Metal and The Beasts

[sweet_oblivion]

The Mines of Kachuck are filled with some of the finest metals in the whole world. However, they are also home to dark and deadly creatures.....

Dino had no interest in such things as metals, in fact the word itself had given him queue to all but tune out everything that was to follow, and if it had been anyone but Genbu he probably would have missed the second sentence. Dark and deadly, two great adjectives when describing a type of creature.

After leaving Ettermire, or more correctly after awaking on the steps of Ankhas, Genbu had explained this to Dino who showed just enough enthusiasm to pass out after immediately after yelling "GO!" like a small child pleading with its parent for a sweet or some such thing. The next time he would wake up would be just outside the city with a leather satchel full of food and two-hundred pieces of gold out his pocket. How someone was able to understand Genbu was beyond him, but if it meant that the large reptile could go shopping then the gold was a reasonable loss.

Despite his vicious appetite, Dino restrained himself from eating too much from the satchel and only ate to gain enough energy to actually hunt something down that night. For the rest of the trip he chose to only snack on what would perish along the way to Kachuk and had more than filled the bag a few times over foraging and hunting along the way. Of course it he would arrive in Kachuk with only a quarter of the bag filled.

Upon arriving, Dino found himself not too surprised by anything he saw in Kachuk, but of course that was not why he was here. After a few attempts to speak to a number of dwarven miners Dino was finally approached by a peculiar pair of dark elves. These two seemed to take a liking to him, though Dino did not speak Aleraran which they seemed to mix in quite a bit with their common speech. What he did understand when they were not directing their words to him, was that his skin tone and eye color were.

After nearly an hour of being looked over by the twins; the genders of which he was not quite sure but was pretty positive with the choice of male, they took him to a small pub. It was here they explained their predicament.

It seemed that a small group of miners were lucky enough to come across an untouched vein during a minor cave in a few months back. The group had managed to keep this information quiet and attempted to return to this area of the mine that remained well hidden. The problem with this was that this vein was very deep within the mine, so deep that many of the creatures they were used to coming across from time to time while performing their work were simple prey. Factoring in the amount of time they would need to mine a reasonable load, and get it back there was absolutely no way the group would be able to effectively protect themselves and take care of the task at hand.

Dino just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The miners had little money to their name and could not afford to pay for any form of protection. It seemed that by offering these twin dark elves a generous cut of their profits, they would agree to pay for the required muscle to go on this little trip. Since Dino was looking for someone to take him into the minds with the intention of running into some of Kachuk’s more dangerous natives, they were a decent match.

Profit was not something Dino was all that interested in, but gold would prove useful sooner or later, especially since Genbu figured he was free to use it as he wished. On top of this, he had a few ideas to help with his research and if a blacksmith of Kachuk were to owe a generous amount of their income of metals to him, he could possibly get a low price. The proverbial icing atop the cake was of course the creatures that brought fear to those of the mines. Beasts that prey upon the things that these people feared the most, and few were likely to have seen in the last few years; nothing less than a dream granted into reality.

This all occurred three days ago.

In the past three days Dino had time to meet with the dwarven miners. Bisoce, Rihas, Rikih, and Gasdol were their names, all of the Tunnelkiller clan, though Dino could only tell Gasdol apart from the others due to his beard being braided in two segments. They told him a bit about the creatures they encounter during their normal mining and a few descriptions of those they had found deeper in the mine. It seemed that a ways down just past where the cave in had taken place there had been a thin layer of earth that had somehow gone undetected. Behind this wall one would need to descend a little over an hour to reach the vein that stretched on farther than any of the dwarves dared to venture alone. They made sure to point out that they had entered the mine one short of a dozen that day and no others knew of this deposit.

Today was the day they would enter the mine. Genbu would be used as a beast of burden, the tortoise pulling a cart behind him along with a number pickaxe, two fitted with what seemed to be dehlar heads, but he knew too little about metallurgy to be sure. The rest were only steel. He knew that the twins were going to try and recruit others to help with this expedition but he was not aware if they had found anyone, prior to or after his own addition.

“Tis good to see ya up bright and early lad.” Rihas said, greeting Dino and rubbing a hand across Genbu’s neck as Rihik and Bisoce checked over the equipment and fastened the cart to the tortoise one more time. Dino only knew who was speaking because the other two had referred to each other by name at least dozen times and none of the three were Gasdol. Even so, now that they were all huddled together he could not tell them apart.

