Forest through the Trees

[Freyja Storm]

​

The fireworks and loud music from the Life Day events rattled overhead as Freyja stood alone towards the bottom of one of the great Wroshyr trees that held up the floating city of Rowrakruk. The roars of hundreds of Wookiees filled the canopy, the chatter of a dozen other races intermixed with the racket. It was all a little too much for Freyja, she should be used to the great noise being born and raised in the Imperial Core surrounded by millions upon millions of people on a daily basis. But three years of travelling along on the outer rim had led her to enjoy the quiet and loneliness that came when you were only out for yourself.

The issue was that this enjoyment had to change if she was to accept what she was or could be. It was something that played on her mind, almost every moment of every day since her first encounter with Aurora. That was one of the reasons she was on this planet, to see if she could come to a true decision about her apparent nature and destined future and also to finally socialise back into the greater universe around her. Her hair was back to its natural brown and the Dark Green marks of her Kiffu heritage sat across her face, she carried only her Vibro sword on her back. The Wookiees were insistent that they only take one weapon into the Shadowlands beneath the canopies, part of the ritual to cleanse one's self before the Life Tree. The rest of her clothes were hard wearing leather and cloth, light but warm enough for the ground far beneath them. Without the sun's natural heat it would be cooler than most other parts of the planet.

The main elevator which took them down to the bottom of the trunks stood only a dozen or so feet to her side, this was where those who were to venture to the Life Tree were due to meet. She lent over the wooden rails looking down into the darkness and waited, wondering what lay beneath.

@Andrewza
@Lazy Swordsman

 

[Aurelian Keth]

He’d never been on Kashyyyk before and it appeared the man had chosen a wondrous time for it. The planet was currently celebrating the holiday of Life Day, one that Aurelian had never had the chance to take part in himself. Orron III had not celebrated it, probably out of fear of the Empire which banned such holidays and he had spent the majority of his young adult life on Coruscant. Even while running from the Empire as he had done for years he had never seen anything like this. However what had drawn Aurelian here had not been an overwhelming urge to see the holiday just for the sake of it. Rather over the years of his studies into the lore of the former Jedi Order he’d actually found that they had once observed this event as well. It was this motivation that drove the man to attend. He hoped that it might help him better understand them better.

As Aurelian strode towards his destination the canopy seemed to echo with the Wookie’s drum music while the sky above his head crackled and exploded with fireworks. He could also hear the cheerful sounds of a multitude of Wookies, and no few alien visitors, all around him. The man was garbed in his plain brown travelling robes, wore his vibrosword on his left hip as well as carried a small satchel which contained his notebook and a pen in case he needed to take notes. The scholar hadn’t bothered with his blaster, it had seemed inappropriate to carry more than a minimal amount of weapons for the pilgrimage. He had later found out from the Wookies themselves that this had been a good choice.

It was for the pilgrimage that he had arrived. An ancient rite the Jedi undertook to show solidarity with the Wookies and those were the footsteps he planned to walk in. He had mentioned it to a Wookie and he had seemed more than enthusiastic, pointing the way for him to go. Perhaps they appreciated the show of respect from other species?

Eventually he found the main elevator which he knew would bring him down to the dark paths below, the paths he would have to follow to find his way to his ultimate destination. The Life Tree.

As the Elevator descended from the platform Aurelian took a moment to appreciate the fact that he was enjoying a rare moment of peace. No running from the Empire, no worrying about a resistance cell or an overarching Galactic Alliance of rebels. He hadn't even used his alias since arriving here. For now he could simply be Aurelian Keth and enjoy that privilege for now.

@Andrewza
@Braden Drake

 

[Jake2]

Jake could sense and feel the life around him. This planet was screamed at him that it was alive. Jake had not heard any thing about wookies being more likely to be Force sensitive but they understood life even the party that carried on behind as he walked to the lift was about life. Wookies understood the importance of life and the force was life. It made sense why this ancient pilgrimage was made.


Aproaching the lift Jake pulled up his collor to cover his neck. Though it should not be to cold in the shadow lands. The canopy was so thick that light did not penotrat but that meant heat would not escape.



On the lift Jake nodded to the 2 others with him. Both older one peered over the edge in to the darkness bellow, the other seemed at peace. Both older in physical age but less experienced in what lay ahead. Jake stood in the center of the lift and reached out in to the force. He could see it like he was there the party above with the celebration, the ever growing trees that where not only alive but supported so much more life and below them in the gloom was the shadowland but even here the force ebbed and flowed with a natural balance.

