A Fleeting Desire

[streak101]

Letter to Banda "Nimbus" Utako of The House of Sora

Honored Member Nimbus, we of The House would like to congratulate you in completing one of the many missions vital to our organization, and for recruiting not just one engineer, but also a very talented scholar into our ranks, but there is another ordeal that we would appreciate your aid in.

House Ancestor Ol Sol is building a fleet of twelve battleships for a Scara Brae noble Allen Ziller. In the good spirit of Sora business practices Ol Sol is charging at a discount in exchange for two of the ships he's building. Unfortunately some marauders are finding it amusing to sabotage the drydock overnight, and raid it by day, and just when the ship builder was nearly done. Several laborers have already been killed, and the noble is seriously considering requesting a full refund. Find the marauders, and stop them. We'd prefer you'd apprehend them and leave them to the mercy of the noble, but if they present formidable force do what's needed.

If you are able to, please meet the Ancestor at the drydock. We realize that you will need assistance to complete this task, and so are sending two of our other honored members to assist you.
- Thank you,
Ancestors of The House


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One Day Later

Banda walked onto the drydock, a skip in his step, and whistling a tune, opposite of several workers here, who were frightened of being killed any minute. Banda quickly ceased his skipping, and whistling, noticing that not many of them enjoyed it. He hurried over to the only incomplete ship on the dock, recognizing the ancestor quickly, "Hello Ancestor Ol Sol, I came as quickly as I could, what's been going on?" The Ancestor shook his hand, "Yes well, you've read the letter. Some punks think they're funny ruining my ships, and killing my workmen! It's a complete disaster, every night I go to bed knowing they're ruining something, and every morning I must do a thorough check of every nook and cranny on those ships! Which take me most of my day, and now that we're almost done, the noble, Allen Ziller, is thinking about getting a refund! We certainly cannot accept that as an option." Banda shook his head, "No we cannot Ancestor, no we cannot. Tell you what, I was told that I would be given assistance on this mission, so you continue working on your ships, and I'll guard the drydock until my help arrives." Ken nodded, and returned to his ship.

Banda sighed, and sat down, it was useless to keep a vigilant eye this early in the morning, criminals committed crimes when it was convenient for them, and dawn isn't exactly 'raiding time', after sabotaging the same place in the morning. He reached into his bag, and pulled out the book Demetri had given him, it had a red cover, and the spine was still intact, but rather old. According to Demetri, this book would only show its skills when the holder was ready for them, as of yet, the only pages that could be read were the basics of sword fighting, and Banda re-read them over and over again, simply stating to himself that the basics were the most important skills one would ever need. He murmured the text as he read, he closed the book and sighed. "I hope this doesn't get dull." Banda put the book away, and laid down on the soft sand, it was warm and welcoming, he dozed off in a few seconds, tired from his travels.

[Valanthe]

Valanthe "Celeste" Xiloscent:

As proof of your loyalty, we request that you assist Banda "Nimbus" Utako and one other house member in the protection of House Ancestor ol sol's drydock in Scara Brae.


The next day saw Valanthe sailing into Scara Brae. She leaned on the rail enjoying her day. The ship pulled into port, and she stopped to make sure her antlers were still in place and her hides were straightened before disembarking. A Wolf beat her off, and raced back and forth on the docks clearly excited about being off the ship and on dry firm land.

Valanthe laughed.

"It isn't that bad moonbeam." Valanthe said with a grin.

"Speak for yourself." Moonbeam said with some panting and turning her head sideways.

She looked around, and spied the Drydock off a little ways. Valanthe and moonbeam walked up and spied a man dozing off in the drydock. Certainly this wasn't the same Banda she was supposed to be helping? She hoped not.

She sat down opposite of this snoozing man and just stared at him. Moonbeam did likewise, sitting by Valanthe.

[Seline]

Kara re-read the letter that had been handed to her:

Kara "Selene" Dragon Keeper,

Your help is needed in a problem that we are currently experiencing at Scara Brae. Please meet Banda "Nimbus" Utako at the drydock of House Ancestor Ol Sol for further instructions. You will also be working with another house member, and I hope that you will all be able to help the situation there.

The first thing that Kara had realized was that she would have to travel by sea to get there. The second thing was that on the journey over the sea, she had discovered that she got sea sick. As she had travelled from Dheathain it had not been a very easy journey.

"How can you be sea sick?" Alex ask fluttering down onto her shoulder as she walked down the ramp. "I found the gentle rocking motion to be very soothing. All that going back and forth, side to side, up and -."

Kara ran to the side of the dock and threw up into the sea, scrunching the note in her hand. "Mention that again and you are one dead dragon." She told him standing back up and wiping her mouth.

She finally found someone and asked for directions to the correct drydock and headed that way, Alex finally coming back to land on her shoulder. "I promise I won't mention it, except for the fact that you still need to get back by travelling the same way."

"Heh, I'll worry about that when the time comes. I think we're here." Kara said and looked at the sign. Pleased that it was the right one, she headed towards the main building, sweeping off her cloak and hooking it over her bag. It was warm and her cloak was making her a bit too hot.

As she walked she spotted a man sleeping and a woman sitting by him watching with a wolf next to her. Walking over to them she wondered if they were the people she was meant to be looking for.

[streak101]

Banda's eyes fluttered open, he stared at the sky for a few moments, allowing his mind to recall where he was, and why he was here. I must have dozed off... He rubbed his eyes, and stood up, "Ah!" Banda jumped back, and fell to the ground again. He clutched his chest, heart racing, a wolf was staring at him, from very close range, Banda looked to the left of the wolf, a woman sat there, her hair was the brightest white, and she wore what looked like antlers on her head. Banda raised an eyebrow, What in the world?

Banda then saw another woman, only her hair was a dark red, like the color of blood, she had green eyes, and mounted on her shoulder was a dragon. Pretty tiny for a dragon if you ask me. Banda stood up again, he stared at the wolf for a few seconds, then at the dragon, and then again at the wolf. After making certain that neither of which were going to jump out at him, he stared at the two women. These people could very much be the two strangest people I've ever seen on Althanas. A sudden pang went off in Banda's mind, he snapped his fingers. These must be the guys...er...girls I've been waiting for!

