The moon shines above the Taurai Woods, Illuminating the crevices of each tree with a soft, white glow. a light wind blows, rustling the leaves and the grass, stirring up wonerdous smells into the air. This is a prefect night, almost as if it had been created for hunters in these woods. The soft breath of sleeping deers shows in the cold night. Their breath is shallow as they lie down, unsuspecting of what is to come.

There is a rustling in the branches above, a shallow breath that almost doesn't exist. A golden light flashes in the reflection of the moon, a hunter has found it's prey, it's food for the night. The stretching of string is slow and soft, a trained hunter being sure not to scare the prey from it's slumber. The string tightens, silence falls once again.

A whistle goes through the air, an arrow embeds into the sleeping buck's head. It does not awaken, it simply drifts onn into the afterlife. The hunter drops, a lycan hunter with silver fur. The kill was good, quick, clean. Not much blood dripped from the wound, he severed the brain stem. If he was to eat the meat he would need to rip it open and clean it out, making sure to keep the edible organs.

During it's life, Romolus had seen it competing for a mate. It was healthy, a bit of damage to the horn, but not too much to really affect it's use. The lycan always knew what to do with healthy prey, cook the meat, wear the hide, and use the horns for arrowheads. The sickly ones recieved a proper buriel.

"May the gods accept your soul into the afterlife, your life will nurish mine." Romolus was not without his honor. He had been long since rejected by his tribe for his rebllious personality. His cave was about a ten minutes travel from the current place, he would need to take the corpse back in order to strip it.

He picked the corpse up and placed it over his right shoulder, the smell of blood, no matter how faint, would be sure to attract other predators. He would have to hurry to avoid complications. He made his way back to his home.

About half way through his journey he could hear rustling amogst the local fauna, something was there, something humanoid. whatever was there was not a beastial predator come at the smell of blood. The lycan dropped his body and watched the source of the rustling for whatever was to come out, he sat ready if the need for combat arose.

Zilfer had traveled these woods a few times in the past, and had decided it would be best to clear his mind from the city troubles of Lomedor before he did anything rash to clear his name. He had been wandering the woods for quite awhile, a few weeks, had gone by as he had used only the food he had on him as a meal. Occasionally he would recognize only the most common of plants and pick them, for he had no real knowledge of what was edible and was could be used as herbs. The morning before last, he had noticed he was running low on food, and would need to hunt or get out of the woods quickly. He tried his luck with hunting. The first day with his steel katana, and that didn't end to well. The second day he had gotten some rather long branches and cut them into a makeshift spear. He had practiced throwing them, for awhile, and almost struck a few bunnies and 1 deer, however he had missed all of his throws. He finally gave up, knowing that the way he came into the woods would take to long to make it out. He would starve before making it to the city. He had a few choices and he thought them out on a rock until the sun went down, and then got up on his feet which were asleep from the extended sitting time.

Zilfer decided to cut through a part of the woods he had never explored before, and thus could prove more dangerous, but his life was currently riding on it. Sometimes stupidity gets the best of us. thought zilfer as he tracked through the woods of Taurai, hoping not to run into anything dangerous. The moonlight shown through the tree's beautifully this night, as zilfer's elven ears pick up alot of the slightest sounds. He swore he heard bow string, but with the slight wind he couldn't be sure. His pace was slow, so not to disturb any large animals, from their slumber. Such a quite night..... thought zilfer as he came through some brush he dropped into a stance getting ready to draw his katana from its sheath as he saw a large white animal before him. It dropped what looked like a deer, however zilfer was more focused on the beast that towered over him in height, however as zilfer focused in on the eyes. They seemed intelligent, he had already drawn his blade 1 inch from the hilt, however he stopped hoping that those eyes was an indication of intelligence. He remained perfectly still, he wasn't going to take his katana off the hilt however because it could spell certain doom for him if he was caught off guard. Such a beautiful white beast.... perhaps he was some sort of forest guardian who could be reasoned with..... thought zilfer in the back of his head. After all I'd rather not fight something this big.....

OOC hope you dont mind me entering, and i didn't know how many words you wanted so I used a 500 word start off post.... let me know if i need to increase, or if it's ok to decrease the amount. (i dont make posts usualy over 400.... it's usualy in the 300 range.)

The day had gone, and Velanovana was up and about. He enjoyed the Taurai Woods, despite their distance from the sea. After the Naga fight and destruction of the fleet in the Maelstrom, he'd found himself at the mouth of a river.

Vela roused to conciousness as the sky began to take on it's blue tint. He limped into the woods, stumbling and blurred in vision. His intention was to find a building or cave where he could hide from the daylight, however he found that the conopy of trees was plenty dense enough to shelter him. And so he proceeded to just drop at the foot of a large oak, and crash into sleep.

The relativly young Vampire woke just after the sun had gone down. He was hungry, and most of the blood he'd drank was drained from his body keeping him succumbing to naga wounds and hypothermia. A feral instinct overtook the Bard as he saw a young doe walking near-by, looking for a place to rest for the night. It hadn't taken long for the Vampire to completely drain the deer, and now he needed to find some kind of civilization that would accept him. Someplace inland that could find a Pirate a job.

