Written by BHart
April 24, 2008

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Act LXXXIV
The Beast Men Territories

Omatase, Vasteel and Maxie woke up, ready to leave. "Is everyone here? Where's Feral Heart?" asked Omatase.

"She left this," said Vasteel, handing him a note.

It read, "Thank you all for the journeys we had together. I'm afraid I must make my final stop here. This town has the largest market and many business opportunities. I hope you can understand. Come and visit me any time. Thanks for everything. Regards, Feral Heart."

"Should we go find her?" asked Maxie.

"No, she's a merchant at heart. It would take too long to find her in this giant city anyway," replied Omatase. Omatase warped everyone back to Basdor.

"How was your trip? Where's Feral Heart?" asked Kousagi.

Omatase explained to them everything that happened and introduced them to Maxie.

"Are you ready to take us to the next sailor senshi in hiding?" asked Omatase.

"Yes, I brought everything with me that I'll need," replied Maxie. Everyone stood close together while Maxie warped them to their next destination.

"Where are we?" asked Tokamo.

"I know this place. We're in Jugner Forest," said Vasteel. She was excited to visit her old hunting grounds.

"Don't wander off. We don't have any business here. We need to go south from here," explained Maxie.

They were on the southernmost outskirts of the forest. "We're heading into Davoi, aren't we?" asked Vasteel.

"Yep. Keep a low profile while we're there. We don't want any trouble with the orcs."

The sailor senshi walked with their heads down, trying not to be noticed. There were warriors, paladins and monks on quests, keeping themselves and the orcs busy by fighting one another. They didn't pay much attention to Maxie's group.

"So far, so good; just a little further," said Maxie.

They reached a secluded area off the pathway; halfway between the village well and disused well. Maxie used some magic to reveal a hidden well. They could hear howling, screaming, groaning and wailing coming from it.

"What's down there? It sounds scary," asked Nami.

"Never mind that; there isn't anything down there. The four ponds here have drainage areas that lead underground. That's what you're hearing," explained Maxie.

"We're not going down there, are we?" asked Rie.

"We must. Before we go down, I must appease the well with a sacrifice." Maxie pulled out a dead sparrow from a sack.

"I thought I heard something back here." Three orcs found them. An orcish champion, gladiator and warchief.

"Looks like we've got ourselves some action; I've got the champion," claimed Sailor Titan.

The warchief performed his battle dance while the other two orcs were fighting.

The champion howled while shoulder smashing Sailor Titan, knocking her back. She got up, running towards him, throwing punches. What few blows Sailor Titan landed hit hard. "You're pretty tough, but I love a challenge."

The warchief and gladiator used their aerial wheel attacks, temporarily stunning some of the sailor senshi. Only Sailor Ares, Io and Titan weren't stunned.

Omatase and Maxie were casting Waterga III on them.

Vasteel was looking for any opportunities to pilfer something from their pockets.

The warchief and gladiator fell with a final blow from Sailor Io's dancing chain lightning and Sailor Ares' fury flame pillars. "Good work, everyone," congratulated Maxie.

Sailor Titan was still fighting the orcish champion. The others wanted to help. "No, let her be. She can handle this," said Omatase.

Sailor Titan dislocated its jaw with her homerun punch attack, followed by a roundhouse kick to the gut. It stumbled backwards into the well.

"I guess I don't need this sparrow anymore." Maxie threw it on the ground.

Utaroh was tying something around her waist.

"What is that?" asked Rie.

"It's a little souvenir I got from the orc." It was bloody orc's hide she tore off one of them.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Mia.

"I beat the champion, so now I wear the champion's belt. It's a wrestling thing," explained Utaroh.

"That's so gross. Stay away from we with that thing or else I'll hurl," said Nami.

"You brute types are hard to understand," said Maxie.

"I think it's cool. I'll get rid of it if it bothers you that much." She took it off and tossed it on the ground at everyone's request.

"Time to head down the well," ordered Maxie.

"Isn't it a far drop?" worried Kousagi.

"Yes, it is. But don't worry about that. I'll cast a slow falling spell on everyone first." They made their descent down the well, with the sounds from below getting louder until they reached the bottom.

They traveled south until reaching a dead end. "Where are we? I can't see anything," said Kousagi.

Maxie cast a light spell, revealing a giant switch on the wall. Maxie jumped up on the lever, pulling down on it with his body weight. The lever wouldn't budge. "I need some help here, guys."

Vasteel and Omatase pulled on the lever with him, but it still wouldn't budge.

"Step aside. I'll handle this." They moved aside for Utaroh. She pulled the lever into place. "There you go; nothing to it."