Jake came back as the lift stopped with a thud on the bottom. It was dark and gloomy and quite. Down here critters kept quiet so has no avoided the keen ears of predators. "so then we have arrived to our journey start."

 

[Freyja Storm]

The two companions joined her on the lift, her mind was still clouded, a thousand different scenarios running through her head. So she kept silent as they descended through the trees, the creek of the rope on the tree above worried her for a moment, before she remembered that the Wookiee's had lived her enough to probably work out how to make a rope. Though why they hadn't installed something safer and quicker was beyond her. She picked off a bit of Wookiee fur which was attached to her jacket, one of the beasts had been insistent on giving her a hug of encouragement before she decided on the lift. She shivered at the memory, perhaps her old life hadn't worn off and that ingrained Xenophobia was still there deep inside.

The lift hit the bottom with a thud, the Wookiee that travelled with them down to the bottom, roared something. She didn't understand the language but she got the gist. 'Get out, I want to get back to the party.' And she obliged stepping off the platform as the younger of her two companions spoke up. And what the frack did he say, he looked twelve not a hundred and twelve. She turned to face him and gave him an appraising look all over. "If you are trying to say here is the start. Then yes, here is the start. And the finish is the Tree. Now let's get going." Now which was to go was another matter in its entirety she had no idea on where to find this tree, it was almost pitch black down here, only what appeared to be some unnatural light illuminated the flooring allowing them to see the ground around them. What she would do for a flashlight right now. What sounded like a branch snapping echoed around the clearing as the Wookiee called and the lift began raising back up to the trees. As it disappeared from sight she looked up at the lift and said. "Does anyone actually know how to call it back?"

 

[Aurelian Keth]

He’d read about the vines used for these elevator baskets before, apparently they were practically as strong as durasteel if healthy. He really, really hoped they were healthy. Trusting his life to a device of wood and plants to lower him such a huge distance was not something he had been expecting to do a week ago. Glancing warily at the contraption he wondered why the Wookies couldn’t just install repulsorlifts or something. Their surroundings darkened considerable as the elevator travelled closer to the aptly named shadowlands. The murkiness was a little unsettling truth be told, strange how a little lack of light could make you feel.

A surprisingly soft thump and a tremor beneath his feet signalled the end of their descent. Glancing around a little he found himself gently clearing his throat. He wasn’t nervous of course. No of course not. Although when the Wookie grouched at them in Shyriiwook he nearly leapt out of his skin. The hairy giants sure could make a lot of noise. Complying with what he assumed was a command to “Get off now” Aurelian stepped off the basket and onto the forest floor.

Glancing at the strangers who would be his companions on this pilgrimage he was a little surprised. The first, the one who spoke, was clearly a child. Aurelian would have thought that the Wookies might have not wanted children running around somewhere with a name as ominous as “The Shadowlands”. Maybe he was with the young woman? However the woman’s response to the boy did not seem one of familiarity. Speaking of the woman she looked tough enough to make up for a kid and a, well an Aurelian, making up the rest of the group.

Her short response brought a faint smile to Aurelian’s lips. She reminded him of some of the Twi’leks he’d worked with back on Ryloth. He was about to respond to the kid himself when he heard a rustling close behind him. Glancing back the scholar grimaced as the Elevator began climbing it’s way back up to the platforms above.

“Ah… no, no I do not. I can’t even understand Shyriiwook so for all I know they did provide instructions before I got on the thing.” he admitted with a sense of unease although he quashed it almost immediately, that was a problem for later. “We can’t be the only three taking the pilgrimage. Perhaps we’ll run into someone at the tree who’s a bit more knowledgeable. I’m more concerned about which way it is to the Tree itself, do either of you know the way?” One step at a time. The future would see to itself in time.

“Oh I’m Al…” he cut off, instinctively using his four year old alias before stopping himself. No he’d made a promise to himself. “I’m Aurelian. It’s nice to meet you both.”

 

[Jake2]

Jake waved a goodbye to the Wookie as he stepped off. The ground was soft beneath his feet. Who knew how many leaves from the top compacted under his feet. It sure did not feel like any other ground he walked on that's for sure. All most like a firm sand.

The women spoke like she did not want to be here or understand the meaning of a pilgrimage. Though it was highly unlikely she knew Jake had done these types of trips before, though thus was the first time it was willingly. The man it seemed was far more freindly he had at least provided his name. Though both seemed stumped how to recall the lift. Of course Jake did not know either but it did not concern him. This was the journey start not the end. The tree was the end and there they would find anwsers.