This is going to be fun to explain. Vela thought to himself.
Hi! I'm a corpse that drinks blood to survive. I like boats, ship to ship combat, and pillaging with some degree of dignity. Got a merchant that needs robbing?

And so Velanovana began to walk. And so was it that he stopped walking just short of a clearing, his senses picking up the smell of a freshkill, what had to have been a werewolf (judging by the musk), and something like a being that was generally proud, discouraged. Sure enough he peered from behind a tree at a curious scene where an elf and a lupine met eyes over a fresh kill. The tension between the two was almost tangible.

Niether seemed to want to fight, and as Vela didn't either, he kept beside the tree and watched waiting for someone to notice him. He only prayed that the werewolf's control over his beast form would hold until Vela was far gone deeper into the forest.

He passed inconspicuously beneath the arch of the trees, moonlight spilling in an erratic stencil on his back and shoulders, and wondered exactly when skulking around in the dark had become a habit for him. He was fairly sure it hadn’t been before, though the creep factor was old news, according to several reliable sources. Thinking of them, a wry smile curved the very edges of his lip. He had never gotten along with any of his friends…except Arabelle. A pang of something suspiciously like heartache tightened his chest, and so he pushed the girl roughly from the front of his mind, focusing on the night at hand.

His feet were silent, even on the close-packed, dead and dying needles beneath them. Every sense stood alert, searching for some trace of sound, sight, or scent to grasp onto. For a long time there was nothing; he was starting to think the danger had been a false alarm when the trees fell away some thirty feet ahead. One lithe form was silhouetted in a wash of silver light, tall and slender, an elf. He could hear him breathing, hear his heart pulsing between the rise and fall of lungs. Out of his range of vision, there was something else, accompanied by a rich, rusty smell. Kane cringed. Blood. The unknown had clearly just made a kill, and it was everywhere.

Carefully, relying on his inherent instincts to guide him, he began to backtrack, intending to search out a different exit. It had been too long since he last fed for him to emerge into the open, especially when there were others present.

Fate, however, had other plans.

The distance between Kane and the clearing had doubled by the time he noticed it: a sharp creaking noise not unlike a rusting hinge. It got louder and more prolonged as he approached, and he debated turning around to see whether something was about to collide with his cranium and kill him instantly. Right as he did so, a weathered old trunk which had been precariously spanning the path when he’d passed under ten minutes before crashed to the ground in a splintering spectacle of broken, rotted wood. He raised an eyebrow.

The thing was too big to climb over at the moment, and so the half dragon was reduced to turning and heading unwillingly back toward the unnamed people in the clearing. Irritated with the tree and with himself for feeling slightly responsible for said tree, Kane braced himself for the inevitable.

The Crash alerted Velanovana immediately. There was indeed another being around, but he was unable to see from his current point of view. The thing seemed hulking and dark, and the wind helped better his guesses on the new comer.

A south-bound wind brought the scent of the other vampire better to Vela's nose. He wasn't of a mundane descent, not likely to be an elf, dwarf or drow... and it most certainly wasn't human before the embrace. Vela assumed illogically of some kind of Werewolf, but that made no sense. It was likely the mix of all three of their scents, along with the blood of the fresh kill confusing him further. The werewolf's head hardly twitched. The Elf whirled around towards the new noise.

*Heavy sigh*

Vela drew his sword as silently as possible, and held it tight in his right hand. Whatever the other vampire was rooted as, he was in essence, a vampire. And so in any case, he would indeed defend his brethren. He only prayed that the others weren't so foolish as to attack the new come shadow.

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

Elsewhere, Elderwolfe GreyMayne was gathering the other lycanthropes of his clan. The trouble maker Romolus was back in their hunting grounds, just inside the make belief border, but in once again. He, along with the other intruders spotted, needed to be taught a lesson of predatory principles.
GreyMayne gathered six of the hungrier lightweights, and started to surround the clearing, completely unbeknownst to the travelers whose fates, at this point, were horribly inconveniently intertwined.

Zilfer's mind was focused on the moment as his sences seemed to heighten, when he was on the edge of danger. The wind died down as he slowly slide his hilt back towards the sheath making a click noise as they collided together. The creature before him had not made a move for him after a few long seconds that clicked in zilfer's mind that he or it, was non hostile. I wonder.... does this creature speak at all? There's one way to find out.... Easing his physical posture and standing up straight before he spoke so that his voice would ring out clear, and there would be no misunderstandings between them. "I am Zilfer Karin, from the city of Lomedor. I seem to have stumbled upon you at an unfortunate time, for that you'll have to excuse me...." started zilfer as he watched the creatures features carefully. "I would be greatful if you could dirrect me on the way back to Lomedor." he finshed as his ear twitched hearing some far off noise, that seemed to be a prolonged creeking noise of a tree falling down. He assumed something had made that noise and they where not alone.

