The Great Unknown.

Ryla interrupted by promptly belching. She continued the same belch for the next seven or eight seconds as she released the extra air in her stomach all at once. The kensha gave a kick, signalling it was still alive, but its struggles had subsided.
She looked down to Danny and Systath.
"Huns, I've tangled with three kenshas at once and I'm still here. None of you did anything worth crap, really. Poked it a few times, I guess, which is ok if you're a schoolyard bully who's trying to go unnoticed. However, this is Felarya, and most people who go to the trouble of poking the local animals find their fingers bitten off."

She paused for a moment, trying to remember what her initial point was.

"And I'm afraid you're gonna have to do more than irritate a kensha - which then takes said irritation out on me - if you wanna stay out of my stomach."

(ooc: Heh, more danger is yet to come I suppose. Oh, I don't know if you want to know this now but you all can use more than one character; just keep everything in story format please. I'm already working on my own second character.)

Jim glared back up at the Naga with a look of indignation, "Well excuse me for caring. If I and the others hadn't have at least distracted it then you would be that thing's first meal in a long time." He spoke as he tried to indicate the others, nearly loosing his balance in the process.

Systath stood up straight. "Y'know, the man's got a point. You may have taken down three of those things in the past but, were they as starving and desperate as that one was?"

Ryla snorted.
"Bleh, I stand by my original point. You may have distracted it, but that's not really worth all that much. You could've done the same thing with a shotgun. And the last guy with a shotgun I met is currently flowing through the compact maze that is my intestinal tract."

She continued her way into the jungle, closing her fingers gently around Jim.
"Now do you want that arm fixed, or would you like to slowly bleed to death?"

Danny shrugged as he followed behind Ryla, either way this 'Felarya' may prove to make a good training ground to better test his abilites as a fighter as well as his survival skills

Systath let out a low growl of anger. "Whatever.", he said as he hefted his weapon case. He put his sniper onto his back as he followed Ryla through the jungle. "Felarya huh?", he thought.

Jim yepled, "Hey watch the arm!" He didn't know if he could ever really get used to being picked up like a doll, but one doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Despite what he felt at the moment, Ryla was right; his arm was bleeding, however slightly enough to cause worry. If it wasn't treated soon, he would bleed to death.

"About how far do you think it is?" he asked, trying not to move too much in the giant's grasp.

Ryla looked down to Jim.
"Sorry. Several dozen miles, I'd say. It'll be dark by the time we get there."
She said this with a smile, of course. She found it exciting to wake up in the middle of the day and stay up into the night, where she was most at home. It was tiresome, but it was exotic, in her eyes.

Jim nodded, there were times he had to make runs like that before nightfall but never while wounded.

Despite being encompassed by her massive grip, he was starting to feel a bit colder than usual, 'Damn,' he thought, 'I've lost a lot of blood haven't I?' He grimaced at the thought of bleeding to death of his own stupidity.

"I can't believe I did something so stupid..." he muttered under his breath.

*****

All throughout the commotion, another pair of eyes watched from far up in the trees. It watched as the Naga devoured the large Kensha beast with some difficulty. He chuckled mentally as he moved closer for a better look, 'This Naga isn't like the more common breeds I've seen.' His thoughts were interrupted as he noticed the Naga pick up the wounded human with a crystal growth out of his arm.

He a smirk on his face he decided to follow them, at least to observe and chronicle what was taking place. Not many had survived encounters with full grown Nagas, hardened to human pleas for mercy for much of their lives and this was an opportunity to see what too few have seen.

Like a hunter himself, he stalked them; keeping to the shadows and giving them a wide berth so as to keep out of the Naga's sensing radius or what he believed to be that radius. Carefully he moved, leaping from limb to limb, careful to keep his footfalls soft and silent; like a shadow he moved despite his odd clothing color.

His yellow gaze pierced through the dark shadows of the forest until he realized something, 'This direction,' he thought, 'their heading for Fairy territories. Just what I need, more things trying to eat me.'

As Danny followed behind Ryla he couldn't help but feel a bit...uneasy, all of a sudden. He paused for a second and glanced into the towering trees above him, maybe there was something above him. but his eyes could only see nothing...he looked to his side only to see the same. He couldn't quite place it but he felt as if someone, somewhere was watching them. "...This place is given' me the creeps..." he muttered as he ran up to catch up to the others.

Though it was a notable risk, it was safer than the alternative as far as Wes'li was concerned.

After the run-in with the Kensha beast, he had wanted to put as much distance between himself and the river as possible. While any other predators could do no worse than the beast, it'd tack on even more time to his travel.

Fortunately, the rain had stopped at least. By the time he finished repairing his body, the river would likely be managable to cross.