He shook off the sand, and rubbed the back of his head, smiling at the two women, "Sunny day out isn't it? Perfect day for a nap...but I digress," He cleared his throat, "My name is Banda Nimbus Utako, at least it is when dealing with House business. You two must be here to assist Ancestor Ol Sol as well, I've already met with the Ancestor, but you both should probably introduce yourselves, he's working on the ships over there, I'll take you to him."

He led the two ladies past the laborers, this time without his skip, and directly to the last of the ships, where Ol Sol was busy doing his final inspection before continuing the construction, "Ancestor, the other two House members are here," The Ancestor turned around, "Eh, Banda, you can just call me Ken, no need for titles." Banda nodded, "Uh right, Ken, the other two house members are here, this is..." Banda turned around to face the white haired woman, "Well, I don't know who this is really, sorry about that, what's your name?"

[Valanthe]

Moonbeam heard the woman with her Dragon approach first, and nudged Valanthe with her snout. Valanthe took in the woman's red hair and green eyes, she decided that she wasn't here to cause problems. Valanthe guessed she couldn't have seen more than 21 summers. Then the strange black haired man she was watching woke up.

He seemed surprised to see the two ladies and the creatures that traveled with them. Moonbeam simply sat down and looked at him, not sure if he was suddenly going to spring at her or not.

As he talked about how it was a nice day for a nap she found herself wondering just what she was doing here. Then she heard him mention that the house ancestor was working on the nearby ships.

Moonbeam was close by Valanthe's side, uncomfortable around so many strange humans. Even Valanthe was slightly uncomfortable. Then they reached the Ancestor.

"Ancestor, the other two House members are here," Banda started

The Ancestor turned around, "Eh, Banda, you can just call me Ken, no need for titles." Valanthe was mildly surprised, but hid it well. She was used to the few people with titles she used to know always wanting their formal titles used, no matter what.

"Uh right, Ken, the other two house members are here, this is..." Banda turned to face Valanthe, "Well, I don't know who this is really, sorry about that, what's your name?"

"My name is Valanthe Celeste Xiloscent, Celeste being my house title, and this is my sister, Moonbeam. We may not share the same blood, but in every other respect, we are sisters. Moonbeam's profession is that of a Wolf, and mine, is that of a Druidess. I am afraid I am unclear as to what is happening here." She said holding out her hand for a handshake. She turned her head to look at the ship around her, and her long white hair spilled over her shoulder revealing the many brightly colored beads and feathers in place at the ends of her hair.

[Seline]

Kara watched the man finally wake up and take notice of them, he seemed surprised at the sight of the wolf and of Alex, her dragon companion. After Banda had spoken, she stood there watching him for a moment trying to work him out, she failed and looked at the woman with the wolf. Kara couldn't even guess at her age as it was nearly impossible with her race, as for the relationship with the wolf, she didn't even want to guess.

As she followed the other two and the wolf off the beach, Alex was curled around her neck and if he could, she knew he would be hiding under her dark red hair. As they approached the last ship, she spotted Ancestor Ol Sol and they headed over to him. As he and Banda talked, Kara noted that he liked to be called Ken, although something in her would not allow her to do so.

After Valanthe introduced herself and Moonbeam, Kara bowed her head in respect. "I am Kara 'Selene' Dragon Keeper, and this is my companion, Alex." She absentmindedly reached up and scratched Alex behind his ear. "I would also like to know what's going on. The message I recieved was very short on details, is there any chance someone could explain exactly what it is we were asked here to do?"

[streak101]

Banda raised an eyebrow, Hmm...The House should really send the same letter to everyone next time. "Well, I guess I should explain things then." Banda leaned against the ship, Ol Sol tapped him on the shoulder, "Don't do that." Banda quickly removed himself from the ship, "Well, as you can see, Ken here is building a number of ships for one of the nobles on the island named Allen Ziller. He's using the original House discount, getting two ships for building twelve. He's almost finish as you can see," Banda pointed towards the ships, "But raiders have started sabotaging his ships at night, and raiding the drydock in the morning, they've even killed some of the workers. We were sent here to find the maruaders, and stop them. The House wants us to capture the maruaders, and bring them to Allen, but if we must, we may kill them."

Banda paused for a moment to allow the two women to absorb the information, "My idea is to guard the drydock until the mauraders decide to come back, if they show force, we will kill them, but maybe we can keep one alive, you know to tell us where their leader is, and capture said leader, then we can take him back to the noble, and Ol Sol can finish building his ships. What do you say?" He extended both hands to the ladies, welcoming a handshake.

Suddenly, off in the distance, shouts could be heard, Banda looked towards the coast line, men were charging towards the ships, wielding axes and swords. He turned to the two women, and pointed towards the raiders, "Let's see if your capable in battle, charge!" Banda sprinted forward, drawing boomerang, and sword. He came between ten yards of them, and threw his boomerang, it spinned towards the man in the front line, striking him in the chest, and buffeting him to the floor, dazing him.

There were only three of them now, Banda focused on a particular raider who was swinging a flail over his head, chasing one of the laborers. Banda ran past the other two, leaving them to the ladies, and swing at his target's legs. The man easily parried the attack with the flail, and pushed Banda backwards. The mercenary recovered, and charged at the man, sword aiming for his chest. The man's fliail might have saved him from a low-blow, but could not use it to save him from this attack, he fell to the ground, his body unmoving. Banda placed his foot on the corpse's back, "Sorry, but you were the one trying to kill a guy holding a little hammer, and that's just not right."

He looked behind him to see the progress of his companions, and noticed the man he had struck with his boomerang was still alive. As the man made an effort to get up, Banda kicked him in the ribs, the man groaned, and laid back down, Banda pointed his blade at the man's face, and picked up his boomerang, returning it to his sling, "Where do you think your going?"

[Valanthe]

Valanthe nodded quietly as Banda explained what was going on. She disliked raiders, they occasionally raided her Grove, but then she smiled as she remembered how her master sent his pet swarm of Africanized Killer Bees to stop them.

Then the raiders came and attacked the ships. Moonbeam stood in-front of her sister and snarled at the oncoming raiders. One shot an Arrow at Valanthe, but missed.

"wkmu gqgfuh, vutulv mu, mya akeh goql xu yg gfklu!" Valanthe said in Druidic.

Grey fog compressed itself into Moonbeam, who immediately tore into the raider attacking her sister.

