"Tiger-lily!" Lero laughs, "I should have thought of that one first..." He stops by a large tree and leans on it, watching the stars. "You're one-of-a-kind, Namura. A sort of exotic, dangerous enigma. I admit the thought has crossed my mind to offer to share my bed with you tonight. But it doesn't matter to me if you would have accepted or refused... and I think you know that. So lets just say I am content with our current partnership. It's like the one I have with Arial." He smiles at Namura, "But I'm the Captain." 

Lero walks over to a nearby light-less house, one marked with the tag of abandonment, and turns to look at Namura from the doorway. "If you ever need anything, Namura... anything at all... I've got your back." He then enters the house to rest for the night, ignoring the odd silence of the previous owners.

The party awakes early in the morning, eager to set out to finally reach their original destination: the darksite. After making the necessary preparations and picking up the necessary supplies, they meet Lefelynn at the northern gate. She is dressed in olive-green studded leather armor, with a black cloak and two scimitars strapped to her back. She smiles brightly as the party gathers just outside the gate. Once they all have arrived, she says, "You're finally here! I've been waiting for almost two hours, I'm so excited to go outside with you. So our destination is the heart of Peema, huh? I've decided we're going to take the road, up to one of the neighboring cities, Gonjibil." She smiles, winking at Azi, "They have a monastery for your Order, master monk, so you might be familiar with the name."

Azi nods his head. "I've never been, but I've heard the details of the place. It's remarkable. Built into the nearby lhaesvinbiir. Sort of like the darksite..."

She nods her head in agreement. "Yep! That's the place. Once we get to Gonjibil, we'll rest for a day or so, and then follow the road until it diverges. There's actually a settlement of swamp elves that live within the Heart. They're strange folk, and we don't do much dealing with them, but there is a dock-of-sorts just outside the swamp where boats travel to and from in order to trade supplies and such with them. When we get there, nabbing a boat shouldn't be too hard, so we'll take the boat through the swamp and arrive at the place you've deemed the "darksite"! Any questions before we go?"

Namura rose from her trance early, and was able to take a few hours to be alone. She enjoyed the isolation, and had been missing it recently. The ranger played with her new shortswords, carving up a random tree. It helped clear her head, as the confused elf had been fixating on what exactly it had meant to be the captain since her walk with Lero last night.

Namura was among the first to arrive at the gates, and she listened patiently as Lefelynn explained the plan. "Not a question, but a statement," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. "If I for one second believe that you are going to turn on us, I will not hesitate to remove your head from your shoulders."

Duncan was excited to hear that they would be stopping at the monastery. He would like to learn some new meditation technics. Hearing Namura's.....statement. Duncan couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, but you can't remove someone's head from their shoulders." He began to point at his neck. "It's connected here!"

"She's serious, Leaflinn." Lero holds his laughter in, instead maintaining his eye contact with the elf and keeping his face stone-cold serious. "If Namura gives us any indication we're being led to the wrong destination or feels you're leading us to a path that is more dangerous than needed, we won't hesitate to assist her."

Lero turns to the others, sees the new lifecraft tiger and turkey, and looks at the two artificers, "You two have been busy, it seems. Looks like they'll take much more of a beating than the thopters, that's for sure. Very impressive."  

He turns back to Lefelynn, "I think we're ready to go." 

Regardless of the seriousness, Lefelynn lets out a hearty laugh. "Such ferocity. You remind me much of myself... like a more serious side of myself." She grins, winking at Namura. "I don't doubt you for a second, tiger-lily. If I turn on you, then by all means, take my head off! My intentions are pure."

"I think we're ready to go." 

She claps her hands together loudly. "Then let's go! It'll be a long walk, but we should reach Gonjibil tomorrow afternoon. The roads are fairly calm, so it should all go without a hitch." She chuckles. "But things never go without a hitch as adventurers, do they?" She turns heel, and begins walking down the path towards Gonjibil.

Buama doesn't say anything and only smirks. She pats her mechanical servant on the long neck. The long tail rises up into a curve towards it back as they head out and it only walks on its back legs with the front ones looking two small for that though all four feet have some deadly looking claws. For the time being she walks with the mechanical beast following along close at hand.

"Don't call me tiger-lily," Namura grunted. "I'd like to move quietly so hopefully no would-be attackers even notice us." She murmured a few words under her breath, casting Pass Without a Trace on the party. "That should help. Lead on, Lefelynn."

Kraithee is ready to go when the group moves, falling in line with Flux. It is still quieter then it had been before, but its face shows more resolve then any other sentiment.

Duncan making sure he had all his gear, secured his tea box to the bottom of his bag. If nothing else he would make sure that their was something to look forward to when they broke for camp. When all was said and done he followed Lefelynn with the rest of the group.  As they began their jounrey Duncan asked Lefelynn, "Do you know of a good place between here and Gonjibil to rest?"

