"Well, we know that they destroy nearly everything in their path and slaughter villages," Namura caught another berry in her mouth, trying to lighten the mood. She didn't like Dark Lero, his mood seemed to have an effect on everyone else in the party. "We're going to kill Chaxaxeuduhm, regardless of what color he bleeds."

"Thank you for answering our questions, Quill," the ranger turned back to the newcomer. "Truthfully, I'm alright at navigation, but I've been guessing my way through the tunnels and woods. If you can help me find the way even a little bit, it would be a huge help."

Buama grins as she walks up now ready to head out. "I would like to make the guy die with a big boom. I say we call him Chaxaxeudumbdumb because anyone that mean and selfish has to be dumb about reality." Well, she sure hoped so, but usually they caused a nasty fight in proving the fact.

"I bet the docks you went to are the ones we were headed to as they are on the west side not far from here at all. We probably could be there by the end of the day I think if we follow the road and the path that veers off it to reach it just after the town. I don't think we need to bother visiting the town and maybe could veer off sooner, but what do I know about trekking through a forest. I'm a lab rat with a big gun. Anyhow, it might be best to go to the docks and get a boat and go like that since that is how Quill went for help of the memory."

"Chaddy the Big Demon was pretty big. Had two swords, wings, and what looked like a helmet. I'm not well-versed in demon anatomy, so it could've just been his head," Quill replied, shrugging. "I'm all for murdering the guy. Smelled bad. Terrible hospitality. And the whole slaughtering thing. Not exactly down with that. So when do we start?" Quill suddenly stood, causing Allen, who had been sitting on his shoulder, to caw loudly and nearly fall off. He was ready to summon his Pact Weapon, eager to take down some fools.

"From the sounds of it, it's just another demon to kill..." Lero thinks for a moment before looking around at the rest of the group. They all seemed to have gathered their supplies and were ready to travel. "I don't know your skills so you can fall in wherever you think you need to. I'll be watching the rear as we travel and Buama and Azi tend to the front."

He nods to Namura, "It's your show, m'lady."  

"Right," Namura nodded, a portion of her sunny disposition fading as responsibility set in. "Everyone ready to go?"

As soon as the party had gathered their belongings and cleaned up camp, the ranger began to lead them closer to the docks. A largely uneventful hike, Namura remained silent for most of us. She listened to the sounds of the forest, slightly more jumpy than usual. On more than one occasion she pointed her shortsword at a croaking frog that had spooked her. But they remained safe, even in the face of a few wyrm holes, so Namura decided her paranoia was more of a positive than a negative.

The sun slowly rises and falls across the horizon, until the sun begins to set and the forest's glows come alive once again. The day had passed by uneventfully, save for a few slips and small falls from some of the party members as the trekked throughout the forest, at various points needing to climb up small cliffs are navigate round sinkholes from wurm activity below. Namura's guidance through the forest allowed the party to narrowly avoid several encounters with wild animals and other denizens of the forest, and avoid falling into anymore holes.

As everyone prepares themselves for camp, Lero drops his pack and approaches Namura. "If you plan to go hunting tonight, I would like to join you. It will help take my mind off of everything and you make pleasant company." He chuckles a bit and adds, "And if I'm going to be stuck in Peema, I should at least learn to live off the land." He reaches out and touches her shoulder, "Will that be ok? I understand you prefer solitude at times, especially after a long day."  

Namura smiled as she set up camp, the idea of getting another few hours of solitude to hunt later on pushing her forward.

"If you plan to go hunting tonight, I would like to join you," Lero snuck up behind her, and the sound of his voice startled the ranger. "It will help take my mind off of everything, and you make pleasant company." If she had been surprised before, she was utterly shocked when the pirate reached out and touched her shoulder. "Will that be ok? I understand you prefer solitude at times, especially after a long day."

Namura opened and closed her mouth a few times, words escaping her. "Ummm, yes?" she replied hesitantly. "I don't understand why you wou- company, yes." The elf cleared her throat awkwardly. "Most of the time we'll need to be silent, but you're good at that I guess... Are you ready to head out now?"

Lero smiles and says, "Thank you, Namura. I'm decent with a bow, but I'm sure there's plenty I could learn from you." He notices his hand still on her shoulder as she looks at it and he removes it quickly. "I'll be like a shadow, I promise," he adds.

As Namura guides him through the trails he absorbs as much as he can. She teaches him the signs of prey as she passes them and tries to instruct him on the typical flora and fauna found in the area. He absorbs as much of the knowledge as possible, but when it came to finding signs of prey he overlooked many of the obvious signs. The whole time he remained completely silent as he explored the forest with her, like a shadow as she moved. Every step she took, he mimic'd and followed - it was as if they were one person as they traveled through the forest and it was invigorating. 

But something kept his mind occupied the whole time. As Namura instructed him, he looked elsewhere as if looking for signs for something else that was entirely unseen. His mind tried to take her teachings into practice, but he was searching for a different prey. Rather than hunting for food, Lero was looking for Fiends to kill. 

