Lucida: Could probably hack it with light magic - you won't be setting bones back in place, but you can keep yourself from bleeding all over the place.

You grab the book and slap it on your back, a white AM shell forming over it, attaching it to the armor.

Lucida: Now I guess we go check out Kyeltziv and the heartstone facility, and come back to a greeting from the Whitehawk?
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You activate one of your lamps, keeping it attached to your body. The light illuminates a large, serpentine shape ahead - some sort of lizard the size of a deer, its long body covered in lustrous black scales. The creature hisses at you, but doesn't immediately attack.
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Horoma: "I guess we're off then?"

It hisses at you again, this time louder. What a lovely conversationalist.
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Lucida: Let's get to getting there then. Unless if there's something else you wanna do? We might be out of the area for some time. Especially that heartstone place - I've a feeling that's gonna be a load of fun.

You back away into another part of the forest, the serpentine lizard watching you as you go.

Navigating the dark trees with your new light, it's easier to move around. After a bit of randomly walking around, you see something off to your side.

A pair of shining yellow eyes, a hulking shape resembling a massive wildcat, larger than three lupus. A pair of bone-wing-like shapes sprout from its back, and its tail features long pointed spines.

The mouth on the beast's lion-like head curls into a smile, revealing long, flesh-rending teeth.

You return the boards and furniture back to their original positions and head outside, dropping off your library book at Sanoa's desk before exiting the building. The blue mage is still there, waiting.

"Library book returned, our business here is done."

The blue mage gives you a nod.

Blue Mage: "Heading off now?"
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Running behind the closest tree, you plant a spear into the ground, hang your cloak (with attached lamp) to it, and climb up the tree as quickly and silently as you can.

You can hear the manticore pacing around, positioning itself so it has line of sight to the lamp. You can't see the glimmer of its eyes, so you assume it isn't looking at you.

Looks like your plan is working, so far.
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Your party heads to the nearby village. It's night, and there's hardly a soul outside. Strolling around the dark streets, you soon come across a small human girl and ask her if she knows anything about the buildings to the north.

Girl: "They're bad people. They take orphans and use them in some experiment. You should burn them down like Maria did."
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Tabi: "A bit, I guess. Sort of excited to see what's down there, what kinds of constructs they had in ancient times. Maybe it'll end up being primitive compared to today's constructs, but it'll still be a neat find, just not as useful.

What were you able to detect down there? I remember you said you sensed a network of mana or something, was there anything else?"