"I am sure we will find our way out of the shadowlands at the end of out journey. O and my name is Jake nice to meet the two of you" walking forward Jake looked at the trees feeling the ground he knelt by the light and picked up some kind of insect, it glowed softly. It staid on his has Jake felt the earth beneath his fingers before standing up. With the bug on his hand he pointed "we should go that way"

 

[Freyja Storm]

The older one didn't seem to sure and the younger one seemed a little too eager and naive for her tastes. He appeared still love drunk on this whole escapade, the thought of the Force and the Jedi. Neither of them really knew what faced them on the other side of the curtain, the Sith, their ruthlessness, their passion, their anger, desire for revenge and death. Freyja knew. She had spent nearly her entire life on that side of the curtain and half of that training to be one of those who would love to take their heads if they ever found them. That was part of her hesitation, she knew what they were up against what vast forces that faced them. Part of knew it was futile, that this exercise was just a long ass way to get them all killed. She sighed.

"I guess we follow the Kid." She said looking at the man who introduced himself as Aurelian. She didn't believe the kid really knew what he was doing, but she had no idea herself which way was right. And with the lift now well out even earshot, they could only move forward.

The group broke out of the small clearing and into the small underbrush at the foot of the great trees, luckily due to their sheer size there was normally a large amount of clearing between each their trunks, so apart from the rather large roots the going was easy as they made their way through. After walking in silence for about ten minutes she finally decided to break the silence, only to keep her mind from wondering. "What do you think we will find at the tree?" She asked.

@Andrewza @Lazy Swordsman

Spoiler

Just FYI I have done a little dice roll to see what NPC's we will be up against. Its rolled as a group of smaller enemies, so I will start bringing them in after the next round.

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Clearing his throat the man tore his eyes from the shadowed depths beyond the nearest trees as the child spoke. His look of surprise was obvious enough to reveal his shock that the kid seemed to be the one that actually knew where he was going. Catching himself he turned to glance at the woman and give himself a shrug, he didn’t have a better option anyway.

Turning back to the boy he smiled and nodded. “Alright Jake, lead on.” Aurelian said with a smile. He wasn’t sure were the kid’s confidence was coming from but it was as comforting as it was strange.

As they strode from the elevator platform and into the Shadowlands properly and navigated through the gaps in the trees as they followed the direction that Jake had pointed out. Aurelian let his gaze wander up to the treeline which seemed impossibly high above and then back down the ridiculously huge trunks, even the small fraction of their roots which could be seen above ground were supersized. Of all the worlds that he had walked upon he had to put Kashyyyk up there as one of the more unique worlds. The Wookies were lucky that the Empire had not decimated it or their culture as they had on other worlds.

Hearing the woman, as yet unnamed, speak to them he snapped his attention back to their surroundings. It had been foolish to let his focus drift, as fascinating as his surroundings where he also knew the Shadowlands was home to all sorts of nasty beasties and there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t cross such creatures during their pilgrimage. Considering her question he give another slight shrug.

“I’m not sure. Most of my knowledge of the pilgrimage came from historical sources, I wasn’t even certain it was still practiced considering the current galactic perception of such things.” he said, as diplomatically as possible. It was unlikely that either of his companions where die hard patriots considering they were attending the evet after all.

“The tree is an exceptionally important symbol to the Wookies, they consider it sacred. This whole holiday is based around it. I would imagine that there’ll be a gathering, other pilgrims perhaps and I suspect some Wookies whose purpose it is to make sure no desecration occurs. Perhaps even to serve as guides about how to return to the platforms once our time at the tree is spent.” he replied before turning his gaze to the youngest of the trio. “What about you Jake? Have you been here before or do you have any idea about what we should expect? You seem to have some knowledge about the direct we should be going.”

@Andrewza @Braden Drake

 

[Jake2]

Jake looked around. It was clear where the shawdolands got it's name from. The shadows seemed to move and follow them as they walked through the forest. In truth Jake had no idea where this tree of life was but he did not feel lot and the path before them was not as hard going as he thought it would be.

The ground was still soft and the forest devoid of sound. All sound expect theirs. Still the journey was right of passage. Could it really be that dangerous. Then again wookies where a lot tougher than humans, still Jake refused to let negtive thought distract him. "I dont know, but the pilgrimage is meant to be some kind of right of passage. I know that it is some how connect to the force but that is it. All i know is that before we left we where told to follow our hearts and the path to three would open to us. My heart said go this way and so that is why i chose this route. By the Way lady, you ever going to tell us your name. Not like if we know it we can are going to make spell to control your mind with you name alone."

