Authryn quickly took charge of the matter just as Triarc expected him to, giving the lingering strength of the Rangers an objective to head for which will boost their morale and give them something to look toward, which they desperately need right now to keep from letting the loss hit them any harder than it already is. Although he agrees that it is a good idea to find the cave designated as their safe zone, Triarc still thinks that there needs to be some sort of haste as far as going into towns and getting any sort of information on what is transpiring. Who knows how many portals have been opened up and if Ithilnaur is right and this attack was as well orchestrated as it seems to have been then there could be spies all over the lands as well as other areas under attack that could use help.<span style="font-style: italic">But what help can we really provide now, as few as our numbers are?</span>"No," he shakes his head violently to get the thought of surrender out of his mind but as much as he tries to push it down the feeling keeps rising back up and threatens to consume him which was something he has not felt in a very long time. Sure, the Rangers were some of the most highly trained individuals in the world in regards to combat and survival tactics but to have their numbers brought down so low that they are on the brink of extinction is hard to come to terms with.<br/><br/>"No doubt the enemy forces are going to be looking for us," he addresses the group while watching those preparing to head toward the cave, "they wanted to kill all of us but as it stands our Grandmaster was able to outmaneuver their attack and gave his life to see that at least some of us made it out alive. That means that the Phoenix Guard will still defend these lands...as long as we are willing to defend it. As much as I would love to rest up and relax, we must move with some sort of urgency as we are still very much in the dark about this whole situation. Avoiding taverns to keep from spies makes sense, we should be sure to do that as a group but as soon as we are able to manage we should seek out and gather information from the neighboring lands; warn the kingdoms to prepare their armies for battle against the Ruinous Ones."<br/><br/>With that, Triarc raises his right fist and clenches it tightly as a sign of growing determination and checks his gear before moving on. Reaching up over his left shoulder he takes off the leather scabbard that is meant for his great sword, Eulid, and tosses it onto the ground accompanied by a soft sigh as he watches it kick up a small cloud of dirt, "I won't be needing that anymore."  He then checks the two slots on his belt where he normally keeps his daggers to find only one of them in place, the shorter of the two, best suited as a throwing dagger or to be used to kill someone silently at very close range. The longer of the daggers, as he remembers, has been left lodged inside the lung of an especially skillful orc who managed to disarm Eulid from Triarc in the middle of battle, a feat very few foes have been able to accomplish in real combat.<br/><br/>The orc was proving to be a menacing enemy as nearly a dozen Rangers, half of them still very young and green to combat, were slain single-handedly by this single threat, some of them going down two at a time. He had just decapitated his last young Ranger when he caught Triarc pushing back a small group of 4 orcs with relative ease. Having boosted its sense of spirit with the Rangers already slain from his hands, the orc decided to charge in on preoccupied warrior and claim yet another victim in this battle. He was too slow, however, as Triarc was able to slay his enemies before the superior orc was able to interfere, though that would not deter him from attempting to behead another member of the precious Phoenix Guard. With a fury fueled by blood lust and adrenaline, the orc attempted to get a quick finish with one heavy cleaving motion of his battle axe to take out the Ranger right at the neck while he is distracted, only to have his attack miss as Triarc ducked under the massive chunk of sharpened steel just in  the nick of time. Before Triarc could follow up with an attack of his own, the orc proved why he was so menacing on the battle by showcasing the strength of his arm, quickly bringing the giant blade across yet again for a follow up attack that would normally be too slow and clumsy of a move to make as it forces the holder of the axe to break off the momentum of the first horizontal swipe and bring the arm back for a 2nd horizontal swipe, a move that requires not only a lot of strength to perform but also quick reflexes, precision movement...and just a tad bit of luck, which the orc did not seem to possess any more of. He reached back with the 2nd strike but Triarc was anticipating the 2nd move and used his sword to block it which gets knocked from his hands due to the sheer force of the strike which almost broke one of his wrists. Unfortunately for the orc, even though he was able to disarm Triarc, the purpose of the 2nd attack is to kill the opponent or else it leaves the entire body open for attack and having a living opponent standing directly in front of your exposed midsection never bodes well. Without hesitation, Triarc pulls the larger dagger from his belt and drives it into the body of the orc before he is able to come back across with another massive swing. The two of them fall to the ground and struggle for several seconds before the orc goes limp underneath the body of the Ranger who just manages to avoid getting his head smashed in by a war-hammer wielding orc. He quickly rolls out of the way and manages to roll right over his sword, picking it up in one smooth motion as he gets back to his feet, slays the orc with the war-hammer, and continues on with the battle, leaving the dagger stuck inside the body of the stronger orc.<br/><br/>"Well, this will just have to due for now...and I have the hidden one still," he places the smaller dagger back into its slot in the belt and then checks the location of his hidden dagger to be sure that it is in fact there, grunting with satisfaction because  it is. He gives the rest of his gear a quick look over to make sure everything is as it should be. Aside from some minor nicks and cuts as well as dinged up armor, everything else seems to be well enough. "So," he finally addresses the group again once he finishes everything, "about this cave."