Just like that, they were off on their journey to White Castle. It has been a fun few months travelling with Ian, not without their fair share of frustration, but it paid out in the end and it was indeed fun for the usually reclusive Dayyan to have embarked on this mission with his previous teacher.<br/><br/>Everyone settled in for the ride as the students chattered amongst themselves and mingled. He spotted Annie atop her horse conversing with Atrea and Ian while Valentine was busy chatting with Mystera, who felt out of her element but her effort to try and converse with him put a smile on his face. He wondered at times if the blush he could see was the result of Valentine or him, he did not know what to make of it if it was him. Time passed and days crept by as they kept marching onwards through the winding forest paths, utterly disused and abandoned, at times the forest like it watched them from beyond the tree line and he could not help but have an uneasy feeling of being followed or watched. At first he attributed it to Mystera's ghost partner but no, this was malicious and made the hair stand on his neck every time the feeling passed through him.<br/><br/>Other than that, the few days passing so far were without incident. The students continued to bond, Dayyan helped Ian and the guards with the watch and a sundry of other things as well, pitching in where he could be of use and so on and so forth, taking the flak from Ian over Mystera's apparent closeness to him but he promptly dismissed such observations as nothing but coincidence. Ian was playful in his teasing but Dayyan would not bite the bait and only kept answering that he was just interested in her condition.<br/><br/>On the third day, a snow storm blew in rapidly and suddenly, rendering vision near nonexistent and the biting cold grew to an intensely frigid degree. They tried to maintain the pace for the first hour but soon enough that became futile as the winds picked up to a howling intensity, forcing them into a snails pace as everyone wrapped around themselves tightly and used their magic to try and stave off the frigidity of this unforgiving clime. They trudged onwards in hopes of finding some kind of shelter to wait out the blizzard. An unfortunate delay but it is what it is, they had to survive if they want to report their mission a success and so for the next few hours they crept onwards until blessedly, they found a clearing along a fork in the road. Ian called for a stop here and they quickly set to task, pitching the tents and building a more robust form of shelter using the wagons as a buffer against the wind and cold. It was harrowing but this clearing was a welcome respite from the storm and the students welcomed it wholeheartedly as they crashed into their respective tents forgoing dinner for warmth and rest.<br/><br/>Dayyan and Ian helped the guards with the final setups before he retired for the night, having picked to take the watch right after Ian's shift. Time passed and after a while, the wind has finally abated and calmed down a bit, but it was still terribly cold and frosty. Something is better than nothing, he thought.<br/><br/>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>A few hours in his sleep, he was woken by a sudden scream, his teacher. He sat up and listened again, perhaps mishearing something but he noticed urgency in that scream and only when Ian repeated it a second time did Dayyan react instantly and shook the vestiges of sleep off his mind. He walked out of the tent and watched just as Ian began to charge the enemies, goblins, now that Dayyan took the moment to understand what's happening. The students were rousing from their sleep and he saw that Ian was effective in his charge but there were so many goblins, a good force of them broke off and made their way towards him, and the camp behind him.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(235, 107, 86)">"Guard the students and stay put!" </span>He ordered the guards beside him as he walked out in front, magic firing up at the ready as he wrapped his body in enhancing power. Skin toughened to steel and muscles bunched with potential energy ready to release at a moment's notice. He brandished his longsword,<div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
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</div>an exquisite weapon of blackened metal with a purple magic core that enables him to use it for spell casting as well. He saw the goblins approach, a varied bunch in various tribal attire and using crude weapons of wood, stone, and bone, mostly clubs and sharpened bone knives and swords. Their chief was surprisingly larger than Dayyan, for a hobgoblin that is. A species known to be closer to humans in height but still shorter than them, this one was an extreme exception it seemed. It regarded Dayyan with cunning eyes and barked orders at his small cohorts, no doubt to attack as he saw the goblins rush at him.<br/><br/>He saw a few archers behind and he saw them nock a few arrows and he was about to use his inertia skills to halt them at bay but something whipped past him from behind and suddenly the dirt in front of one of the archers just exploded. He smiled, thanking the goblin girl silently as he felt relieved to be able to focus on the enemy in front of him.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(235, 107, 86)">"Keep up the pace!"</span>He called out to her.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(235, 107, 86)">"Just try and take out their archers! Keep them busy"</span>He gave her her task as he gripped his sword tight and whipped out in a slash, parting the first goblin's head off it's neck before bringing his sword down in a return swing and decapitating another. Blood sprayed and goblins cried out in fear and shock as they backed up a few steps.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(235, 107, 86)"><i>Yeah that's right, picked the wrong enemy to raid.</i></span><br/><br/>The chieftain stomped his foot down and forced the rest of his goblins to attack Dayyan and they did after some coaxing while any archer that tried to sneak in an arrow was promptly taken down by their own crackshot goblin. The goblins charge in one wave and threw themselves at Dayyan but he was unfazed. He did not need to dodge their weapons but he still dodged and weaved through them, generous with his counter strikes as he felled the first two goblins with his superior speed and agility. In a moment of sudden intelligence, they forged onwards and ignored Dayyan, opting to attack the guards and students behind him with the remaining force that they had. He trust the guards and the students would be able to handle the rest of them. Goblins are only ever a threat in really big numbers and when one is alone facing them.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(235, 107, 86)">"Your turn, big boy." </span>He taunted the chieftain, who roared at him and smacked his great club against the ground to answer the challenge. He lumbered towards Dayyan and swung his club with great force in a horizontal slash but Dayyan ducked under it and charged inside the chieftain's space and sent him flying back a few feet with a strong kick to the torso. The chieftain sat up from his stumble, confused and dazed.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(235, 107, 86)">"Didn't expect that one did you now?" </span><br/><br/>The chieftain shook his head and snorted in fury as he stood up and once again rushed at Dayyan, this time swinging in multiple directions but to his surprise, Dayyan was meeting him blow for blow instead of dodging such hefty strong swings. In the hobgoblin's brain, he could not comprehend how such a puny human could muster that much strength against him. After a few exchanges, the monster grew winded with exertion and faltered in his assault.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(235, 107, 86)">"My turn."</span>Dayyan declared as he noticed the flagging attacks. His sword was razor sharp but he always enhanced it with magic as well to be sharper and heftier than it normally is and with his first counterattack, he deflected the incoming blow and in an instant, riposted with a swift slash that cut through meat and bone alike and severed the monster's arm at the elbow. Blood gushed and the monster cried out in pain and shock, stumbling back a few steps but Dayyan did not relent as he lunged forwards and stabbed the hobgoblin chieftain straight through the heart, pushing his body to collapse on his back with a heavy thud as Dayyan followed through.<br/><br/>Exhaling heavily, Dayyan stood up and pulled his blade out, whipping the blood away before sheathing it back. The archer goblins were still alive. Two were dead and a few others sported injuries but were still taking cover behind the trees and a few large rocks. Further away Ian was finishing off the remnants of the goblin ambush,  he turned towards the gathered students and guards to see how they're faring.