"I fear we aren't the only ones wake this night." Said zilfer looking off into the distance seeing darkness, however his dark grey eyes seemed to focus in, turning crimson that glowed lightly from the moonlight. Using Infravision zilfer could see in the dark, and with his elven eyes he could see a very long distance before his vision cut off. He saw a figure headed this way, from the tree's and with the sound of a weapon drawing in air, almost slightly he looked at a different location spotting a figure behind a tree. Well this isn't something i planned tonight..... thought zilfer as he contiuned to scan the area to see if there was anything else worth seeing. At first it just seemed like the wind russeling tree's in a slight breeze, however he began to notice a pattern amount all the tree's along the edge of the clearing..... they where surrounded by a group of something. He tried to smell anything he could, but the wind was not carring any sent to him since it had died down leaving silence. "Can you see them... I have a bad feeling about this...."

He had come to the forest to escape trouble, and look at the mess he had wound up in. He took note of the deer, could be attracting predators to their current location, however zilfer found this highly unlikely unless it was a pack predator which might be smart enough to encircle their victums 360 degrees. Also the other 2 figures zilfer had spotted earlier did not seem to fit the pattern at all. He marked them as unknown. One thing was sure to zilfer however. Things where about to go down in this clearing, and not all of them may end well..... especially for him. He spoke once more to his situational partner, who stood towering above him, with white fur. "I dont suppose there here for dinner....." he said trying to fit a bit of ill humor into the mix. "I being invited over for supper usually doesn't end too well for the guests...." He couldn't help but smirk, as long as the creature besides him was on his side, he would be fine, after all just the sight of him had caused zilfer to think twice about attacking first and asking questions later.

(Sorry it's taken me so long to reply :p Too many people posting :p)

Romolus stood and watched, he could finally get the scent of what was there, it smelled familiar with it's own sharpness. Romolus, although being isolated from main society, recognized the smell as that of an elf. It was close to him, it had nearly drawn it's blade on the wolf-kin, who had his claws ready for a retalliation in case of an attack from this elfin. The watched each other for a bit.

Eventually the sharp and disgusting smell of undeath breached the garou's mind. Undeath could be a series of things, but this one had been bathed in the smell of pure death, Romolus knew this scent well enough, he hhad been a part of the wars with the vampyric forces when he was still a part of a pack. He looked over to the origin of the stench, a human-looking being stood near a tree. It had been several years since the war, perhaps the undead creature meant no hostility. How, and why, was it that the humanoids were converging on his territory.

Another smell came, mixed along with that of the sharp smell of the elf, and the stench of undeath that came from the vampyre who's intentions were unknown. There was the smell the lycan had not thought of in years, that distinct smell of dragon-kin. But it accmopanied, from the same source, the stench of undeath, of vampyic blood.

Finally silence was broken as the elf spoke, "I am Zilfer Karin, from the city of Lomedor. I seem to have stumbled upon you at an unfortunate time, for that you'll have to excuse me... I would be greatful if you could dirrect me on the way back to Lomedor." Lomedor, was that the name of that stone village that Romolus was forced to visit? His thoughts were interrupted by a crash, the sound of slintering wood pierced the lycan's ears and his instinct turned him to the source.

"I fear we aren't the only ones wake this night." The elf said. One final smell came as the elf spoke. Brothers, but only by species were near. Wolfen blood could be smelled. Shadows rustled in the darkness. "Can you see them... I have a bad feeling about this...." The first vampyre drew it's blade silently, perhaps unsuspecting of the garou coming until the stench hit the air. Romolus saw the original source of the half-breed smell. for some reason it seemed as if they were trapped there.

GreyMane must have returned to trouble the lone traveler. When Romolus' tribe left him, they also left him with the territory he hunted in, now the Grey tribe leader had returned once again to trouble the lone wolf. "Greymane! Quit hiding yourself in the shadows and face me!" Romolus shouted with his low voice, he often tired of this competitor who relied too much on others.

The grey lycan stepped from unoccupied sadows, with a grey neck and black fur around the rest of his body, he towered even Romolus, with scars marking his body, and one eye missing from a prior conflict between the lone Garou. "So Romolus, now you group with those of vampric blood and an elf? You have sunken through the days haven't you?" The voice of the Alpha was mocking in every way, Romolus growled in response.

"I have no ties to these creatures, as I have no ties to you GreyMane! I refuse to hide behind blind followers who tremble before a weak Aplha... I must ask, have you yet found your eye in the river?" Romolus was sickened by the reliance of other Garou, especially those who followed a weak leader.

The Alpha growled as he seemed prepared to attack, "You have no place in these lands you insolent mongrel, I offer you one hope at saving your soul from the fates Death has planned, I offer you a deal to save your soul from the dark Underworld!" Romolus gave a small laugh, he had forgotten about the others momentarily, "Oh, do you have a connection to your lost eye? Do you truly believe to have seen what fate lies before us in the end?" Romolus was watching those in the shadows, any being he could he kept track of.