“Morning to you as well Rihas, so are we ready to tackle this mine?” Dino asked the three dwarves began to laugh, Bisoce walking to the entrance of the mind with a large grin penetrating his thick beard. “Tunnelkiller maybe a name boy-o, but we damn sure live up to it!”

[MinzigFrish]

Zarah let a heavy sigh escape her lips as she dropped her worn rucksack on the barren ground. She had finally, after days of complete and utter mind-numbing boredom and hunger, found her way out of the forest that she had been stuck in. The trees had slowly cleared from a dense mesh, to a tree here and there, to a barren wasteland. All that was around her now was the dry earth with a few flat patches of weed and grass every few feet, and the giant rising mountains. Zarah examined the large rocky structure going far into the horizon. Well, at least, she assumed they were mountains. All it really was was rock jutting from the ground, that led to a large r--

Zarah's train of thought was derailed when she noticed what looked to be a group of people in the distance. Her eyes brightened as she jumped to attention. "People equals food!" She shouted, much more excited than she should have been, and snatched her rucksack up. She jerked the strap sloppily over one shoulder, then bolted toward the group. They were all clustered near the mountain, perhaps in a meeting? Well what on earth could they be doing? Maybe they were a group of thieves and bandits....

Zarah slowed her pace to a stop at that thought. Bandits? If that were the case, she had hit a fork in the road and could choose from two paths. Either she could veer off course and avoid them completely, which would be the smart thing to do, or she could charge strait in, and if they attacked, take them all out and steal their food and money... Which is what she was going to do.

She cleared her throat loudly, pulled her long green hair up with one hand and tied it with a loose string she snagged from her rucksack, hiked up the hem of her long white dress, and put on her determined face as she took large strides toward the clutter of people. She was more than prepared for a fight.

After awhile of relentless stomping, she knew she had gotten within earshot of the group, even though she still couldn't see their features clearly. Zarah cupped her small hands around her mouth, then shouted loudly, "Hey!"
She continued to stride toward them, then broke into a run, She got close enough to the, now, startled group to see that they were, indeed, not thieves at all. Well, unless for some odd reason a bunch of Dwarfs, Elves, and.... She eyed the white and purple haired man curiously..... Whatever that thing was, had decided to go on a rampant stealing streak all for the rush of it.

She decelerated, then looked at each and every member of the group. Four dwarfs, two elves, and Mr. Purple n' White. Although she no longer believed them to be bandits, she still approached warily. They had many tools and several carts filled to the brim with supplies, giving her the new impression that they were miners. As soon as she reached them, she stopped and flashed a faux, wide grin.

"Hello, Um...." She realized everyone was staring at her, and felt suddenly awkward and idiotic for rushing into their business on a simple whim, "I was just wondering if you, er, had any... food?" Now just to wait for a reaction. She was still itching for a fight, but she was craving more for a decent loaf of bread or a hunk of meat.

[Lady Blackwell]

Max sighed he had been approached as he was training in the forest a few day's a go to help some dwarfs clear out some monsters. Easy and mindless task for Max, but apparently they wanted to wait for a few more adventurers, they claimed that Max himself simply wasn't enough.

As the day wore on Max got tired and figured he would go find a spot to lay down and go for a nap. He found an empty cart with a blanket in the bottom, he looked around and then jumped in and buried himself under the blanket. He quickly slipped into unconsciousness.

Max awoke as he heard some commotion outside and some things being thrown into the Cart. He casually stood up and let the blanket slide off his back. He scratched the back of his head and said “We leaving yet?”

As Max opened his eyes he saw the normal dry desert place a bright shade of brown or was it tan, and it stretched for as far as the eye could see. There was a few tents here and there by the entrance of the mine, but there was one solid looking structure, which Max had come to realize was a tavern of sorts. Dwarfs go in sober, come out drunk.

He jumped out of the wooden cart he was standing in and approached the weird looking man, with white and purple hair and purple eyes. “ I Hope you have some talent, it would be a shame to see someone as young as you drop dead in that mine” he said as he started walking towards the Woman that had green everything and almost no armor “You want food? You have to work for it, join us in clearing these mines of Monsters and you can have all the food you desire”

Max turned around and pointed at Rihas “Now we have what we need, let's get into that cave, I grow tired of waiting.”

[sweet_oblivion]

Interrupting their small talk, the twin elves appeared without any notice to the group. "It would seem you five are ready. Now how about the other-" Their question was cut short as someone shouted from the distance. They all looked, Dino particularly uninterested as a woman with green hair began to run toward them. Dino turned to look at the elves but the puzzled expression on their face showed they had not the simplest of ideas as to what was going on. It mattered not, as if there were any trouble from this woman Dino was sure he could easily take care of it, though he would prefer not to fight if there was nothing in it for him.

