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[Lyon]

Telchi replaced Thalmir's sword in its sheath and heaved the unconscious man over his shoulder. He could feel Thalmir's injuries, and winced sympathetically. Those Shamblings are nasty beasts, he thought as he trudged back along his own trail, being as careful as he could so as not to strike Thalmir's head on any branches.

He reached the group fifteen minutes later: five times as long as it had taken him to reach Thalmir. Once there, he laid the unconscious man down on the grass. "He needs medical attention, fast," Telchi informed them.

[Luchiaros]

Devron bounded through the trees to catch up with the travelers, once he did he landed in their midst and raised his hands in a sign of peace

''I mean you no harm, in fact I'm hear to help you stay alive,'' he said ''We're not alone, some Ents have answered my call and are coming to help us, we must survive until they arrive.''

Drawing his sword he stood ready for battle, battle was something he hadn't done in a while and he hoped this wasn't his last day on earth.

[Lyon]

"All manner of people seem to be dropping in on us tonight," said Telchi, taking in the newcomer. "And if you don't mind me asking, where did you come from?"

[Phantom]

Alec saw the wounded man and heard Telchi say he needed medical attention. Alec frowned but chose to do something he normally would never do... heal someone. Alec walked to the man and looked down at him, his wounds were bad but not beyond Alec.

"I can heal him." Everyone looked a little apprehensively at Alec. "Could you all just give me a little space for a moment, it won't take long."

Alec kneeled down and began to run his hands over the wounds trying to find out which ones were the worst. He pulled out his bag of herbs and applied them to the wounds closing them as he went. After he was finished he sat back and wiped his face. "I think he will be fine now."

[Kamikaze_X]

All the while, as Telchi carried him over his shoulder, Thalmir drifted from the state of consciousness and unconsciousness. His vision was blurred, and he didn't know he was moaning whenever he was awake. After all, he was heavily bleeding, he had broken bones, and his body was a wreck. He could feel that they stopped moving, when he found himself lying on the ground. Even though he was unable to see what was happened, semi-consciously, he could feel himself start to regain his strength. Within, his bones started to reattach and heal themselves, and his gashes and cuts close. His bleeding had stopped, which he was quite happy about... it's too bad he couldn't show that.

