"If the temple is more than just symbolic and there's something important inside it then it stands to reason that the acolytes must have a way of reaching it." Ferret frowned at his fellow Kai, then stepped towards the front of the group and looked around at the local area. "We simply have to find it." His gaze lingered on the water for a moment. "If the lake is not deep, it may even be a tunnel underneath."

Sun Fox looked uncertain.

"Rain Feather and Dawn Blade took a boat to get there, didn't they?"

She glanced around, but from their position, they couldn't see any boat lying around - they'd either have to move left, toward the battle, or right toward the more silent portion of the enemy's camp, if they wanted to check wether the boat was on a side of the lake they couldn't see from their current position.

OOC: Oops. I didn't know someone we knew had already been there. Best look for a boat then. :)

"We may be better going to the silent area where the battle does not rage" fox said. "They can thin their numbers by themselves while we slip in an ambush strike"

Rankhar spoke at that, his tone annoyed.

"Wouldn't that make us risk being identified and attacked?"

I'll need Frost's opinion on this one before I let you move along, since he's risking too.

Of course, there is danger in the other direction as well - if Sabre Fox had said "let's move toward the battle", Rankhar's comment would have been along the lines of "we'd get caught in the crossfire", but either way, I need the two of you being in agreement on your next direction before pushing things forward.:)

OOC: I think we should split up and send Rankhar on the middle route by pushing him in the water. :)

Ferret nodded at the drakkar's words. "If we are spotted and identified, we risk both sides turning against us." He looked at the kai Foxes. "If one assumes the outcome of our action to be more important than the safety of us as individuals, moving nearer the fighting makes more sense."

"No it does not" Fox replied curtly. "At the moment they are busy killing each other. It needs to stay that way, we should find another route away from the fighting to the temple. Even if the Ceners best us there, they will be locked in battle over the Desthstaff allowing us to swoop in and take it"

Frost Ferret peered at Sabre Fox as though his fellow were speaking an incomprehensible language. "We should not underestimate ourselves," he said. "A group of kai and drakkarim working together is significant enough to attract the attention of all sides and direct it against us." He looked towards the battle. "In the chaos over there we could be fighting each other. Anywhere else, it will be clear that we are not."
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:42, Thu 09 Jan 2014.

OOC: Great. It won't let me use my character's name.

Fixed it for you, Frost. :)

"And what do we do when they have finished with each other? Ask them nicely not to attack us? And we don't know if we can proceed that way. At least away from the fighting we can look undisturbed."

NPC Kai opinions?

This message was last edited by the GM at 20:24, Thu 09 Jan 2014.

EDIT: Cheers, GM.

Sabre - I'm probably being thick, but I can't decipher SF's first sentence.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Thu 09 Jan 2014.

"And what do we do when they have finished with each other?"

Damn autocorrect :/ I was meaning the victor of either side would turn on us

OOC: :D Thought that was probably the gist, but was a bit bamboozled.

Ferret looked towards the battle to see if it was showing any sign of abating.

Silver Raven, who had been observing the fight as well, looked thoughtful, even as the wall of frozen fire - who had apparently grown three times as big while the Magnakai argued with each other - was suddenly ripped apart as what looked like tentacles of blue fire started to lash out at the Acolytes, striking them down by the dozen; however, the red robed figure wielding a golden staff, who had organized the Acolytes' resistance, somehow managed to witstand the onslaught, glittering orbs shooting out of the staff and freezing the fire in midair.

Even so, the contingent of the Acolyes was much smaller now, but more seemed to be coming in from others directions, in organized groups - clearly, the mere fact that some of theirs were managing to stage a resistance against the Ceners' assault was enough to embolden the zealots into using their superior numbers against the attackers.

Silver Raven shrugged and turned toward Sabre Fox before adding, in an emotionless tone:

"That fight is not going to end fast, and we're not going to wait for it to end - we just need to find the boat and sneak inside before it does. It's the route where we'll be less noticed."

There was a brief pause, then Sun Fox piped in, sounding thoughtful:

"That's not necessarily true - we're many, well armed, and clearly dangerous - if the Acolytes notice, they might think we're allies of the Ceners, and drag us into the fight."

From her face, it wasn't clear wether she saw that as an upside or a downside to the situation.

Anyone who would care looking towards a group of tents roughly in the direction of the battle raging between Acolytes of Vashna and the Ceners would notice a person come out of tents' shadows, slowly moving towards the Kai and Drakkarim.