It was a simple plea for food. Dino could not say he had not attempted something of this nature himself once or twice in the past, but it had been quite some time since he had not hunted or stolen a meal. The dwarves seemed unsure of what course of action to take, Dino still for the most part uninterested though he could understand the pains of hunger. Pity was not something he showed very often but to let another being go hungry was quite rude when one could prevent it.

“We leaving yet?" An unfamiliar voice groggy and inquisitive came from one of the carts that had been attached to Genbu. The man seemed unaware of his surroundings for a few moments, but quickly began moving around and talking as if he were of some form of authority. A subtle contempt for this person began to take root deep within Dino. Not only had this person insulted Dino, but had more or less invited the woman along for their venture into the mines promising all the food she desired. Dino wondered if this man intended to provide this for her, but the elves made no verbal dispute. This made sense though; they probably did not expect everyone entering the mine to come out alive, with a record of eleven dwarves dwindled down to the four standing before him. If all three of the adventurers were to die in the mine and the dwarves returned with a decent stock pile of ore, this would probably be the best outcome for the elves. It would be unfortunate for their wallets that Dino had no intention of meeting death, nor let Genbu become someone else’s pack mule.

The man then commanded Rihas, or at least who Dino thought was Rihas to hurry and enter the mine. "I hope you realize that it was your arrival keeping us from entering, but seeing as your slumber has come to an end I believe it is time we commence with our mission." Dino did not bother looking at the man while he spoke. Instead he turned to Genbu and reached for the satchel that hung from the tortoise side. "Cooking is a luxury for me, but I’m sure there is something in there you might easily digest." he said to the woman tossing the bag to her. The majority of its content consisted of raw meat tied and wrapped in large green leaves to try and keep it separated. Dino was far from one might call picky and actually waiting for his food to die before consuming it was not a common practice, though he never carried a bag around with him until recently so there was little reason to do so. Even so, there were bound to be a few pieces of vegetation within the satchel.

"Now that you have another set of hands to add to your party Tunnelkillers it seems time to set off." One of the twin elves said as the other had already began walking. "We await your profitable return." The elf finished as he too made his leave.

The dwarves wasted no time, two grabbing a pick axe in each hand and tossing one each to another. Bisoce he believed, taking a lantern in hand and leading the charge, Gasdol following just behind him. Dino rode on top of Genbu as usual who began to move next though he waited long enough for someone to slip in front of him if they chose. There would be just enough room for one person to walk on either side of Genbu, with plenty of room for one or two others to ride on his back. A few supplies were set in the leading cart, including the remaining pick axe’s incase the others broke. From how things had been explained, it would take a little over an hour to make it to the entrance to the lower levels and another half hour to get near the deposit. This was not including any beasts they would have to deal with on the way there.

[MinzigFrish]

Zarah paused in genuine confusion. Had... Had she just been added to the party? But, she didn't know the first thing about mining. That was something to save for, well, Dwarfs.

'Hey, uh, wait a second..." She blinked, looking from the group, to the bag of food and back. "I... Don't really think I'm cut out for this job. I mean, I'm a gypsy. How on earth could I -" She cut herself off as a simple thought crossed her mind. What exactly were they digging for? If it were gems or gold, it could make her a quick fortune....

Zarah immediately wiped the blank look off her face, only to replace it with a sweet smirk. "I mean, of course I can help. Mind if I ask what you guys are searching for?" She could practically feel her fur bristling in excitement at the prospect of getting filthy rich from a simple trip into some jutting rock. She looked between the two tallest men, which were the purple and white haired man, and the cocky guy who had made his own dramatic entrance. She couldn't tell a single one of the dwarfs apart, so she decided to ignore them completely.

As an odd scent wafted about her, she took a deep breath. Raw meat? Zarah held up the bag that had been tossed to her. Sure enough, the odor was from here. She peered into the bag, her face lighting up. Nothing but hunks and chunks of meat, wrapped in leaves to, she assumed, keep fresh. How odd. Most people would have salted and dried their meat to take onto a trip underground, that would last for the gods knew how long. Though she was rather glad that it was fresh and raw. Salted meat always made her feel nauseous and extremely thirsty. Raw meat, however, still contained all the nutrients and delicious flavor that a fresh kill did. Man, she loved being part wolf.

