sounds way to heavy for it to be wind..

The mage looked up in time to see the tree line shake and a long black leg start to stick out of the mist. Followed by another leg, another leg, a set of mandibles, and eight glowing red eyes. That's a big bael.. Bael.. BAEL!

"BAEL!" She shouted. Then promptly took a moment to jump behind a tree. HOLY SH*T! On the main land, Mila had only studied the corpses of Baels. Remains of the left over spiders.. long dead spiders.. discarded exoskeletons.. This was the first time she was witnessing a live Bael. Ok. OK! MILA! THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR A FREAK OUT! FRIENDS! NEED YOU! The sage quickly grabbed a hold of her tome. Right! FOCUS! That pep talk to herself did little to steel her nerves. She found her hands shaking.

She pulled herself away from the tree and back out onto the path. Perun and Donny were busy doing some sort of combo attack. Donny screamed for a hole. Uh.. uh.. uh.. The sage's power of earth magic were still a bit rough. But she knew if she didn't do something the silver tonged mercenary was about to become a silver dollar pancake. The sage quickly channeled her connection to the spirits and opened a hole in the ground large enough for Donny to just barely avoid getting crushed. She could feel her heart racing in a mild panic. She switched gears.. or rather magic and went to her old familiar fire ball.

She lobbed the ball of flame straight towards it's eyes. Ok.. ok.. ok.. LEG! The giant spider did not appreciate the fire and thrust one of it's front legs out towards the sage. Mila was able to roll out of it's way but just barely. Just a few centimeters from her face was the creature's large black leg.

[Jule]

For a moment, the entire group went silent. Instinctively holding their breath for whatever waited for them in the shadows.

Then, the world started to tremble and shake around them. Nearby she could hear trees falling like a workaholic lumberjack had just gotten off from lunchbreak raring to go. "W-What's going on?" Jule yelped, before a spiny black trunk slamming down in front of them decided to answer her. The mist swirling around the creature made it difficult to properly make out, but it was a ginormous spider; five Jules high, at least. What Mila called a "Bael", larger than life and hungry for death. "TH-THIS is a 'Bael'? It's huuuuge!" Scrambling to avoid the monster's massive legs, Jule couldn't help but strain her eyes to see the top of the thing. In this accursed fog, it was little more than a silhouette from down below. She brandished her sword at the Bael with a menacing look on her face, but inside(okay, a tiny bit on the outside too) the little daredevil in her was thrilled to pieces. "Are they always this big?!" Coming to this island was the best decision she'd made in a VERY long time.

“Jule, don't attack right away," Don called out, in a voice that seemed to carry on the mist and hang in her ears. It would've been soothing to listen to, if there wasn't literally an eldritch abomination looming over top of them. "Let us probe this things weak points first. When you strike, just try debilitating it, don’t put yourself too much in harm’s way.” This thing had a weak point? "H-Hey, what? That's not fair! Harm's way is the only way I wanna go down!" The girl yelled over the noise of what looked like the Bael trying to crush Donovan under its heel as he wormed his way underneath it. The irony was lost on Jule. "Besides, you and Perun are doing that chain attack thing, I don't wanna get in the way of that..." She struck at the leg that had been trying to crush her instead. Hack, slash, kick... even with her new, balanced blade it still wasn't making a dent, but it certainly did make the spider's leg react. Like a human swatting a fly it kicked outwards, impaling the tree and nearly taking her with it. The thief lunged out of the way, escaping with her life but nearly bowling over Mila in the process. "Grah! Actually, debill'tatin' looks pretty good right about now!"

[Anzu]

The white haired shaman was not one to yield so easily to fear. Though, certainly the spider was a horrifying monstrosity the likes of which he'd never seen; he had a small advantage. With his recent series of mind-eclipsing episodes now somewhat behind him, the shaman felt he was far harder to mentally frighten or uproot. He had been victim to agonies tirelessly for entire nights at times. When he'd secretly wished for death to take him and end such. Could he really just give in now? After all of that? The young shaman extended his palms as Donovan called for him to bind it. He wasn't that good. Not to bind such a powerful beast entirely. He wished he was. He could however do his best to restrain a leg or so. First...a bit of extra distance.



Quickly sprinting to the other side of the tree Mila had run near, Drei stood to it's right and began quiet his mind. Empty it and focus. Focus. The shamans robes billowed wildly as he lifted both of his palms to chest level. His amber shaded eyes focused upon the Bael's legs as the thunderous crash of it stomping about shook the ground lightly. Donovan had rushed underneath it, and thanks to Mila's hole he was safe as the creature responded to the blow(which seemed to further irritate it instead of actually injure it) by slamming its entire body roughly into the ground. Tens of small green needles scattered and a little plume of dust kicked up before it lifted its body and lunged for Perun.

