A not so Familiar Forest [Open]

As Harin was walking around this dark forest he was curious of what these strange trees were that he would see every once in a while. He walked up to one of these trees and saw that the stem of each of the branches had thousands of tiny leaves that hang down to the ground. Once Harin was done studying the tree he continued to venture forward, and after traveling for a while Harin thought to himself, "Well these woods sure seems to have a darker feel than the woods I've always lived in, but these odd looking tree are interesting." Afterwards Harin looked up at a nearby tree and said, "Hey do you see anything interesting up there?"

"Not really," Mari said jumping down and landing next to Harin. "I've never seen trees like these back home I think they're called helygen, or willow in common tongue. I think Ianto mentioned them after one of his trips."

"It's getting late though, I did see a clearing a little ways ahead, we might as well check it out and I'll get us some dinner on the way." Mari said smiling as she scrambled back up the tree. She easily leapt from branch to branch until she saw a fallen tree trunk covered in moss. She stood up on the branch she was at and drew her bow waiting patiently until a rabbit finally came out. She quickly released her arrow killing the rabbit in one shot.

Mari jumped out of the tree, walked over to the rabbit and knelt next to it. "Diolch i chi am eich ysbryd," she muttered touching two fingers to her lips and then touching the rabbits brow. She stood and retrieved her arrow from the corpse and then continued onto the clearing.

As Mari left to go looking for food Harin went ahead to the clearing, looking around for any dead branches to start a campfire. Once he arrived at the clearing Haarin walked the middle of the clearing and stacked the branches he had found on the way here in front of him. Then he unsheathed his sword, pointed it at the the branches, and created a spark to catch the branches on fire. Once he was done setting up the fire he laid next to the fire waiting for Mari. After waiting for a while Harin heard a noise from the tree behind him and said, "A yw eich bod yn Mari?"

Jack and Leon wandered through the forest. "See i told you we were lost, You're always getting us lost." Said Leon impatiently,

"Its part of the adventure. Dont worry we wont die out here i brought the teleport stone." Jack said as he looked around to gain his bearings. "Look there appears to be a clearing ahead, There we can make camp and resume our search in the morning. Jack pointed ahead.

"A yw eich bod yn Mari." Said a voice in the clearing. Jack and Leon were started. "HELLLOOOOO." Jack yelled towards the clearing.

Harin jumped up, surprised to hear a man other than Mari, and turned around looking over to where he had heard the voice. Harin then concentrated using his spirit sense to see just how big of a group was with this man. After a moment he saw that there was an abnormally large spirit, but he knew that at the most that would probably mean there two, maybe three if they had a small spirit. Harin put one hand on Lladrata and said, "Hello. Why don't you come on out so I can see who you're talking to? Oh and by the way if you're with anyone else I would like to see them too."

Mari heard Harin call out and was about to answer when she heard another man respond. She froze, slipping Brathu out of her boot, she silently crept around to where the strangers voice came from. She saw two men standing there she crouched down and watched them, waiting to see what they would do.

"At ease friend," Said jack swiftly when he caught view of the warrior. He couldnt tell what race this man was. But he was tall and slender, and appeared to move swiftly. "My name is Jack Erendhart, and this is my friend Leon Blackwell. We are scholars seeking to learn more about this forest, Its said to hold an ancient ruin."

"And we came about this clearing wishing to break camp for the night. We hadnt known anyone was here, until we heard you talking." Said Leon

Harin slowly moved his hand away from Lladrata and said, "I suppose you're right. There really is no reason to be cautious," though in reality Harin was still kept his eye on them to make sure this wasn't just a ruse. Then Harin walked over to where the two men were and continued by saying, "Oh and my name is Harin Gadarn. Nice to meet you two. We were also planning on resting here for the night before continuing to explore. If you would like you could rest here too."

"Though I'm not sure this rabbit will feed everyone, we can make due," Mari said walking up behind Jack and Leon, and tossing the rabbit to Harin. " Clean that please gariad." she said to him, then she turned to the newcomers. "My names Mari Bryn, pleasure to meet you." She said walking over to the fire and crouching down as she swung her pack off her shoulder. "I know it's in here somewhere," Mari muttered to herself searching through her pack. "Ah got it!" she exclaimed pulling out a collapsible pot, "I'll make stew."

"Stew sounds good. but if your sparse on food, Leon and i will be fine, see We're vamps." He held up a small vial, "This is all we need to go on." Jack said as he sat down his pack and plopped by the fire.

"I'm sorry but your features seem familiar to me." Leon said as he sat beside Jack. "If im not mistaken, you're Lawen, the forest people. Right?"

As Harin was finishing up skinning the rabbit he overheard Leon's question and said, "Why yes we are Lawen, and I'm sure we will have plenty of food. After all I personally don't eat that much." Once Harin was done cleaning the rabbit he cut it up and put it in the stew and said, Do you need anymore help, mêl?"

"Ffoniwch mi fod eto ac rwy'n dyrnu chi yn y wyneb," Mari said glaring at Harin as she added a few more ingredients to the stew. "I've never met a vamp before," she said turning to Jack, "I've heard stories though you are a very proud race from what I here. And as Harin said we are Lawen, you have met one of us before?" She asked Leon smiling.

Leon looked at Mari, then spoke. " Im a librarian i read anything i can get my hands on, And i have an eidetic memory. Which allows me to remember almost anything i read. So I imagine i came across information about your people somewhere." He looked at the fire.

" You mustn't listen to all the rumors bout our race though. We do have a violent past, but the future is looking better, we have a much calmer leader now than in the past." Leon spoke quietly, as if he was ashamed.

"Any race old enough to have history, is old enough t be ashamed of it. Or at least that is how I have found it to be." Mari said stirring the soup, and tasting a bit of it. "Well seems as if it's ready to eat," she said getting some bowls out of her pack and serving up the soup. "Rhannu ein bwyd a fod mewn heddwch, share our food and be at peace." she said smiling as she handed a bowl to Jack and Leon. She then handed one to Harin and took up her own bowl, "So, tell us about these ruins you found.

"This smells amazing." Said Leon as he started blowing on it to cool it a bit.

"I dont know much about the ruins, but its said that an ancient temple is hidden within this vast forest, I surveyed the land from my ship, but saw nothing from air. All I know is there is history that is lost within this forest and I want to find it!" Jack said excitingly as he started in on his soup.

" This is delicious. Thank you friends" He said.

"Well depending on how ancient the temple it could be completely overgrown by now allowing it to blend in with the sea of greens if you're looking from the air. Your best bet of finding it easily is to climb up to the canopy and look for the young point." Mari said as she ate, "You see this forest is one of the oldest I've met, and it was probably old when whoever built the temple built it so they would have had to cut down some trees. By now trees would have grown back but they won't be as big or tall as the other trees."

Mari finished her stew and went over to clean out her bowl. "Granted in a forest this size and with little to go on finding the young point could take weeks. At least now you'll know what to look out for."

"Well has there been any disterbances in this forest lately? You know animals unrestful. Maybe even the appearance of monsters?" asked Leon as he removed a book from his pack and opened it to a bookmarked page.

" The artifact we are working on finding is immensely powerful dark magic. It needs to be contained and forgotten by the world. Thats what we do, We hunt artifacts. Well I do anyways, Jack collects them." Leon laughed.

"I dont use them. I have no desire of spending eternity on a barren planet. " Said Jack quickly.