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Percy was entirely unimpressed with the answer to his questions. He was about to give voice to that very thought—in what was bound to be a very witty but biting remark on the quality of the historians in this strange new world—when a peal of thunder cut him off. A second one followed a split second later, and the chieftain suddenly seemed worried, her ears twitching. Percy felt his curiosity peak again. How much sharper was her hearing than his? Was it comparable to that of an Earth dog? Better, even? What had she heard that had made her decide that wasn’t thunder? He had so many questions, but would never get to ask any of them, because she raced off soon after. Percy looked around. The village folk—all possessing various smattering of features that would typically belong to a non-human mammal—were very obviously frightened by the way she had reacted to noise. He supposed he could only draw one conclusion from that when he combined everything he had learned since arriving. “The village seems to be under attack,” he said plainly. He glanced toward the deer-boy that had been introduced as Rumian. The others had rushed to follow the young girl. “And you want us to help your companion fight off whoever is behind this.” His tone made it clear he was just stating the facts he had observed. “How exactly are we supposed to do that?” Percy opened his lab coat up to show that he had no weapons on him. “We have no idea how to use whatever powers you claim we possess. None of us even have weapons.” Rumian raised an eyebrow saying, "wait...you don't?" Concern, more of it, crossed his expression as he tried thinking on it, "but I was certain...truly, none of you have any ability to fight?" Percy couldn’t stop the snide remark. “What part about us gave off the impression that we were skilled at fighting?” He paused and then grimaced suddenly. “Were you even aware that all of us got here by dying in our past lives? Your dragon was choosing from the rejects to begin with.” Rumian looked at him blankly, blinking for a second before saying, "how...fascinating...to think that she could even bring back the..." Rumain briefly lost himself in thought before remembering the situation at hand exclaiming, "right, trouble! Er, well, then...uh...well there has to be something the both of us are missing then! I can't imagine the Exalted would have genuinely no ability to fight monsters. That just wouldn't make sense!" Rumian, in his panic, clearly seemed to be trying to rationalize the situation more to himself then explain it to Percy. Percy pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, his glasses falling forward slightly. He had very little faith in this mythical dragon goddess' plans. “Right. Well, in that case, come on then. We should catch up to the others.” He started forward with his long strides. A cursory glance behind him revealed Rumian rushing to follow. His long legs made short work of the distance they had left to travel. Percy glanced at the huge (relative to average human height) bipedal hyenas, then at his companions, before finally resting his eyes on Rumian. The deer-boy had stopped at the back alongside Percy, far away from what threatened to turn into a fight any second. “Not the brave type I take it?” Percy asked. He reached into his pocket out of habit to once again find no cigarette or lighter, causing him to scowl. “Neither am I. What are those things? Any idea what they want from you all? Any known weaknesses?” Then after a moment he added, “They’re much closer to true animals than people. I take it that you all are only distantly related?”

Penelope watched Link with a blank, probing, expression. What was he doing down here? Should he not be searching with the others? Had they already searched the upper floor surely he would not have come here alone. Could he possibly... Gunther couldn't help but relax as Link joined them. He was glad that the soldier had come down here. He must have decided that it would be better to search the lower floors and leave the upper for the rest. He didn't know what Link was thinking exactly but he was sure that he knew what he was doing. Whatever the case Penelope thought that Hanikap was suitably distracted. She doubted they needed the four of them to handle him if it came down to it but at least he was fully sold on his tour guide job now. The kitchen was....unremarkable. Which made sense as it wasn't a place this puffed up 'noble' would bother entering himself much. Penelope was curious about this Dille girl. She didn't seem to fit in with her idea of that man so she wondered if she perhaps could reveal some important information with the right prompting. Not that she could ask her right now. But it was something to keep in mind. The door on the right side made her curious but, due to its positioning, could have either been storage or lead to the other room. Could Catriona perhaps have been stuffed inside a barrel and tucked away here? She couldn't dismiss the possibility. "Yeah, guess the tour's not that interesting." "On the contrary!" Penelope said, "you are doing a fine job, a fine job indeed! Your lord is lucky to have someone so willing to show such courtesy in bringing us to even the most minor of places. Which does make me wonder, you didn't mention that door there, is it not a place we're allowed in?" Gunther didn't know if all this was necessary. Surely they didn't need to examine every room right? But he knew that Penelope wasn't the type to be able to settle if she didn't have the full picture. She would be wondering about every nook and cranny if they simply moved on. For his part he didn't think he could add anything. He was mostly here as an extra body just in case he reckoned. Though he did feel oddly at ease in this room. It reminded him of his younger days in the castle with his mother. The thought brought a smile to his lips which he directed at the kitchen help, giving a kind nod in greeting to her. Cora laughed awkwardly at the girls' antics. She was admittedly unsure how to handle them. Usually it wouldn't be much a problem but they really did need to get going as soon as they could. For a moment, as their attention was on firing off questions to Tsetseg, Cora thought she might be able to slip away and go check on Acantha herself. However this didn't work well as the two suddenly shifted to hiding behind her in response to Phai. "Ah, yes, you're fun, Phai but that's not really the problem here...and you two, that's rude, don't stick out your tongues she's just being concerned over you...." Cora sighed. This wasn't going anywhere. They'd be stuck here forever if they continued to let the girls have their way. If she ignored the two and continued on they would likely become even more clingy and she wasn't about to drag them with her. So, though she felt rather embarrassed to do it, Cora decided to call out towards the house herself. "Acantha? Are you there? We have a problem to take care of, er, if...if you're around! If you're not, um, I guess you...can't hear me anyway...." her voice trailed off as she flushed at the awkwardness of it all.