A black pulsating tendril burst from a sphere that winked into existence; Drei's palms fueling the spell as an origin point while he projected and guided the physical manifestation of the void. He poured every facet of concentration, every last process of willpower into enforcing the spell while it lashed outwards. The Bael had just attempted to..what looked like kick Jule. Making a small mental note as to the horrifying physical strength it packed, he tried to use that to enhance his determination as the thick fuzzy leg cleaved the air for Perun. Less than two feet from the Ilian, the tendril constricted the leg and snapped like a rope run its length. Drei grit his teeth, and began channeling everything he had into keeping the tendril in form, and backing its power to bind the spider. The tendril was bound to his body via the magic at his palms, and in turn he bound to the spider. As long as he kept the spell going he'd be able to restrain it.

At-least, he thought this. Until the spider suddenly lifted its leg and swept it, shaking it similarly to how a human shooed away a gnat. The unbelievable force traversed the length of the chord and whiplashed to the snowy haired boy, sending his body reeling as he had attempted to maintain the binding to restrain the creature only to be sent sprawling through the air. He crashed against the thick wooden base of a large pine tree on the opposite of the clearing from the Bael, before collapsing to the ground on his side. The boy's head lolled absently, and he himself lie still; entirely unconscious.


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Within the skies above the mass sea of pines, two figures raced. Each one like a phantom within the mist filled skies, twin white bodies perfectly suited for such atmospheres. They flew close enough together that they could easily remain within sight of one another, yet remained far enough to adequately flap their wings. One Avian vastly dwarfed the other in size, a hawk of far more defined build. The racing winds that buffeted at their plumage simply a sign their motion continued within the frightfully thick fog. However these two relied not just on sight to navigate. Scent and Sound played a far better role. Sound. Listening for the howls of the creatures below, searching for their target. Scent. To distinguish for themselves that which they sought.

For as they flew, a particular duo ran along the ground.

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Four paws padded furiously along the ground as the colossal hunting Doog Morghu sped through the pine forest. His powerful sense of smell led him towards the creature that his hunter sought. As he neared the clearing, the Doog let out a sky piercing howl and began to pick up further speed. In the distance he saw it. The colossal spider. The masters prey. Racing through the clearing, suddenly bursting out of the line of pine trees with a burst of green needles and broken twigs, the huge doog snarled and leapt over the green haired mage and blue haired girl simultaneously before landing with a heavy thud and speeding towards the Bael. The spider let out a sudden audible hiss and raised two of it's eight limbs, the foremost two before actually taking a backpedal of a step. This defensive poise of threat hindered the hound little, and as it raced past the large Orange haired Ilian there was a startling establishment. The hound, like the spider, was far larger than its Elibian relative. The doog crested at almost eleven feet in height. As one of the spiders heavy limbs came crashing down, the hound lunged to the far side and bolted to the middle leg before savagely biting at it. The muffled feral snarl as the colossal canine lunged was met with a pain laced hiss as the Bael attempted to shake the creature free. Meanwhile..from above..


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There it was. Morghu had found it. In response to the doogs howl, a loud piercing screech of a cry resonated from the large yellow beak of Anzu. In hawk form, he'd be too easy of a target while the Bael was uninjured and not yet fettered by fatigue. So the male spread his wings to catch a full drift of air, still unable to actually see the scene below due to the mist; able to discern the Bael's location only by the snarling of his hunting hound. A solid black eye lingered on the smaller hawk that hovered within sight, as if to say stay here before Anzu suddenly altered his shape. For a silent passing moment he hung, suspended in the air in human form. Powerful sculpted muscles throbbed while he flexed in preparation for the descent. His wings flapped once to brace himself before lifting aimlessly, and the white haired males body fell.

He adjusted his heel, so he would slam downwards upon it and swiftly descended. It wasn't until he found himself mere seconds from crashing atop the Bael that the man had vision to see his prey entangled in combat with others as well. Frowning, he dismissed it. First, he would assert his kill. This creature was a glorious prize to bring back to his tribe. Many would be fed from it. His wings pressed together pointing directly upwards as he impacted the mid section of the Bael's upper back, crushing into it with powerful force and forcing it down onto the ground with a thunderous impact that shook the ground and kicked up more dust. . As his body fully impacted, his knees bent and he shifted with his right fist closing and crashing down into the disgusting many eyed head of the Bael.

