Ivellios glanced to his left, feeling the constant rhythm of the slight steam releases from the strange machine strolling the Ishvi Road alongside him. Almost equal in height to his seven foot frame, this whirring bipedal vehicle like suit, with piston legs, bronze and tacturnium feet shaped like plate boots, with openings on their soles for the thrusters of the Jump-Jet Feet that were attached to the creation. Its arms held a simple single shot rifle, with a plain double edged bayonet attached to it. Its left arm had three hinged metal plates that could deploy as a shield similar to Ivellios' own. The rest of the machine was made of steel struts, whirring gears and clockwork, hissing pistons, all encased in varying layers of thin steel plating, with openings for its articulating joints, for steam ventilation and rotational parts. The torso had glass the size of a gnomish head on its front and back, for seeing through, and one could see the hatch, the small outline of it.

     Yet the construction did not stop Ivellios from hearing his companion's high pitched voice, a little crackly from years of inhaling metal shavings, smoke and chemicals, as Drard spoke. "Gizmo's got maybe three hours left before his reactor will need to be allowed to recalibrate. It can't be that much further to Eel's End though, you think? We coming up to the small hill and bend in the river that's on the map. Old Filia told us after we came to where the road went over a hill, separating from the Ishi, we would only have an hour, mayhaps an hour and a half, and we'd arrive in Eel's End. You think we'll make it before dark?"

     "We should," Ivellios replied, removing his open faced helm, black-grey eyes scanning the jungle surroundings and the road, as he lifted his waterskin to his lips, taking a brief sip, then pouring a little over his short amber hair. The pair had been to Eel's End a few times previous, but this was their first time coming to the village from the north-east.

      Drard watched, having Gizmo turn slightly so he could see out of the glass bubble of his cockpit. His friend was a little over seven feet tall, as was common for Skye Elves, his complexion a flame kissed coppery-gold, his hair, such as their was of it, an amber, almost an orange-gold color, kept in a tight military trim. Angular features, stronger than normal, with small but visible pockmarks and hunger scars hinted at the trauma his companion had been through, whatever that may have been. Three months they'd traveled together, and were fast friends. However Ivellios had yet to tell Drard much of his past. The manacle scars on the elf's wrists, and the many lash and stab and barbed scars all about his torso, legs and arms told more than enough to know behind the calm warrior's demeanor hid a well of trauma and pain from a horrible past.

     He was an odd sight on these roads though, wearing a coat of plates of dwarven make, iron plates welded and riveted strategically to a set of heavy gauge chainmail as a shirt. Paired with leather greaves with bolted steel plates again to allow articulation, but providing strategic protection, to allow coverage but also to insure appropriate flexibility. Gauntlets, boots, both of fine Suranthi steel, and a flail, the flexible weapon a spiked iron ball, connected by a two feet of chain to a two foot handle. A recurve bow and a quiver holding a few arrows hung over his back. On his arm, a heavy shield, in a heater style, emblazoned in granite grey with crimson streaks, a three headed flail depicted upon it. These weapons and armaments, barring the bow, were obviously of dwarven make, a rarity on the continent of Wyriel. How Ivellios never died of heat stroke was beyond Drard.

     Even as the sun was now low it was almost oppressively humid. The canopy of the jungle that hugged the narrow, and admittedly not well maintained or patrolled road, throwing shadows and hiding it but for brief glimpses, did little to aid this. It would have been unbearable to many, though Drard enjoyed it well enough. He was a native to the continent of Wyriel, and was used to and greatly enjoyed the weather. Even through the noise of Gizmo's internal mechanics whirring and working, he could hear the slight droning of insects, ever present all around. The distant cries and hoots of monkeys, the every present orchestra of untold numbers of bird species all around, deep in the jungle. It was constant, it was a part of day to day life, it was normal. It was what one got used too.

     Ivellios noted his friend's soft smile through the bubble, the elf wiped his forehead with the leather underside of his gauntlet, putting his helmet back on and hooking his waterskin back onto his traveling pack. "It is peaceful, in its own way, all this noise, isn't it Drard? I'd imagine it feels more like home for you than it does even for me." Ivellios stretched, carefully slipping his travelling pack back over his shoulders, insuring his bow and quiver didn't tip or snag from the sides they were both strapped to. "However, we've still some ground to cover, at least two or three miles, and we're losing day-light. Come on, I don't want to be turned away at the gate, remember Eel's End actually has a proper palisade."