Maxie used a float spell, carrying everyone out of the well.

"What did that lever do?" asked Nami.

"It caused an invisible stream of energy to gush out the well. You can only see it when a certain kind of true seeing spell is cast. Here, let me show you." Maxie cast the true seeing spell on everyone, allowing them to see the faint stream of energy.

It went into the sky, bending westward. It was moving slightly southward while they were watching it. "What's it doing?" asked Tokamo.

"It's following a moving target. But it's not very accurate by itself. It can only track an object's east or west coordinates. We need to know its north or south coordinates as well as height or depth." Maxie warped everyone to their next destination.

They arrived at the Pashhow Marshlands, just north of the hexmarsh. They headed towards Beadeaux.

Nami and Mia screamed. Everyone looked back at them. They were sinking down into a black spot on the ground. They tried pulling them out. A sailor senshi appeared, blasting them back.

Nami and Mia sunk into the spot; disappearing along with the spot and sailor senshi who kidnapped them. "Who was that?" asked Kousagi.

"I didn't get a good look at her, but I'm sure it was someone from the council," replied Maxie.

"We need to save them," said Kousagi.

"There's no telling where they are. There's no way to follow them. We can start looking for them after we've found the rest of the senshi," replied Maxie.

"I'm afraid he's right. There's nothing we can do right now," agreed Omatase.

"I don't believe this. They were taken so quickly. Right underneath our noses," said Tokamo.

"If I had more time, I would've pounded that sailor senshi abductor into the ground," said Utaroh.

"They must be desperate by separating us like that. We've got to keep a better eye on everyone from now on," said Omatase.

"Agreed," said Maxie.

Shortly upon entering Beadeaux, they were stopped by an Iron Quadav. "What are you all doing here? You look familiar."

"We're no one. No one at all; just passing through," explained Maxie.

"Wait a minute; aren't you guys those sailor senshi the council's looking for?"

Sailor Titan punched the quadav in the gut. It knocked the breath out it, and hurt her hand. "Ouch! That's smarts."

Sailor Io used her dancing electric attack while Omatase and Maxie were casting thundaga on the quadav. After killing it, they looked around to see if anyone saw what happened.

"Why doesn't everyone recognize us? The orcs in Davoi didn't," noticed Tokamo.

"A lot of these beast men stick to their territories with little access to the outside world. There are still many places which don't give heed or hear what goes on outside their homelands," explained Omatase.

"Let's just hope no one else recognizes us here," said Rie.

They went north east, where they found a small group of Quadav blocking their way. "What's going on here?" asked Omatase.

"I don't know, I'll ask," replied Maxie. He inquired about what they were doing.

"We decided to start mining here like we have in Palborough. We stumbled upon a hidden alcove. We hoped to find treasure, but instead all we found was some giant stone block."

"This isn't good. They've inadvertently found the cornerstone which I need to activate," said Maxie, returning to his group.

"There aren't very many of them. We should be able to take them on," said Vasteel.

"Even if we do that, we'll have to hide the cornerstone in a new place so it won't be tampered with," replied Maxie.

"Hi Maxie." A female samurai elf and a male dark knight elf approached them.

"Maybel? Is that you?"

"See honey? I told you it was him," said Maybel.

"What are you two love birds up to?"

"Having a romantic walk in the marshlands," replied Maybel.

Maxie laughed. "You two were always strange that way. Dark and mysterious," said Maxie.

"You can't blame us. It's where we first met," said Rykel.

Rykel and Maybel recognized the sailor senshi. "I guess we don't have to ask what you're in the middle of doing. How's your mission coming along?" asked Rykel.

Maxie explained to them the current situation they were in.

Rykel and Maybel offered to help them fight the Quadav and hide the corner stone in a new location.

"Their bodies are too tough to attack with my fists," said Utaroh.

"My dark blade can pierce through their hides easy enough," said Rykel.

"Let's do it, then," said Maxie.

After killing the Quadav, Maxie immediately ran over to the cornerstone, examining it. "Good news! It seems to be unscathed."

Maxie chanted and cast some strange colored salts on the cornerstone. The cornerstone started to glow, revealing an unfamiliar glyph along its surface. The second stream of invisible energy was activated.

Maybel was busy disposing of the quadav bodies, while Rykel was looking for a new location for the cornerstone.

They thanked them for their help.

"We'll find a suitable hiding place for the cornerstone. You've got nothing to worry about," assured Rykel.

"I know. Good luck," said Maxie. He warped everyone to their next destination.

..to be continued..