 

[Freyja Storm]

So Aurelian was a historian. That made sense, considering his dress, no matter where you went in the galaxy they all dressed the same. She smiled at the thought as he continued to describe what he knew about the Life Tree and this whole pilgrimage, though not much of it was concrete just old history or assumptions. The kid was little better, if not worse, 'His Heart' she almost chuckled at the thought. Heart only got you one place and that was killed, that was what her training had taught her and what life had shown her. best to follow your head, that's the one piece of your body that wants to keep you alive. The rest of it just tries to kill you.

She waited for them to walk a few more meters until she finally gave her name. "Cornelia." She replied, another Alias, she was still not ready to trust anyone, especially with the fact they were not only at an Imperial designated no go, but looking to seek out knowledge in the one thing the Empire hated the most in the Galaxy. The Jedi. "I would caution you to not give your name so easily, Jake, Aurelian. Half the galaxy would have our heads for standing here. Trust who you are with before you give them your secrets." It was an Imperial train of thought, a Sith action. But it had kept her alive, so she would keep at it until she found a better alternative.

Before the others could reply, a sound of clicking came from all around them. It sounded like high-heels on a hard floor like a thousand women walked down the road. Freyja grabbed her vibro-sword from behind her back, drawing the blade and began to scan the area. She couldn't see anything, the gloom only allowing her to see a few dozen feet in each direction. The clicking got louder, she spun a half turn to see if it was behind her, but only saw Aurelian. Then she finally looked up, crawling down from the trees were over a dozen Wyyyschokk, giant spiders. "I hate spiders." She said under her breath as she gripped the sword two-handed and waited for the first to drop from the trees.

 

[Aurelian Keth]

The Scholar nearly flinched at the mention of how the pilgrimage was connected to the force. It was one thing to do a thing, to believe a thing but it was another altogether to say a thing out loud. It was why Aurelian always danced around an issue when in uncertain company, leaving enough room to wiggle out of a problem had saved his life on numerous occasions. Still it seemed the kid knew something, Aurelian had only come across the barest mention of the Jedi being related to the pilgrimage at all. Some scholar he was being outdone by a child. He did have to chuckle softly as Jake called their third companion out on not sharing her name.

He glanced at her and she spoke and nodded. Given what she said immediately after made it seem obvious that this wasn’t actually her name. He nodded at her advice while wearing a friendly smile. She was completely correct and echoed how he’d lived since the Empire found out about his studies. However for some reason he had felt driven to be honest here. He wasn’t sure why, perhaps it was weakness and he was just tired of running, perhaps he had felt it disrespectful or maybe it was something more. Who knew? Regardless it was done now.

Seeing “Cornelia” draw her blade the man frowned in confusion but being a cautious soul he followed suit. His blade flashed out of it's sheath at his waist with the casual ease of a movement practiced thousands of times. Then he heard the clicking which drew his gaze skyward. Now Aurelian never claimed to be a brave soul and many things that he found difficult to face. Spiders however shook him to the core and he counted arachnophobia as one of his greatest irrational fears.

Visibly blanching in the face of the creatures he could only mutter under his breath. “Why though?”

When the first spider came into range Aurelian tried to make a slash at it but failed to make impact as he was already backing away from the creatures. Now the man considered himself a fair swordsman, good even, but the majority of his training was with solo forms and his experience lay largely in self-defence against other people not beasties.

Cursing out loud he took a proper central two-handed guard with his vibrosword as he shot a glance at Jake, he was sure that Cornelia could look after herself but he was worried about the boy. “Watch out kid!”

 

[Jake2]

THEME
​

The women was correct Jake knew freely giving out his name was bad. But there where lots of Jakes in the world and either the empire did not care about him or he was all ready a wanted man. Either way his name meant nothing. "I suppose you are correct Cornelia, but are the two of you going to go to a imperial base and say this human teen with black hair named Jake knows about the fact the Jedi where a thing? Lots of Jake's in the galaxy and this one is all ready wanted."


Jake carried on walking the shadows dancing as he stepped. The trees loomed over them and before he knew it the sound of swords being drawn and vibro blades being activated. Jake spun to see the others with swords out and before he knew it a cal of alarm. Looking up Jake was to late. The spider jumped. Backing away Jake tripped on a root and fell backwards as the spider landed over him. The legs off the spider on either side Jake under it to escape the poison fangs. "aaaaaa i don't want to be eaten!"

