The flapping of wings starts to get faster, Ariara starting to lose altitude as she doesn't feel so good somewhy, even if she didn't get hit... What was going on? From the back of her hearing she heard the swoosh of one of Fimo's javelins, really confused she tries to turn to fly on the spot, but her wings fail her, her yelping as she struggles to make a moderate landing, nevertheless landing on the edge of the forest, a mountainside stretching out before Fimo and Ariara, the former of which immediately jumps off of the Harpy, preparing for a fight as he hops before Ariara, facing what seems to be a big black spider, differently colored marks on it's back where silk is made.

Ariara feels woozy, unbeknown to her a purple blush on her face, but not because of normal reasons. With a fast status check, she notices something weird, under her name a status condition: Mana Poisoning (LVL 3). Sure enough, her mana pool is almost non-existent right now, her wondering how much this spider has been leeching off on her.

There is a moment of silence before the spider moves up one of its limbs, red string shooting out of its pointy end for some reason, Fimo getting caught by surprise at this particular way of shooting string, one of the bunny's legs getting touched, the string immediately sticking to the bunny paw, pulling on it the Bunny falls on his back, if it'd have been his front leg he might've stood a chance but with his foot caught up he's defenseless on his back, trying to use his horn to reach the leg and cut it, not however finding the reach he was hoping for.

A loud snap announces the string giving in, all three looking confused at the wooden spear with a sharpened rock at its front end, having just passed right before the spider to break the string. Looking in the direction three figures stand there, one being a bit bigger than the other. It's three kobolds, creatures of fantasy, some would call them lower dragons. They all have red scaley skin and are wearing bare scraps of leather armor, each wielding a spear and a change on their back, although one missing the one on its back, having just thrown one.

The Spider looks around, clearly outnumbered. Without wanting to chance its odds with three more unknown foes, it moves two of its limbs forward, spewing on the ground something before turning its back on the enemies. One of the Kobolds charges forward, the one that threw the spear beforehand, but when reaching the certain line ground bulges out of the surface, it getting caught by surprise and thrown in the air by this trap.

'Not the smartest it seems...' Ariara comments, seeing as how it was really easy to understand that was a trap, and even so the Kobold charged forward. Shaking her head at the thought she tries to get up, still a bit woozy. It's still too early for her, the lack of mana clearly having a toll on her as she almost falls over, Fimo helping her to sit down as she sighs, turning to the Kobolds that saved the two.

The Kobolds seem to be conversing, having closed in a circle to whisper between themselves. Despite her being able to hear the louder amongst the whispers she still doesn't understand their words, with a sigh scratching off Kobolds from her mental list of monsters she could possibly be friends with. Not sharing language is definitely a setback, especially if the creatures are as dumb as these three are... Well, Ariara is grateful for their help nonetheless.

With this decision in mind, the harpy checks her sheet while awaiting the Kobold's "secret meeting" to come to an end.

Ariara the Harpy

Condition: Minor Mana Poisoning (LVL 3)

Level 11 (125/135 EXP)

55/63 Hp

0/80 Mana

Skills

Bird of Many Feathers (LVL 3) - Colorful Harpy (LVL 2) - Fire Starter (LVL 2) - Self Pluck (LVL 3) - Flight (LVL 3) - Harpy Eye (LVL 2) - Grass Blade (LVL 2) - Chlorophyll (LVL 5) - Natural Mana Hijack (LVL 1) - Heat Mitigator (LVL Max) - Icy Protection (LVL 1) - Healthy Omnivore (LVL 2) - Intimidate (LVL 1) - Frost Breath (LVL 2) - Minor Light Spit (LVL 1) - Minor Corrosive Light (LVL 1) - Dig (LVL 1) - Cook Apprentice (LVL 2)

Titles

General of Warfare - Traveler of Worlds - Reincarnated One - High Ranker - Opportunist - Skill Holder Apprentice - Minor Nature Affinity - Minor Cold Affinity - Leader of Trouble - Survivor of the Light Ant Stampede

Ariara gulps, seeing that terrifying zero in her sheet. Despite her increase in Chlorophyll and some other skills, she's still unsatisfied with the skills she has as of now. She doesn't have any passive skill to regenerate mana, meaning most of her abilities are locked behind waiting for mana to regenerate.

As she closes the sheet she notices the Kobolds having finished, chanting something before all sheathing their weapons behind their backs, one of them having to take extra steps for that considering the second spear has been thrown. After doing that they each pick up from a nearby bush what seems to be water buckets, two each, despite the Kobolds being around half of Ariara's size they definitely seem industrious, each carrying two spears bigger than them, light armor, AND two buckets filled with water.

The one Ariara guesses to be the leader since it took initiative makes a weird noise looking at Ariara, her tilting her head at this in confusion prompts the bunny to move under her right-wing, the one not hurt, and pushing it up, the Harpy getting the hint and getting up. With no way to take off considering her probability of flying without Flight skill being non-existent, she starts following the walking Kobolds, seeing them put a lot of effort into carrying all their items on the way.

Following the Kobolds around the five soon arrive to what seems to be a wall of wood spikes, a pretty tall one to say the least. All three kobolds put the buckets on the ground, drawing a spear each and moving to the gate, every kobold inserting their spear in a hole of the gate, fitting exactly a gap. With all three inside the gate starts to open with a mechanism, Ariara humming, she thought these guys weren't smart, but this is an advanced mechanism, and it takes three kobolds to do it, making cooperation important...

The three then retract the spears and put smile at each other, moving to regain the buckets and waiting for Ariara and Fimo to head in first, the gate closing automatically once all three pass. Inside Ariara notices a very important detail; apart from the lush forest that's anywhere as far as she's seen there's also snow, but most importantly a huge entrance to a very wide tunnel, many things moving in the darkness, or rather, Kobolds.

Following the three underneath it takes a bit for Ariara's eyes to adjust, although she can see the kobolds moving it's hard to see where she's going, her relying on following their steps instead of moving on her own, albeit it is difficult for a Harpy twice the size of an average kobold.

Looking around she can notice Kobolds really come in all varieties of colors, moving all over the spectrum of colors, even seeing some white ones. After a bit the group reaches what seems to be a specific one of the many side corridors in this dark cavern, not even torches lighting this place up. Peeking inside the three kobold takes turn depositing their bucket, Ariara gasping at the sight. Hundreds of buckets filled with water each almost decorating the room, after depositing their share the three look to each other and give a synchronized nod, the leader stepping up to the two while the others put their spears against the wall and pick back up the buckets, heading in another direction, two different kobolds as if like a hivemind picking up the spears and heading towards the exit.

The Kobold, still having the two spears, leads the Harpy and Bunny towards a smaller entrance, a small wooden door making the difference between the outside and inside. With a few knocks from the scaley creature, a male voice calls out from inside, saying more of those unknown words to the Kobold which goes ahead and opens the door. The bunny easily hops inside, the Harpy huffing slightly to herself and crouching, fitting inside by really little.

Once inside the room is more open than the entrance, inside there being a Kobold of blue color, clearly at an old age considering its statue amongst Kobolds... If kobolds can be called old, considering their lifespan in most forms of media these days.

The old Kobold coughs, getting out of some wardrobes what appear to be the clothes of a sage, long and white. Putting them on its clear they're not this person's, dragging on the floor when put on. Despite this the kobold seems happy to be wearing them, moving towards the two newcomers and stretching its hands out. "Greetings... Let me guess, Harpy Hero?" The Sage Kobold surprisingly speaks out, getting the shocked expression from Ariara, Fimo only tilting his head. "I'm glad you've come, whatever the circumstances. The dragon situation is... Dire."