"Gahh! Get it off!" yelled the man as Moonbeam tore into him. He drew a Dagger and struck moonbeam with it, but it bounced off harmlessly, as though it had hit stone.

"Moonbeam, down!" Valanthe called.

Moonbeam remained crouched and poised to attack. She kept her fangs barred and snarling viciously at the man, snapping at him whenever he moved. He was bleeding from the side and his arm.

In accordance with house wishes, he had been caught alive. They never asked for perfect health, only that he be caught alive.

OOC: What she said in Druidic was: Come Sister, Defend me, May your skin be as Stone!

[Seline]

Kara inclined her head to acknowledge that she understood what she had to do. It was a simple restrain and detain, then hand over to the noble. That was easy enough, but it was always easier to talk about than actually do. When Banda held out his hand, she was quite prepared to shake it, but then the raiders struck.

As she was the furthest away, she followed the others, drawing her sword as she went, heading for a man that had done the same. This was what she liked, the thrill of the fight.

The raider slowed down and Kara did as well. In that instant, she knew that this was not going to be an easy fight. This guy knew what he was doing and was no novice with a sword. His body was like that of a trained swordfighter, his thick brown hair was cut short and his eyes betrayed the blood that he had spilled over the course of his life. He had the look of a man that had seen a few battles, but was still blood thirsty for more. He would not be easy to bring down alive.

She twirled her sword once and looked the man in the eyes. "So, are you going to come quietly, or am I going to have to force you?" She asked politely.

He obviously took that as a sign of weakness, which is what Kara had been hoping for. As their blades clashed she wasn't completely ready for the force behind it and staggered slightly, but she was completely prepared the second time the sword swung, and seemed to take the man by surprise with her strength, his muscles rippling with the effort to hold her back.

She pushed him back and made a sweeping motion aimed at his legs, which he batted aside and made a swing at her throat. This was a fatal mistake. They seemed to clash swords for hours, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes as Kara's temper got the better of her.

She knew that there was no way this man was going to be taken alive, and she noticed out of the corner of her eye while dodging a swing that the others had managed to take theirs alive. "Two out of three is better than none," she said under her breath.

She found his weakness, he had a tendancy to hold his sword up above his head for a second too long and she slipped her sword through his chest, his sword clattering onto the ground behind him.

As the realization dawned on his face, Kara smiled. "Never underestimate a woman with a sword. Especially a redhead." She withdrew her sword and watched as the raider sunk to his knees, the blood draining from him. He gave her one last look as his eyes clouded over and he fell down dead.

It was a moment before she could get her temper under control and she looked over at the others. "Sorry about that, there was no way he was going to let himself be taken."

[streak101]

Banda grimaced, it was a brutal killing, but what was done was done, and now they had something to squeeze information out of, Banda faced his attention to the two captured raiders, who stared at him with spite, he dragged them next to each other, and sat down in front of them, "Do you know how much trouble you've caused? They had to send me, and these two beautiful women to capture you, and the most embarrassing part on your part, is that it only took us three to take down this little group you had."

One of the men, kicked up sand, "Who are you? Our father? Go to hell!" He spat on the ground, and kicked up more sand. Banda kicked sand back, it entered the man's eyes, irritating him, "Now, your going to tell me where the 'mastermind' behind all these raidings is, understood?" The men laughed, "Ha! You? Make us tell you where he is? Good luck!" Banda smacked the man's face with the flat end of his blade, and did the same to the other, "Your not very smart are you? You've already told me it was a man, now..." Banda held the man's face to his with his sword, "Either you tell me, or I kill you." The man cackled, "No, no you won't kill me, your supposed to capture me remember? If you kill me, it's hopeless! We'll be here all night you stupid fool!"

Banda let out a growl, and swung his blade through the man's abdomen, his victim shook violently, and coughed up blood on Banda's sword, shortly after, his face turned pale, and Banda retracted the blade, allowing the body to fall to the ground in a bloody mess. Banda pointed his bloodied blade to the other man, who was now shaking in fear, "I'm sure you don't want to meet your friend in hell do you? Tell me where your leader is!" The man studdered for a few seconds, and began talking.

"To the west of the coastline, th-there's a c-camp there, our l-leader is there, planning our n-next attack." Banda sheathed his sword, "Get out of here, if I see your face again while I'm here, I'll kill you on sight." The man scrambled to get up, and ran to the east, as far away from Banda as possible. He turned to the two women, "Well, I guess we got our information one way or another, to the west then!" Banda withdrew his sword, cleaned it in the water, and began walking along the shore, "Just so you know, when the raiders at the camp find that their men haven't returned, they'll send others to find out what happened, we can't afford anyone to find out, so we'll have to eliminate anyone that attacks us, of course, we could incapacitate them as well, it's not like I want to kill some many things in one day..." He ranted on.

[Valanthe]

Valanthe stood by silently as Banda questioned the men. She was about to suggust throwing one overboard, when he stabbed one and killed him. Right as she was going to suggust a truth serum, the other one spilled the beans.

"Well, I guess we got our information one way or another, to the west then!" Banda withdrew his sword, cleaned it in the water, and began walking along the shore, "Just so you know, when the raiders at the camp find that their men haven't returned, they'll send others to find out what happened, we can't afford anyone to find out, so we'll have to eliminate anyone that attacks us, of course, we could incapacitate them as well, it's not like I want to kill some many things in one day..." He ranted on.

"Banda, peace. We understand, you do not need to endlessly chatter so. We will do what we must to succeed. I'm pretty sure that as long as we capture the main man behind this, and possibly a few of his top cronies everything will be ok." Valanthe said.

[streak101]

Banda nodded without turning around. The mercenary sighed, and trailed off in thought, brainstorming on how to handle his mission. He was always a little straight-forward with his strategy, simply walking into a fight. When in he was in the army, Banda could remember a day when he almost walked into a deathtrap. Enetrad had held him back, as Banda struggled to break free and charge into battle. His eyes grew wide when the soldier in front of him was impaled on several spikes that had risen from the ground.

Since then, Banda had played out every scenario in his head, thinking of every death, and every escape route. His thoughts were very vague as he had no sense of what to expect except for a large group of men, and women bent on killing them. He shook his head, "Let's quicken our pace before they start sending their men at us."

