860 First Contact

Selina "Are we there yet?" she asks the group for the 50th time.

Mathias sighs, "No, we aren't there yet." he says, feeling extraordinarily tired from this girls constant bickering.

Quennie "Sister, we'll get there when we get there, asking it every couple minutes doesn't help."

Selina nods, "I suppose you're right..."

Mathias glances at Quennie "Thank you."

The group continue walking through the eerily quiet forest, making sure that everyone is always in sight and at the ready for combat at any moment... They find a clearing that seems good enough for a small break where everyone can eat and drink to refill their reserves. Hiking up and down mountains without steps tends to tire people, even if said people are physically superior to regular humans in almost every way.

Strangely enough, as everyone was recovering Quennie had been examining the clearing as it didn't seem natural... The ground was littered with ash, nearby trees were blacked as if they had been scorched, and after digging for a moment she found a couple of charred animal bones hidden within the ash.

Quennie "This is strange, the only creature I can think of that is capable of this would be Dragons... But they wouldn't burn an area without reason, especially if it's in their territory." she comments to the rest of the group.

Tyrael "I think the answer is obvious then... Diablo is responsible, probably testing his new powers in preparing for dealing with us when we inevitably pursue him."

Quennie nods, "I think you're right, but something else has been bothering me..."

Selina "What is it? As your big sister I'll deal with it!" she exclaims, her bored expression suddenly becoming lively.

Quennie shakes her head and continues, "The Dragon attack... That had been the first one since their failed attempt a decade ago, they wouldn't be foolish enough to attempt another attack, especially since their numbers didn't seem to match our information. If they were going to attack, they would have brought all their forces, instead of futilely charging head-on into our territory."

Mathias "And so you suspect something is amiss with they actions? That perhaps they were forced towards Ichor with no intentions of invading?"

Quennie nods, "I think that's likely, they were probably running from something, and considering Diablo is residing here, it wouldn't surprise me if they're responsible.

Barnock "So Diablo has taken over more of this region than we initially thought?" he questions.

Tyrael "That sounds like what Diablo would do, I suspect the monsters here are susceptible to his influence. Diablo has experimented with such things in the past and I doubt his talent in forcing mutations has lessened over the years."

*Snap!*

The group quickly looks up to see what the sound was, getting a glimpse of a raven with three legs, damaged feathers, and three glowing red eyes flying rapidly flying away.

Tyrael "It's a spy for Diablo! I'd recognise those eyes anywhere!" he exclaims while pointing his blade at it.

Mathias fires a disintegration beam at it but it just barely misses, carving a vacant path through the tree's canopy.

Selina "I've got it!" she chirps, disappearing in a flash of turquoise light and reappearing next to the bird whose eyes widen in response. Her sword cleaves through one of its wings causing it to quickly fall to the earth below. Selina blinking back to the ground in the next second to avoid being hurt by the fall.

The group gather around the crippled avian as it squawks, chokes, and splitters in pain, it's three legs kicking against the air in an attempt to escape.

Mathias "What should we do with this?" he wonders aloud, not really knowing any particular magic that could be used here.

The group stay silent and watch the poor creature suffer, Selina eventually deciding to put it out of its misery. Her place pierces its throat, cutting its arteries and killing it almost instantly.

Tyrael "We should get moving, Diablo knows our position and who knows when we'll be besige-"

*ROOOOAAAARRR!*

...

Mathias rubs his face and sighs, "You just had to say it, didn't you?" he asks as a string of similar roars echo around them... They were completely surrounded by who knows what.

The foliage around them crunches and ruffles as the unseen creatures approach, none of the group can get a clean look at them. Mathias fires a couple flame spells at them to hopefully kill a few and clean the shrubbery that's concealing them, but it seemed that the cold weather combined with the strange tree's was somewhat resistant to his flames. Not to mention the angry howls of pain let him know that he'd only enraged the monsters he'd hit.

All was silent, each side patiently waiting for an opening... Until...

*Slash!*

Barnock had noticed something sneaking up behind him and attacked it, only after noticing that is was a bear... Sort of. Instead of the brown fur that you'd expect, it had thin red scales instead, acting like a sort of exoskeleton. It's face looked truly demonic as well, the scales forming into spikes and horns as its eyes glowed red.

His axe passed through the thin scales on its shoulder and cleaved one of its front paws completely off, causing it to topple to the ground with a pained groan. Raising his foot, he brings it down on its temple and crushes its head in one fell swoop.

The splatter of blood and brain matter seemed to be a signal to the others who immediately leapt into action, charging the group from all angles. All of them seemed to be covered in the same red scales, Quennie recognised them to be monsters native to these lands, but they seemed faster and stronger than usual, probably as a result of those strange scales.