Kapitel 525: Where'dat Leshen at doe?

Reima "So, tell us about this Leshen?" he asks, curious over the information his friend had.

Arie "Ah, quite a story to this whole situation... You may not know but the Scoia'tael have become scarce in the Northern Kingdoms, but, the few that remain stay far, far away from civilisation. This often means nearby Kaer Morhen as it's one of the safest places for them, monsters don't last long around Witcher inhabited land after all."

Reima "What does this have to do with the Leshen though?" he asks confused at where this was going.

Arie "I'm getting to it." he states before continuing, "Ard Carraigh had been investigating the Hawkers smuggling weapons to them and eventually formed a band to follow and hunt down everyone involved. This led to a chase that went on for day's straight, the Northern Warriors only managing to keep up due to how weak, sick and starved the Elves were. The chase led up here, near Kaer Morhen and even further into the valley, the elves managing to finally escape and leaving the soldiers alone in the forest..."

Reima "Idiots." he mutters with a sigh.

Arie "Yeah, right fucking retards. There was only one survivor who ran as soon as the ravens started dive bombing the group, he didn't have much information on him apart from "The forest had turned against us, I saw the tree's themselves moving!". Hah, what a laugh." he says and spits on the floor.

Reima "So basically, we know nothing and are walking in blind."

Arie "When you put it like that I feel stupid for thinking of doing this solo..." he mutters, slightly embarrassed.

Reima "How have you survived this long bro, that's reckless as fuck." he says with a sigh.

Arie "To be fair, I was comparing myself to you. Give me a break for feeling inadequate." he grunts.

Reima "Making me feel guilty bro... Let's talk to Andre when we get back about giving you a few upgrades, yeah? Maybe Rickert'll be able to make you a new hand or some shit."

Arie "Fuck off, who needs hands when you got this thing?" he says with boisterous laughter.

The two continue talking as they reach and ominously dark part of the forest, the sunny clear skies barely even visible now.

Nerissa sniffs for a moment, "Blood." she says.

Arie looks down at her, surprised that her nose is so sensitive. They were barely even close to where the incident had occurred. "Where'ye smelling it?" he asks.

Nerissa points at an angle into the forest, surprising no one at it's origin.

Reima "Why can't monster dens ever be nice? Like maybe once in a while finding a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow."

Arie "I don't think robbing and murdering a halfling counts as monster hunting Reima... Also, aren't Harpy dens usually beautiful?

Reima "Yeah, when your not balancing a hundred feat off the ground while fighting humanoid cannibal bird women." he retorts.

Arie can dispute that, "Fair point... But, I think we've idled enough, let's go." he says as he starts walking into the forest.

The first thing the group notice once they're inside is the lack of sound, it's as if everything inside is dead and the only thing moving is the trio themselves. The second is the trembling of their Medallions, it's not to the extent that there's a monster in the immediate vicinity, but there is clearly high levels of magic around, possibly making this some kind of place of power...

A couple minutes later they reach a clearing, still dark due to the canopy inhibiting the light above them, however their focus isn't on the tree's but the dark stains on the ground that are immediately familiar to everyone. Arie walks up, stabs the silver sword in the ground and leans over a dark stain, picking up a few shards of metal from the ground to examine.

Arie "A Leshen capable of completely shattering steel... It's lucky you came with me Reima, this one must've come over the Dragon Mountains for some reason..."

Reima "I feel as though you are ignoring the most obvious thing here..." he says while pointing at a nearby tree, a large thick root sticking from the ground and pinning the upper half of a corpse to it. Walking closer he sees that the root pierced a lung but didn't kill the man instantly, instead just pinning him here to be finished off... His lower half seems to have been torn away, though the common allies of Leshen's such as wolves and ravens aren't nearly strong enough to get through steel plate... Atleast as cleanly as this.

Arie "Damn, poor bastard was probably still alive as it happened." he mutters.

Reima "What do you think did it?" he asks, not as familiar with this worlds monsters as Arie would be. Though he could make a few educated guesses."

Arie "I'm not sure.." he says as he leans down and look at the floor, discovering a few black brittle spots in the dirt. He scoops it up and gives it a sniff, dumping it on the ground afterwards with a nod. "Endrega."

Reima nods, "That'd explain the lack of tracks..."

Nerissa "Endrega?" she asks.

Arie "Huge insects with strong jaws, venom and the ability to... Ambush." he mutters while his eyes slowly widen.

*Rumbblle!*

*CRASH!*

A large amount of Endrega warriors crawl from the ground, their mandibles clicking towards the trio as they gradually surround them. Arie throws his arm blade up, hooking a leather strap and causing a bomb to fly into the group, "Look away!" he shouts as as he prepares to take advantage of the opponents weakness.

Reima covers Nerissa face with his hand, not doing the same for himself as his pupils narrow on their own to resist the blinding explosion.

*Baang!*