Challenges

After short while, everyone gathers together at the gate. “Wolf Squad at attention!” Joshua calls out.

Everyone gets into formation quickly upon hearing it as Joshua begins. “Today we will finish setting up our camp at the top of Mt. Shiraia, there is much we need to accomplish today, yesterday me, Vil, and Wilhelm started gathering supplies however due to the blistering heat we couldn’t get as much finished. So in turn we have to finish the camp today and tomorrow we will be moving our things. Is that understood.

“YES VICE CAPTAIN.”

Joshua closes his eyes with a vaguely smug grin as they head out and up mount Shiraia.

After about thirty-five minutes the group reach the summit and look around to see what was accomplished the prior day. Seeing everything, Susanna finally speaks up “So, when were you guys planning on telling me this? And what's the plan exactly.”

Joshua pulls out a notepad and a sketch of his overall plan with a grin.

“To start with, I apologize about not telling you yesterday. I was informed by Layrn about this in advance and wanted to get a jump on things and by the time we finished it was already late.” Susanna rolls her eyes as Joshua continues his point.

“Basically, the plan is to wall off and block 95% of the summit. Only leaving a small area to exit so we can still go hunting, gather supplies, etc.; As well as that, we still have to set up our ‘living quarters.” Turning to face the twins Joshua questions Wilhelm. “Were you able to get them this morning Wilhelm?”

“Yeah, there's just a slight problem. The Andric only had three tents, as well as the rest of the supplies that were provided.” Susanna's face fills with concern, alongside the twins.

Joshua sighs to Draxis. “Of course that bastard would do that. I bet he wants one of us to drop dead.” Looking at his squad mates a faint scowl forms on his face. "I'll take care of myself, you three take the supplies!

“But can’t we just share the supplies,” Wilhelm blurts out as Susanna quickly supports with idea.

Joshua shakes his head. “If we did that nobody would have any privacy, anyhow you're all my responsibility so I'll just deal with it..”

Everyone's gazes fill with shock. "What about you though, are you sure you'll be okay?" Joshua pinches his brow in annoyance as a vein bulges in his forehead. “This isn't a recommendation, it is a direct order, do you all understand!” Joshua’s voice raises mimicking his father as his aura surging around him. Watching his squad mates look at each other in defeat he retreats to his own mind. “I’m so glad I packed extra supplies before coming here, else I’d be in a crappy situation…” Joshua lets his aura fall as he takes a deep breath.

“Off topic, but what if we get attacked in the middle of the night?” Vilhelm tries to change the topic.

“Good question, to solve that problem I'll be standing watch. I have a plan to make a more permanent solution, but its a bit draining.” Vilhelm tilts his head sides still confused.

Ignoring his gaze, Joshua moves on. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started.” Joshua immediately splits them into groups of two. One is Susanna and Joshua; the other is the twins. With a smirk he turns his face to meet hers. “So, I’m going to be collecting wood and twine so I can get a fire started, can you start looking around for a closer source of fresh water and for bathing? We found something on the lower half of the mountain, but it didn’t have any privacy.”

Susanna rattles off faintly flustered. “Sure, I’ll report back if I find anything.” Joshua lifts in hand in protest as he tries to warn her about the dangers of the mountain. However just before he can catch her, she runs off.

“I wasn’t quite finished…” Mumbling to himself, he gives up and spends the next four and half hours cutting down trees, gathering wood, and carving large stones out of the earth. Unsurprisingly utilizing his aura made this task a lot faster than the day prior.

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Back on the other side with the twins, Vilhelm starts dragging back a bunch of the wood after tying it all together into a large bundle. Wilhelm on the other-hand stumbles into a dark crevice on the side of mountain.

Tripping over over his own feet "Gah,” he sounds out as he attempts to catch himself, inevitably falling in. The hole however seems to have other ideas and swallows him up to his shoulders. Attempting to shift around, he tries to dis-lodge himself. "Vil?" he calls out, but gets no reply. looking down he metaphorically throws his hands up. "I guess i should see what I've stumbled into! " So, despite his better judgement he decides to go deeper.

Blindly making his way into the small tunnel, he grips his dagger just in case anything tries to jump out at him. Using aura sense, he checks his immediate surroundings, thankfully everything coming up clear." It's like the tunnel was abandoned, or at least something used to live here.

Eventually after a while’ of blindly stumbling around he finally makes his way into a much larger cavern finally able to stretch his body out. The cavern's is lit up with magic sigils, torches, even some strange blue gemstones illuminating the walls and ceiling.

“Wow, this place is beautiful.” Wilhelm thinks to himself as he looks around. Admiring what appears to be an oasis, he walks around noticing all the fresh water, abundant plant life, even some purple berries growing alongside a strange blue tree growing off to the side of some ruins. as he steps towards the water, he lowers his canteen into the water refilling it before taking a drink. "Smooth. and cool." Reattaching it back to his side a smile spreads across his face.

