Raleigh, finishing with his 'briefing' of the Ul-Mor on proper Everflame use, heads back to the explorer.
Knowing that the Explorer would need a good cleaning soon but not having time now, he did decide to check
the power cells to see how much juice the old gal had.  Satisfied with that, he climbs behind the wheel of the
rig and fires up the engine, waiting for the signal to go.
    Just as soon as everyone is on board Brenon will give the order to move out. Brenon gives Raliegh the order to plow through the desert, instead of the shard lands as this is the quickest path to their destination; the forest.
"Well, that was pretty damned awkward.....LStayric, are there any other customs we should be aware of so as not to have a repeat scenario?"
    LStaric shakes his head. "Li-Ame the Green is just a very proud and brash leader. He expects respect."
    The Explorer turns Northward and bids a last farewell to the Ul-Mor.
    On the journey, Kah'liss examines the new Vrusk for any medical needs as they pack up to depart.  He remains quiet except for his casual questions to determine the health statistics of the new arrival.
    The Explorer heads off in a North Easterly direction as indicated by the
Ul-Mor, turning due north after 40 or so kilometers (maps to follow soon).
The shard plains come into view as you head northeast. To the west you can
see what seems an endless field of strange-looking grass. Rising up to 3
meters high, you appreciate the fact that you have the Explorer. It would
take a lot of hacking with machetes to get through that dense weed. But the
Ul-Mor did mention something about finding a 'Roller path' in there, so
perhaps once inside the thick plains there were areas that were thinned
out...
    The forest comes into view soon, a looming dark shadow on the horizon.
Raleigh steps on the accelerator, ready for some kind of green terrain,
anything but this desert they've been in almost a month now.
    The forest draws a very discernable line in the sand, marking the
boundry from the desert to the Forest. At last you can see before you the
dense forest spoken of by the Ul-Mor as home of the Kurabanda. The trees are
huge, often 50 meters tall. The trees have broad, flat limbs from which
sprout tendrils and smaller roots that anchor the trees to the ground far
below. At ground level the roots and tendrils of the trees are so tangled
together that it is impossible to pass between the trees. Raleigh edges the
Explorer in as deeply as he can, but only passes a few rows of trees before
surrendering to the twisted floor before him.
    "We're not making it any further than this," Raleigh announces, looking
around for a path the Explorer could take, but finding none. "These roots
prevent anything from passing below."
    Everyone glances up, noting the hanging vines and thick branches of the
trees. It was easy to understand how these 'Kurabanda' were 'tree-dwelling'.
Nothing could travel on the floor. With a resigned sigh, you understand in
order to traverse the forest, you'll need to surrender the ground and become
tree dwelling yourself.
    As you exit the Explorer and look around you, trying to form a better
picture of this place, you smile as the shade of the huge trees drop the
temperature at least 20 degrees. A soft wind is blowing, and you thank
(enter diety here) that you're out of the desert.
    Breaking the silence is a blast. A blast? Yes, that definately was laser
fire. The thick foilage of the trees hampers your view a bit, but it sounded
about 50 meters away, to the north and deeper into the woods. Several other
blasts follow. You can hear the battle cries of men and shrieks of some
creature. Within moments, the area ahead is abuzz with battle.
    Upon hearing the sounds of the battle, Brenon turns to the group....,
"Perhaps our pirate friends are trying to round up some more slave
labor....? Let's put a stop to it. We'll go in, using a Wedge Formation.
Zhirrzh, you're point, I want Raliegh 5 meters behind you. Telgar, you'll
take the Left Flank with LStayric staying about 3 meters back. Kah'liss and
myself will take the Right flank; with Kah'liss keeping a 3 meter gap
behind me... Zhirrzh will be the apex of the wedge with the Flanks keeping
a distance of 8 meters to the side and 5 meters back.
    Upon hearing the ensuing battle, Telgar quickly grabs some additional items. He stuffs a compass into his vest pocket, grabs a doze grenade and a smoke grenade and attches them to his vest (I'm assuming there is a provision for that?), sticks a gas mask in his backpack along with a couple food and water rations, puts a machete through his belt, and grabs up a Triax Rifle and an extra rifle clip.  As he looks to Brenon for the order, he sets the Rifle to single shot mode and checks the display to ensure it is ready to go.