"but thank you. For the barrier." For a moment Madelyn's face turned pink, and she crossed her arms and turned away from Ryia. "You don't have to thank me for that. It was absolutely nothing, just...warn me if you're going to try and use my magic to get yourself killed next time." The battle was over at last. The crab had been dis-clawed and, ultimately, skewered and killed. The Chosen felt a brief surge of energy, as though this encounter had strengthened them somehow, but it didn't free them of being worn down by the hectic fight. Damien, not having felt such a surge, and despite not many outward injuries, decided to sit down right where he was standing and didn't seem to want to move for long. He was examining his sword with a frown, going over it closely and with a serious intent. "Anyone hungry?" "How crass." Madelyn muttered, eyeing the giant crab with disgust. Keres on the other hand didn't think much of it. She had eaten plenty of strange things back home in the swamp and she imagined this would be much the same. She wondered if perhaps the meat might have some magical aftereffects but she wouldn't know until it was cooking anyway. The girl started towards Reinaan, and more specifically the crab, and said "I can...help prepare." Madelyn grabbed onto the girl before she could get any further. "Oh no you don't, you've drained yourself quite well already. Go sit with the musclehead and rest." The girl looked around. "Before anything else, anyone with any injuries come here right this instant. I will not be seen with such a beat up and uncouth entourage." Despite saying this it was clear she, too, was worn down from the crab's attacks on her barriers. Keres opened her mouth to point it out and then, as she thought about her school days, seemed to become suddenly unable to speak and she just nodded and went over towards where Damien sat. It was rather embarrassing that she still struggled to speak up. Just because of memories that felt so long ago now. Yet in the face of Madelyn's unchanged confidence Keres couldn't help but feel like that awkward schoolgirl once again. As she sat as well she thought over the battle. She had panicked hadn't she? Her magic not working as it should had made her hesitate far too much. It could have led to all of their deaths had the others not adapted so well. She had always thought herself good at figuring out plans on the fly and yet she could only flail about and hope for the best. And after all that she lacked even enough energy to help with the cooking. Perhaps her mostly sedentary life was catching up to her. Perhaps her observation and quick thinking skills were only good when not in the heat of action. Perhaps she had been too reliant on her magic. What should she do to make sure this didn't happen again? She wasn't sure it was such an easy problem to solve. But solve it she must.

Lindow's ready agreement had Reinaan's confidence they were about to drop this crab. And while they were, the Draken couldn't have anticipated exactly how it would play out. Maybe he could have if he had a better understanding of electricity. But as it happened Lindow's magic was particularly volatile and the crab and both Chosen were feeling it. It was a strange feeling having the lightning flow into his arms from his halberd. Reinaan was fortunate in that he wasn't getting the worst of it, that honor belonged to the crab. But it was still enough to impair his movements and the crab was falling down to the ground directly above him. Finally finding some half decent footing with the thing no longer pulling him forward, the boy pulled his weapon free of the beast's underside and managed to dive out from under it before it fully collapsed. From his position and shocked state he couldn't entirely process the exact nature of Keres' attack, but that didn't stop him from looking back at her for a moment clearly impressed. "You still alive after that one?" He teased Lindow while getting back to his feet. Trying to shake off the thunder magic the boy renewed his grip on his weapon and began scaling up the back of the crab to get up and on top of it. The crab seemed to be stirring from Lindow's attack which left Reinaan little time to enjoy the view or laugh at the absurdity of the situation. He quickly reversed his grip on his halberd and raised it overhead before slamming it down decisively into the crack on the top of the shell. The weapon pierced through and then some such that even the top of the axe blade was piercing into the crab's flesh below. The hunter pushed it down as hard as he could, even tried twisting it to ensure a kill. His efforts were rewarded as the crab which had barely begun to stand again fell back down to the ground, life quickly fading. Reinaan watched his mark until he was sure it wouldn't get back up and after taking a minute to catch his breath, pulled the weapon free as roughly as he could for extra security. The crab was dead. Reinaan let out a victorious snarl only a lizard-person could make before dismounting his kill. "What the-" Reinaan started as he looked to the fresh corpse. He wasn't entirely sure where from but a pile of trinkets had appeared as if the crab had been holding onto them. There was nothing special to speak of but it was a curious sight. What did catch the boy's eye was a piece of metal that looked to have been lodged in the thing falling to the ground. Upon retrieving it the hunter recognized it as a broken off shard of the blade of a sword. His eyes lingered on it longer than such a piece of metal deserved. There was no glow or inscription to engage him thus yet he couldn't help but feel something was special about it. At worst it took up a tiny bit of bag space until he decided it wasn't special after all or he stopped caring. Maybe the others would have additional insight. But first there was something else on his mind as he eyed the giant crab. "Anyone hungry?" he shouted both as an inquiry and a clear statement he intended to eat part of this thing for all the work they'd had to do to kill it.

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