"Tonight, GreyMane, I reassure you, you will know what lies at the end, and Death shall have your soul after the spirits of our elders have decided what to do." GreyMane let out a roar, "You insolent whelp! You rely on the spirits, but they shall not save you!" The Alpha rushed at romolus with a nearly blinding speed, but the lone Garou had foreseen this, the foolish leader always attacked with a rush. He matched the Alpha and they collided, the followers took this as a sign to attack as well, they charged for the two in combat.

(Nice bad guy addition Bones :D)

The dialoge was exchanged, and it wasn't long before there were two beasts in combat with each other. Vela's senses hightened as the adrenaline and primal rage radiated from the scene. The Lupine had always been so keen to violence, whereas the Vampires Velanovana knew in his life time were sofisticated to a degree, and if a young one (such as himself) was to violate the rules, the prosicution and potential execution was amongst the counsul of a Head Vampire and two other elders.

This however, was not addequit judgement on what seemed to be the Chief Werewolf's behalf. An execution so quick? The elf, Zilfer, was not interviening, not moving a muscle despite his witty talk.

Heavy Sigh

And thus Velanovana was back to the disgusting thing called a Conciunce.(misspelled sorry!) He wasn't sure weather to intervine, save the white wolf's life, and risk pissing off an entire lupine tribe. Or weather to stay put until he felt his presense was needed.

However what the unfortunate Vampire wished, was irrelevant. He heard to late unnaturally heavy paws galloping behind him. With a surprising contact to his back, the werewolf under GreyMayne barreled into Velanovana causing him to fly into the clearing, pinned, but still armed.

Ow.

It became evident as he approached the clearing that significant events had taken place while he had been absent, narrowly escaping tree-death casualty status. Along the same lines, it was now apparent that the being in question was a wolf—more specifically, a wolf-kin. A werewolf. Not only that, but there were two. Two werewolves and the acrid smell of rapidly staling blood, which he could see was from the crumpled corpse of a deer at the far end of the glade.

The wolves were, quite literally, at each others’ throats, fighting for dominance, or honor, or some other such thing; whatever it was they deemed it worth their time to fight about. And somewhere in the murky background, Kane could see evidence of another, separate struggle, one that neither lupine had as yet noticed…not that they could be blamed. The victim was an impressively skinny young man, armed with a scimitar, but the blade was rendered fairly null and void by the dog on top of him. He glanced in Kane’s general direction, and when his eyes lit on him, the eyebrows above them went up; whether in surprise or dry amusement, Kane couldn’t tell. In that moment, though, something familiar registered in him. The man—boy?—was, like him, a vampire. The dragon-kin sighed, realizing that as long as he knew this, it was his obligation to enter the fray and aid his kinsman, something which he had dearly hoped he could avoid; however, there was no longer any question left to the matter.

He made his movement swiftly, decisively, striding into the open and taking the wolf by the shaggy brown scruff of his neck. The animal turned a set of clean, bared teeth toward him, a low snarl brewing in the back of his throat. “Do you know who I am?” he growled in a voice that was low and rasping, like new sandpaper.

“Save it,” Kane replied. “I don’t care.” He drew his katana blade-first, striking with the handle deep in the werewolf’s chest. His adversary fell back, and Kane switched to the lethal end. The wolf watched him with livid eyes, nonetheless a touch wary. Kane said nothing. He was well-practiced in stony silence, and used his skills aptly. It took two whole minutes for the wolf-kin to turn and slink away, his anger roiling in his belly. He had remained nameless.

The sword slid fluidly back into its sheath, and the dragon youth stood, now merely an observer. His role in this mad little drama was finished, for now.

Zilfer knew anything he spoke right away would lead to disaster, so he kept silent as the two lupines spoke to eachother. They apparently had a past together that zilfer could only guess at. One mentioned something about finding an eye at the bottom of a river. Apparently this wasn't going to end well, as the converstation spiraled downwards he prepared himself for battle. "You insolent whelp! You rely on the spirits, but they shall not save you!" roared the leader of the pack, and then charged forward, and his target lurched forward as well slamming into eachother. Zilfer knew he had to pick a side right now, as the silence of the night came crashing down with the sounds beginning.

His reaction was almost as quick as the lupines as he headed forward to help Romolus, however a follower of Greymane slide in the way cutting zilfer off from the current battle between Romolus and Greymane. He drew his blade as the lupine jumped straight at him trying to tackle him to the ground, however slashing outwards and jumping to the side he managed to dodge the lupines tackle and slash him through the side slightly. Zilfer landed spinning on his feet to face the lupine, keeping his blade pointed outwards at the lupine as he dropped into a defensive stance. The lupine let out a roar, at zilfer showing his glossy white teeth and his claws as he began to circle zilfer slowly. Off in the distance zilfer saw out of the corner of his eye, a skirmish near the tree line where he had spotted those two who didn't meet the pattern. His guess was right as a large thing pounced on the figure near the tree line.