She snatched one of the cubes up, then clawed the leaves off and nibbled at the meat. Tasted like steak.... She nearly drooled at the exotic flavor, though the staring group caught her eye. She realized she must look like some deranged woman. "Er..... I prefer my food, rare." She flashed a stupid smile, hoping someone would answer her question so she could get the heavy attention shifted off her for once. It seemed she was just programmed to cause a scene...

[Lady Blackwell]

Max smiled as he scratched the back of his head.

“You are not part of the mining group, your with me and purple head over there” Max said as he jutted a thumb in Dino's direction “We are protecting the dwarfs from a certain situation if it so arises.” Max said as he turned around and saw the Dwarf's already on the move. “Now come on we don't want to be late do we!” Max said as he patted the Green head one on the back.

As he approached the group entering the mines he looked around, there wasn't a whole lot of room in the mine. Well he could climb over the cart and then genbu and sit by Purple head. Walking was always good for ya anyways.

The walls of the mine in this area seemed rather smooth and slimy even though the dwarfs probably hadn't touched this part of the Mine in almost five years.

“Hey Rihas, why do you guy's keep this part of the mine Smooth?” Max asked as he ran beside Genbu to meet Rihas at the front.

“Well sonny it is to make sure these old walls don't cave in and cut us off, the smoother the surface the less objects or magic can get in there to make it unstable.”

Max scratched the back of his head as Jumped up on the side of the cart, if it was going to take as long as they said to reach their destination, Walking wasn't an option. Max needed to save what he could for fighting the nameless and apparent strong beasts.

[sweet_oblivion]

It was nice to meet someone who appreciated there meats uncooked like him, but that was where Dino's current interest in the girl stopped. They had begun their decent into the mines, and the only way they were turning back were with a couple carts loaded with precious metals and gems, or missing a team of miners. The first few minutes were quite dull, Max speaking to Rihas asking a few questions but other than that silence had taken its hold upon the group. Dino hated silence.

"So, since I cannot have people referring to me as purple head...." The last words were brimming with distain, as the boy shifted on Genbu's back to look at his non-dwarven companions. "The name is Dino. This fella right here is Genbu." He patted the beast’s shell which was followed by a dull roar exerted by the tortoise. "He says 'hello'." Dino translated for the others.

His attention shifted directly to the newest member of the group, the green haired woman who was still held his belongings in her possession. "You are free to introduce yourself as well, as 'green haired gypsy woman with a taste for rare meat' is a bit of a mouthful." He offered a small grin at his own remark though he doubted any would be able to make it out in the low lighting of the mines. It was true they were all in this job for their own reasons, the other two probably the money more than anything else, but that was no reason to be uncivilized.

[MinzigFrish]

Zarah forced a smile. "I'm called Zarah. Zarah Altis, that is. It's nice to meet you all.... Though some more than others...." She smiled at Dino, though didn't even spare a glance to the other man who thought he could address them by hair colors without introducing himself first.

That hyperactive man was the very type of guy that she first looked at in a tavern; dense, over-confident, and arrogant with a one track mind. They were the gullible ones, the ones that she could oh-so-easily seduce and tie up, then rob blind and leave. However, Dino seemed different. Almost the exact opposite. He was mellow, quiet, and polite. The exact type of man that she tended to fall for.

Zarah rubbed the back of her soft, green-haired head. She hated going into thought, for once she did she usually began to drift to other, unappealing subjects, as she just had. Here she was, just getting over her last mutt of a love, and already she was after another tail.

Oi, Zarah, you are too much... She thought to herself with a small smile.

She nibbled further at the raw meat as she followed the group into the mine shaft. She took very little interest in the dwarfs; normally she only paid attention to beings out of her range of taste if they seemed rich. However, she had no plans to steal from any soul in this group, seeing as how they had fed her and offered her a job with promised riches in the end, so she found little point in doing more than acknowledging their tiny existence.

She swallowed a bit of meat. "So, um, what exactly are we here for? I'm not really sure anyone has explained this to me yet.... And if you have, I'm sorry, but I was tuning you out, so I'll need another speech." She smiled cheerily.

[sweet_oblivion]

"Oh, right then lass." One of the dwarves spoke up. Dino had given up on trying to distinguish them, as in this cave he could hardly tell the difference between the dwarves and his other companions if it were not for their size. "We have found a rather pretty penny in valuable minerals farther down than anyone has mapped out so far in these mountains." The dwarf continued with a certain snicker in his voice. In his past few days in Chuck, Dino had learned this tone to be universal dwarves for dreams of wealth. As all the small men shared in this cheerful laugh, Dino took this time to continue on with the mission details.

