The Azoni Valley

Odilon would let his horse go loose and prepare for a fight. "Thank you Enlightened One, I'm ready to fight now!"

「Great Pretender」

A Gilded aura appeared around the Bishop as he commanded his power to come forth. If the reptilian predator continued for Odilon after the Enlightened One's Intervention, it would have two concussive blows aimed at it's chest and jaw. The force behind these blows was only vaguely visible through golden shimmers of light in the shape of ghostly fists and had the power to shatter bones.

The Knight was not flexible enough to jog, he could either run or walk as normal means, thus now he was forced into an akward continuous leaping. He knew that Fugence was either dead, or flew back to the Church. His weapons would be put in some sort of reliquary, or perhaps given to someone important. Most detrimental would be the loss of his lance, it is what he would use to kill monstorus beasts for which his sword would not suffice. When asked about why and how he was here he took the reigns. 

"Darkness created this valley. This Darkness is not what you seek. It is the Evil that has been bestowed upon it by the Holy. Our jungle is safe from this evil, but the forests have been filled with it. We have seen a small pack of escapees in this jungle that we watch. They could lead you to the Evil you seek..." A native spoke to The Enlightened One before turning his head to the Bishop, "Like our tribe, those creatures are another tribe. We call them the Vemcin Tilsin Svih(Draconic). These creatures protect the jungle from outsiders like yourselves, but they do not see that you are needed. We want to help you so that our jungles do not suffer the same fate as the forests. When winter hits them, the wolves hunt in the jungle. With them comes the Evil that spreads like a plague. Do not mind the Temcin Tilsin Svih, they are doing what any protector should do. The Darkness has guided you this far without death, we know you are meant to be here. Our Pride will make sure you do not have to worry about the protectors when we depart ways."

The natives knew they were not the baddest thing in these jungles, but were aware that their Pride had never been attacked directly by the Vemcin Tilsin Svih. What happened earlier was over food and not a direct attack. After so much time had passed, the natives would begin moving deeper into the cave that was an entrance to their home.




A mile inside the cave an opening was present. When the group reached the opening, they would see a village carved out of the stones. Their age was unknown, but the deterioration hinted at the ancient age of these structures. There were more of these openings throughout the mountain, but this was the only one The Enlightened One and the Bishop would enter. 

Leading the two to a a structure that was connected to the ground and ceiling of the opening, the Pride was watched as they brought Outsiders to their home. When there, the two were shown to a room that had a bed of cloths for them to rest in. The rest of the pride would continue on to others rooms in the structure while two remained behind with The Enlightened One and the Bishop.

"Please rest. Daylight is only a short time away. We all have important tasks on us tomorrow." A native spoke to the two before he closed he shifted into a panther and rested at the entrance of their room.

When morning came around, a white panther came to the room and woke the two, "We have prepared you a meal." 

When the two were ready, the panthers and Team Enlightened would follow the white panther to what looked like a respectable beings room.  Three chairs sat at a small table that was  covered with meats and tropical fruits. As the two would take their seat, a door opened up and out came a tall, broad shouldered, humanoid with black panther attributes. The creature stood 7'6" in height and weighed a hefty 340 pounds that consisted of marbleized black muscle. Around his neck, wrists, ankles, and anywhere else it could hang, was golden jewelry and ornaments that decorated his black form.
   

"Please, enjoy this meal. My pride believes you are for a reason and I will do everything I can to make sure their beliefs are upheld. When you are full, we will go to my office and go over where you need to go and how to get there." The creature spoke before taking his seat and began eating, "What are your names, Holy ones?"

Odilon followed the Pride and listened to their explainations. So the inhabitants of this land were shapeshifters, fascinating. he had a good rest until it was time to awaken.

The tall dark man seemed to be a leader for his tribe and was an impressive sight. Odilon would begin to eat starting with a fruit, in his autumn years it was recommended for him to eat more fruits and vegetables and less sodium. He would also take part in eating the meat presented to him too, this felt like a treat and the local cuisine was refreshing to him. When asked about their names Odilon would take time to finish his mouthful and wipe his mouth. "I'd like to thank you for your hospitality first, this meal is delicious. I'd also like to inform you that I sent a prayer for those who fell protecting us from the Vemcin Tilsin Svih, in hopes that their spirits will journey well to their next destination. I am Odilon Keyes, an elder and spiritual leader among my people."

"Pray their souls find their way into a young warrior... the wolves have failed their duties to protect their forests. We have no option but to follow you to fight this evil. To assist you in your travels, we will supply you and your friend a mount to ride. Our tribe knows we will die no matter what path we choose, we hope you can lead us to make sure our children have a future. We do not worship the same god, but pray for this valley.... The prophesicies are unfolding and this valley is going to change. We can only hope for the best." The panther man spoke to the two as he sipped on some water.