The next moment more details could be made out: the person was a young man, of average height and rather lean than muscular build and with fair hair and slightly tanned skin.
All in all, there was nothing to make him stand out among other Vashnites - except for his clothes: the man was wearing a green cloak with its lower left corner burnt away and a tunic that once had been completely white but was now somewhat greyed and muddied, with a tear across the chest whose edges were red with clotted blood.

A Kai Lord. Or at least someone who could impersonate a Kai Lord quite well.

The man walked slowly towards the group and stopped several yards away. His gaze wandered from the Kai to Drakkarim and back again. Eventually, he nodded without taking his eyes off the group, and spoke: "Sister...brothers...what in the name of Kai is going on here?" His left hand rested on the hilt of a dagger at his belt all the time, but otherwise he looked unarmed - the sheath for a short sword at his belt was empty.

Water Hornet watched his fellow Kai: Sun Fox who held the highest rank among the present and deserved to be greeted first, Sabre Fox who Hornet had watched so many times train in the Monastery ground, Silver Raven who more than once had given the young Magnakai a valuable piece of advice...and the fourth member - Frost Ferret was his name...? - Water Hornet only knew vaguely and mostly because he had seen him in Silver Raven's company.

Ta-da! I greet you, battle brothers (and sister - but she's an NPC) :)
Check out Water Hornet's bio for basic info and know that the last time he had been seen in the Monastery had been some 6 months ago. If any more info needs to be disclosed, just ask, Shadow will perhaps want to add something as well if he deems it necessary.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Fri 10 Jan 2014.

Sun Fox seemed surprised at the sudden appearance of the Magnakai, then grinned widely and moved to grab him on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

"Hornet! We're on a mission to steal a dark artefact, but what are you doing here?"

Then she turned to the others and explained, still keeping her grip on the young man's shoulder:

"Guys, this is Water Hornet! Does any of you knows him? He was in my same year when we joined the Order, and among the best in our years; Master Phantom Steed praised him often for how good his observation skills were!"

She turned toward Hornet again and added, with a warm smile:

"I think I remember you being as much a fan of the Grand Master as me, isn't it? And you were the only one on par with me on the accademic side - having as challenging an opponent as you always made the tests that much more fun."

The blonde girl paused, as if considering something, and then added, her tone now perplexed:

"Although, you were always going onn diplomatic missions, weren't you? How come you ended up on a rescue and retrieval like what we're carrying out here?"

Fox bit his lip as Hornet approached. He wanted to clasp the mans hand in friendship, but could not give up his charade

"We are in the middle of a warzone clearly" he said. "On your travels since you have a keen eye, perhaps you saw a way for us to get to that temple there"

Ferret turned sharp eyes on the newcomer for a long moment, his brow creased. Then his gaze slid beyond Water Hornet to the battle. "You've been near the fighting and evaded it. Can you help us judge if we can do the same?"

OOC: Welcome, Water Hornet! The player of Knud and Azeem can only be an excellent addition to the game! :)

Water Hornet froze on the spot as Sun Fox took him by the shoulder - whether it was because of surprise or for some other reason was unclear, but his face did show the mix of surprise and bafflement.

"I... I...," muttered Water Hornet as Sun Fox went on to introduce the young Magnakai and share part of their history at the Monastery. "And once we got to the sparring grounds, you went beyond any challenge for all of us," Hornet finally uttered as if it was expected of him to return the unexpected praise - the Kai Lord seemed to be blushing slightly. Besides this, Hornet looked quite nervous, constantly shooting glances in the direction of Drakkarim.

He'd just taken a breath to answer Sun Fox's last question when Sabre Fox interjected; and another question came from the young Kai. Hornet looked perplexedly at Sabre Fox - his reaction looked a bit too cold for how Hornet remembered Sabre Fox's friendly attitude back at the Monastery. On the other hand, he was a fighter and perhaps was right not wanting to waste time at this situation.

Hornet nodded to Frost Ferreta and looked back at Sun Fox: "Indeed, originally my task could be called a mission of diplomacy; but it changed, it changed a lot." He looked around, furrowed his brows when looking at Drakkarim, and continued speaking to all of them: "I will share what I found out so far, sure, but could anyone explain what is going on here, first...?" The last words he said almost apologetically, gesturing with his hand towards the Drakkarim group.