It had taken the ranger a little while to get used to her shadow, but eventually she found that the two of them were able to work together like a comfortable pack. Admittedly, she would have been done much more quickly had she been on her own, but there was something sort of nice about having Lero by her side. The elf had never really realized it, but she had been lonely before. However, as nice as the company was, Lero was dreadful at tracking. He lacked the focus and patience necessary to follow an animal, and he often overlooked key things.

"Lero, you're literally standing right on the buck's tracks," Namura said in exasperation. "Your brain has been elsewhere all evening. Are you- are you alright?"

Lero steps out of the shadows and away from the buck's tracks that he had missed completely. "I'm just... adjusting to the new environment," he says.

He looks past Namura and into the shadows as if he notices something. Walking past her, he wipes a finger on a low branch and it comes up black. He turns back to her and says, "The tracks that we followed of the demon wolves that killed Azsixi were like this, right?" He goes closer to her and presents his finger for inspection. "Black, like soot?"

Without hesitation, Namura licked the soot off of Lero's finger. After contemplating the taste for a brief second, the ranger paled. "Traako, it is demons," she cursed. "You can taste the sulfur."

The elf immediately began to follow the trail. They traveled only a few paces before they found a large pile of the demonic ash. The trees around the pile were twisted, with long branches stabbing the ear around the ash. Namura drew both shortswords, glancing back at Lero. "Good catch," she murmured. 

Lero doesn't hide his surprise when Namura licks the soot off of his finger, but when she confirms his suspicions he pulls his rapier and follows Namura as she tracks them. When they reach the large pile of ash, he pauses just outside the forest opening and watches the trees around him. "Are you able to determine what happened here?" He asks. He sweeps his rapier through the ashes, darkening the silver to help with his stealth while also searching through the remains. (Investigation 16)

"I really don't know," Namura shook her head. "I'm guessing that's a dead demon, who ran across some powerful druid or something. The only information I have is that the trees are warped, which can't be natural. I can't find any tracks, human or animal, leading in or out of this stand."

The ranger sat down cross legged on the forest floor, closing her eyes and beginning to focus on the demonic energy again. "Make sure no one attacks in the next minute," she said just as her eyes began to glaze over. Namura would teach him that particular trick later.

A minute passed by before the ranger came back to her senses. "The closest demon is four miles away, which is pretty good, considering how many I saw the other day," Namura said. "I don't think we are in any more danger than normal."

Lefelynn, Lero thought. Who else would have been destroying the demons in their path? 

"Will you teach me what you know?" Lero asked Namura as she stood from her trance. "I'll be honest with you... I don't have much interest in hunting the animals in this forest. I want to learn to hunt these fiends and track them like you do. Just tell me what you want from me, and I will do it." He slides his rapier back into its sheath. 

"I do not require any sort of payment, I would be happy to teach you what I know," Namura rose to her feet, shortswords still drawn. "Look, I never really had a real teacher. Paw taught me how to hunt, and I learned how to use the Aether from the trees. I don't really know how to teach you, but I will try."

The ranger slowly began to smile, an idea forming. "I have an idea for a first lesson, but it would be best to try after the sun goes down and the stars come out. Perhaps we can venture out again after we catch dinner?"

"Deal," Lero replied. He knew it would be awhile before much of the knowledge she shared would start to sink in, but it was better to learn sooner rather than later. Since they're all stuck out in the forest, what better time to start learning than now? 

The two quickly moved away from the demon ash and found Namura some prey. She narrated her movements very little, but she made an effort to explain things a little. There was no need for another elk, so instead the ranger brought back two pieces of smaller game.

They returned with dinner and news of the closest demons. Namura left the cooking up to someone else, as she grabbed Lero's hand and promptly dragged him back into the the woods. She had seen him salt some leftover elk, so she planned on having them just eat that. The sun had begun to set, casting an orange glow across the whole forest. 

"Can you climb?" She asked Lero, dropping his hand when they arrived at a rather large tree. 

"Can I climb?" Lero laughed, "You don't live on an aether ship half your life without making it a priority to learn." 

Lero scaled up the tree quickly, preferring the smaller limbs as hands and footholds until reaching a nice perching point. "You gunna join me, or are you just enjoying the view?" She can see his smirk through the foliage.

Buama noted that Namura and Lero were gone longer than what she expected though not by much. She was not surprised when they disappeared again after leaving the catch to be cooked by someone. Considering of the five in the camp, only two would eat, it had to be her or Duncan. She had no idea if she could cook it or not. Actually, come to think of it, this was the first time she really had camped out in her travels. They figured they had little ground travel in and would be working on cleaning things up or she probably would not have been on this mission. 

"Umm, Duncan, I know you can make tea. Can you cook? I really never camped out much until this trip. I'm used to working in a lab and eating in a cafeteria. It seems you and I are the only two in the camp that would want to eat while the other two are off doing whatever."

She laughs and shrugs her shoulders.