A sudden movement by the lupine he was fighting drew his attention back to the fight. "Try dodging this." Said the lupine confidently as he came forward attacking from both sides with his two large claws. Zilfer saw that there would be no dodging form side to side, so he leapt forward low towards the ground to roll underneath the lupine's charge, however he was cuaght on both shoulders by his swing, opening three, one inch wounds on both arms as he rolled under the lupine. Pain flew through his body as he used his shoulders to contiune the roll onto his feet. He came up jumping and spinning in a circle as he slashed across the back of the lupine as it gave a howl falling forward. He wasn't one for mercy as he kicked the back of the lupine as hard as he could to send him forward onto his face and then quickly jumped onto the lupines back spinning his blade downwards and then began to impale, however this lupine wasn't done just yet as he rolled over throwing zilfer onto the ground next to him and his head came forward at zilfer.

"Now you die, elf!" Came the last roar of the lupine. His eyes shot wide as a pain through his bottom jar extended all the way through the top of his head. His eyes then faded with his head not more then half a foot away from it's intended target, however zilfer's blade proceeding from the lupine's bottom jaw and extruding from the lupines head was now colored in crimson blood. "I won't die to the likes of you." Said zilfer yanking his sword viciously out of the lupine's head and turned to see how the other battles progressed. He began to walk towards where Greymane, and Romolus where fighting, incase he needed to intervine. This battle would take it's toll soon zilfer realized as his body was becoming less reactive becuase of his lack of food. Perhaps Romolus would share some of his catch for helping him...... heh, probably no garentees there. thought zilfer putting the bloody katana onto the top of his shoulder where his neck and back combined.

"I highly advise both of you pull those weapons back out.

Growled Velanovana at the other Vampire and the Elf with an uncharacteristically sharp tone. The collision to the ground and the fact that a beast had dared to dig his claws into the Vampire's back aroused every aggressive Cainite instinct in Velanovana. The wind died and the idea the rest of the pack was close by was confirmed as Vela's infravision exposed many a form rustling in the brush.

"I'll show you-"

Velanovana whirled around with a finger pointing at the Werewolf whelp who'd just spoken, who in his young anxiety, froze in place though he refused to cease growling at the Vampire.

"I swear to all that is unholy, if I hear one more horrible cliche of a line from you, or ANY OTHERS" He shot a glance towards another wolf who was already wounded, but skulking in the tree line. We will have more than a simple disagreement.

However, subtlety and reasoning were not in this cubs, (nor any of the other werewolves') list of quality attributes. The light furred beast howled and lunged forward at Velanovana. His Vampiric strength and speed coming into play rather well, Velanovana side stepped and, with both hands on the scimitar's hilt, connected a rather heavy horizontal blow into the exposed chest of the cub.

The Cleaving blow stopped the creature in mid-air, and seeming to have hit the thing's very core, salty beautiful blood sprayed the side of Velanovana's face and upper body. He reveled in it, laughing hard at the beast now dead on the ground that hadn't been able to get out so much as a howl out before hitting the earth dead.
Velanovana turned towards the wounded cub with the scimitar out before him in a playful classic pirate's swashbuckling position.

The battle was thickening around him however, both Zilfer and Vela's Kin seemed to be in some kind of conflict. Depending on the actions of the cub before him, he'd go to the aid of his newfound comrades. Vela's eyes met the werewolf's, and the thing looked back fearful.

He need not worry about this beast, he was at his comrade's disposal now.

(Add me into combat with one of you if you want, Velanovana is now ready to jump in! Arg! :arr: )

The growl of the vampire pirate snapped Kane back to attention, and he noticed that the elf was now in action and a couple of the wolves lay dead. He had a sneaking suspicion that there were more. With a flourish, the pirate slew another, laughing as the blood rained on his face. As he was turning to face another, a familiar form slunk from the trees; the same wolf Kane had beaten down five minutes before. It seemed refreshed and far more determined. It smiled, white teeth glinting in the silvery light.

“Fancy meeting you again.” The blade of the dragon’s katana hissed as he drew it from his side for the second time. “So soon, child? Well, you aren’t a man of many words, from what I’ve seen." The dog paused thoughtfully, and then the smile returned, this time with added malevolence. “Fine, then. Have it your way.” To his left, the clash of sword and skull sounded like royal trumpets, accompanied by the death cry of a werewolf. The elven stranger had made a kill.

Kane began to backpedal in an attempt to give himself more ground to work with, but instead of that idea panning out, it ran him into a dead end. His foot made contact with a meaty paw, which danced jerkily out of the way as soon as he started to put his weight down. He rolled his eyes, congratulating himself for his remarkable ability to get into various degrees of life-threatening situations.

“Hey, hey, whoa,” said a surprisingly amiable voice. Eyebrow raised yet again, the dragon-kin glanced over his shoulder. The wolf in question was larger than most of the others, built like a brick wall, and his eyes sparkled a glacier-toned blue in the muted night.

“Sorry,” said the vampdragon, turning his gaze back to his battle just in time to catch a glancing blow off the enemy’s underbelly. A smooth red slash appeared on the path of his blade, running down into the long, coarse fur. The new arrival fell casually into position beside him, crouched in preparation for the spring. Catching a flash of opportunity, blue-eyed wolf launched himself toward his kinsman, his jaws finding purchase in a swath of flesh about his chest. Surprise and pain forced a yelp from the first wolf’s throat.