     As the pair travelled on, ascending around the hill following the road up over a crest, a sudden sound that cut through the orchestra of background noise had them both tense up, glancing at each other, as they scanned further down the road now from atop the hill. "Help, someone help!!" came the cries, two voices sounding very similar, one male, one female. Besides that came strange snarling and clicking sounds, sophisticated, intimidating and in at least three different pitches. Like bird calls given...teeth almost.

     Ivellios pointed down the hill and further down the road some three hundred feet or so. "There!" the elf told his companion, briefly seeing movement, some moderately large bipedal creature, lizard-like in shape. Further ahead, moving swiftly and deeper into the jungle, two smaller, human sized shapes. "Two, maybe three, I didn't get a good look." Ivellios told Drard, obviously referring to the lizard-esque creatures.

     Drard swiftly manipulated the control panels around him, as Gizmo began moving down the hill, rifle loaded and primed. "Come on, whatever it was, let's see what help we can give!"

                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Only the slight snapping of twigs, discordant, jarring compared to the normal noises of the surrounding jungle, snaps so bold they were as sharp as if they were right beside them, gave the pair any warning. Yellowish forms of scale-like proto feathers, claws, teeth dashed out towards both siblings. Alexi grabbed his twin sister Liesa by the left wrist without thinking, pulling her low and then back up the road, off to the right into the brush, running immediately, glancing back once. Three of the creatures, Scrimclaws. Pack hunters, if there were three of them, there were either more, or it was a small pack, which this hopefully was. They weren't full grown yet, only about five feet tall, and seven feet long from tail to snout, yet still deadly. Bipedal and fast moving, their snarls and chirps and other complex calls were a language all their own, but clearly the chase was on.

     Alexi swore under his breath, the Renarii youth, pulling his twin sister. She was not quite as athletic as he was, but she knew she had to keep pace. "C'mon Liesa dammit, we need to move!" Alexi knew they couldn't outrun the creatures, these bipedal raptor like lizard creatures could move very fast. However, moving through the thick undergrowth, though they could do so stealthy, their bulky near three hundred pound forms simply could not move as comfortably and nimbly through the undergrowth like the smaller Renarii humans could. So Alexi's hopes were two-fold. Find an advantageous place to fight, or perhaps by some miracle better yet, if there were others traveling not far behind them on the road, find help.

     Scrimclaws were not unheard of in the lowland jungles, but were not common, for even still they weren't that close to the Scale-Spire Highlands, so the odds of this poor fortune were quite low. Be that as it may, Alexi and Liesa moved as fast as they could, the whole time Alexi insuring he kept an eye on his sister as best he could. Her violet eyes showed fear, but not panic, which was good. Together the twins moved as swiftly as they could, Alexi trying to keep near enough to the road to not get lost, but not so close as to allow one of the beasts to use it to get ahead and cut them off. As they followed the curve around and up the slight sloping of the small hill that the road wound up and over, he saw something. Atop it, through the trees and foliage, Alexi caught a glimpse, just a brief one, of two figures, both quite tall, wearing a lot of metal. Alexi was pleased when he glanced at his sister, that she'd caught sight of it too. The siblings both breathed in deep even while still running. "Help, someone help!!!" they called out, as Alexi guided them a bit deeper into the jungle, through a clearing, over a toppled tree and into a tight corridor against a small cliff amidst the rougher terrain here in the Mulvani Hill-lands. 

     Alexi turned, clearly concerned, but stepped a bit ahead of and to the side of his sister as she fell back closer to the cliff. Drawing his cutlass and main gauche, Alexi took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "As good a place as any, by the Captain's cock." the young man swore, muttering to himself as he took up position alongside a felled tree, at an angle as the beasts approached. 

                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     As Gizmo and Ivellios came running through the leaves and thick jungle, they saw two of the creatures rushing towards a small stone cliff through through the trees, altering their path to try and help, even as another of the lizard creatures burst from the foliage to their left. The scrimclaw slammed into Ivellios, its jaws clamping down on his right forearm. He grimaced, crying out in pain briefly, but composed himself. With anger he shook his arm, ignoring the pain as best he could, fighting to get free. The jaws didn't clamp down hard enough to break anything. However, he felt the bottom teeth punch through some of the links of the chainmail sleeve and into his arm, and he knew the whole thing would be sore, likely horribly bruised and bloodied for days to come.

     Gizmo was not idle, the mech whirring to life under Drard's skilled piloting, zipping by the assault and turning, leveling the rifle briefly. There was a thunderous crack, a telltale sound to many creatures and humanoids alike. The scrimclaw snarled and thrashed, releasing its grip on Ivellios in pain as the round hammered into its upper right thigh, the leg buckling. Ivellios didn't waste the opening, despite the pain in his arm, and his flail swung out, the arm snapping forward with power. The spiked metal ball of the weapon thundered into the creature's skull and neck with tremendous and life-ending force.