 

[Freyja Storm]

Years of training took hold, by Aurelian's stance he wasn't a born fighter, he held the blade well though. So she hoped he could at least hold his own during the coming bout. She was about to jump in to help Aurelian when she heard the scream from the young kid. She shook her head, 'Where was his force now?' she thought as she ran over to save Jake. Taking the sword in one hand she set out into a run across the glade, a Spider dropped down with a thud in front of her. Its fangs clicked together a thick gloup of poison dripping off of them. Freyja didn't have time for this one though, she could see the spider over jake began to lean forward. Running at full speed towards the spider she dropped sliding beneath the creature, the snapping of its fangs only a handspan away from her head.

Coming out the other side she was only a few steps away from Jake and his Spider. With no time to actually get to the head of the beast, she took a swing at its rear leg. The Vibro-Sword cut deep almost severing the limb. The Spider reared back in pain, the lack of screaming was unnerving, only the clicking became more frantic. The Spider turned around, its back right-hand side fall under its weight as it tried to attack her. She also heard the spider she had slid under turn. "Two versus one." How fun she mumbled to herself.

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Hearing the kid scream he darted his gaze over towards Jake with a mix of frustration and concern. Why in the name of all that was holy had the Wookies allowed a child to go somewhere so dangerous? He stepped to the side towards the boy when the spider dropped onto the ground infront of him, its mandibles snapping at him threateningly forced Aurelian to focus his attention on the beast. He’d read about these damn things, webweavers or wyyyshokk, exceptionally deadly and freakishly intelligent when it came to hunting. He’d been warned when coming to the planet that these where considered amongst some of the deadliest creatures by the Wookies. Any planet that where a Wookie could be prey was a land of death in Aurelian’s opinion.

‘So much for the pilgrimage path being well patrolled and cleared out for visitors.’

Some of his worry was mitigated as Cornelia jumped into the fray to protect the youngest of their number. Still Aurelian severely doubted they could take a dozen of these things and who knew how many more lay in the shadows. However if they were as intelligent as he’d been led to believe then perhaps injuring or killing enough of them would force a retreat. Worth a try.

Even as he thought it a second spider was coming in from behind the first. ‘I have to bait this one in now, I can’t handle them both at once.’ The scholar slid his front foot, his right, backwards as he brought his sword above his head with the tip diagonally leaning backwards. With no weapon between the two the spider leapt in, long legs extended towards the human. Aurelian’s vibrosword came out flash, much better than his previous attempt, removing two of it’s legs and even cutting into the pedipalps. Aurelian tried to bring his sword back up for a reverse cut, but his sword was single edged. Turning it around and bringing it back up in a single motion after the impact of striking the spider turned out to be much slower than planned. The injured arachnid was retreating and his second strike missed altogether, throwing him off balance. As such when the second spider leapt at him he could only bring his sword back to the original ready stance. Whether by luck or skill his return to guard was nearly flawless and the spider injured itself slightly by pushing itself onto the point of his blade before retreating a few feet.

The second spider, only faintly injured, clicked disturbingly at him as it began to slowly move forward again. The first, now missing a few limbs, hung back at the edge of the skirmish either too hurt to continue or waiting for a better opportunity.

“Frak. Just run away already.” Aurelian muttered.

 

[Jake2]

Jake moved farther under the spider as Cornelia moved in to help him but it was not fully needed as Jake pulled out a vibro Dagger and turned it on. The humming sound seemed so much louder as Jake stabbed it into the spider on top of him. The vibrating blade cut through the soft underbelly of the spider as green goo spilled from its belly and landed on Jake as Jake was able to crawl out from the now wethering beast. Rolling to his feet Jake moved to stand behind Cornelia


"Does somebody have a bright light, maybe that will scare them off?" As Jake held his small blade before him. He was not a novice fighter, but even som his small vibro dagger was rather small compared to the size of the spiders before them.

 

[Freyja Storm]

Freyja looked back at Jake who was now covered in the entrails of the beast. "No Technology Remember?" Freyja said to the kid annoyed. She twisted the blade around in a wrist, the kid, who seemed to have a little more about him than she initially thought. Though the standard was still not high. He could deal with the injured arachnid behind them. The one in front was for her to deal with. The spider lunged forward its pincers snapping at her head. Freyja jumped to the side at the last moment before dragging her blade across the creatures front leg. It was only a glancing blow, but still cut deeply, it was not enough to remove the limb completely but it could hardly put any more weight on it.