Ferret, now you make me blush in OOC, as well ;D

Seeing that nobody else was answering, Sun Fox explained, gesturing wildly:

"Well, you see, the Acolythes have found an item called Deathstaff, wich they of course want to use to resurrect Vashna; some darklanders helped them retrieve it, but are actually planning on stealing it to revive somebody called Deathlord. And we know the Ceners are after it as well, although there, we don't know why."

She glanced a moment toward Sabre Fox, then turned back toward Water Hornet and concluded:

"Anyway, these Drakkarim were here to look for a completely different thing, so Sun Snake decided to agree helping them in exchange for their support in retrieving this Deathstaff... which they've been giving, so far."

The Drakkar leader snorted at that, clearly offended at the implication that his word might not be a strong enough guarantee of good faith.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:20, Sun 12 Jan 2014.

Water Hornet listened with a thoughtful look. 'So, yet another Magnakai is here,' he thought to himself. When Sun Fox finished, he looked around, looking each of the Kai and the Drakkarim leader in the eye.

"These are strange times indeed," Water Hornet shook his head and smiled at something only he knew, then continued, looking mainly at Silver Raven, "and if these Drakkarim have your trust...they have mine, too."

The Magnakai hesitated for one more second, then spoke: "Now, to answer questions... During my mission, beyond the Tentarias I have encountered the group of Ceners. Following them I have come here - they are the group battling the Acolytes of Vashna right now. I, too, have learned they are seeking this Deathstaff. Unfortunately, I do not know why, but that they want it is reason enough to prevent them from reaching their goal. Besides, I have also learned they are too in league with other servants of darkness...and that is not a good sign at all." Again, he looked at the leader of Drakkarim group: "I suppose this is a time for strange alliances."

Water Hornet paused to let his words sink, then moved to the task at hand. "The fighting the Ceners started is merely a dstraction. It should draw out and occupy as many Acolytes as possible. The leader of the group has send one specific druid to steal the Deathstaff. His name is Yugash, he is quite young, but don't let that fool you - he seems to be a very capable infiltrator. He has donned garments of some Vashnites' so will be all the harder to find. There is also another Cener - Baghar - if you see a druid literally emitting colorful smoke, kill him fast and, most importantly, do not inhale the fumes coming from him. Apart from Vazhag, there are also armoured soldiers with them - so-called White Tigers. You will know them by the symbol of a tiger on their armour and by their white hair," Hornet gave a wry smile at these words,  but it quickly disappeared as he went on. By now he was talking as much to the Kai as to the Drakkarim. "They are one of the best fighters I've ever seen - do not try to intimidate them," Hornet was talking to Drakkarim, but looked significantly at his Kai brothers and sister, "they do not know fear or fatigue. Fight smart and fight dirty. And beware of their staves - those are capable of shooting rays of energy." Hornet emphasized his words by raising his cloak for everybody to see the piece of it having been burnt away. "There's also a woman with the Ceners who can cast balls of fire...but she seems not to be from Ruel. And perhaps because of that it seems she is not so ready to die for their cause."

Water Hornet stopped to draw a breath and sort his thoughts. "One of the Vashnites' leaders talked about their High Priest. I think he will be the one carrying the Deathstaff - we have to find him before the young Cener, Yugash, does. I propose we use the chaos to sneak into the temple, steal the Deathstaff and disappear before both the Acolytes of Vashna and the Ceners are after us."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:11, Sun 12 Jan 2014.

"We know all that about the Ceners and thier slaves" fox said. "And the Tigers are not invincible, for I killed one myself"

Looking to the Drakkar he nodded at the Captain

"All that does not change if you know of a way to the temple. Clearly this Cener had something in mind to get there barring swimming or the boat, as that option is not available at the moment"

"Then that is good news," said Water Hornet, looking pensively at Sabre Fox.

"I do not know how he intended to cross the lake - maybe he hasn't at all, hoping the fight would force the High Priest, and subsequently the Deathstaff, to come to the mainland by himself. Although, I did actually think he'd use a boat." Water Hornet looked at the lake - no boat, dinghy or a raft was visible at the shore; neither at the central island. "I might be able to help us locate the young Cener...we just need to get closer to the lake."

Am I correct to assume we're still some distance away from the lakeshore? If we move closer, Hornet might be able to locate (at least approximately) the young Cener he was talking about.

"Well then I suggest you begins your search immediately. We do not have all day"