That would not do it. Not by a long shot. Dazed and injured, the creature stirred moments after, and as the dust settled from the Anzu's colossal snowy wings flapped twice and he leapt off the Bael, sliding to a halt several feet away before turning around, leaving his back to the strangers. He roared in a heavy tone as he started running towards the Bael again, fists uncurling to reveal fingers primed with nails as sharp as blades; long like talons though in comparison. "Morghu! " He slashed at the Baels front right leg and abruptly ducked as the Bael attempted to rise up. The colossal Doog rushed forwards from the middle leg and viciously attacked the large leg his master had marked at the base. Anzu's wings spread to either side in an attempt to visually distract the Bael even while he assailed it.

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As Anzu fought the large spider, another oddity transpired. Shortly between the green haired woman and the unconscious white haired boy, a large white hawk descended through the mist before idling there quietly. Nearly five and a half feet in height, the hawk simply scratched at the ground with sharpened talons before glancing to the humans around; alternating between looking at them and back to the fighting winged man. However, the tone of the fight had certainly shifted. No longer was it a fight for survival for the humans, as the eight legged predator became victim to a brutal assault, leaving openings for them as well.

[Perun]

Thunder rolled in on the spider, and under it. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Donny slide into a hole created under the spider's bulky thorax by Mila, who seemed to have grown from a competent mage into a force of nature since the last time Perun had seen her. Of course none of them had come out of Laus unchanged, and the young woman had been incredibly powerful there. They were all stronger now. Even Jule. Jule jumped away from a strike of the spider and nearly took Mila with her in her fall. Maybe Jule.

The little shaman of few words was making that serious face magi always had when they were casting a spell, and too late did the giant realize a gargantuan leg of the spider now crashed straight for him. To his surprise, a black chord wrapped around the spider's limb. The Ilian's face twisted up in confusion, as the spider thrashed. Perun followed the black tendril with his gaze, and watched as Drei was drilled into one of the pine trees. Ripping his eyes from the little magi, Perun let out a booming roar, "RRRRAAAGGCCCHHHH!" With the shaman's loss of conscience, the black strand had faded, and the Spider's leg was free. Good. Perun readied his axe to swing against it, one of the massive beast's front ones. However, the monster had eight legs, not just the two. One of its other legs took Perun in the eyes, and sent Perun back.

He didn't quite sail like he had once or twice before against a very different opponent, but he left the ground. When he landed, it took Perun a few moments to open his eyes. More than a few perhaps. He heard something like a wolf attacking, and some word starting with an M from a voice the Ilian behemoth did not recognize. Perun scrambled to his feet just in time to see the spider being shaken up by a man with giant... wings. They were fighting something that shouldn't exist, and now there was something else that shouldn't exist.

The white winged warrior was taking the spider to task, and Perun was baffled. It was like nothing he had ever seen. No one had ever seen anything like it. A winged man soaring through the sky, decimating the spider with a power that made Perun feel like a child holding a butter knife. It was horrid, and amazing. Not to be undone, Perun lifted his axe and sprinted toward the giant bael. He circled the thing, and made his way to the thing's thorax. He took a broad overhead swing, and buried the axe in the spider's back.

[Donovan]

The uncharacteristically bold mercenary stared at the belly of the beast looming over him. Literally. As Mila’s hiding hole opened for him. Well, a couple of feet to the left of him. No creature on the face of Elibe or this hellish island has ever scurried faster to hide in a hole in the ground. Not a moment after his body fell the 3 feet into the earth in the small box shaped ditch did the Uber Bael drop its ridiculous weight onto the ground. Donovan had sudden and incredible empathy for ever bug that has ever been trod upon.

He heard the fight raging on above him, but couldn’t do anything to help from his foxhole. There was a crash, then the Giant roared. Then what sounded like… really big wings? And a big dog? What was happening topside? The Spider had begun to move away from where Donovan’s hole was, so the mercenary began to peak his head out to see if he could make a dash out from under it. But as soon as he did, he had to duck back down as the bale’s body was kicked from above by an incredibly powerful force, knocking it back over the foxhole.

Rather than doing nothing, Don concentrated on Fragarach, moving the air around the blade as he usually did in combat, but with much faster speed and ferocity. The distance of the wind surrounding the blade was still at most a couple inches, but the air acted as a blender when he punched the sword into the Bael’s belly, hopefully causing significantly more damage than his last attack. Even if it did drain more energy.

[Mila]

Mila could only stare up in horror at the leg that only just managed to miss her body. Her eyes trailed up the creature’s leg until it met it’s body and it’s face. Her gaze fixed at a gnarly set of mandibles that were oozing some sort of deadly poison. Jule nearly crashed into her which was enough to knock her out of her stupor. Mila took a few paces back. She could just barely see the scruff of hair that was Donny sticking out from underneath the hole. Drei was.. unconscious by the trees somewhere. And just as she was about to muster the will to do some more magic something else joined into the chaos. From the skies she could make out the shape of two large white birds.. no.. one large white bird and another human with bird wings. What?! And then a large Doog jumped out from the wilderness and attacked the Bael. WHAT!?