"Don't call me tiger-lily," her sweet tiger-lily grumbled. "I'd like to move quietly so hopefully no would-be attackers even notice us." Lefelynn could only smile from the thought on how similar they were. As if only an experience or two had shaped Namura slightly different than herself. "Lead on, Lefelynn."

"You don't like being called tiger-lily?" she teased, winking at Namura. "You'll warm up to it sweety, don't worry."

The party made their way down the path. The forest seemed to keep clear of the well-traveled path, showing just how old it truly was. They passed the occasional traveler, and Lefelynn simply smiled brightly and made a quick gesture with her hand, following it up with the well-known Elvish phrase, "Conduit guide you." It was during this time that Gideon asked his question, "Do you know of a good place between here and Gonjibil to rest?"

"A good place to rest?" she repeated. "I'm not sure what you mean. Like a hostel, or inn? A clearing in the forest, perhaps? Or a tree-fort?" Based off her response, she didn't seem too keen of the man who kept his identity hidden behind various layers of cloth. "There are no such places that I know of in between here and Gonjibil, egotti. That said, the forest will suit us well enough as a place to rest."

It was during this time, in the midst of the conversation, that Namura pointed out a pack of longtusk sabers emerge from the forest line and began to cross the path to the other side, eighty feet away from the group. Counting their numbers, Namura spots four adults, and approximately seven cubs. They don't seem to have noticed the party... yet.

Lero inhales slightly and holds his breath as a tiger passes from a thick branch directly above him near his hiding spot. He looks to Namura with pleading eyes and places his hand on the hilt of his rapier. He's not used to dealing with wild animals, so his first instinct is to protect himself. He waits for any sign that the tiger might see him, ready to strike. 

Seeing the majestic creatures crossing the path of the group, with a relaxed posture as it they were the owners of this part of the forest, Kraithee could not shake the feeling, better yet, the knowledge  that the group is intruding in their territory and did not even ask for it, as it was customary for "city folk" to think they can go wherever and through any way they want.

Kraithee waits for the group leaders, Namura and Lefelynn to deal with this magnificent beings, and as a reflex it says, lower then the sound of its breathing: I am sorry we intrude in your land... 

These were not Namura's tigers, that much was evident to the ranger. These were sabertooth tigers, more feral and less intelligent. She could reason with Peema tigers, talk to them even. But talking to these sabertooth cousins would be much more difficult. Namura met Lero's gaze, placing a finger over her lips. They had to remain as quiet as possible.

The elf felt like a tiger cub again, but she took a single, confident step forward. She did not bow her head in submission, instead posturing as if she was the alpha of this pack. She growled lowly, communicating to the tigers that her pack meant no harm. We're just passing through, she purred quietly. You have my word, we mean no harm to you or this land.

Buama stood perfectly still or tried to. Her mechanical servant did a much better job of settling quietly and remaining still. She watches as the pack of rather large cats starts crossing the path. The last thing she wanted to do was get in a fight with the wildlife, especially a pack with cubs in it. Now if they found more Naether beasts and nasty cultists she would be firing her gun already.

Namura's presence immediately set the group of longtusk sabers at unease. Seeing the rest of her pack 80 feet away, the largest of the sabers leapt in between his pack and hers, rising up on his hind legs, pounding the ground between the two of them and roaring loudly into her face, just five feet away.

Namura's words seemed to have some effect on the alpha, as anyone else would've been dealt a bite and class with that roar. It didn't attack her, but she knew the alpha felt threatened by Namura and her pack, and nothing less than a sign of submission would pacify him enough to let both packs continue their separate journeys.

Lefelynn kept her distance, maintaining a cracked smile due to the mild amusement from watching Namura communicate with the alpha saber.

Namura bowed deeply, breaking eye contact in a sign of submission. These are your woods, not mine, the ranger purred. I do not mean to threaten you, we are just trying to pass through.

The alpha saber gives one last roar, pacing back and forth. Turning to his pack, he growls at them, and they continue moving to the opposite side of the path. He stands in between his pack and the group until the pack disappear into tree line and out of sight. Continuing to face the group, he back up towards the tree line, until turning and leaping into the forest, disappearing from view.

Lefelynn claps her hands in applause, as if Namura completed some test. "Well done, tiger-lily! It would seem you have earned your stripes after all." she teases.

"Nuuta, I had wanted to ask him some questions," the ranger said as she rose to her feet. Not in a teasing mood, she scowled at their guide. "My name is Namura, Lefelynn. Not tiger-lily."

Buama nods approvingly of how Namura worked that out. She watches the pack move off into the woods with a smile. At least, there had not been any useless slaughter of nature. She knew they were dangerous, but the cubs had been rather cute.