At the sound of William's voice, Kayn opened his eyes and his body refrained from flintching. Seeing Jerod making his way to a hunched over William, Kayn grabbed his weapon and planted both feet on the tree and pushed off with a good amount of force.

He sailed over the onlooking Lifth and others and landed gracefully on his feet and walked over to William and Jerod. Kayn made sure that the other Heroes kept Lifth within helps reach.

Kayn snatches up the parchment and tries reads through the blood stains that littlered it. Seems that it's a good thing that Kayn spent so much time with his books as the characters used on the letter were not common.

The letter reads as follows: You have two options, abandon your parcel or abandon your lives. Btw, I prepared explosive runes this morning.

-------------------------

As the words are read they begin to glow. At the last word, the letter and note explode into flames creating a shockwave big enough to send Kayn back 10 feet on his ass.

No sooner does Kayn read the message does he find himself airborne. Reeling from the blast, he tries his best to flip to where his feet would land on the ground. He slides to a stop only a few feet from Lifth.

("Damnit, that's the second time I've been taken off guard since I've left the forest")

Standing up, he spoke out loud, "The message was a threat." Kayn jerks a thumb at Lifth. "... a threat to leave her behind and head back."

Kayn slowly walks over to where his weapon landed since it was throw with him. He reaches out to grab it, but drops it almost immediately. Pain wrenched his hand... Kayn holds his palms to his face. They are both burned rather badly due to the blast from the runes on the parchment from which he held. Kayn, as gently as he could, fixed his weapon onto his back and walked back towards where William stood.

"It seems that Sigurd is holding some information from us. There's a bit more to Lifth than what he says. While the person who wrote the message seems a bit petty, he's known well in enchantments enough to..."

Kayn stares down at his hands...

"... never mind."

"William, you've been up for a few good hours. Take some rest.... I'll watch for the remainder of the night."

While Kayn spoke, he was staring intently at Lifth.

"Haha! Such an obvious trap, how could you fall for it? There was no need to read the letter. The severed arm was a dead giveaway as to the message. Someone wants this girl badly. This might be fun, after all."

Ende hops out of his tree, preparing for some play time.

"Bring it on! I would love some entertainment!"

While Ende gets "entertained", Jerod runs back to his horse, cowering in fright. (srry i had to make this post short, but i'm busy today.)

In reguard to the happenings after the note, Kayn pays everyone no attention and stares off into the star-lit sky.

He will be spending the remainder of the night using what little he knows of medicinal magic on mending his hands.

Wargolth returns, curious about the loud explosion.

Jerod had run back to the middle of camp, where Lifth had previously been sitting alone all the way up until the disturbance of the night air that had been propagated by a single mysterious and threatening letter and the disembodied hand it had come enclosed in. William glanced up as the human, who seemed to be no older or larger-statured than himself, immediately backed away from the gathering as soon as Kayn had read the the letter's contents, alarmed at first that Jerod would run completely off by himself into the darkness and most likely get himself killed by the person(s) who had written the letter in the first place, should they be waiting out there somewhere in hiding for just such a thing to happen.
The elf breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Jerod stop near the horses, apparently not so freaked out that he was intending to dash off entirely, after all, then turned his attention back to the girl whom the letter - according to the dark elf - had warned them all to abandon.

She was still staring down with an unreadable face at the severed hand William was kneeling directly over, not a word having been spoken from her nor her facial expression having changed the entire time. By now, William didn't think that Lifth was the kind of girl to be comforted by words such as the ones he was about to speak, but nevertheless the elf silently mouthed to her when she'd finally met his gaze, "Don't worry. We won't abandon you." She nodded a little in reply, but did not smile any. ... It had, thankfully, seemed that everyone was generally in agreement that they would ignore the letter's warning, anyway.

Then Kayn, in this sort of uncompromisingly authoritative voice, suddenly spoke, telling William to allow someone else to stand guard. The elf did not like the idea of abandoning his vigil now of all times, nor did he think well of taking orders from some dark elf who had no reason for wanting to associate with someone of William's kind, ... not to mention his moral principles. However, the elf did not feel like arguing right now, and besides, Ende's seemingly mocking callousness at this entire situation aggravated William far more than Kayn had ever done in the journey so far.

The elf grudgingly nodded in consent to Kayn, sheathed his sword, and walked back to the center of camp, wondering which was more important to take care of at the moment: seeing if he could give some words of encouragement to the still-madly-shaking Jerod nearby, or inwardly coping with his growing fear that he and the others had basically just chosen to defy some unidentified enemy that obviously had hostile intentions regarding them all.

The night is chilled not only by the biting wind but also by the events that have come to pass. Thankfully the rising suns sets a little warmth upon our party. They continue their journey to the east. Lifth is stone faced as usual.

Around midday the team reaches the small hamlet of Jurston. And the scene is not looking good. The villagers are in a panic, many houses are falling apart and some seem crushed entirely.

The villagers say that a Jotun has taken up residence in the hills to the north. Without a moments hesitation Lifth kicks Alsvider into a gallop heading north. Things might get ugly soon. You better catch up to her quick.

Wargolth looks around, he is reminded of the same danger his town was in. He follows Lifth.

Upon entering the town, Kayn made sure his hook was pulled well over his face as onlookers stared them down with either worried expression, or looks of hostility. Though Jurston didn't quite look like it was built upon poverty, it definately has seen better days. Kayn was scanning the area when he noticed that Lifth was speaking with what seemed to be a random villager.