At that moment, an arrow wizzed through the air, and struck Banda in the right shoulder, he screamed in pain, "What the hell!?" Another arrow, this one larger, wizzed into his other shoulder, knocking him down. Banda pulled off the shorter arrow, and reached out to Valanthe, and Kara but the red-haired woman was nowhere to be found, "Archers! Take them out!" He looked over to a cliff to the right of them, there were three men positioned on them, slinging their next round of arrows.


He took his boomerang from the sling. Banda looked for a piece of cover, there was a small group of submerged rocks near the shore. He quickly crawled behind it. With a quick flick of his wrist, Banda threw the boomerang towards the direction of the archers. He called out to Valanthe, "Over here! Take cover!"

[Valanthe]

Valanthe sighed after he nodded. She wondered how this mission was going to turn out. She had never really worked with other people before, but then, she had never been in this sort of a situation before either.

She smiled and simply listened to the sounds around her: Birds chirping in the distance, the ocean crashing on the beach, the whistle of arrows sailing through the air. When she heard that she snapped to attention, and noticed Banda had wounds.

Moonbeam crouched in front of Valanthe and snarled at the archers. Valanthe drew her bow and knocked an arrow, she fired an arrow into the group of archers, but had no time to see the results as she dived for where Banda was hidden.

"your hurt!" She exclaimed as she drew another Arrow. Moonbeam was beside Valanthe.

She rose up and fired again, but ducked before she could see the results.

[streak101]

Valanthe ducked under the rocks, nearly avoided an arrow. Then she herself, drew a bow out and returned fire. Banda looked over to his wounded shoulder, the arrow was nearly tearing through it. He took in a deep breath, and with a look of great distress, pulled the arrow out. Blood was escaping his wound rapidly, Banda untied his bandana and tied it over his shoulder tightly. The bleeding slowed down, and eventually stopped.

Banda looked over to Valanthe, hearing for the men to begin firing again. There was complete silence, Banda raised an eyebrow, "You couldn't have killed them could you?" Banda leaned over to the left of the rocks to view the cliffs. Sure enough there were still two men alive, Banda ducked back under the rock, dodging an arrow. Banda was unarmed, and Valanthe certainly couldn't take down both of the archers without getting injured in the process. He tried to think of a way out of it, looking at his surroundings.

Banda snapped his fingers, he drew his sword, and gripped the handle backwards, holding it like a dagger. He turned to Valanthe, "I want you, on the count of three, to fire an arrow on the man on the right, I'll hit the man on the left." Without waiting for an answer, Banda leaned on the rock, and carefully slide to the left, "1...2...3!" Banda jumped out from under the rock and threw his blade at the cliffs.

With a stroke of luck, it punctured the man's leg, and he fell off the cliff head first, cracking his neck at the bottom. Banda turned to Valanthe again, to make sure she was alright.

[Valanthe]

"Hey, I can only do so much at a time. I'm a druidess, not a force of nature, not quite that strong yet." Valanthe snapped. she drew another arrow.

She wondered if maybe she could simply collapse the cliff beneath them, but then decided against it. The ground beneath them felt just unstable enough to go with it. She thought maube she could summon up a strong gust of wind and blow them out to sea, but, no, it would be the last thing she did for the day.

She nodded as Banda told her to hit the man on the right. she raised up, aimed and fired. She smiled as the arrow found its mark in the man's neck. He stumbled backwards, clutching at the arrow, fell off the cliff, and died as he hit the rocks below.

"Have a nice trip, see you next fall!" Valanthe called cheerfully to the falling men.

[streak101]

Valanthe was more than alright, in fact, she had hit her target, and the both of them eliminated their foes. He gasped for air, and stared up at the sky, "Not making this easy for me are you?" he called towards the gods in the heavens.

Banda walked over to his victim and yanked the blade out of the leg. He cleaned the sword in the water again. He searched for his boomerang in the sand, curious as to whether it was still perched up on the cliff, inserted into the third archer's wound. He walked around the bottom of the cliff, and luckily enough, the boomerang was laying there, "It must have recoiled off the cliff after it hit him." Banda said to himself. He put the boomerang back into its sling and turned to Valanthe.

"Your pretty good with that bow, how many arrows do you still have?" Banda asked. He grabbed the two bodies and dragged them to the shoreline where he hid them behind the rocks, anyone travelling from the raider's camp won't see them unless they purposedly looked behind the rocks. The third man had not fallen from the cliff and was still lying there, his boot hanging off the edge, "Nothing we can do about that from here, let's keep going." He said and continued walking west.

[Valanthe]

"Even a beginner with no experience can luck out and hit a bullz-eye on his very first shot. Although I am better than the average person with a bow, especially a long bow, I am not entirely certain I could make that shot again. As for arrows, I have Twelve." Valanthe said. She walked over and investigated the third bowman that had not fallen off the cliff.

"Scratch that, counting the eight usable arrows I found on this guy, I have twenty. I'm fairly certain I'll have need of these in the future." Valanthe said.

She snapped her fingers and Moonbeam trotted over to her side.

She had been following Banda along lost in her own thoughts, not really paying attention to her surroundings, when she felt something was wrong with the area. It was so strong it forced her to retreat several yards and get sick loudly all over a nearby bush.

"Stop!" She yelled at Banda, and then got sick again. When she regained control of herself she looked up and into the area ahead.

"Oh no! Blighters! Evil Druids who harm nature rather than help it. Be careful!" She warned.

Indeed, the wood was completly dead. Banda, Moonbeam, and Valanthe were the only three living things in sight. No creature stirred or made a sound, the trees were dead and stripped of life, dry to the point of being easily set aflame, the ground was brown and hard, even the air smelled foul and the light looked dirty here. Nearby a small pond that was once rich with fish and beautiful to behold was now dank, stagnant, and murky. Moonbeam was whimpering, niether she, nor Valanthe wanted to be here.

An uncomfortable feeling filled the air.

"Their around here somewhere, I can feel them. Can't you? Its like having your insides squeezed out." she said.

What Valanthe didn't know, was that in less than one minute, the very blighters responsible for this dead section of wood would attack.

[streak101]

Banda shrugged off the feeling although it soon returned. The area around them had changed suddenly, from a sunny beach to what looked more like a dirty marsh. Valanthe addressed the problem as the cause of Blighters, who were essentially the opposite of Druids. The thought of such a person confused Banda, but regardless he kept on a eye for them.