"Unfortunately, this treasure trove is not the safest of places, and that is where the three of us come in. We make sure our friends here get these little carts filled to their hearts content and all the way back to that exit without getting disturbed." While they all were most likely wishing that no such thing would disturb them, Dino was rather anxious to meet with one of these subterranean beasts. Bisoce had said that many of the creatures they had run into were seldom seen in the main shafts and a few he did not recognize except maybe vague similarities to old miners tales long since forgotten to the majority. Bisoce was seemed somewhat of a skeptic compared to the others.

Dino noticed a bit of movement ahead of him taking place and began to lean forward to speak with who he believed to be Gasdol but was promptly stopped by the second dwarf whispering to the others to stay silent and be still. Genbu immediately stopped, as did the other two dwarves while Bisoce set down his lantern and disappeared into the shadows. His curiosity urged Dino to dismount the tortoise and take a look, but his common sense got the better of him, at least for now. These dwarves knew these mines best after all. After a few more seconds, the sound of metal striking stone rang out through the mine.

Dino was ready to jump into action but Gasdol waved him down. A horrid shrill wail soon followed after the sound of metal piercing flesh, and began to fade as the second noise was repeated numerous times. Once the cries ceased, the dwarf reappeared out of the shadows with something in his, in the process of removing his mining tool from its back. "We call this lil' creature here an Ylierwirm, a female. They get nasty during mating season, but these bigger ones started showing up after the cave in. There will be plenty more where we are headed, but as long as we stay away from their food we should be fine." Bisoce said, finally dislodging his pick axe from the creatures shell.

It was caterpillar like, though with a wicked maw that looked as if it were meant to dismember limbs. Dino got a better look at the creature when Bisoce tossed it took him before continuing on. It was pretty heavy, weighing a little over ten pounds, and was quite cold to the touch, though he found its blood to be very warm after poking at its wound. After a few seconds of examination, Dino tossed the creature into the back cart for further study later or possibly food if it was needed. One could never be too careful.

The rest of the trip was actually quite time, running into a swarm of some type of insect that flew right past the group without trouble just before coming to a stop. "This is our mark." One of the two leading dwarves said. Dino looked to see that the dwarves had turned to the wall to their left and one of the rear guards stepping up to it. In his hand he held a small object that seemed to be a necklace of some sort and whispered a few words in a language unknown to Dino. As the object in the dwarves hand glowed, so did the wall and the stone soon began to fall away into a passage.

"I'll close the passage behind us so, if anyone has cold feet you best get runnin'." The dwarf said, moving out of the way and letting Bisoce and Gasdol move on ahead. There was plenty of room down the tunnel so Dino decided to remove himself from Genbu and stretch his legs out a bit, while munching a piece of meat. The tortoise followed the other two and Dino walked beside its head, petting it affectionately. "From here on in, we will be running into some very dangerous beasts. It will take half an hour to make it to our destination and an estimated two more to mine all we can and make it back here. This place is almost like an underground valley, so things won’t be as cramped." The dwarf, Rihas possibly continued as they moved farther down into the earth. They soon reached an opening and then as they had been warned, a small subterranean valley, equipped with some form of bioluminescent plant life and even a few underground springs and geysers. "An entire ecosystem huh?" Dino turned to look at his two none dwarven companions. "Oh, this is going to be fun!"

[Lady Blackwell]

Max chuckled as he learned that green head's name was Zarah, and Purple head's name was Dino.

"Well i guess i have no reason to call you purple head and green head anymore." Max said as he turned to face them still holding on to the side of the cart. "And seeing as i don't want to be in a middle of a fight and get a hey you yelled at me. i am Maximilian cannon, former member of the bandit clan Antrio."

It went silent for a few minutes as Max watched the dull Grey and black colors of the wall go by, as he hung on. after a few moments the cart stopped and what max assumed to be Bisoce ran forward, a few moments later and metal on flesh and panicked screams filled the air. He saw Dino get ready to spring forward and laughed. as Bisoce returned from the dark with a creature, he listened to him speak and explain what they were, after all these things were going to be up ahead. He needed to learn about them.

after a few more moments of travel they came upon a wall that was magically sealed. One of the dwarfs opened it up and they passed through. once Max had gone through and looked around it was clear that it was going to be fun. the place was well lit, and open enough he no longer had to worry about fighting precisely, he could go reckless if he wanted.