                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Two of the scrimclaws rushed forwards, not towards Alexi, but leaping forwards first towards his sister, the beasts intelligent enough to tell she was the unarmed one, the weak link. So it seemed of course, though Alexi knew better. His sister's biggest weakness was her particular....abilities were criminal and punishable by death. She was a shaman, an untrained and unlicensed magick wielder of a sorts. Liesa's violet eyes flashed, strange crackling energy sparking all about her form as she simply stepped back, seeming to fall through the earth, reappearing on a small ledge some fifteen feet up on an edge of the cliff, much to the obvious irritation of the predators, snapping at nothing. Alexi moved in fast, his cutlass lashing out, the blade biting deep into the inner thigh of one of the beasts, a bloody and vicious draw cut. The scrimclaw shrieked in rage, a terrifying sound, though the sound was cut short.

     On the ledge, Liesa felt the unstable energy crackling through her veins, the gift, and curse, of her fey touched soul. She focused, allowing the power to grow, allowing more manna to flow through her. A small swirling bolt of whitish blue energy formed from her hand, whipping forth and hammering into the neck and chest of the beast her brother assaulted. Frost licked its scales and flesh, even as the small pistol she carried also rose. She pulled the trigger, the round hammering into its lower jaw and neck, silencing its pained shrieks, laying the creature low.

     As the beast before him fell, Alexi, balanced on the fallen tree, could not fully avoid the third scrimclaw, which snapped at him on its way by, the beast fleeing with the sudden loss of two of its pack mates. The jaws bit down hard and he was dragged off the fallen tree, having to let himself be tossed to the ground painfully. Teeth punctured cloak, leather, and flesh. Thankfully nothing broke, though his shoulder was painfully twisted and dragged, his left arm going a bit numb, even as he felt blood oozing and pumping beneath his clothing and armor. As she watched her brother fall, Liesa let the instability within her take over, allowing it to drain from her knowing if she did not it would only keep building, even as she stepped again ever so briefly into the aether. She reappeared beside her sibling, briefly aglow in an emerald luminescence, though that faded in mere moments, a side effect of allowing the wild magick energies to drain from her essence. A notably tame side effect, much to her relief.

     The strange metal....creature? no, vehicle, she realized. The magni-mech with a gnomish pilot, came striding into view then. The armored figure, an elf presumably given his height but also his slight frame for that height, was not far behind. Both were glancing around, obvious concern present. The elf called out to both Alexi and Liesa in Valarian, the common parlence, a shared language across many nations of the world, a basic utility language beyond all else. "Are there any more of the beasts, or was that the lot?" 

     Liesa let out a small sigh of relief, for it seemed they'd not noticed the strange powers or her brief moment of glowing with unstable magick energy. This was good, a boon for the coming interaction to be sure.

     She shook her head to the question. "That was all of them we saw. Thank you for you timely aid."

     Liesa noted that the elf had blood dripping from his right arm, slowly but it was there, the mail sleeve covering that arm a little mangled and pinched, and she winced at the sight of it.

     "One of them bit my brother as well, quite savagely too, Are you alright sir?" she asked the elf, as she helped her brother to his feet gingerly.

     Ivellios gave the young woman a brief smile, the adrenaline from the fight still pumping, taking a deep, even breath before responding. "My name is Ivellios, and my companion's name is Drard, though perhaps proper introductions should wait until we get to Eel's End. I would presume that is where you two were going?"

     Ivellios glanced at his forearm before continuing. "I thank you for your concern, I will be alright though, I've had worse. Your brother looks a little wobbly though. That was a vicious bite wound. You think you've the strength to travel another hour or so on foot, youngster? I've a bit of skill with wounds, I'm no surgeon but I manage. I can clean it up and bandage it once we are in town."

     Alexi took a deep, pained breath, but put on a confident face as comfortably as any mask. By the Void his arm hurt, that damn scrimclaw had made sure he wouldn't forget it, there was no doubt about that. "Aye I'll manage, its painful, but nothing is broken, nor did it hit anything vital. You have our thanks Ivellios, and an agreement. My name's is Alexi, this is my twin sister Liesa."

     Alexi did not know why he told these strangers their real names, and berated himself silently for it. Foolish, given his sister's secret, it was always foolish to tell people their real names. There was naught to be done about it now though, as he felt the throbbing in his shoulder. "Though yes, we'll walk with you, I think. Seems a wise decision. Lead on."