“I wonder what this place is?” he mumbles quietly as he spends a while exploring everything he can, unable to approach the ruins themselves due to a strange barrier. With his curiosity sated, he starts to head back the way he came.

“I wonder what the hell I just stumbled onto, I need to tell everyone.” Turning around, he watches as a tiny white fox bounces over to him. Eyeing him curiously like it had never seen a human before, it yips a few times before trotting away. “That was so cute, I wonder what creature that is. Looked like a baby fox.” Wilhelm exaggeratedly holds his chest like he's going to pass out from seeing the tiny creature.

After that adorable distraction, he quickly makes his way back through the tunnel. His eyes having adjusted to the darkness previously, lets him make good time and reaching the exit in about ‘twenty minutes.’ As he approaches the exit, he hears his brother calling out to him.

“WILHELM, ARE YOU OUT HERE STILL. JOSHUA WANTED TO REGROUP WITH EVERYONE.” Hearing his brother, he smiles to himself before wriggling himself out of the hole brushing the dirt and pebbles away. the gap he climbed out being somehow bigger than the one he took inside..

“YEAH, VILHELM I HEAR YA, I’LL BE RIGHT OVER.” Wilhelm stretches his arms out as takes a deep breath finally getting some 'fresh' air.

Running on over to where his brother is, he starts to ramble. “Bro, you’re not going to believe what I found.” The two start making their way back to the campsite with their supplies.“

“What did you find bro?” Vilhelm asks with intrigue.

Wilhelm not wasting a breath, “I found a cave underground. Full of water, flora, and fruit.”

Brushing his brother off Vilhelm starts. “Sure Wil, you definitely found a cave and explored it when you've only been gone for twenty minutes.” Wilhelm freezes up confused, as he clearly had been gone for at least an hour. After that, Dejected, Wilhelm doesn’t bother telling anyone else as they probably wouldn’t believe him either.

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Off in another spot of the mountain, Susanna patiently waits atop of a nearby tree scouting out for any resources or wildlife, having found a close by stream earlier.

“I’ve been out here for almost two hours now, why haven’t I found anything yet, aside from rocks, dead trees, and more rocks it seems like this entire chunk of the mountain is dead. The hell.”

As she continues complaining , surprisingly she notices a stag out of the corner of her eye, quickly turning around. Taking a deep breath, she adjusts her aim and fires; as a trail of black energy swirls about it. And just like that, one bolt straight to the dome fells the beast.

“Jackpot.” She lifts her arms up in triumph as she re holsters her crossbow on her back. Unaware of the energy that assisted her hunt. Jumping down, she quickly closes in on her prize as she takes a moment to appreciate her handiwork. "Look at that shot... right between the eyes." Looking closer at the deer she notices that it’s in perfect condition, just a bit scrawny.

“Poor thing. you must have been looking for something to eat out here as well.” Closing her eyes, she says a small prayer on its behalf thanking the creator for the sustenance.

Laying down a cloth tarp from her bag, she slowly drags and ties a rope around the deer’s legs and body, keeping it in place. “This isn’t going to be very fun.” Susanna looks down as she remembers that she has to get it back to camp and she is halfway down the mountain. “Maybe I should have thought this out better.” She sarcastically remarks as she starts the long-drawn-out journey of dragging it back to base.

Four hours later Joshua and the twins finally finish building up the perimeter and ‘watch tower’, thankfully having some extra wood and stone left over. Stepping back to admire their handiwork, they hear very loud complaining off in the distance.

“STUPID DEER, STUPID ARMS, USELESS LEGS. FU----” The three brothers make their way over to Susanna, their teammate gasping for air, her body in excruciating pain.

“We’ll finish getting this to camp, you go take a break. You need it.” Joshua takes the rope from her hands as the twins get on the other side as they finish carrying the thing into camp closing off their makeshift gate as they all gather around a small fire.

Susanna lays on the ground exhausted, trying her best to catch her breath. "Muscles shouldn't hurt this bad... Right?" Drenched in sweat, she closes her eyes as her muscles tremble.

“Good job on the hunt Susanna, we couldn’t have gotten all this done without you.” Joshua smiles her way sarcastically trying to lighten the mood.

She attempts to sit up, wanting to throw something at him. However, seeing the gentle look on his face, she lets it go as butterflies flutter in her stomach, as her cheeks blush a shade of crimson red.

“Uh, well tt-thank you very m-much.” Changing the subject, she points out the status of the base, as he properly sits up, back aching. “It seems at least you three made a lot of progress up here.”