Banda paned the area searching for someone unfamiliar. He spotted a man dressed in a large robe behind a crumbling rock, "He's over there!" The man quickly retreated behind the rock, and in a few seconds two others both dressed in black robes jumped from behind the rock with him. Banda withdrew his boomerang, and threw it towards them. The man he spotted earlier deflected it with some sort of magic, the boomerang turning as dead looking as the the palm trees around them.

Banda withdrew his sword, swinging it in front of him, a sign that meant he was ready for battle. The man faced him, a solemn expression on his face, a soft whisper escaping his lips. Without hesitation, Banda charged forward at the man, "Sly Striker!" Banda closed his eyes as he ran, he focused on his training and his meditation. When he opened his eyes, the world slowed down before Banda. As always, his Sly Striker ability will help him gain the advantage.

He cleared the distance between him and his opponent, the blighter watching Banda would only see him as a quick blur. Banda swung his sword once, aiming at the blighter's forearms, and swung again at his legs. His first strike nearly lopped off his arms, and his second strike bounced off the ground, his blade clashing against the ground.

Regardless, Banda interrupted the blighter's spell, and the man collapsed to the ground, his blood draining from his body. Banda shuddered, but he felt a small amount of the strange feeling leave his body. He picked up his boomerang, the wood also partially revived. He ran to Valanthe's aid.

[Valanthe]

The other two Blighters watched as their friend died.

"JUAK!" Yelled one blighter. He put his hands together and brought them apart, a line of red energy coursed between them. From this energy came a horrible shrieking sound that shattered the silence like a mace going through glass.

It was an attack of sonic energy. The two blighters were immune, but that was all. Valanthe could feel her head trying to explode. Blood trickled out of her ears. Moonbeam was on the ground with her paws over her ears, and she imagined Banada wasn't faring much better.

"NO!" Valanthe screamed, and she directed the rest of the energy left in her body into her fist and punched the ground, from beneath the Blighter using the sonic attack, a fist made of dirt punched upward with great force, and the man was launched into the air, as though from a catapult. When he fell, his attack was silenced forever as he was impaled on the top of a dead tree.

Valanthe stood.

"So, you managed to kill Juak and Kauj, my twin brothers. Now that both of you are to worn to continue fighting, I shall torture you both, with a slow, agonising death." The man said.

Valanthe was horrified, not by what the man said, but by what she didn't hear. She saw him speaking, but couldn't hear his words.

"OH NO! I'VE GONE DEAF!" Valanthe cried. The remaining blighter only laughed.

He leaped away, and blew at them, a clough issued forth from his lips, black, and full of death.

"May your rot be slow and painful." The man said. Which indeed what the attack was, an infectus rot disease that ate the flesh and drank the blood. Moonbeam didn't trust the cloud and knocked Valanthe out of the way, running around it and after the man. She pounced on him without any warning at all. The man fought, but had used all his energy in the rot spell.

With a sickening crunching and snapping, Moonbeam ripped the Blighters throat out, but it tasted awful so she spit it out.

With the Blighters death the cloud disappated, seconds before reaching Valanthe and Banda.

Life returned to the forest, but only slightly. No matter how weak a Blighter was, a blighted forest, was still a blighted forest, and this blight was a mile in circumfrence.

"In Forty or Fifty years, this forest will be healthy again, unless druids stronger than I come to care for it." Valanthe said.

She turned to Banda.

"It is like a wound, or disease. They will heal on their own, the body is good at healing itself, but with the care and expertise of a healer, a wound or disease is healed even better, and quicker. So it is with a blight." She said. Moonbeam meanwhile, had disappeared.

Minutes later while Valanthe was trying in vain to simply will her hearing bck, moonbeam returned.

Even Banda could tell what she wanted, her actions were obvious. There was a gathering of people not far off, and with the way she trotted off in a direction and then returned, it was easy to tell in what general direction they were.

"She says she smells many wolfs like us not too far away on the other side of the dead woods. In other words, I think she found our goal, and if she could safely get there and come back, then those blighters must have been scouts for the camp. If we hurry we can get there at the start of nightfall and take advantage of this newly made hole in their defences." Valanthe said.

[streak101]

Banda nodded, not daring to open his mouth on the count of that he might heave from the pain in his stomach. He sheathed his blade in it's hilt and pressed his finger on his lips, "Keep quiet."

They walked through the woods, the decaying trees surrounding them like children surrounding a merchant selling sweets. Banda's stomach getting worse as they ventured deeper in. He clenched it tightly as they moved through the middle of the forest, the sun setting down to the right of them.

They reached the outskirts of the forest at nightfall as Moonbeam had said. They could see the raiders' camp from the top of the forest ground, there was a large fire and around it were several of the bandits. Surrounding that were three large cabins being used like barracks. The largest of the threewas decorated elaborately with treasures; this was most likely where their leader was spending the night.

Banda saw only three ways of reaching the camp. The direct route was the foot beaten path that lead to the camp ground's main entrance. Directly in front of the group was a land slide of dirt, this lead down to the right side of the camp ground, this route was covered by one of the cabins, and would most likely be a choice place for cover. The last way, possibly the longest, required that the group walk to the east until they reached the beach, and then have them walk up behind the leader's cabin, this would probably give them an easy way in and out.

If all three of us go through the same spot, we'll be hit with a full force.

Banda turned to Valanthe and Moonbeam, "There's three ways we can do this, through the main gate, directly forward behind the cabin, or along the forest, then through the beach behind the leader's quarters. We might have to split up, I'll go along the forest, you can go directly forward behind the cabin," Banda looked down at Moonbeam, "Think she could lure the henchmen away from the fire? We only need them gone and we can avoid the other lackies, as long as we get the leader and a couple of his higher-ups out of here silently."

[Valanthe]

Valanthe nodded as Banda outlined the plan. Fortunatly, the hearing loss she had suffured earlier was only temporary. She wasn't quite up to her normal abilities, but then she figured it would take awhile. She could hear well enough to hear Banda though.

She turned to moonbeam and told her her part of the plan. Moonbeam growled her displeasure at being used for bait, but otherwise went with it.

If they were going to all strike at once, then they had best get a move on, Banda especially because he would have to go the farthest.
----------------------------

Moonbeam hid in the darkness just outside of Camp, beneath a bush. She could see Valanthe hiding behind a cabin waiting to go. Valanthe had decided to delay for a few minutes to give Banda time to get ready. If only she had the strength left to call in a Fog bank, but, she didn't. She readied her arrows, and silently motioned for Moonbeam to go.