“What are you doing?” he snarled hoarsely. The blue eyes sparked.

“I’m committing blood treason.” That said, the benevolent lupine ripped apart his brother’s neck, staining his own muzzle crimson. When he was through, he turned to Kane and said, “Don’t worry about it.” A pause, during which he surveyed everyone else’s situation. “You’re vampiric, aren’t you?” he asked suddenly. Kane nodded. “Then let’s help him out a bit.” He nodded toward the pirate, who had killed again and was now narrowly evading two new opponents.

“He looks pretty screwed,” remarked the dragon-kin offhandedly, even as he moved to the pirate’s aid. The anonymous wolf leapt in to rip at the shoulder of one of the aggressors.

“Well yeah, now he does,” he said, talking through a chunk of bloody dog flesh. “But in a minute he won’t.” He spat the meat onto the ground. “That’s disgusting.” Kane smiled wryly, finding an odd affinity with this benign benefactor, a bond different from his obligation toward the pirate.

“That’s why I carry a sword,” he answered. He glanced up at the flash of the scimitar in the red-tinted moonlight, in time to watch it carve a smooth pattern into the side of the remaining attacker. For a moment, the lupine body hung in the air, like a slow-motion shot, before it fell to pieces in the grass.

“Nice,” the wolf commended, a hint of a smirk in his eyes.

The two garou continued to tustle, striking blows at each other, the Alpha took a majority of blows and cuts around critical points. The lone lycan was showing no mercy, the Alpha often tried to frighten Romolus into either running with his tail between his legs, or becoming some worthless follower of a doomed tribe led by a true coward. They both fought with only their claws, several times the thought of tearing a hole in the aggressor's throat crossed Romolus' mind, but although that would be the move of his enemy he wasn't going to sink to such aa level as to cower behind a weapon against an unarmed foe.

Eventually the Alpha managed to knock an arrow loose from the hunter's quiver and within reach. The fighting between the two took a momentary halt as the two seperated for the cowardice Alpha to equipt the arrow as a weapon. Romolus let a low growl from his bloodied muzzle as he noted the known cowardicde of this 'Alpha'. "Such a coward you cannot even face me brae-handed...? No matter, it will do you no good, coward!" Romolus insulted as he took another battle position.

the fight was wearing the hunter down, his breath was kept shallow to refrain from showing any weakness. He could plainly see the weakness and loss of energy from his opponent. They looked into each others' eyes, oblivious of the worl around them and instead only paying attention to the hatred that emminated from the both, they were going for another strike, the Alpha for the throat, the lone hunter for the nerves in the arms. He was going to let the Grey tribe choose the leadrs death. Perhaps if the Alpha died, the others would retreat to wherever their encampment was.

The two once again charged, the Alpha with the stolen arrow out and aimed for the throat of his enemy. The hunter went low to try and conceal vital points until an attack. The two collided, the arrow snapped and the bone arrowhead fell into the air, swiveling to one or the other target. Romolus was distracted, paying attention to the arrowhead and giving an advantage to the Aplhaa. The two crashed to the ground, the Alpha was at the lone hunter's throat. "So, Romolus, at last you end! It is a pity you were so ea--" The tedious monologue was interrupted by a scream of pain, the arrowhead had embedded into the alpha's spine. Perhaps if Romolus continued to fight the arrowhead would embed in him. He threw the Aplha from his body, "So now retreat as you have in the past cowardice Alpha, and leave your blind followers so as to have no testimony to your cowardice deafeat!" The Alpha growled as it took the arrowhead from it's spine. He was in no condition to continue fighting, he ran, once again proving cowardice, now the followers were baffled as to the desertion of their leader.

Romlus was baffled himself, he found the insolent leader an amusement through the seasons and moons. The Alpha would return again, lose combat, and again Romolus would watch him leave with his tail between his legs in fear and anger, destined to return again. but for now Romolus needed to end these wolfen brothers lives' with honor, to die in combat! He went for one of the followers throat and watched it fall to the ground.

Leaning against a tree, Kane watched the epic battle with veiled amusement, his face shaded by the leaves. His katana was secured at his hip, shoulders set firmly against the rough bark of the trunk. He wondered if they knew there was barely anything else going on anymore, that most of the other compatriots were dead or too injured to fight. The friend-wolf sat beside him on his haunches, eyes glowing with amusement. “How long do you think it will take?” he asked, not requiring an answer. Kane shrugged, keeping his eyes trained on the clash of titans in the center of the clearing. They were charging at each other, one with an arrow, the other with unsheathed claws. A snap, a painful howl, and before Kane could really register what had happened, the battle had ended with the leader—GreyMane, was it?—limping off into the forest in front of a trail of blood. The sitting wolf laughed out loud and shook his heavy head. “Let’s just leave and never mention this again.”