Logically she reasoned out that.. clearly somewhere in between casting and fighting she must have died and this was some sort of personal hell. Either that or she was unconscious and having some sort of realistic elaborate dream. Clearly. This had to be the case.. since people can’t fly.. and monsters don’t kill other monsters. Right? The sage shook her head. She figured she would sort out the logic of this hellish dream world later. Right now she needed to focus. The birdmen and the Doog were attacking the Bael and not them which meant that they had to be allies. Or.. something.

“GUYS FOCUS ONLY ON THE BAEL LEAVE THE DOOG AND FLYING BIRDMEN ALONE!” She shouted so that her companions got the message. The sound of her own voice also did enough to bring most of her back into reality. She grabbed her Gaea tome, opened it, and then then tossed it to the floor. She let her the tip of her foot rest gingerly on one of the corners. She put herself into a slightly odd stance and started to communicate with the spirits of the earth. She channeled that energy and focused it into the spell used to move the earth. She used the hole that she made prior as a focal point. Slowly she moved her arms as if she was pushing something heavy.

She carefully made the hole just a bit deeper, then on one of its sides a tunnel started to form. The earth that was once in that tunnel kept moving and moving until Mila couldn’t “shove” that dirt pile no more. Then she took a breath, pressed her arms together, pulled it back in a manner that was similar to a golfer’s swing. Then swung her arms upwards in a swift motion. The earth that she had been channeling came up out of the ground into the form of a large blunt spire. Enough to hit the back end of the creature. The earth then crumbled down into dust. Oddly, enough the spot where the spire had come from now had another hole.

Mila’s arms went limp like a wet noodle and she found herself panting for air. She felt like she had been forced to do push ups for the last few hours.

[Jule]

The young woman crawled away from the spider and as she stood from a kneel, gripped her sword tightly. It was only a small comfort, considering the crazed thing could just reach over and stomp her into the next life if it deigned to do so, but it was a comfort all the same. "Now... If I was Donny," she muttered to herself over all the chaos in the woods. "What would I debill'tate?" The legs were clearly too sturdy to harm if previous experience taught her anything. That left its belly and its ugly, screeching face. Both of them weren't very good options. The monster continued to flail its legs around, as Don seemed to pop up from beneath it like a weaponized prairie dog. "Good catch with that magicky stuff, Mila!" called out Jule as she looked for an opening. The girl frowned; there wasn't really one that had her name written on it, and Jule had been standing on the sideline for far too many seconds. It was time to get a move on.

Her legs were a little wobbly still but the thief commanded them to start to move forward. From somewhere in the distance she could feel the cold presence of dark magic pop into the fight and then immediately go out like a candle. Musta been that Drake guy doing his thing. Off to her side a roar erupted from the giant's throat, and rumbled throughout the forest. Not like any creature would've been bothered by it, since anything within two miles of the hideous monster had made tracks ago. Jule, invigorated by his cry, ran a little faster. Then Perun decided that now would be a good time to showcase his amazing ability to fly-- oh wait that's coming right at her isn't it

The swordswoman scrambled out of the way of the soaring Ilian, barely avoiding his frame from nailing her into the ground. Was he alright? Jule looked back. Couldn't see a darn thing except for his groaning silhouette. "Dastard spider!" she cried out, gritting her teeth. There wasn't an opening in the Bael's wall of legs, sure, but she could darn well make one. Nothing stood in her way, not the logs Jule clambered over, or the rocks Jule stumbled across, not even the wolf that jumped from nowhere and was slowly overtaking her. "What now?!" First the wolves, then the flying bird people, and then Perun, it seemed like everyone and their brother were charging at the same time, and she couldn't tell what was even happening anymore. Jule's sword made contact with one of the Bael's legs again, as she leaped at it. No selled again, naturally.

That was fine. No, she definitely didn't care. Not even as the monstrous pike rose up and tried to impale her without even so much as a glance from the monster's eyes, she still was totally not caring that her attacks were doing JACK SQUAT. Jule jumped forward to safety, and caught her footing behind the falling leg as it piercing the area she had been. There was the monster's bulbous, overgrown torso. Again she jumped, striking overhead at the its furry belly with all the might her legs could muster after so much leaping. Apparently, not much. But it was something. The girl tried to slash at it again, but the girl just couldn't reach more than an annoying prod again.

Dejectedly she hiked it out of the gap between flesh and leg. At least the monster had the decency to let her leave before trying to stab her again.