He felt himself drift off into a deep sleep...

~~~

Thalmir awoke from his slumber. He felt refreshed, more lively than he had ever been before. He started to think of what happened before.. it seemed as those whatever happened within that forest was naught but a dream. Looking around, he found his vision to de-cloud.. he finally looked around with clear vision. That's of course, when he noticed the strange new faces of the people looking down on him.

He tried to talk, but his throat was dry. Feeling the power within that he had finally regained, no doubt because of his sleep, and because of whomever healed him. With one hand, he moved it slowly over the earth, gathering a thin stream of water into his palm. He moved his palm over his mouth, letting the stream go down his throat happily. He drank until he could no longer feel the dryness in his mouth. "Thank goodness for the skills in elemental manipulation", Thalmir told himself.

Finally, Thalmir started to sit up, he was soar, but it wasn't anything too bad. He rubbed his head in confusion and looked to the people around him. He bowed in respect to all of them, as strained as it was to do so.

"I thank you all for helping me.. I'm afraid that without you guys, I probably would have met with a terrible fate. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Thalmir." Thalmir said bowing again.

[King Calamity]

"Yes, yes, I'm Tri'tas, charmed."  Tri'tas said, "Now could we please get the hell out of here!  I'd like to be able to lie down before the adrenaline wears off and walking hurts like a devil again."

[Chef]

Grimlain was surprised to see the new advenurers they came across.  A monster infested forest seemed like the last place on this world to find some travelers.  The fighting was fun and all for Grimlain, but he wanted to get out of these blasted woods before someone gets killed.

"Greetings, I am Grimlain," he replied to the newcomers.  "I agree with Tri'tas for once.  We need to leave before we get in another hellish situation."

[Kamikaze_X]

Thalmir wobbled as he tried to stand up. Once he did, he felt a bit more or his strength return, as he stood normally. He bent over, groaning from the soreness of the pre-broken ribs as he picked up the sheath which held his Claymore, as well as his bow and quiver.

"I agree with you Grimlain.. these are the only woods where I would never visit again." Thalmir commented as he hitched his gear.

[Lyon]

"Oh, I don't know, I think they're kind of pleasant, actually," said Kaethe, speaking quickly. "And those tree-monsters were kind of cute." A deep, hollow bellowing echoed through the trees towards them. Kaethe shrieked and latched herself on to Tri'tas's left arm and Telchi's right arm, putting both men in front of her as a shield.

"Then again, let's get out of here fast."

"Glad you're in agreement with us," said Telchi drily.

[Luchiaros]

''I cam from the trees, some call me Devron,'' Devron said ''You can trust me, now if we wait around the Ents can help us.''

He looked at the others questioningly

''Do we wait? or do we run?''

[Chef]

Grimlain had his pipe out and was smoking it while the group was making their decisions.  The smoking calmed him slightly.  Grimlain did not like to be sitting around and discussing moving trees so he naturally wanted to run away from those creatures.  Now that they were farther ahead, going back could be a waste.  Grimlain didn't really feel like being a hero and vanquishing the evil beasts of the forest.  In fact, Grimlain never felt like being a hero.

"I say we make a run for it," Grimlain replied. "I think we can outrun those wretched monsters.  The only reason we had to fight was because they surprised us."

[Vithar Megilaglar]

Just so everyone here knows...I'm going to do a bit of GMing with explicit permission from Redcoat.

Mainly just to get things moving.

---

Eventually, the group agreed on the obvious, and began running towards the edge of the forest. There, where only one clear path existed, were two trees, like an archway. As soon as the party reached the clearing, the trees, or rather, Treants, began to attack. The party, now vastly out numbered, relied on the skill of it's members to repel the Treant assault.

Takeshi brought a sword up to block a Treant's fist. But instead of smashing downward, the Treant grabbed the sword. The duo fought over the slender blade until, with a loud snap and a ring like a small gong. The sword broke in two, the handle half slicing a cut into Takeshi's arm. Takeshi, stumbling backwards from the shock, looked up just in time to see the Treant get slammed by another arboreal arm, only this one looked more alive. Takeshi stepped back, kneeling to quickly heal his wound. Everyone was looking around as the new come trees, apparently opposed to the Treants, fought with the Treants in a massive arboreal deathmatch. The fight was violent, but the trees that were fighting the Treants opened up a way for the party to escape, which they took.

They watched as the Ents (or so Devron told them they were called) battled with the Treants (this one Anikus had informed them of). The Ents, due to being notably younger (for a tree) out fought the fragile and aging Treants. Several Treants, being defeated by the Ents, had their "necks" broken, with a loud tearing sound, not unlike a tree felled under the forester's axe.

Most of the party watched in awe at the arboreal deathmatch in all of it glory as sap, branches, and bark flew.

Slightly away from the party, Takeshi studied the halves of his blade and Sakura saw to his wound.

[King Calamity]

Tri'tas handed Takeshi his katana. "We get in trouble, use this, just don't break it too."  He said, "It's not much use to me, the way I'm feeling."

[Redcoat]

Journal Entry Eight
Date: 20th November 801 AE
Weather: Foreboding; threatens snow
Mood: Paranoid

I am never setting foot in the Teubon Woods again if I can possibly help it! We have been assailed by no earthly power, but the trees themselves!

Our flight from the ham-fisted grip of Stormguard's trogs took us into the Woods, in quite a chaotic fashion. It is sure that we will not be able to return to Stormguard for months; I am now totally certain that the guards have framed us for some heinous crime, likely the bloody murder of some poor, nameless sap. In any case, we are now out of range of Stormguard's laws. This, however, is mostly because any of them that chased us into the Woods are now hanging very, very separately on the branches of Teubon.

Reader, before your expression turns to one of pure shock and horror, please hear me out. Roughly halfway into our journey--we had found a tributary of the river Bourbon, and intended to follow it south and out of the Woods; however, we set up camp, and from what I can gather Takeshi and Sakura caught, on their watch, the Gaardish tongue of some of our pursuers. This quickly was over, however, as we were caught up in a terrible ambush.

Shamblings. There is scarcely a more detestable name in the blasted whole of Common. These animated corpse-men, the shadows, how I loathe them. The feeling is most definitely mutual; we were attacked by them en masse and had to perform a tactical advance in the direction opposite their arrival. Yes, reader, we ran away like a flock of seagulls--judge not, lest ye be knocked out and left in the woods at the dead of night! Or judged, depending on how much my nightmares have settled by the time I hear of such pretentiousness. Either way.

We were also attacked by Treants. These I'm quite interested in, preferably in their separate, tamed, benign state as fuel or structural members in a pleasant cabin in some far less deadly woods somewhere. However, in their animated state, they're ten-foot juggernauts. Sakura, bless her skill, managed to dispatch one with fire; the most pleasant sight of the day, however, would certainly be the battle between noble Ent and maddened Treant we witnessed as we finally left the forest. I have attached beyond this entry a wonderful sketch drawing of this scene. May it fetch Aurum enough to justify this jaunt.

Regardless, we've added two new members to our party: Devron, the mysterious mage who called in the cavalry (in the form of ten-foot aboreal overlords), as well as Thalmir, a sap slightly less poor than the one I mentioned in Stormguard. Both have recovered from their wounds, and are accompanying us on our march to Otavia.

I still have not informed my companions of why we are travelling. I will in due time, however; we seek, for knowledge and lot a small amount of profit, an artifact upon the island of Nepok. It's apparently some sort of valuable pottery; certainly worth the trek historically and in terms of pure money. There are... other functions it may have, however, in the realm of mystics. I may not write about that here.

With Far Too Vivid of Dreams, And Not A Slight Twinge of Paranoia,
Anikus Barrka