Moonbeam prowled into camp, her ears were perked up, and her tail was wagging, as though she were some common dog wanting to play.

One of the guards, a rather inept fellow named Enias with too much brawn and not enough brains, came over to pet her. As he reached out, she leapt and ripped his throat out. She landed, ears laid flat against her head, snarling like a mad creature, tail held erect and still. She was hunched low to the ground ready for a fight.

The rest of the guards, five in all, leapt from their positions and chased moonbeam out of camp and into the forest.

Valanthe readied an arrow in her bow, and crept over to the tent. She could hear voices inside laughing about moonbeam and how Enias deserved his fate. She looked over at Enias's body. He was dead by now, having gone through convulsions as the rest chased her friend and companion into the forest.

Now was the time to strike, but she would let Banda have the honor of first strike.

[streak101]

As they went their seperate ways, Banda sprinted through the forest, running behind a line of trees as cover. He was too far from the men around the fire to be seen or heard in the forest which was a huge benefit as his feet snapped twigs, and crunched leaves. He slid down the slope of dirt onto the beach. Banda crept directly behind the large cabin, being careful to lift his feet and not kick any sand about.

To his surprise, this cabin had a back door, probably to allow the dweller a scenic view, or in this case, an escape route by sea. There was a commotion going on only several feet away from where Banda was standing, Moonbeam must have began the diversion. He waited for the ruckus to die down, the shouts of the men trailing off ahead of them. Valanthe must already be in place.

Banda drew his boomerang from its sling, another distraction that will prove useful. He lobbed it over the cabin roof, hoping it would land just a few inches from the door. He peeked through the window of the cabin, there were three men. One of them was dressed in a little more elaborate clothing than the other two, Banda inferred that this was their leader. The three men heard the boomerang land outside their door, the boomerang imitating a thud such as when a man falls to the ground. They exited their cabin cautiously, one of the leader's henchmen picking up the boomerang.

Banda quietly entered the cabin, leaving the door ajar to raise more suspicion, he hid in a wardrobe, the piece of furniture smelling like sweat and fungi. The next part was up to Valanthe.

[Seline]

Kara had by no means abandoned her comrades. While Banda had begun questioning the men, she had spotted something out of the corner of her eye and gone to investigate. She noticed someone hiding among the various things on the dock, and as she got nearer, Alex, who had flown on ahead of her pointed out two others hiding.

As she waked slowly to wards them, and came close, all three emerged and surrounded her, laughing as they circled her. All of them were carrying swords and assorted daggers.

"You shouldn't have come alone Toots." said one of the men, who had short dirty blond hair, brown eyes and what was unmistakably a beer belly. He seemed to be in charge of the small group.

"Toots?" Kara asked unsheathing her sword. Alex was circling above waiting for a chance to help her if he could.

"Put it away Babe and we'll let you walk away. Our Boss wants you all dead, but hey, I'm a givin' kinda guy. Maybe you can repay me in kind." He said, smiling as he eyed her, first her breasts, drifting slowly down then back up her body.

Kara was fuming, but she let none of it show on her face. She lowered her sword so that the tip dragged along the ground as she slowly walked over to him, his fellow men walking in front of her to get a better look. She got very close and distracted the men by raising her skirt very slowly with the hilt of her sword. Quickly she retrieved her dagger which was tucked into the back of her skirt, and slit the fat man's throat while bringing up her sword and cutting into the chest of another. Her back was facing the third man and she reversed grip on the sword, pushed her sword backward, and was satisfied when the momentum of both her sword and the third man's sudden charge impaled him.

As she was pulling out her sword from his chest, the second man had recovered enough to take a swing at her with the sword he, or the guy who’s throat she had cut, had dropped on the ground, which she was not fast enough to block, it made a gash on her left arm from her shoulder to the middle of her upper arm. She pushed the pain away to the back of her mind, just in time to bring her sword up to block the second swing, which had been aimed at her throat.

"What's you're problem?" The guy asked. "Just stop building and we'll go away. As long as you continue to build ships for Ziller, we'll keep coming and wont stop until you loose the contract or all you're people are dead, whichever comes first."

Kara smiled. "After today's little performance, I'm guessing your 'Boss' will run out of men long before we do." Holding her sword loosely she began to swirl it around, making it into a blur of red, muttering under her breath to activate the charm she had had placed on it. Watching closely for an opening she started to circle him and soon found an opening under his defences and sunk her sword between his ribs. She drove the blade in deep and held her face a few inches from his. "When you see your friend with the slit throat, tell him from me that no one calls me 'Toots' or 'Babe' and lives to tell the tale, especially when he calls me both."

She watched as blood bubbled at the corners of his mouth and pulled out her sword. Once she was satisfied that all three were dead, she started back towards where she had left the others, Alex settled on her shoulder. Only to find they were not there, one of the two men they had captured was dead, and three other bodies were nearby, two having fallen off a nearby cliff.

"Great, just great, you leave them alone for five minutes, they kill people and run off." She looked around, but could not see them, so she decided to head in the direction of the forest. "Alex?"

"What?" The small dragon replied.

"I need you to go and see if you can find either Banda, Valanthe or both."

"In the woods?"

"Where did you think I meant? The open sea?"

"Sheesh, sarcasm doesn't suit you, you know." He then took off and headed in.

Kara headed into the woods and started looking for signs that people had come this way, she was lucky enough to find two human set of prints and a third belonging to a canine which she guessed was Moonbeam. “Make it a little easier why don’t you.”

Kara followed the clear trail and soon Alex rejoined her, taking his normal perch on her shoulder. He filled her in on the plan that the others were going to do.

"Nice of them to wait for me. Their going to have all the fun. Well, I guess I have the most fun and go in the main gate." She unsheathed her sword and started off at a run, hoping to get there before it was all over.

As she arrived she saw Moonbeam being chased away and chuckled to herself. "Alex, go and find Banda, give him this note, as there is no way he can understand you."

She scribbled a small note on a scrap of paper she had in her bag. It read:

'Coming in main gate.
Will draw lackies away. You get leader.
Kara.

Alex squeezed her shoulder to show his understanding as she rolled the note and placed it securely in his claw. He took off and headed away.