Following several minutes of (Thankfully, yet unnervingly) uneventful travel (Beyond the commotion that sparked back where the start of it all was roughly located), Wes'li came to a stop in a small clearing. Further ahead, from what he could remember off the map, lay Faerie territory. Even coming this close invited an encounter with a wandering Fae-folk. He needed clear space to do his job, however.

Slowly, in a matter that seemed almost comical for such a large being, Wes'li waved his hands around in the air while whispering a chant that seemed to disturb the ground. Suddenly, mud started to pool outside of a rapidly growing pit in the ground. As the hole steadily grew, he kept his eyes open for the tell-tale shifting -

There!

As hastily as a Golem could, Wes'li flung himself to the hole and quickly started to drag out some of the desired material. Clay. First try, too. Moving his hands in a seemingly random manner, the earth behind him seemed to form a slight ramp, allowing him to leave the shoulder-deep hole.

Ceasing his concentration on the spell, he grabbed a large clump of clay from the slowly collapsing wall before exiting the ditch. Not a minute afterwards the hole was filled again, the magic that moved the dirt shifting it back to the original place.

All but the massive clump of clay in Wes'li's hands.

No longer needing to remain in the open, Wes'li made a run for the tree-line furthest from Faerie territory. Some preparations would need to be made, and spells cast in the process, though assuming all went well, he'd be done within the hour.
As he started to work with the clump on the ground, gleeful at the luck of being slightly ahead in the repair schedule, he forgot to check for any predators, or traveling parties, that might be headed his way.

((And thus, you have your reason to run into him Everything tiny is really just to flesh it out, and unneeded in RP purposes.))

(ooc: The purpose of story format rp is for the building of the moment. You never know what may be needed, also, for those of us that like to read detailed stories, it's a pain in the ass to have what we like cut off like that. Just fyi of course.)

Jim saw it, something coming. It was about the same size as a man but something looked odd about it.

************

With sudden stop, a stop that could have been made out by any creature with half a brain would have noticed. He kicked himself for stopping like a rookie on patrol. Thinking quickly he leaped higher into the branches, as far as he possibly could.

'Damn it, I may have given away my position!'

"!?" Danny whirled around to see something disappear in the corner of his eye "Somethin's followin us!" he said as he prepared himself for a fight "HEY! whatever you are come out n' fight like a man!"

Systath immediately switched on his cloaking and searched around the area with his sniper. He whispered to the group, "Do any of you see it?" He was kicking himself for not noticing first. He was usually right on the ball, alert and vigil. But something about this world was throwing him off his A-game.

-DEEP WITHIN A CAVE IN THE FOREST...-

"SIR! I warned you that Dridders DON'T take kindly to visitors! OR thieves, for that matter!"

"SHADDUP AND FLY, GOODSTYLE!"

Ryan Wario, the "Purple Lightning", had just attempted to steal a good amount of gold from a Dridder's lair, the results being rather...unsuccessful. The Dridder had awoken during the heist, and so, the short treasure hunter took to his heels, his trusty--yet nagging--wand Goodstyle not to far behind. Eventually they were a good distance away...

"Ah...sir?" Goodstyle began.

"Goodstyle. We've been partners a long time, but if you refuse to shut up, I'll go dragon and melt your mouth shut." Ryan growled.

"...Ah, quite right sir. Shutting up." Goodstyle whimpered.

A noise; nearby it sounded. The figure hiding in the leaves turned it's yellow gaze towards the sound, inadvertently giving itself away. His bushy dark blue hair craned toward the noise as if guarding itself from or preparing for flight. 'Shit, that sounded like an angry Dridder.'

Dridders were among the few species this human-like creature still feared, even the females possessed incredible amount of brute strength and their venom was nothing to laugh at either. A pain inducing neurotoxin with one hell of a psychedelic trip if you can stay awake through the pain.

He hesitated but lowed his head, 'keep it together,' he thought, 'its still a good distance out so I should be fine.'

"Hmph." Ryan looked around in the open, Goodstyle asleep in his pocket. "Where could it have gone? There's no way the bloody thing just vanished..." After looking about some more, He walked back into the thick. "I'm to young to stop, yet still too old for this shit."

((Sorry bout the delay. Writer's block. >>>))

Ryla glanced down at the small figure beside her. It was a strange one. Abnormally large for a human, but of roughly the same shape. Judging by its position and the way it jolted up when she looked at it, it was mostly just scared.
Ryla started to continue on. If it wasn't a threat, she wanted to just go on and get Jim fixed. But then, it was a very odd thing. If she went ahead, she might never see it again, then she'd never know what it was! She simply couldn't have that and reluctantly turned back to face it. She propped herself up on one arm, tightening her grip on Jim and leaning in to the tiny figure.

"Just what are you, then?"

Wes'li scrambled to his feet when he finally noticed the motely party behind him, startled and upset at the same time that he let himself be snuck up on. Too much attention into the work! Turning, he would likely have gasped in relief if he still had lungs. Only a Naga. Not a Faerie.