The remainder of the meal Halu-Kohas remained quiet. When he was finished, he waited for the others to finish their meal before he would stand and invite them to follow him into his office. When they were inside, they would take notice of the fine quality weapons and jewelry that decorated the walls. Vines clung to the walls, maneuvering and twisting around the weapons, showing the rooms age. A small desk was present with nothing on it or in it. They had no use for paperwork, so the desk was more for show.



Halu-Kohas reached beneath the desk and pulled out two maps. One map was their jungles and the other was the forests. Markings had been made on the maps that looked like path from the jungles into the forests.



The panther man took his right index finger and placed his fingertip on the map, "We are here."



Halu-Kohas then moved his fingertip to what looked like waterfalls on the map, "We will camp here and scout the forests before crossing."



The beast man then moved his finger one last time, crossing the river and pointing in the middle of the forest, "Somewhere in this area is where we need to be. The path I have shown you is the only way we will be able to cross without the enemies noticing us."



"Is there anything you want to know before we depart? We only have so many hours before the light is gone and we need to be at the Juilehalla Waterfalls."






Following their short conversation over the travel plans, the two would be escorted outside of the spire. When they entered back into the open cavern, two mounts awaited them. The lion was planned for The Enlightened One and the Bishop with the tiger. These mounts were able to carry their weapons plus a few extra weapons that were always carried by them(daggers, two sabers, and one short spear).



A third mount arrived that had no armor but was much larger than the other two. The creature was a Saber Toother Panther that was built like a tank. Halu-Kohast would leap onto the back of this beast, "These mounts are neutral creatures who have travelled here from outside the valley. You do not have to worry about the Darkness bothering you with these mounts."

Something was wrong. Something very urgent was surely happening... A disturbance. However, Lucius simply found that intriguing. Perhaps something even remotely interesting could finally happen.

And so, he decided to investigate the cause of this disturbance. ''(Well, I doubt it will be even a little interesting... But I suppose I have nothing better to do, anyway...)

The necromancer ventured away from the village, in hopes of curing his boredom.

As he continued wandering, he noticed something strange, in the normal jungle.

''(...? Footprints...? How strange... More than one kind, too, and it seems like some of them were being chased. Hmm... Well, I suppose where they came from is more interesting...)''

And so, Lucius walked parallelly with the footprints, until he noticed that two of them had disappeared. [Which would have brought him closer to the Enlightened One and Bishop Odilon Keyes]

''(Hmm...? Is this where the hunt began...?)''

In the Azoni tribe that Rose stemmed from a light snow was starting to set in. Like the other tribes, this snow was a forewarning to the people. The Incubus and Succubus would not see the warning, but the citizens began hauling wood, building fires, and hanging meat like ants. They were preparing for the first freeze of their Winter, but the freeze was coming a month early. After a few hours passed, the snow had accumulated to two inches and gave the tyrannic tribe a beautiful and serene appearance.

After the vanishing of the Incubus and Succubus the other night, the tyrants had been on high alert and looking for anything in the woods they could blame. They knew catching a wolf was going to be hard, so the tyrants decided to take a different path. They gathered a large portion of the population and themselves, forcing everyone to draw weapons and stand as a militia. While the humanoids armor was scamp and mostly useless, the Succubus and Incubus wore angelic armor that would be hard to crack. Thankfully, what armor they did wear only covered 60% of their body. 

One Incubus wore an armor that stood out from the others. This Incubus was the official leader of the tribe and was capable of magic. While the people gathered, the tribes supplies were being loaded into make shift carriages pulled by speckled horses. The tyrants planned on making a full sweep of the valley and would try to eradicate the shapeshifters. The militia would march at daylight the next day, using the current day to prepare.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The necromancer would find that the tracks he followed lead him away from the others. He would find nothing on his path until he returned to the scene of the previous fight. Skeletal remains could be found scattered across the grounds that were dinosaur and large felines. It would be some time before Lucius would find the cave entrance and on his trip he would be greeted by natives if he didn't stay on his path. 

When the necromancer stumbled across the cave entrance, he would notice dozens of tracks leading away from the cave. If the necromancer entered the cave, he would find himself in deep trouble.  Hidden far out in the surrounding woods was another race of natives. These natives would remain hidden and watch the necromancer till he vanished.

The necromancer might get the feeling something is watching him, but nothing would ever become noticeable. The Darkness crept around the necromancer, letting him feel the souls of the dead that filled the atmosphere, letting him taste the power within this jungle outside of his tribes territory. For a necromancer, the area was comfortable. 

The Enlightened One did not pay too much attention to the wonder of his surroundings. Danger was nearby and he knew it. He was pondering his strategy. If whatever dark rulers preferred blades he had little to worry about, his armour could take nearly any cutting attack. However if they were rational rather than flashy they would carry some blunt weapons, maces, hammers, even heavier sharp weapons like great-axes could end up an impediment. Still, he would mutter one of his many lines. "Take any challenge, no matter the odds." Best part was that he would issue the challenge. He just hoped that the icey power would not summon further evils against him. 

Odilon mounted up and rode with the Enlightened one and Halu-Kohas.