Kara pulled out her sword and headed towards the main gate, ready to fight anyone who came her way.

Alex saw Banda as he was heading inside and just managed to get in before he shut the door, and the same as he went inside the wardrobe. He then floated down in front of Banda's face, holding out the note as shouts could be heard outside as Kara was spotted.

[streak101]

Banda blicked several times as the small dragon fluttered up and down in the air in front of his face. I remember you! Banda thought, not wanting to speak and possibly give away where he was. He took the small scroll from the dragon and read it to himself, he grinned with amusement. Alright, we'll mix it up a little. Banda drew his shield from his back. He pat the dragon on the head, and risked a whisper, "Good job." Banda heard shouting from outside, he stiffled a laugh, Let the games begin!

He pressed his ear to the side of the wardrobe, their voices were muffled, but it was obvious that Kara had been seen at the main gate. He heard the skattering of dry sand, Banda took it as a sign that the men were running after her, he then pressed his ear harder to the wardrobe. Like all those in charge usually do, the leader had sent his two remaining lackeys to go after Kara - or at least that was what Banda inferred. He could hear the man walking back towards the cabin, Banda took a deep breath.

He tuned out the fluttering of the dragon behind him, focusing only on the advancing footsteps. It would have to be quick and perfectly timed, if he did it too early he would miss and if he did it too late the man will recover too quickly. The leader was so close to him that his heavy breathing could be heard, Now! Banda kicked the wardrobe door open, it slammed into the man's face, and hes staggered backwards towards the door. Banda jumped out of the wardrobe and grabbed the man by the neck with his free arm before he could to the ground, "Got you!"

Banda turned to the small dragon, "Tell Kara that I've got him, and to wait for me back at the outskirts of the forest and to keep one guy alive." The dragon was gone in a flash, whether it understood Banda or not was another question.

The man attempted to break free of Banda's grip on him, but it was hopeless and he began to swear and shout at the mercenary, "Do you think you can get away with this? There are others than me! Better, more skilled people that can kill you in a heartbeat! They'll avenge me and come after Ziller! They'll come after you!" Banda rolled his eyes, "I'm pretty sure Ziller will get the information he wants out of you or your friend, and pretty sure he'll find out where these 'others' are. Once he does, he'll hire people way more skilled than me to take them out, think about it, he can afford to buy those ships, how many mercenaries and soldiers d'you think he can buy?"

Banda laughed, "And you call yourself a leader!" Banda shield-banged the man on the forehead, he jerked to one side, and became still, incapacitated. Banda lifted him over his shoulder, picked up his boomerang, and moved as quickly as he could to the back of the cabin, and made his way through the forest, heading towards the decaying area where he and Valanthe had defeated the Bleaters.

[Seline]

Kara watched as the two men came running towards her. "Just the two of you? Oh, come on! That's all that's left? Two? I thought this was going to be difficult."

As they advanced on her, she swung her sword between them. "So. Who wants to go first? I'm not picky."

The smaller of the two men, who looked barely older than Kara, looked at the older man and received a nod to say he could go first. She smiled and said to herself, 'Just what I need. A warm up.' Literally a minute passed and he was on the floor with a hole in his chest. He hadn't taken a swing at her. He had simply raised his sword and paused for a moment thinking, and in that moment she had buried her sword in his chest.

Kara turned to the older man, and was just about to say something when Alex was flying fast towards her. "Banda's got him! Keep one alive and meet him at the edge of the forest!" he shouted.

She looked at the man standing in front of her. "Now. You have two choices. Come with me willingly, or, by force. Oh and by force, I mean with an injury that will be complete agony and you'll probably die from eventually, well I'll make sure you don't die until after you've been questioned. Your choice."

He spat at her and turned towards the forest and started to run. "Why do they run? They always run." She lifted her sword again ad raced after him. As he reached the first trees, she caught up with him and thrust her sword through his shoulder and into one of the trees, effectively pinning him, and he was screaming in agony. She stepped next to him. "Oh, shut up! I gave you a choice, you chose the hard way, so now you have to live with it. Stop moving and you won't start bleeding all over the place. If you move you will make the wound bigger and it will hurt a lot more than it does now."

"Lemme down!" He screamed.

"Not yet. I'll let you down in a minute. If I let you go before then and you try to get away from me again, I'll be forced to kill you. Do you really want that?"

The man pressed his face to the tree and whimpered quietly.

"Now that's better." Kara said, and searched him, removing anything and everything that could be used as a weapon, and put them into her bag, removing from it a long bandage which she wound around her arm, which was still bleeding, making sure it was tight. She then got out some more bandage and walked over to the guy. "Now remember when I pull this out, it's going to hurt really badly, but I'll put a dressing on it. However, you try to run, I'll ram my sword through the nearest thing I can reach that I know you can live without, and believe me, you wouldn't want to find out how that feels."

As she pulled out her sword and patched him up, he didn't make too much noise, and once that was done she bound his hands. "Now we have to move. We have to meet up with a friend of mine and your leader. Move."

They moved slowly and at last they were headed for th outskirts. Not once did he try to run away, as he hung his head in defeat.

[streak101]

This part of the forest had healed slightly, but the awkward feeling in Banda's stomach returned the moment he entered the deceased area. The blighters were still there, their bodies contributing to the horrible stench and decay, Banda reluctantly buried the bodies. He said a small prayer, unsure of whether it was the appropriate thing to do, "May the gods be with you men." He took a deep breath, trying to ignore the awful stench in the air.

As he picked up the subdued leader, Kara came into view, the small dragon perched on her shoulder and one of the raider's behind her. He laughed at the man, "You resisted didn't you?" He said as he pointed to the wounded shoulder. The man lowered his head, mumbling something inaudible. Banda shrugged, "Hey, you gotta know when your beat, 'cus if you don't..." Banda slid his index finger across his neck.

He looked around, there was no sign of Valanthe or Moonbeam. Regardless, they had to get back to Ken, "Come on, we can't wait for the other two. They might have already gone ahead anyways." He began to trod off back to the dry dock and sighed, there was always someone missing...

Banda looked up at the sky, the Moon had reached its highest point, Ol Sol was probably sleeping, "Come on then."