As he stared at the creature, he noticed it was a bit... odd. Sure, it looked for the most part like any regular Naga. However, there appeared to be some subtle differences to at least suggest some variation. Purplish highlights among the flesh, unkempt hair (Which, from what he had seen and heard, was quite uncommon in Naga's), and a (most uncommon of all) wrap of cloth around herself. Along with those factors, the thing seemed to be carrying an injured human.

As he looked along the ground, he simply gave up on the idea that this group was in any way normal. A minotaur in a funny attire seemed to be following the group, along with another funnily dressed being that appeared almost draconic in nature. While no weapon appeared to be visible on the Minotaur (Suggesting a mage, but such a combination alone seemed to defy reason), the other was waving around a curious item that he could only assume was some sort of weapon, partially resembling a stream-lined flintlock in design.

It was then that the Naga opened her mouth and asked a question he wouldn't have expected from such a being.

"Just what are you, then?"

This he had to consider for a moment, on account of multiple reasons. First and foremost, he didn't know any of the group at all, and in fact none of them save perhaps the human in the Naga's hands seemed to even be a RACE that he could identify for sure. Secondly, his identity itself would be a little bit hard to describe without a further barrage of questions. Lastly, he had questions himself he would like to ask them.

Deciding that rudeness would likely end with an even more mucked-up body, and that starting with a barrage of questions on his own would just as likely start pushing some buttons best left un-pressed, he moved his shoulders in what could best be described as an almost-shrug and gave the answer as best as he could without revealing too much.

"I am a Human, or at least, was at one point. During my travels, I got injured in a manner that my body could not heal from. Desperate to live, I had myself put in the body of a Golem so that I may live. That is the gist of things."

He intended to stop there, but he couldn't stop himself from asking at least one question of his own. After all, he was still only 'human'.

"And now, if I may ask, what are all of you?"

(ooc: Wario, looks like I get to control that dridder NPC you introduced... crap. Oh well, I like challenges anyhow. Time to see what Ryan can do huh?)

Ryla's grip tightened around Jim and he gritted his teeth and gave a slight hiss in response. His arm was hurt, the crystal embedded deeply into his arm. However, this... "human" they seemed to have met up with had him intrigued, and a little surprised that something like that could ever exist.

He seemed to be made up of a sort of living clay, plastic yet still tough. Jim couldn't see any other details beside that from his perspective and the fact Ryla held him at an odd angle now. 'Great,' he thought, 'manhandled by a giant girl, what else could go wrong?'

---

Spyke was sure of it now; A Dridder was coming. He could here the eight massive spider legs moving somewhere in the forest. He could also hear a human somewhere arguing with... he guessed another human. Still, something like that would be merciless if it came any closer to this group. The injured human in the Naga's grip would definitely drag them down if they got caught up in the midst of an angry Dridder's rampage.

He cursed under his breath as he left his hiding place in the leaves of the higher up branches. 'Interception time,' he thought as he moved again. Jumping to a nearby branch and taking flight towards the newest danger. With any luck he'd be able to lure the Dridder away without having to use "IT."

His face became grim and his eyes that ever piercing yellow, eyes that seemed as if they could see into your very soul. The game was afoot.

---

Behind Ryan, the Dridder waked quietly; seething at the prospect of her interrupted nap. The human dared to take her horde and now he'd pay. He made sure she wasn't seen or felt, she was going to crush this puny human in her jaws for waking her up.

(Good--Needed someone to be her.)

Ryan continued to walk when he heard a branch snap behind him. "There you are..." Suddenly he was off like a shot out of a gun, pushing away branches and bushes as he raced through the forest. "COME 'N GET ME, SPIDER-WHORE!"

"You little bastard!" the Dridder howled as she took off after Ryan, her eight legs propelling her forward at an alarming rate. "You can't get away!"

"Goodstyle! Wake up, you lazy bastard!" He smacked his pocket, awakening the wand.

"Oh my...yes, master?"

"On my word, switch me to my dragon suit, got me?"

"Oh, yes sir, but why--...! ...She's after us, isn't she?"

"Hell yes."

She was closing in fast, grinning a sinister smile all the way. She stretched out her hand to make to grab Ryan; evil thoughts of what she would do to him floating through her head made her grin grow all the wider.

____________________________________________________________________________________

With the speed and grace of a feline, the dark figure flew through the leaves with all the speed he could muster. 'There,' he thought as soon as the Dridder came into view; a human dead in her sights. 'I'm not going to make it!'

"NOW, NOW!" He jumped and turned to face the Dridder in midair, a cloud of some sort surrounding him. When it faded after several seconds, he was in what appeared to be a dragon Halloween costume.

However, this was anything but.

With a deep breath, Ryan spewed a wave of flame from his mouth at the Dridder, full-force.