Jaune's shield absorbed the powerful punch Yang sent his way as his attacker was caught off guard as a blunted throwing knife caught her squarely in the forehead while at the same time Jaune felt his knees buckle as a pair of blunted knives connected against the back of his legs, the throws hadn't only been accurate they were powerful enough to cause the reaction the third combatant wanted.

His knee's no longer supporting his frame and coupled with his heavy armor he was dragged to the ground by gravity alone. With a groan, he rolled over and pushed himself to his feet and watched in envy as Neo and Yang moved around the clearing with a degree of grace and finesse he would never be able to match.

He also envied the use of the magical training weapons that Qrow had let them keep while they were split up. The majority of their training was done with the weapons that they were now able to modify, but they had also instructed them to do actual mock combat so they didn't get risky and overzealous because of the magical weapons.

As he regained his footing and collected his thoughts he turned to watch the two women battle it out trying to find a way back into the three way spar.

The women were not evenly matched and Jaune knew that Neo while being smaller and weaker, was far quicker and just generally more skilled than Yang.

Their fighting styles made them great partners though, both fought in close, Neo with dozen's of hidden blades, she was also quite adept at throwing them when the situation called for it and her accuracy was unparalleled. Yang fought with a set of modified Katar's. The flat triangular blade was on a small mechanical device with allowed the wielder control on whether the blade was shown of hidden deep inside the wrist guards.

Punch's and kick's flew from both combatants as Jaune having caught his breath moved to return to the spar when a familiar black bird descended from the canopy of trees and turned into his mentor.

The sight while still fascinating to watch didn't hold the same mystic as the first time he had witnessed it over a month ago when he came to check on them for the first time after sending them away so he could be alone with Blake and whatever training she was undergoing.

The fourth aspiring champion had yet to return to the group on any of the mentor's trips and Jaune wished he knew what was going on, and that wasn't entirely his libido talking either.

His mentor now fully human again looked once around the clearing and nodded, this simple action he had repeated every time he visited them, again an action he didn't understand but hoped that he would eventually.

The Scoundrel wasn't The Dragon Monk but he was his mentor and he had already learned a great deal from the man, even if he couldn't put a lot of it into practice yet.

"S..." 'Cough' "Qrow, how are things going with our fourth will she be joining us again soon."

"Nope."

"Aww look at the noble paladin, all sad that his favorite mount is still busy somewhere else." Yang walked up to the two men and much to Jaune's continued dismay made light of the knowledge that Blake's near nightly assaults back where they had been a single campsite weren't as quiet or secret as he thought they were.

"Yang apologize to the man."

Everyone froze, Qrow had been around for similar jokes in his other visits but had, for the most part, ignored the crude jokes that his niece made, yet this time he chose to intervene.

"Come on Qrow it's just some harmless fun, I'm trying to lighten to mood is all."

"Does the mood feel lighter?"

A quiet almost palpable unease swept through the clearing and the three aspiring champions could tell that something was wrong instantly.

Jaune stepped back a half step and dropped his training sword and with the same motion drew his actual blade and moved, slashing hard and fast at the figure in front of himself. The silver blade whistled harmlessly through empty air where his mentor had stood moments earlier.

Qrow's form vanished and a deep black miasma filled the entire clearing in moments, the air grew cold and damp, chilling the three to the bone in moments.

Jaune felt two figures bump into his back and knew that Neo, Yang and Himself stood in a tight circle facing outward, a small click told him that Yang deployed her blades and he simply assumed Neo had at least one of her dozens of hidden knives held and ready to use.

"Either of you know what type this is?"

A click came from Neo, it was her way of saying no when they couldn't look at her, it was a system in development but it was good enough for the current situation.

"I don't know the exact type but it has to be a human variant and it has some level of not just intelligence but magical ability, Use your powers heat and light up the area before we freeze."

"I can't" Jaune felt his hands begin to grow stiff as the heat bled away from them.

"It's canceling out your divine power's?"

"No, just Qrow told me not to use them."

"So you're going to let us freeze to death because of an order from someone whos not even here?" Yang wanted to turn and smack the paladin but didn't feel like exposing her back to the black freezing Miasma.

"He's your Uncle, give me a little insight then, is this a test or are we actually in trouble here?"

Yang paused for a second at the question from her teammate, Qrow was typically indirect with his behavior towards others but so far his lessons had been straightforward to the extreme, he set a goal and expected the goal to be completed before anything else was done. This attack didn't feel like the way her Uncle had been teaching them but it also conflicted with how she had been taught how the Black Legion operated. "This isn't Qrow, I don't know what this is but I think we are actually in trouble."

Jaune smiled. "Alright, you're taking the blame then if this is a test." Jaune reached forward and placed his free hand along the flat of his blade and whispered an off rehearsed prayer and his blade shimmered a bright white, with a single fluid motion he drove the blade into the ground consecrating the area around himself and his companions.