“Good call.” About to follow the lupine back into the trees, Kane paused. The fire rose in his chest as he drew upon his dragon blood, releasing a spiraling torrent of flame into the clearing. He noted with some satisfaction that several of the injured lycans had been singed rather significantly and now slunk further into the dark, glowering at him with dulled eyes. The wolf on his side waited a short distance ahead in a spot of moonlight. He was a formidable silver animal, and he seemed to glitter curiously wherever moonbeams lit up his fur. He licked the drying blood from his nose, falling into step beside the dragon when he reached him.

“That was charitable of you.” Kane shrugged. “My name is Yue.”

“Kane.” Yue nodded thoughtfully. It interested him that, without pretense or warning, he had entered into the company of someone such as this young man. He was a boy, really, far, far younger than the wolf himself, and there was something strange about him, as if all the pieces didn’t quite fit in the way one would expect. A ragged wolf-call drifted eerily above the noises of the night, causing both of them to glance skyward. “I was supposed to kill him,” Kane remarked, presumably referring to GreyMane. “Guess I have to stick around.” Clearly, this hadn’t been written into whatever plans the dragon-kin had had, but he didn’t seem too bothered.

“I know the pack like my own name,” Yue said. “If you’re willing, I’ll make you a deal.” The corner of Kane’s mouth twitched into a tiny smile.

“Shoot,” he said.

“I help you do what needs to be done, you help me find what I’m looking for.” The terms were stated baldly, in a fashion that the dragon boy could respect.

“All right,” he said. Yue smiled.

“All right.” The smile darkened a bit. “What needs to be done?”

Before Kane could answer, a third voice cut in. “Oy!” They turned, watching the skinny pirate come up the path toward them.

By the time Zilfer had arrived near enough to help Romolus fight Greymane, the battle was already over, and Greymane was retreating with his tail between his legs. He took a bit of humor out of this, that 4 strangers could best a wolf pack in one night. He would have never thought that's where this path would have taken him. As Greymane disappeared into the tree's Zilfer smirked a bit. Those who would let others do the fighting for them, or not fight and die by honor, have no right to lead a group of men.... or in this case lupine. He thought. Turning to face Romolus, he wondered why he did not have a pack. Perhaps he had been exiled, or did he choise to leave of his own accord? Zilfer pondered these questions but did not speak on such matters. "It looks like we are safe for now...." Said zilfer looking around noticing the battle had died down everywhere throughout the whole clearing.

His stomack growled reminding him that he was hungry, and the wounds on his shoulders didn't help as he noticed his sword was still drawn, he slide it along his sheath to clear the blood off and then reversed the motion to sheath his blade. He looked up towards Romolus once again to ask a simple question. "I dont suppose you have shelter nearby?" asked Zilfer as he looked over at the other two. Surprizingly one of the lupine had changed sides in the battle it appeared, for he stood near both of the two other figures, and they where now conversating about something. He then noticed Fireflies where beginning to swarm everywhere in the clearing, and all zilfer could do was marvel as how fast a field of death could become a field of beauty and light. He knew his wounds would need to be cleaned pretty soon or it would get infected and he would be in pretty bad shape before he could even make it back to Lomedor.

OOC sorry for the small post... couldn't think of much else.

(All right loves, turns out Power Playing is illegal so no more... and wolfshine it's spelled...)

"Oi!" Velanovana quickly caught up to the Dragonblooded kin, and the traitor named Yue. The werewolf looked down his snout at the Vampire, not with disgust, nor anger, but with mild curiosity.

"Good going back there, kine." He said to Kane, giving the respectful bow of head that was common amongst their people. However "Their people" was a rather loose statement. Under the statute placed by the Vampiric Ancients, anything not of mundane descent and a vampire was simultaneously a taint and an abomination. But Velanovana was quick to put aside this fact. He was no outcast from Vampire Society, but he did wander. Besides, the man was too much of a talent to let some ancient law get in the way of potential partnership.

Velanovana stepped back aways and introduced himself.
My name is Velanovana, Pirate and Writer both. I am at your service if I can get to Lomedor preferably before morning. If not to the city, than shelter until I can make my way tomorrow night. Anyway, I am willing to help finish off who we need to put to rest, but I implore both of you to refrain from violent action if at all possible. If blood need not be shed, then let it be still coursing through a beating heart. He knew this sounded slightly hypocritical from a man whose upper body was more or less completely splattered with the vitae of something he'd almost cleaved in half.

"Ending GreyMayne's life is an act of mercy, Velanovana" Explained Yue. "If we let him go on, he will either be completely ripped apart by the rest of the tribe, or will continue to lead his people into a vengeful tirade of foolhardy actions. Making war on any intelligent being over "tresspassing" could lead to the entire tribe's destruction.

Velanovana sighed and wiped a little of the blood off of his face. The stuff was becoming dry and unappealing, so he'd either have to go wash himself in a river or apply a new coat. However the Pirate counsel was in and it looked like more bloodshed was on the agenda.

"Alright then." The man sighed, unsheathing his blade and taking a place beside both kin and bloodsworn "enemy" The lot continued up the way as GreyMayne's howls gave a practical beacon as to his location. Up the road, atop a hill that was almost completely vertical, a cave sheltered a wounded leader and his kin. Velanovana prayed that violent action could be evaded, that he could find something on which to feed, and that he could take shelter before dawn came to kiss the forest canopy again.