[streak101]

Banda dragged the man up to the double doors of the large home that sat overlooking the dry dock and the large ships, he had gotten tired of carrying the man on his back. Speaking of whom, the unconscious leader woke up along the way, and one look at Kara and his defeated henchmen behind her(along with a powerful kick in the ribs after trying to escape from Banda), he knew there was no use anymore.

Valanthe and Moonbeam where nowhere to be found. Banda shook his head, "I find two of them and then the other pair disappear from the face of the Earth..." He looked behind him at Kara, the young woman was occupied with something else and seemed to be in her own thoughts. Banda wondered how she met such a rare creature and how she befriended it. He laughed to himself, and knocked on the door knocker, it echoed through the inside of the mansion.

"Who is there?" A voice from the inside called out. Banda cleared his throat, "This is Nimbus Utako, representative of the House of Sora. We apologize for the delay, but we have cleared the place of raiders, you had a nasty raider nest practically in your backyard," He laughed, "We brought along the leader of the raiders and one of his henchmen, do you need them?"

The door opened a man dressed in a prestige outfit stood face to face with Banda, it was unmistakenable that this was Ziller himself, "Yes, my men will bound them until I can question them, these men are going to pay for all the damages they've caused even if it costs them their lives." Three men left the home and tied up the hands of the raiders and them tied a a seven foot long rope between the two of them. They began to wale over their death, Banda sighed.

"Mister Ziller, the House of Sora believes in peace and would rather see these men live the rest of their days in the prisons than be killed," The noble raised an eyebrow, "Give me one good reason." Banda already knew his reply before Ziller even spoke, "Why let death be quick and painless? When it can be slow, dreadful, and miserable? That my good sir, is my opinion." This was a lie, but in order to save the lives of these fools he would need to get on Ziller's good side.

The noble nodded, "True...Sir Nimbus, I like you, wish I had men like you around here more often. Alright then, they will pay off the damages by working here from now on. Any damages to the House will be paid for by them as well."

Banda grinned, he leaned towards the raid leader, "Even the evil deserve to live, if not just to slow the birth of a new one." He shook Ziller's hand, "Ancestor Ol Sol is almost done with your ships, and our previous discount is still in affect, you have yourself a good day, Sir Ziller." The noble bowed and his men took the raiders into his home, "The House of Sora is always welcome in my home Nimbus. May the House prosper." He closed the door behind him.

Banda turned around to Kara, "Alright, now just to tell the Ancestor!" They trodded down to the dry docks, where Ken sat there with a big grin on his face, "Ol Sol! We've apprehended the men wreaking havoc on your work!" The ancestor laughed, "Indeed you did! Banda! You are something else! You, Valanthe, and Kara are ideal House members! My hats off to you!" Banda beamed, "I'm glad you think so sir," The ancestor turned to resume his work.

Banda laughed heartily, "So uh...I can go rest now right?" He collapsed onto the warm sand, and dozed off the same way he had when he had arrived, exhausted, and bored out of his mind.

((Spoils: The House of Sora obtains two of the ships that are being built, and five-hundred gold for their own damages caused by the raiders. Banda receives nothing.))

[AdventWings]

Initially, this was going to be a rather quick summary. As it turned out, I ended up writing a lot for you three to read. ^_^;

OK, onwards to the Judgment!

Story

Continuity - 6

Everyone had a reason and everyone knew why they were involved. Good job on knowing your roles in this story.

Setting - 4

Most of the environment surrounding your story was pushed back to mere imagery with not much interaction overall. At some points, due to ambiguous narration (which is quite different from literary ambiguation) and interaction, it became uncertain how the surrounding actually is.

Pacing - 3

Pacing was literally killed from the narration backloop from Seline and Valanthe, most notably after Post #5 onwards. What I am looking for is the transition between Post #9 to #10 and #20 to #21.

Writing Style

Mechanics - 5

Good command of English, but there are a few instances of run-ons, misspells and a missed a spacing between words. I won't nit-pick you on that, but make sure to read back and fix them once you find them.

Technique - 4

There were a lot of story-telling techniques employed, although their sub-par performance left me wanting more. This is mainly on the usage of secondary characters, such as the Raiders, Blighters, the "Boss" and even Ziller himself. All of them seemed to play too conveniently as plot devices and not as individual characters.

Clarity - 3

As if the Pacing wasn't killed by the loopback enough, it also mauled Clarity due to its "looping back" nature. Because of that, the concept of "passage of time" was warped and thus further confused the readers. Work on that a bit more, alright?

The Raiders seemed to be too convenient as a plot device than any real event or character, appearing as if on queue to move the story forward. Inclusion of the passage of time did not even come clearly until Post #26, by the time everything had already ended.

The Blighters were also an odd group, seeing as they had practically no role in the entire event besides being cannon fodder to the House members.

The "Boss" was even more of a wuss than an actual plot device. Sorry to butcher that, but it made the value of the story plummet like the Wallstreet stocks during the Great Depression.

Character

Dialogue - 4

Banda's words seemed a bit harsh for a young mercenary, but he had gone through a lot.

Valanthe came off as a bit too blunt, even for someone not accustomed to social gathering. Also too talkative for someone who had not seen much of the civilized world.

Action - 4

I'd sum it up to "too eager to kill" but that's just how I saw it portrayed in this story. Not only from Banda's actions, but also from Valanthe and Kara. True, that she seems almost possessed in combat, but it seems too convenient for the character.

Persona - 4

There was not much portrayal or development of the individual characters in this field, especially when it is dealing with so much death and injury. There need not be drastic implications, but minor ones that allow the characters to show their psyche is more than enough to give them some dimension.

Miscellaneous

Wild Card - 4

I was hyped when it started. In the end, it did not really deliver what it promised. I'm a bit disappointed, but you're on the right track.

FINAL SCORE – 41!

((Rewards + Spoils))

Banda receives 900 EXP. He finds that his sword and boomerang are fairly damaged and may need to be replaced soon.

Valanthe receives 500 EXP and lost half a quiver during an "accident" afterwards. She now has ten arrows left.

Seline receives 400 EXP and a small bag of gold from the guy she pinned to the tree, totaling about 50 GP in all. She also found out how dull her sword is after closer inspection.

The House of Sora receive the two ships they were promised - a pair of fine war galleons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:English_Galleon_Model.jpg)
built by the Ancestor Ol Sol. The House of Sora also receives 500 GP in compensations from damage by Raiders.

[Karuka]

EXP/GP added!