The black Miasma recoiled from the area immediately around the three and through the mist a dozen or more figures appeared, a mixture of beasts with two humanoid figures standing far at the back, red eyes glowing through narrow slits in their armor.

Qrow paused in his fishing for a moment, his senses, tuned into the surroundings noticed a faint ripple, the most minuet of changes, without a moment's hesitation the fishing rod and tackle box were left abandoned by the river as Qrow dashed along the well-worn trail back to the camp site.

Speed wasn't his forte, silence was, so when he entered the clearing at what others would think was a blistering speed he only cursed himself for being too slow, he drew his blade from behind his back and swept it in a powerful arc, a splash of black gore spilt onto the ground as his blade cleaved through a smiling Blake Belladonna who had been sitting on the forest floor meditating as she had almost every day for the past month.

With moments pause to collect the item his Blake had been focused of for over a month he snapped his head to the side and raced into the forest, his blade lashing out unexpectedly as he ran, any time he did so a corpse fell to the ground already forgotten by the champion as he carried himself further forward.

Qrow silently broke through the tree line into a spacious clearing his blade cleaving the head off of a stationary creature and his elbow connected with the neck of a second, a loud crunch signaling not only his arrival but also the death of the second creature.

As one the creatures in the clearing turned and regarded the intruder with glowing red eyes, Qrow had no time for the Black legion minions, they were about as bright as lemmings and he waded into them with a level of skill few could match, the thirty or so creatures in the clearing we cut down in moments, few even had the time to react as Qrow danced through them never wasting a sword stroke as he moved.

Pausing as the last body fell to the ground lifelessly he ran to a prone form on the ground at the far edge of the clearing and quickly rolled her over, Blakes was deathly cold to the touch but breath still escaped from her lips and her chest rose naturally, with a sigh Qrow stood and pulled a cloth from him bottomless pouch and wiped the gore from his blade before the acidic blood had a chance to damage his weapon. Next, he reached into his bag and pulled out a handful of thumb sized vials each a vibrant blue in color, calmly he stowed away all but one and very carefully removed the seal off the one he kept and poured it down Blake's throat.

Coughing mixed with cursing exploded from Blake's lips as her eyes flashed open and she sprung into a fighting stance ready to fight for her life.

"Calm down Hellcat, fights already over, I need you to tell me what happened if you remember anything."

Blake's eyes shot around wildly, her heart pumping wildly as her muscles tensed so hard they began to cramp before all at once the energy fade from her in an instant, whatever Qrow had given her had very short acting effects. "I... I'm sorry I don't remember anything, I was focusing on the cylinder and then I remembered getting incredibly cold and uncomfortable and then you woke me up with that elixir."

"Alright, I didn't figure you would be able to tell me any more than that." Qrow looked around at the clearing and reached into his pouch again, this time pulling out a large vial that looked like a bottled fire, with a casual toss the vial broke open and the lifeless forms of the Black Legion were wholly engulfed in flames, the magical concoction could even be seen in the distance spreading to the forms of those he slew on the way here. Turning himself back to Blake he noticed her confused expression. "Can't let the blood rest on the ground for too long, taints the soil, enough of it gets on the ground and this place will be barren and lifeless in a few years." Qrow stood and with as smooth a motion as he could picked up Blake and cradled her in front of himself in a Bridal Carry position.

"Hey, stop, wait, put me down." Blake struggled against the grip even going so far as to strike at her mentor, though even in the way he carried her her attacks to his face met empty air.

"Stop struggling and hold on, we have to reach the others as quickly as we can and I can't leave you behind and you would never keep up with me." Qrow dashed off at a frightening pace, cord-like muscles pushing him through the forest as he crossed miles of terrain in mere minutes, somehow all the while making next to no noise as the world turned silent around the two as they traveled.

Blake, as much as she didn't like the situation she found herself marveling at the sensation of the journey, she felt weightless and the world fell silent around her as time slipped by. The world became a blur, every time she tried to focus on something ahead of them the object of her focus would be passed before she knew it. Gradually she felt the pace slow and with a single motion, she found herself standing behind a tree leaning on it for support, her chest heaving violently as she felt like she had forgotten to breathe for long minutes. The world at large swam in front of her and she sagged down to the ground her head spinning and her stomach on the verge of emptying itself as she fought to control the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm her.

Her mentor stood beside her, she looked up to actually admire the man. In the month they had been separated from the others of the party, thanks in large part to the magical device but also Qrow's rather indifferent treatment of her she had changed some of her opinion's that she had once felt so certain of.

As she admired her Mentor she noticed one thing, he was breathing heavily, by no means did he appear exhausted and sweat hadn't even begun to form on his face yet but he was winded.

Just how much effort did it take for him to carry me who knows how far in such a short time and he's only winded slightly what kind of a monster is a true champion.

Qrow looked out from behind the tree and watched a foul Black Miasma as it circled around a bright and vibrant core which three figured stood clear as day.