    Zhirrzh nods and kicks his boots off. The thought of feeling the branches between his toes gives the Yazirian a feeling of elation. He hurriedly grabs his equipment and arranges it to leave his arms free. He looks up, finds the lowest limb, and jumps into the tree, pulling himself up 20m above the ground. He looks down to confirm that everyone is ready to go, then begins moving as quickly as the rest of the team can keep up with him.
    Raleigh, at hearing the sounds of battle, scurries
through his gear, grabbing what he feels he may need.
  -2 Tangler Grenades
  -Gyrojet pistol w/ 6 clips
  -5.56mm AR w/ 5 clips
  -Needler rifle w/ 3 clips
  -standard gear(rope, techkit, solvaway, etc)
    Moving to his place behind Brennon, he slaps a fresh
clip of doze needles into the needler and waits for
the go code. "Maybe I should have joined the military with my brothers," he mutters to no one in particular. "I
would have seen less combat that way!"
    Kahliss grabs his med-kit and a las-rifle and quickly scatters to his assigned position. Both of his knives are still strapped to their correct position, something he hasn't changed in his morning routine, especially with recent events.  He only has the one magazine for the rifle, but then .. he rarely shot anything anyways...
 
The group heads off and enters the battlefield:
FIGHT IN THE FOREST MAP

    Telgar scans the area and spots the enemy (I'm assuming I can see those in 11-16?) attacking the Kurabanda.  Quickly, he turns towards Brenon and signals with hand motions that he is going to hop on over to the location of the Kurabanda (P10 via the medium tree Q 12-14) and engage the enemy (50P2).
    Assessing the situation, Brenon agrees with Telgar, 'reinforce the
Karabanda'. Though, the plans in Brenon's eyes have changed due to his
estimate of the pirate force, based on the noise and pirates he could see
he suspected they might be out numbered..but they had the element of
surprise...hopefully.
Brenon pipes up on his comm, addressing the whole group; "Change of
plans...Telgar, take Raliegh & LStyaric to the tree you pointed out and
reinforce the Karabunda's forces, Zhirrzh...I want you to activate your
camo screen and play wildcard, you'll come around the enemy and find a nice
position at their rear flank pounding them from behind with the needler...
Kah'liss and myself will sneak along the tree to about there(Brenon points
to O15 & O16 at 30 meters up) where I will assume a sniper role...and
Kah'liss will provides some distractionary fire....Telgar, just make sure
your group presents itself as an ally, we don't want the Karabanda thinking
they've just been flanked by the enemy and take their aggressions out on
us.....Zhirrzh, keep in constant communique so I know your whereabouts and
can give further instruction...move fast, I'll want you somewhere near
there(Points at H14) before you engage the enemy, stay as undetected as
possible, of course you can fire if fired at...but I want you as a total
surprise....MOVE!!!'
    Kahliss sighs and lifts the laser.  Well ... perhaps this was his chance
to redeem himself.  Distracting fire .. gee .. that sounds fun ... shoot at
me!  Shoot at me! Why did he have a bad feeling about this....
    But .. he trusted Brenon and for that reason, he was willing to follow
him anywhere...
    Raleigh grabbed his needler and, for the hundreth
time, checked to make sure the clip was loaded.
Nodding to Telgar that he was ready to follow, he
noticed the worried look of Kahliss.
    Patting the Vrusk on the shoulder he gave him a
friendly wink. Dont worry buddy, Im close by if you
run into trouble. Just dont try and be a hero.With that, Raleigh heads off behind Telgar. Staying
low and using the trees for as much cover and concealment as possible.
         Telgar leads the way towards their destination, dashing between the places that provide some sort of cover from being seen.  He uses hand signals during the whole trip over to help them not be discovered.
     The group dispersed, off to their particular positions in hopes of killing
baddies. Brenon has a second thought as to Zhirrzh's job and speaks to him
via communique. "Leader to Wildcard. I want you to only bag one, then
eliminate the rest....you may proceed to bag once Charlie is a much smaller
number...copy?"
    Zhirrzh is moving the instant Brenon points out his assigned position. Flicking his camo screen on, Zhirrzh jumps to the medium height tree and moves as quickly as he can toward his destination. In transit, he gets a brief communiqué from Brenon.
    "Understood," Zhirrzh confirms as he speeds on. Reaching his position, Zhirrzh unslings his rifle and begins firing on the enemy.