Kane locked a smile behind his eyes. Yue’s cover had amused him, because, to an extent, it was true, though not in the way the pirate took it to be. They made their way up the sharply graded slope, two wandering kin and a traitor. GreyMane crouched in the corner of a damp cave, low whimpers shaking his once proud shoulders. He had stained the stone around him with blood, which prodded at Kane’s senses like a rich, rusty knife.

“What are you doing here?” the fallen Alpha growled at his former compatriot. His bravado had dwindled to nothing more than an attempt, one which was rapidly falling apart.

“I’ve come to kill you,” Kane replied. Yue stepped back respectfully. GreyMane’s death belonged to the dragon and the dragon alone. GreyMane threw back his head and let out a cracking bray of laughter.

“Kill me? Fools. I’d sooner die at the hand of a mouse.” The rest of his demolished pack were in no condition to fight the three intruders off, but they tried their best to intimidate, skulking around the perimeter of the cave, sunken eyes glimmering.

“Sorry to disappoint.” Kane’s retort was dry in nature and accompanied by the quick swoosh of his katana singing through the air. It embedded itself in GreyMane’s neck. The alpha wolf died with his eyes still open. In four quick, casual strides, the dragonblood was near enough to lay his hand upon the wrapping and pull the blade from the flesh. He glanced around at the other werewolves, who had fallen back against the walls, appalled at the blatant slaying of their leader. “Anyone else?” None of them came forward to challenge. Turning back to his companions, Kane shrugged, putting away the bloody sword. “Let’s go.” The wolf pack gathered at the entrance to the cave, eyeing their backs as they retreated down the hill.

The stones cascaded gently beneath the soles of Kane’s boots as he walked back toward level ground, the path to the clearing straight ahead. Something occurred to him, and he looked to the left, at Yue. “You did your part. What is mine?”

“I’m looking for a key,” said the wolf. And to the pirate he added, “I am positive the search will take us to Lomedor, if that is really where you’re going.” He gazed uncertainly down to the clearing, where the two others remained.

“Forget them,” Kane said unemotionally. "They want to come, they’ll catch up.” With that, he started to head East, in the direction of the designated city.

Yue shook his head, smiling slightly. “Damn, he’s rough."

The Katana cut was clean, but the wound wasn't so much. Blood poured out onto the cave floor and pooled just short of Vela's saltwater stained boots. Kane retrieved his blood stained blade and asked for further challenge from the wolves. As no one obliged, He turned and left with Yue.
Velanovana Shook his head disappointedly. The small pack of werewolves seemed to be down to only about a dozen... a little more. Looking around, at the frightened paralyzed lot, Velanovana felt that one of them would step up to take the place of their fallen leader. No growls emitted from any throats. In the morning, in about six hours or so, these would simply be frightened men and women, choosing to live a life of ostracism. A kind of dark humor appeared in Velanovana's heart, giggling slightly with it's eternal pumping of blood.
He sheathed his sword, and theatrically addressed the cowering bunch.
"My sincerest apologies!" He said, bowing apologetically. "Would you look at that! No negotiations! No sitting down and chatting! Just more blood! It's rather depressing really. I hope you all have learned something about attempting to murder strangers. and with that, he was off down the hill, giggling slightly and rejoining his comrades on their way down the hill.

Within a few minutes, they were on their way to Lomedor, charging acrosss the lightly covered forest floor. They were racing the dawn in search of a key, and the fate of Zifler and the nameless Werewolf outcast were unknown.

"My deepest appoliges, but i must be on my way..... if i stay out here much longer i will begin to starve myself. Good luck in your travels, Romolus, and should we ever meet again..... lets hope it's under more.... pleasent circumstances." said zilfer as he heard the killing blow happen atop of a hill, this feud was over.... for now. Only time would tell if that werewolf pack would recover from this encounter, however he would rather not stick around while their wounds heal. He found it ironic that outside of Lomedor where the law did not exist he was much nicer in general, but the city was another story, he was still a criminal there. Seeing 3 figures exit the cave with his infravision lighting them off like beacons of heat, he began to follow them. His swift elven feet would allow him to catch up with them quickly. Before leaving he bowed to the lupine named Romolus, and then headed swiftly out of the clearing.

The wind had picked up again, and the chill of the night was firmly set in, however dawn would be approaching soon he knew, and those of the vampiric nature would have to find shelter soon. He quickened his pace catching up with the others now headed towards Lomedor it appeared. "Heading to Lomedor it seems." said Zilfer almost as if he was asking a question. "What errand might I ask sends you that dirrection." A slight thought passed through his head taking note of the lupine that had betrayed his clan, to help them. Could he really be trusted? I'll just have to keep an eye on him for awhile intill we know his true intentions... he thought as he looked into the sky gazing at the full moon, whose light shined down on their path back to the city. The woods of Taurai were quite once again.... as the travelers decended deep into the night, silently fading as if nothing had happened....