“Yeah, it took a lot of work but for the most part everything is complete. We still need to set up the tent site, but we should be able to do that tomorrow. As for the stag we can move it into that hollow over there”

He points over to a small recess into an elevated mound near a natural wall of the mountain. “It should stay cool enough in there to prevent it from rotting overnight. I can guarantee it, unlike yesterday the weather has been much cooler today.”

“You’re telling me, we were all sweating like pigs yesterday. Today it seems to just be you Anna.” Vilhelm jokes as a rock flies past hitting him in the head, knocking him onto his rear.

“Hey what was that for!” Joshua and Wilhelm burst out laughing.

“I guess you said something wrong Vil. Remember what father told us a while back, you have to be careful with how to speak about women.” Susanna turns her head and gives Wilhelm a look telling him not to make another peep. He gulps. Joshua shakes his head as Draxis gives commentary on the situation. “Those two are pretty dense aren’t they, women can be veru sensitive. Especially after spending four hours dragging a deer uphill without any help. Can’t blame the poor girl.”

Not paying much attention to his surroundings Joshua chuckles aloud, “Indeed, Draxis.”

Getting a weird look from his companions. “Who are you talking to, and who’s Draxis?” Susanna questions.

“Don’t worry about him, he has been talking to himself for years. Full on conversations and everything.” Vilhelm replies immediately trying to get Susanna off his back.

“Nice one kid.” Draxis snickers at Joshua’s situation. He lets out a sigh. “Never mind guys.” Wilhelm watching this, sits quietly, wondering who Draxis is himself.

Taking a moment to himself, Joshua stands up and walks over to where they stored the stags body. Making his way inside, he turns around making sure nobody can see him as he cuts his fingertip and draws a freezing rune on both the walls and the ground. The temperature inside, instantly hollow dropping by thirty degrees. “This should work just fine.”

Making his way out, he hides his cut finger as he walks over to the gate and stares down over the mountain back to Blackwood.

“I guess everything could be worse, I do wonder how well Orthon is doing with his new predicament thiugh” Taking a moment to relax, Joshua makes his way back to the fire pit and continues listening to his squad banter back and forth.

Reflecting on his past, he gazes into the fire, he starts reflecting on his memories as he has a sudden realization, he’s pretty sure Orthon died early on last time around.

“When did he die last time, was it Gytha? I can’t fully remember.” Joshua shakes his head, slowly getting back on topic with his squad.

“I just hope that he won’t start slacking. Gyle’s isn’t a bad guy, but he’s not exactly the best physical teacher. He kind of just lets you deal with that on your own time. Thankfully knowing Orthon, he’ll probably be fine he likes exercising and practicing anyway/”

Taking another deep breath, he catches everyone’s attention with a loud ‘cough’ and lets them know it’s about time for everyone to head back. The sun slowly starting to droop in the background. Everyone nods in agreement as they climb to their feet. After brushing themselves off, every,ow start heading back down the side of the mountain to go ‘enjoy’ their last night in Blackwood

A little while later however, as they all make their ways to the front gate, they get stopped by Layrn. “ATTENTION,” All four of them immediately get into formation.

“From what I’ve seen it like everything has gone well up there. I’m quite glad seeing on the news I have to deliver.” Layrn praises her squad.

“What news?” A tired Vilhelm questions.

With a bitter sigh Layrn continues. “I was just given orders to inform you all that your stay up there starts effective immediately.

“WHAT!” Everyone steps back flabbergasted. “Yeah, that sounds par for the course.”

“Can we still get our things?” Susanna replies with a tired look on her face.

Layrn sighs rubbing the back of her neck. “Yeah, you can still collect your things. I tried to make the commandant see reason, but I was outnumbered. Andric, Weil, and Gytha gave the go ahead.”

“Don’t worry too much though, the mountain should be the least treacherous place surrounding Blackwood. It has some natural barriers as well.” Layrn places her left hand on her brow as she tries to comfort her squad.

“Understood captain.” Speaks up Joshua as he bows slightly. Turning around to face the rest of his team he gives his own orders. “You heard her, get moving and collect your things we want to make it back to the summit before nightfall.” Everyone looks at him with exhaustion, but nonetheless agree as they all their separate ways.

Joshua stands there as he eyes his captain. “What actually happened, I doubt that the commandant just changed his mind on a whim.” Joshua’s voice shifts into a serious tone.

Layrn walks a bit closer to him before kneeling down and whispering in his ear. “Don’t trust Andric…. And stop helping that sick bastard, I’ll finish the list. From this most recent meeting I sensed something that I don’t really like from him. Not only was he covered in blood, but out of the corner of my eyes I saw his eyes glowing green. I’m not quite sure what that entails, but just stay on your toes.

The mention green energy catches Joshua's attention as something about it seemed vaguely familiar. “Wait a minute, did he ever use aura last time around?" Joshua looks down with a puzzled expression