The small gnome trotted through the damp ground, his stubby feet sinking in deeper with every step. His white hair waved around freely in the cold winter wind, his robes following suit. He held his staff tightly in his right hand, knocking away the dense rainforest shrub with great difficulty. The gnome was not the shrub-ripping-away type, probably because he was a gnome, with no physical strength. Yet he did possess tons (Mentally speaking) of mind power and had excessive knowledge in the magical arts.

”Aww, gees- Another one!” Holgar said, hastily removing an abundance of bush from his path. The gnome explorer ran over to his companions side; wondering what he meant by what he said. Now he knew. Lying in a deep trench filled with water (some what a mini-river) was the body of an elf, which was now mutilated and cut up. The water had been dyed a deep crimson from the elves blood, a saddening sight for anybody. ”What do you think has been at work here?” Holgar questioned, putting his hands on his hips.

Seriously, Gashmere could not answer his friends question, he had no clue what was at work here. Already on this journey they had discovered two deceased elves, one dead Orc and sadly, a slaughtered Gnome. It was obvious that the same person or creature had killed all these people, and they could so without batting an eyelash or shedding a tear. Each body was mutilated, with parts ripped off and eaten in the process. Finally the scientist explorer came up with an answer, ”It’s the work of a Naga.” He stuttered, looking wide-eyed down at the elf. ”Impossible, you’ll barely see any Naga in Ea these days, they’ve all gone extinct. Or most anyway.” Holgar replied, flailing his stubby hands around as he spoke. ”They only made everyone think they were extinct. They are certainly still in these forests; killing any travelers whom pass.” Holgar squeaked at these words, looking around cautiously with his dagger drawn.

”That weapon will provide no better defense to us, these Naga are sly and strong; a deadly combination. I doubt my magic can defeat them!" Gashmere commented, directing his speech at himself more than Holgar. The rain poured heavier than before, coming down on the gnomes like thunder; stinging their exposed flesh. Not only that, but a layer of thick fog had protruded from the damp ground, providing perfect cover for any sudden attack. ”Best stay on guard then,” Holgar said, shunting aside some rainforest-bush with his stubby hands and sighing.

The trees around them swayed and jeered in a frenzy due to the harsh wind, one nearly crushed Holgar. The sheer force of the tree hitting ground sent Holgar flying. The gnome landed hard on his back; nearly sinking into the damp ground. "Righto, be careful." Gashmere told his friend, extending his hand to pull him up from his back and out of the mud. "This forest is dangerous!" Holgar said heartily, allowing himself to be pulled up by Gashmere.

The gnome let off one of his rare gummy smiles, revealing only three teeth on his lower gum. "RRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRPP" A loud noise echo'ed in the distance; though sounded like it was only a few feet away. The two gnomes ran and dived into a bush, rolling themselves into human-balls. "Pssh. Be quiet!" Gashmere issued as he peered out through a small gap in the bush, covering his eyes with a hand and peering out into the distance.

"Naga are coming. Nearly one-hundred of 'em." Gashmere gulped, throwing himself in the bush again. Holgar squeaked loudly; yet was interrupted by Gashmeres hand on his mouth, stopping him from making any further sounds and attracting the enemies attention.

[OOC: Holgar is my NPC, whom only I can control. He is also a gnome, clad in black robes and wielding a rusted iron dagger. Note this is private; you may join in if you receive my permission by posting in the plotting thread!]

The water was knee deep for a human. Why was this place always so flooded. Hriky pushed through the jungle. He was in search of an artifact that he had read about. It was quite interesting thing to hear about. He wanted to study it untill everything that could be known about it was known. Hriky just kept up his pace. His guide for the area stopped leading him around and said he would go no further. The Templar would not blame him though. There were many reasons people would not tred here, there were things in this jungle no man should she twice, not even once.

Hriky heard voices and looked around a couple of trees to see two gnomes discussing something. Then some ear drum shattering roar came from a distance. What in the name of God could that have been. The Paladin listened to the Gnomes talk not too far away that they were out of ear shot. Nagas, aparently. a hundred of them. That was possibly an over estimate. They weren't that dangourus unless cought off guard. But Hriky did not take any chances. He started to head in another direction away from the oncoming Nagas.

Shintai was walking through the forest. He was not searching for anything, but was here just passing through. Below his hooves dead leaves were smashed. An eerie wind brushed by, and Shintai shuddered in chills. He produced a breath on his arms that came in somewhat a fog. Fortunately he made him feel a bit warmer. He decided to get off the path and find a cave. As he turned to get off the road, something unpleasant sounded.

"RRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRPP!" Shintai looked around to see if he could find the source of the sound. Nothing. He climbed off the path. He looked around. A mini-cave was behind him. He rushed in.

"There is not much time!" said a deep voice. Shintai looked around.

"Who's there?" he asked. A Werewolf standing at nine feet or so was before Shintai.

"We must flee the Naga!" he explained. Shintai stood and they ran off to somewhere only the Werewolf knew.

Fira Trist screamed loudly as wild sounds erupted through the rainforest. She focused in on them and found that they were merely people screaming. Yet that did not seem to help how she felt about the situation. What had she become caught in this time? A friendly walk through the forest that reminded her of home had brought her here: right in the middle of some great event that the woman knew she knew nothing of.

Her fiery orange eyes scanned in between the trunks of the giant trees. Quickly, her mind raced in haste as she tried to assess the area and figure out where the screams were coming from. Whoever had spoken could be in trouble and, though she had fear of her own safety, Fira felt that it was up to her to help them. After all, she had not truly seen anyone else within the forestry other than the various types of animals that lived within both canopy and ground.

She took another glance to the area and decided that this would be an excellent place for something great to occur. Fira tilted her head curiously as she wondered why she had not thought of this before. Yet it was possible that she was merely drawn to places with a sense of action. It was better than being stuck within some boring life doing absolutely nothing at all.

Calmly, Fira collected her emotions so that they would not overwhelm her. If that was to happen, then she knew that she would end up falling swiftly. Yes, it was far better to keep a "cool head." She had learned this lesson within the early years of her life.

Finally the orange haired woman flung her hair over her right shoulder with her hand carelessly and drew her sword, Divinity, from its sheathe. She smiled as she felt the familiar weight of the friendly weapon with her hand. A sword was one of the things that she considered to be a perfect companion.

Without another thought, she began to walk through the rainforest towards the sources of the sounds as she kept her eyes wide open for any signs of threatening danger.