Max cracked his shoulders and his neck as Dino spoke.

"it will be indeed" max said "and i don't want to have to save your behind more then once, we got that clear?" Max laughed as he playfully smacked Dino's shoulder and walked forward into the ecosystem.

[MinzigFrish]

Zarah perked a slim, perfect brow at the Bandits overly-abundant cockiness. Sure, that type of attitude was optimistic, but it was one of the few things that irked her. She hated a man who thought they were so big and bad, who was pure confidence and no skill; all talk, no action.

She reached to the cave of the ceiling, stretching heavily and wiggling her fingers, then weaved her fingers together and rested her hands on the back of her head. Zarah thumbed a strand of her hip-length hair absentmindedly, eying Max.

"Hm... Well, Mr. Dino, since it seems you and I are the only brawn on this team that actually possess a working brain as well," She glared at the bandit, "Shall we move alongside the cart, or should someone cover the back?"

Zarah's large, emerald eyes took in the scene in front of her; running crystalline water, odd animals and oversized insects that were all completely foreign to her eyes, lush, thriving plant life, yet all still within the confines of this crowded rock fortress. It was beautiful in its own little way.

She suddenly felt a rush of excitement for the first time since she had set foot in this dank place. This little experience may be worth it after all. She had no qualms with this, really; she was going to be rewarded after it was all over, and there were more than enough men around to be sure she wouldn't be hurt. The only problem she foresaw was that it was going to be too boring for her. She wanted excitement and thrills, whether sexual or fearful. Walking around and protecting a bunch of short, stubby, overage guys in a smelly dark mine wasn't her idea of a good time. Yet this place, this area brimming with life, made her want to just... do something. Okay, so she couldn't actually place her finger on what, but she would figure it out soon enough.

Zarah pulled her greener-than-green hair over her shoulder slowly, tugging at small strands impaatiently as she looked at Dino for his answer.

[sweet_oblivion]

[OOC: Sorry for the late responce you two, if you still intend upon continuing this i'd love to. Its been a while since i have been able to get on here but hopefully I can get back into the swing of things.]


It would not be too hard for Zarah and Maximilian to realize that Dino no longer recognized their existence, nor did he really remember how he had gotten here or what his purpose was. In truth, everyone around him could die a horrible death with their screams echoing throughout these subterranean walls for hours without him giving as much as a damn. As long as there was something undiscovered in this place Dino might as well have found nirvana.

"Do not mind the boy, he is a good and will help his fair share." Rihas spoke to the other two as Dino crouched to the ground and began examining a few plants and animals from afar. "Staying at a hands reach won’t make much of a difference if we end up havin' to deal with some of the nastier beasts. As long as we stay in sight out each other all should be fine. A large group clustered together might even prove more dangerous, something Dino already pointed out."

"So relax and lets all have some fun shall we?" Dino chimed, he had not really been paying attention but it was hard not to hear Rihas voice so he had caught most of it. The dwarves had already begun to unload their tools, examining the walls for any veins of ore. Dino almost seemed to mimic their actions though he was searching for something he considered much more valuable. "In the worst case scenario, Genbu will be with them and he can hold anything off long enough for at least one of us to reach them so, enjoy yourselves. Take in the sights, hunt something, go explore, whatever it is you like to do."

Almost on cue a number of loud squawks caught his attention. He smiled to the two other hired hands as if to say see you soon and began dashing off to follow the source of the noise. For Dino, this was as close to a paradise as the world could ever get.

[MinzigFrish]

Zarah gave a loud sigh. Okay, so it seems she was wrong. She was the only one with a brain. It was shameful to have expected any more though. Men were morons.

She blew a strand of silken hair from her eyes, then placed both hands on her lush, overly-large chest to adjust it. She was ready to shift forms of need be, but for now, she was fine with using humanic weapons. But which one?

Her fife, which held the ability to control men and beasts alike, wouldn't be a good choice, for it only had a certain range, and she wasn't sure how many beasts they were up against, nor how many there were. She would probably wind up freezing her allies and giving the enemies a perfect chance to attack.

That left her with her cards. A small smirk found its way to her as she drew a large, earthy brown card from the four-piece deck strapped to her leg.

"Ah, it's been awhile...." She kissed the picture of a beautiful, sleek puma. She would wait, just in case though. Summoning drew quite a bit of magic from the user, and it was best to conserve any mana possible in an unpredictable situation like this.