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"No...that is precisely what worries me," Kreen says as he looks about warily. "This region is teeming with ravenous monsters, and not one is to be seen for miles."

Kreen decides not to dignify this bit of idealism with a response. Instead, he thrusts his sword at the elf, the flat of the blade toward him.
"A temp enchantment. We will probably need it."

Zeal watches Kreen and Artes as they continue to move farther away from Valden. The area seems completely devoid of life but Kreen draws his blade and gets an enchantment from Artes. Zeal smiles a little at this. Good. He senses it with his heart rather than his body. Artes will learn that kind of sensitivity in time. He maintains a distance behind the two, his black sword in hand.


Valden maintains the shade over the human male with his wing while watching the progress of the elf and the fae. He is not terribly concerned about their lives with Zeal watching their backs and there is only one kind of creature in this waste that would willingly attack a dragon. He is cautious but not terribly worried, at least not until he sees the ripple in the sand begin to approach the biped's from the east.


The ripple is long but narrow, throwing a mist of black sand up in front of it as it approaches the elf and the fae at a very rapid pace. The ripple in the sand vanishes suddenly, a couple hundred yards away from them. Several moments of silence follow wherein nothing stirs.

Suddenly the sand a dozen yards away from them explodes upward as the form of a massive monster becomes visible. The black carapace of the creature shines in the light as its huge body extends from the ground, high above its intended prey. The giant millipede, seven hundred feet in length, dives downward toward the two with its mouth open and its hostile intentions clear.

Kreen, having come to expect this creature's appearance half a minute ago, conjures a wind spell as the creature rears back to strike. The spell slams into his elven companion's back, sending him on a path which will land him several feet away from where the millipede will strike. Then, the assassin himself leaps backward and moves his body along with the help of his wings. Deciding to use this chance to test his companion, he conjures a series of four spells combining two together to form a new effect and chaining the entire group together. His fiery surprise complete, the Fae hurls the hastily created trap along the ground where it affixes itself to the side millipede's body, several feet behind the head.
"Elf! One arrow, six feet behind the head, left side, next lunge!"
He could, of course, set the trap off himself with ease. This, however, would hardly be in the nature of the exercise...though he will not hesitate to do so should the boy falter.

((Edit: At this point Artes can rp the decapitation of the monster. I have to get off the computer. Stuff to do tomorrow... sorry... today.))

Zeal watches the monster's attack and the combined reactions of both Kreen and Artes with interest. He could kill the creature from where he stands but that would defeat the purpose of the test. He remains ready as these particular creatures sometimes attack in mated pairs.

Valden watches both with his own eyes and those of his partner as the test begins. The great sand worms of the Gray Waste were the only creature in this region of the world that had a chance against even a young dragon. He remains silent however, confidant in Zeal's abilities should that intervention be necessary.


The millipede plunges downward, unphased by the initial arrow strike. The magical trap however, once triggered, was another matter entirely. The blast of magical flame throws its decent off and it falls on the surface of the sand rather than diving beneath it again. Its carapace is spider-webbed with cracks where the explosion had been centered and it chitters angrily as it turns straight toward Artes, charging with terrible speed along the surface of the sand. Its eyes shine an unnatural red as it charges straight toward him.

I wonder what would happen if I ran into that, Rath thought with interest as he watched the whole seen play out right in front of his eyes, like a movie...He sat under the shade of the dragon, not wanting to interfere with the training theyre doing. He saw one of the two others pull out a blade, and the other one used magic....Wow, magic...I wish I could do magic. A giant explosion interrupts his fantasy- a millipede much larger than a normal one. He watched the battle seen play out, suspense, action, adventure, and its real...If I only had popcorn... He looks at the human, and then the dragon, both watching them as well. He was now standing up saying aloud, "Whats gonna happen next?!"

Kreen slowly picks himself up from the ground. He thanked whatever higher force there is in the universe that he had the foresight to charge his barrier prior to the battle, for that is the only reason he is not currently covered in millipede entrails or halfway across the wastes from the force of being hit in the face by a shard of hide. Speaking of which...thrashing would have been expected, even screaming, but exploding!?
"This...was not the anticipated result."
With that, the assassin sheaths his sword and turns toward his elven companion, running through his library of spells as he notices the boy's expression with some degree of exasperation.
Ah, this ought to do, he thinks, casting a spell which removes blood from the exterior of the target. Since it removes blood in general from the target, this means that it affects the entirity of the boy's body plus the chunks of millipede. All that he must do now is pick off the now dry bits of flesh.

"I was given a job this day, one which I will complete," Kreen says, turning from the elf and looking over to the thoroughly exploded carcass. "Your direction-choosing privaleges have been officially revoked for the remainder of the trip. We're going that way," he says as he points in to the west, where their backs will be to the sun.