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nLaurence in turn gave Elise a nod. Everyone but the party and the tamers had long left the dining table so this conversation had been safely done in private. It wasn't that the tamers didn't trust the party's family but the less who heard the details the safer. There was no telling what could happen.

n

" I'm after an avian monster specifically one that has an ability to hide in the shadows. So having someone that can sense darkness element mana would give us a way to keep the parents distracted. The monster's species is cursed crow, it can fly in the sky but also fly through the shadows. That means it can attack from your shadow or above you making it a tough enemy. The reason it's known as the cursed crow is that it can used shadows to stop its prey in its place after it lands its first attack. The reason I'm after this is for that skill in particular. Immobilizing an opponent could make me a highly important member of the tamers guild. It becomes fairly aggressive when it nests and often lays twenty or so eggs. It shouldn't matter if I take one since when they hatch they fight each other to leave the nest and hide in the shadows until they hit a growth spurt. Out of twenty usually only two or three survive, which makes them very rare especially for a tamer to have.

" This was the most serious Elise had been since they met her. It Only went to show just how much she wanted to find one of these birds. She sought it out to properly establish herself in the guild. If she could go with others to help tame beasts and restrain the respective beasts or parents she could make the experience much safer.

n

"Do they often live in groups or singular?

" Su wanted to know is she would be useless against a flock of these crows or if she could manage to protect everyone from one.

n

"From the documents, we studied they travel in flocks but nest in pairs. After the eggs are laid the male leaves to find another female and the female remains. The problem will lie in its ability to attack from the shadows and stop us from moving.

" If avoiding attacks was the best strategy Walker's new skill should help greatly. One thing that he wondered was if the cursed crows attack needed to cause damage to someone to stop their movements and if they could deflect its attacks.

n

"How many targets can the cursed crow hold in place with its skill to use shadows? Can it's attacks be deflected?

" Walker needed to build a strategy in this answer.

nThis time Laurence spoke up,

"the tamers that first spotted it saw three orcs trapped by shadow chains so we know it can bind three. Is needs to cause physical harm to place the curse, so using a shield to block will be no problem.

" Su let out a sigh hearing this. She did fear as the slowest member of the party she would hold them all back.

n

" if the mother is harmed what are the odds of the eggs hatching safely?

" Gil was worried that if he fired an arrow at the cursed crow mother he could damage her wings making her incapable of flight. In turn she wouldn't be able to defend the rest of the eggs from predators.

nElise had expected this question, ever since hearing that they had the hero title she knew that convincing them to help couldn't cause more harm than good. If she told a lie or was trying to do something that would be worse off for the cursed crow eggs remaining she could kiss the parties aid goodbye.

"The area that the cursed crows make their nests is well chosen. They migrate more northern to this area because their natural predators do not live in the area. The eggs also when hatched don't rely in their mother for food and instead hunt from the shadows out of instinct. I would prefer to leave the mother unharmed if possible but if the worst happens I hope we can rely on walker to heal her.

" They were impressed by her forethought at this place, even Laurence didn't realize she saw the potential for walker to heal the cursed crow immediately.

n

" Hmm just in case I think it will be best if Gil does scouting and avoids firing arrows directly. If things get dangerous though all bets all be off.

" This was understandable, and the party leader walker wasn't going to completely deny Gil the ability to properly use his skills in a dangerous situation.

nWalker also wasn't comfortable with the area,

"how many times have the three of you traveled the area we are going through?

" Making sure they had a proper guide could definitely make it an easy journey or one fraught with hardship.

nThis was another expected question

" I've personally traveled the routes we will be taking eight times back and forth. Elise had twice, and this is Riley's first. I'm comfortable in the area since it was one of the first I traveled upon joining the guild.

" This was comforting for everyone in the party who was going to the area for the first time. As such they weren't familiar with the terrain nor were they familiar with the monsters that roamed. On top of all this, it was icy and snowy which brought out other monsters not always in the area.

n

" honestly I think we will be plenty prepared for everything, over the next day or so you can give us a rundown on the monsters in the area. We will prepare our warm clothing along with thicker tents to bring. I know Su headed to the forge to drop her armor off to be lightened so we will pick that up as well. We will also have some more time to train and adjust to each others fighting style. I'm sure midnight is anxious to burn some energy after resting so long.

" Walker knew Stella would be challenged to fight next to midnight but at his words she didn't even flinch. Had she gotten used to midnight some how?

n

"Well everything sounds like it's in order, since it's gotten so late why don't we call it a day and get some rest ourselves. We can be up early to train a bit more.

" Riley nodded at this knowing his demon boars would be ready to run wild again after a nights rest. Laurence was also excited to see how midnight would fight he just hoped she wouldn't try and eat any of the demon boars. He did know they were often prey for larger more dangerous monsters.

nThey all headed towards their rooms, normally midnight would head to the spot by the kitchen to sleep by the warm oven. Instead she was following Walker. Through their bond he could tell she was uneasy. This was most likely because she thought she would end up stuck in the dark place again trapped by skeletal things without the ability to escape.

nWalker turned and looked at her, she feared he would tell her to go to her own bed.

"Well you're coming to my room right? Let's go grab some extra blankets.

" Midnight added an extra pep to her step. They grabbed the extra blankets from the hall closet and made their way to Walker's room.

nOnyx curled up next to midnight instead of turning in to his tattoo form, even he could feel some of what midnight was feeling. With a spot made up for midnight and Walker in bed the three drifted off to sleep. The training of the day had tired walker out much more than he expected.

nThe night passed by safely, no dreams were had involving bones or darkness at all. It could even be said that they all slept better than they had before.

nOnyx was the first to wake as the sun pushed away the night. He started to shift and absorb some of the light. His movements caused midnight to awaken who soon was nuzzling Walker to get up too. She knew he had some stored monster's bodies for her to eat and she was eager to dig in to more of the jade locust since she had enjoyed per of it previously.

nWalker himself couldn't say he was unhappy being woken up for food, his stomach told him he needed to head to the kitchen himself. Heading down to the kitchen he greeted Hilda and was roped in to making breakfast for everyone. He even managed to see Garret Before he headed off to work. He found Remey and surprisingly Elise already awake in the dining hall.

n

"Good morning, I have egg sandwiches!

" Remey and Elise looked as if walker had just handed each of them a bar of gold. The two must have been up chatting for a while. Seeing as they had more training to do for the day they would all need some energy to start off on the right foot.

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