What this villager said seemed to really affect Lifth as she, for once, dropped her callous expression. Lifth jerked her head towards some elevated terrain in the north. And it was almost like Kayn could guess what she was about to do as he barely had time to mutter a sarcastic, "wonderful..." before Lifth lurched towards the northern exit of town.

Kayn bent down and spoke to the horse. He gripped a bit of the mane of the horse in his hands as the animal lurched forward. It seemed the pain in his palms from last night was almost gone... though there was enough there to be irritating. To add to the irritation, the speed they were going ripped the hood from the top of his head. As he was leaving he yelled over his shoulder to the pack horses just in case anyone else forgot about them.

Still uncomfortable with his horse, Jerod kicked it as hard as he could (not very hard) and tried to get it to run. It only gallopped a little faster.

"This girl seems to be suicidal. Now this I don't want to miss! How many seconds do you bet she will last? Haha!"

I speed up in an attempt to catch up. Don't want to miss out on all the fun.

It didn't take long to reach the foothills north of the village. And it didn't take long to find the Jotun. Or more, it didn't take long for the Jotun to find the party. And he did not appear please. Standing at a whopping 13'4' with a small tree trunk grasp in his hand, he's a formidable sight for anyone who hasn't seen a jotun before. In reality, he's kinda small for a giant.

He's sees Lifth and immediately heads for her with a deadly intent in his eyes. Better get to work boys.

Jotun: Hp- ???
DF- ???
AP- ???

Special- ???

Even at the speed Kayn was going, he didn't catch up to Lifth before he noticed a large figure appearing on the horizon. No sooner did Kayn figure out the silhouet was that of a giant did he yell to Lifth.

"Slow down, damn you!"

Seeing that her pace didn't change, and that they were now coming upon the jotun, Kayn had little time to think. He cried to the horse to push its self as hard as it could. Once at that point, Kayn picked his feet up and placed both on the center of the horses back. With one hand on the mane and the other reaching for his weapon, he leaped with all his might at the jotun who seemed to have his eyes set only on Lifth.

A giant. This frightened Jerod's horse and flung him off balance. He thudded to the ground, but quickly came back up. He pulled out his sword and shield, and ran towards the jotun. Of couse, he would get his but whipped. He got beat up by the dwarves, who only stood to his knees. How could he fight a giant?

"Finally, a real fight!" Wargolth laughed.

He charged with his Sword ready.

Ignorant of the heroes racing towards him the giants swings his tree trunk in a tall arc, intent on squashing Lifth. But, a split second before the blow connects a blinding light flashes around Alsvider and the horse and rider appear twenty yards past the giant.

In the meantime Kayn hurtles through air to land a piercing stab into the Jotun's shoulder. The Giant howls with rage and turns, trying to reach up at the nuisance on his left shoulder. He flails around him with the tree trunk.

Wargolth and Jerod have now reach melee range. Be careful of the tree trunk.

---------------

Jotun: HP- 46/50
DF- 4

Trying in vain to follow after a spontaneously-acting Lifth for what seemed to be the fourth or fifth time in the last day or so had William feeling fairly exasperated with her. He had wordlessly urged his horse after her alongside the others, the entire time keeping his thoughts to himself, for he feared he would end up saying something rather harsh against her if he didn't try to fume out his anger to himself. ... When that giant shadow had suddenly appeared over the horizon and without warning came straight for the human girl, however, he immediately thought differently of Lifth, feeling not exasperation but an urgent worry for her life.

"Oh, no - !" The elf heard himself cry, knowing that there was no chance of reaching the giant in time before it would smash the poor girl to bits. He blinked, a little confused, when he thought he saw Lifth suddenly disappear before the monster's oncoming swing and a moment later appear behind him. He couldn't even comprehend at first that Lifth really had managed to avoid the blow. She must have been ready to do that, though, otherwise the elf couldn't imagine why she had appeared to head so intently straight for the monster all this time. The elf imagined actually seeing Lifth coyly smile just as she was performing that strange little magic trick. There was no time to feel relieved, though. He and the others had to act immediately before the giant went after her. William certainly couldn't see himself as much of a match for someone well over twice his size and several times his physical prowess, but he had prepared himself for the possibility of facing all sorts of trouble such as this long before he had even appeared before King Sigurd. He had to at least try his best. Whatever angel or deity out there in the heavens happens to be listening, William thought as he silently bid his horse to gallop faster and faster toward the monster, Please help me protect everyone from this monstrous beast.

One hand slowly letting go of the reigns, the elf shakily reached back for the Northern Longblade that was secured to the back of his cape, and, cold sweat beginning to fall in tangible droplets from his forehead in the fear of his falling off at such a dangerous speed any second now, he drew it over his head and held it directly forward to the enemy, trying to keep his hand from shaking. "Steady, girl ...." He whispered to the animal that was carrying him. "Just a little farther ...."

After a moment's passing, he finally found the opportunity to let go of the reigns entirely and catch hold onto the sword with both hands without the risk of completely losing control of his balance and getting his small-statured body trampled underfoot by either any of the horses or the lone giant. He held the sword up in the typical stance as he had always been taught, now having to trust fully in the discipline of the animal he was astride on to keep him protected from falling, and swung forward as the giant was turning itself the other way, apparently distracted by the attack of his other friends. Hopefully this one blow would majorly wound the monster in its side.

Sensing that William was approching, Kayn, with his weapon still burried in the giant's shoulder, gave it sharp twist before pulling out the blade in hopes of giving William's attack a better chance of landing.

With a flick of the wrist he cleaves his weapon free and leaps backwards off the creature attempting land where Wargolth and Jerod are standing in hopes of holding the ground at that point.