1st Interlude: Shadowstep

"Relatives, eh?" Anne says to Smirk. She examines the forest with her quarterstaff in her hands.

Marcus Riddle turns to May and nods. "We'll do a recon of the beach first. Let the Elementals approach us if they feel like it. Everyone behind me."

The colonel ties his machete to his belt, puts his steel helmet on and picks up his shield and longsword. He then starts walking east, which is left from the ship's point of view. The white mage follows him.

Nick follows the White Mage.

"Right." May sticks the machete on her belt and takes up the rear. She has a big smile and doesn't seem to be paying attention at all.

Awareness 25 to watch for danger with finely honed CLASSY MONK INSTINCTS

Smirk follows the Classy Monk.

Sam takes the machete and follows, hoping to avoid using it. While she does, she keeps a watch for any recent activity.

Survival 11

For the next fifteen minutes, the 17th squad explores the eastern side of the beach. Except for a few prints left behind by crabs and other sorts of maritime life, Samantha cannot identify any signs of elemental or human life. May manages to spot the remains of an old campfire, and so does Colonel Riddle, but it must date back to a few months at the very least.

The forest begins to clear up a little however, and it'd probably be easier to enter it this way.

"Here," the colonel announces. "Let's place a few rocks on the beach as a marker first, and then we'll-"

A quake interrupts the squad leader, who immediately puts his hand on the handle of his sword. The source of this disturbance is coming from the forest.

May and Nick:

Nick crouches, draws his crossbow and pulls two bolts from a quiver with the words Free Samples engraved into the lining. He loads one into the Crossbow and holds the other in his teeth, and sweeps the line of sight in search of movement.

"People, yelling. Something sounds off about it." May takes a drink and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "Should ve check it out?"

There's the sound of something cracking far in the distance and then falling. Probably a tree.

"It's that or stay here and talk about it." - Smirk remarks, making his preference clear - "Best decide real soon, though."

Nick glances at Smirk, who addresses the Colonel - "Bradshaw suggests we fan out, sir."

"I hope that was a rockslide." Sam hasn't drawn her weapon, but she's ready for a fight.

"Mages in the back!" the Colonel orders. "May, Sam and Smirk right behind me!"

The middle-aged man unsheathes his sword and raises his shield in front of him. Anne immediately obeys him and takes a few steps back from everyone else.

There's another loud crack. It's closer.

Nick falls back, taking position just in front of Anne, giving her some cover.

Smirk moves forward, flanking Marcus on his right side, just a step behind.

May jogs into place on the Colonel's back-left, forming her third of a triangle. "Ready."

Now Sam pulls out her rapier. Apparently she needed the reminder. She hurries up behind Colonel.

"What is it?"

"Someone who's pissed off," Riddle replies. "Don't break formation."

Another quake shakes the earth. Then someone shouts, both in fear and relief.

"The sea! I can see it!"

All of a sudden, something comes out of the forest. Then another, and another. There's around a dozen of them, and they're all wearing clothes made out of animal skin. They're approximately ten centimeters in height and have dragonfly wings coming out of their backs. And somehow, they're floating in the air. They're small humans who can fly.

The strange creatures are equally as surprised as the squad members. Their first reaction is to stand there in shock with their mouth agape. But one of them, a male teenager with long black hair, realizes something and shouts to his kin, "Don't stop! It's almost here!"

Immediately after that, a salvo of rocks shoots out from the forest, aimed right at the winged creatures. They instinctively disperse across the beach. Marcus raises his shield just in time to deflect a large rock directed right at his face.

"Gab!"

It's the male winged creature from before. He's yelling at one of his kin who was hit by one of the smaller rocks. The small teenage girl has fallen to the ground, and traces of blood spread out on her chest.

OOC:

In that brief moment, Sam understood two things. One, battle formation. Two, they had discovered a new race of small, cute, talking humans with wings. As much as she feared what might rush out of that forest, and she had a feeling it was something unlike anything the islands had faced, she couldn't let it chase down and wipe out these innocent creatures.

Initiative 11

An Elemental emerged from the forest.

Standing on two thin legs that supported a large torso and two big arms -- but no head -- the Elemental was made of earth and rocks that were covered by moss and flowers. It immediately attacked the squad with the intention of going after the fairies.

Anne didn't waste any time and healed Gab, the teenage girl who had fallen to the ground. Luckily, she was still alive and managed to fly away from the Elemental and join her siblings. This is when Nick and Smirk attacked Colonel Riddle, causing serious injuries to him. The black-haired fairy, who Gab identified as Jacob, urgently shouted that summoners were under the control of the Elementals and that he would put an end to it. He extended his hands in front of him and created a small orb composed of the eight Elements, all swirling around each other.

Marcus Riddle and Anne Wood were shocked that the green mage would attack them, and they didn't have a lot of time to process the fairy's revelation; nevertheless, once they saw Jacob insert the orb into Nick's head, they decided not to attack him, hoping that the fairy was right.

Meanwhile, May and Samantha fought the Elemental head-on. This was the rogue's first battle, and despite her concerns about her own abilities, she struck the enemy multiple times, which destabilized the entity. As for May, she didn't even break a sweat. The drunken monk avoided every attacks and retaliated with bumbling grace, if such a thing was possible.

With the help of the fairies -- who used cantrips of Water and Air against the Elemental -- the squad members defeated their foe, who then crumbled into a large pile of dirt and rocks. The following silence was cut short however.

"We have to leave!" Jacob says. "The others will be here soon!"

The rest of his kin nervously gather behind him. They are frightened.

Anne and Colonel Riddle nervously stare at Nick and Smirk.

Nick doesn't look directly at them, but can feel their gaze nonetheless. Once Jacob gives his warning though, Both him and Smirk advance to the forest line. Nick notches a bolt while Smirk readies himself to strike at whatever may emerge.

Neither say a word.

(They're doing standard discipline for covering the party's retreat.)

May jogs up to the rest and begins brushing herself off. "Dirty mudman. May glad to punch you to death. What now, Oberst (Colonel)?"

Sam's eyes dart to "Jacob". Others!? Oh heck no, one was bad enough! Not willing to waste time waiting for orders or asking questions, she points toward the boat where they came from. "Get on the boat, we'll get you out of here!"

She pauses for the fairies to fly toward the beach and their rowboat, running with them.

Marcus winces in pain and puts an hand on his shoulder. Anne moves to cast her healing cantrip on him, to which he responds, "Thank you." He's about to answer May's question when Samantha urgently tells the fairies to start running. An expression of relief spreads on their faces.

"That sounds like a good plan," the colonel says. He looks at the green mage and the aspect standing near the tree line. "Nick! Come on, let's go!"

He then starts running, followed closely by Anne. Jacob motions to his kid to do the same.

Nick and Smirk are the last ones out, covering the party's retreat until everyone is on the boat.

They still don't say a word.

May takes a drink and starts jogging with the others. She looks back every so often to make sure Nick and Smirk are keeping up. She'll help anyone who needs it.

It takes five minutes of running on the beach before the squad and the winged creatures reach the boat. Even from this distance, the party notices that the sailors aboard the Tempest are getting agitated.

"Everyone aboard!" the colonel shouts.

The fairies grab onto the clothes of certain party members, namely May, Anne and Samantha. They're trembling, and tears are pouring down the cheeks of some of them. The only one who's keeping a strong facade is Jacob, who has now landed on Nick's shoulder and is staring at the forest.

"May, grab an oar," Marcus Riddle commands as he grabs the other one.