The spider twisted to face her the clicking becoming more erratic. In reply Freyja dived the opposite way, cutting at its other front limb. The beast stumbled forward under the two failing limbs its head crashing into the earth, it tried to raise itself up but slipped, crashing down again. Freyja quickly put the beast out of its misery, stabbing the blade down into the brain of the beast. Before turning back to look at the others.

Spoiler

Sorry for the delay and short post, still don't have full access to my computer/

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Aurelian had recovered himself and was ready for a renewed assault against the damnable beasts. He leapt forward thrusting with the blade as the creature backed off, landing a glancing blow, however using his momentum he let the blade spin easily in his hand and swiftly brought it down for an overhead stroke. The webweaver clicked angrily as the humming vibrosword ripped across its many eyes. Leaping back as the wounded creature’s legs tried to ensnare him Aurelian retreated while performing a series of velocities his father had trained him in over a decade ago. His blade flashed right as he sidestepped with it, removing the spider’s leg and twisting he removed the leg from the other side. Like the wyyyshokk before it attempted to flee backwards, a hissing sound emanating from behind it’s clicks however Aurelian was ready this time. Leaping forward he drove his blade straight through the creature’s head and tore it free before slashing down at it several more times before the twitching beast lay still.

Returning automatically to guard his eyes darted around the shadows but the first spider he’d injured had already retreated far beyond his sight, perhaps frightened off by the death of it’s clustermate.

Moving backwards with calm even steps, now fully sunk into the mindset his father had hammered into him while conducting martial practice Aurelian moved closer to the other two. Seeing no immediate danger he glanced at Cornelia and Jake. “You both okay? Maybe we should make a move before they try it again, who knows how big the cluster is...”

 

[Jake2]

Jake focused on the wounded spider before him and jumped to the side as it thrashed about. As it moved passed Jake slashed at its legs with the Vibro dagger cutting into its legs causing it to recoil away. Even though it legs where not removed they had deep gashes along them from the virbor blade. With one of it's kind dead and the others retreating the wounded spider before Jake moved back into the shadows dripping blood as it went back into the Shadowlands. Looking around Jake could see the other spider where all gon other than the dead one.


"I agree we should move on fast, I don't want to fight them a second time" Cleaning His dagger on the ground Jake returned it to his sheath and tried to clean himself as best he could of the goo and blood from the spider " I hope there is a shower at the tree"

 

[Freyja Storm]

Freyja still held her blade out in front of her, expecting another attack as the spiders moved away from the group and back into the darkness of the forest. "Let's go then." She kept her blade out, not willing to chance at another attack. She ushed the other two in front of her, heading in the same direction that Jake was leading them all. As they exited the clearing, she spotted one of the Spiders return, but instead of following them it latched onto its dead brood mate and began to devour the beast. "Survival of the fittest." She said to herself as she jumped down off the root and back into the underbrush of the forest.

They were all breathing a little heavy from the fight, probably more from the adrenaline than anything else. She felt the high of battle slowly fade away as her heart rate began to settle. "You both handled yourself well out there." She said from the back of the group, she kept her head on a swivel checking every corner, she was not getting dropped on again. Blood still dripped from her vibro-blade as she walked on.

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Seeing the others relax put him at ease and he flicked the switch on his vibroblade, the weapon’s hum died down as the power was shut off. However following Cornelia’s lead he kept his sword in hand just in case something else did leap out at them. “Right.” As he moved with the group Aurelian glanced back and saw one of the Spiders returning to consume one of it’s fallen clustermates. Shuddering at the sight he picked up the pace a little, this was why he had no interest in studying biology while at university when his father had suggested at one point. Nature could be so disgusting at times.

Rolling his shoulders he felt his hands trembling slightly as he began to come down from the adrenaline rush. The fight had been short and, ultimately, they’d suffered no causalities but it had been an ordeal despite that. Giant spiders of all things, creatures of absolute nightmare. Hearing Cornelia speak he smiled faintly. “It was lucky all things considered that could have went quite poorly.” he sighed “You both managed quite well… although I’m not sure if you’ll manage to get the stains out of your clothes.” he added jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Well half-joking, he was definitely glad his own clothing hadn’t gotten the same treatment. His blade was going to need a looking at though, some of the more stubborn lumps of viscera and who knew what still clung to the sword.

“Hey Jake, any idea how far off we are?” The Kid seemed to know the way so it made sense he might have a clue to the distance.