Consecrated Ground, clever move but also a stupid one, oh well I'll let it pass this time as it probably saved their lives while I helped Blake. Now, where is the leader of this group? Qrow scanned the Miasma looking for the faint outline of the camouflaged Black Legion minions, the beasts were the first and most easily identified, they lacked the knowledge and intelligence to be able to hide themselves inside the cloud properly. The humanoids took longer as their usual give away the glowing eyes were turned away from his position it took him long minutes to locate the two real threats of the group.

The beasts could be dealt with by his protege's he just needed to remove the Miasma from the equation and that would even the playing field.

Closing his eyes and concentrating Qrow's mind gave him an image of a young woman hundred of miles from where he now stood, his other Niece sat calmly, her attention focused on something he couldn't see but she smiled happily enough that he turned his focus away from her and to the weapon resting at her feet, the other half to his weapon. Qrow focused intently and he watched as Ruby stood in panic as her weapon slowly faded out of existence in front of her very own eyes and as Qrow opened his the metal pole has appeared in front of himself.

Smiling that the trick still worked even with Summer dead Qrow slid the pole into his blade and together they formed a massive scythe, the magical properties imbued in the complete weapon were not completely understood by anyone, even The Wizard when he studied the odd weapon couldn't explain everything that it was capable of let alone the fact that when completed it gave Qrow and Summer wildly different abilities, abilities which Qrow was about to put to use.

With the Scythe complete in his hands a grey Aura surrounded him appearing to be a massive robe that hid his body from sight, as the robe grew to encompass his entire form, his body vanished entirely, with an inhuman sigh The Reaper traveled through the air and stopped right above the Miasma, those within it neither noticing or sensing his presence, to them he was invisible, even to Blake who had witnessed the entire transformation she could only faintly discern a grey shimmer in the air and even that she was unsure of, at least until a scythe, violent and beautiful, appeared from the shimmer of air and a spray of gore appeared from inside the Miasma as the figure maintaining it hung in the air suspended by the floating weapon.

The Robed figure simmered into existence and dropped from where it had previously hung in the air, the first body slid from the tip of the scythe with a sickening 'squelch' as Qrow drew the massive weapon back, his next opponent reacted by drawing forth a sword and shield readying itself to ward off the next attack, the cloak of grey energy reappeared encircling the black armored figure, no noise or action escaped the grey shroud. When the shroud vanished from sight again the figure it had enveloped lay prone on the ground its form twisted into a grotesque shape.

Qrow planted his weapon in the ground and let his concentration lapse, immediately the Scythe he wielded vanished and in its place stood his sword. Breathing heavily from the exertion of summoning the weapon and fighting against the effects of the Miasma even as muted as it was with the enhanced abilities of the completed Scythe he felt a level of exhaustion he hadn't in many long years, with a discrete motion he wiped away a trickle of blood from his nose and turned to watch his disciples.

They were freed of the Spell the Miasma had put of them, a deep layer of subconscious uncertainty and fear that even the consecrated ground couldn't entirely dispell had assaulted them rendering them either unwilling or unable to attack, now with the person maintaining the spell dead they were free of its effects and it took them no time to assess the situation and assault the remaining Black Legion minions, Qrow sat back and watched as the three who stood in the consecrated ground moved outwards and engaged the Legion Beasts.

The fight was nothing special, and if Qrow had to critique it he would have called it some of the worst fighting he had ever witnessed, but he figured he would let it slide right now solely on the fact that all four of his disciples were alive.

Turning Qrow checked on Blake who looked on the verge of being sick still but her eyes no longer swam wildly which he knew was an improvement. "How are you feeling, still queasy right?"

"Yeah... How did you move so fast?" Blake's mind grew sharper as seconds ticked by and her stomach returned to a normal position, she wanted to understand how they had traveled so fast seemingly covering two days worth of walking in mere minutes.

"Simple training, any Champion or Guardian is able to do that much, just isn't common knowledge. Anyways are you good to move?" Qrow watched as her face paled slightly at the mention of moving. "Not like what we just did." His simple assurance seemed to comfort her as she let out a relieved breath.

"If it's just simple walking or running I'll be fine."

"Good, get read then I'm going to round up the others." Qrow stepped away from Blake and walked hurriedly over to his other three disciples. "Good thinking with the the Consecrated Ground." Qrow paused as the three turned in unison and watched him with paranoid gazes, it didn't take him long to understand the hesitation. "Lemme guess, this whole thing started with me showing up and acting out of character?" There was no response from the three aside from a quick set of glances exchanged between them.

"You could say that, sir!"

Qrow smiled at Jaune even as he kicked a rock squarely into Jaune's breastplate, the apple sized rock knocking the heavily armored man off his feet and launching him back several feet.

"Yeah, 'cough' your the real one." Jaune struggled to his feet feeling along the front of his armor and frowned slightly when he found where the rock had impacted and the noticeable dent it had made.

"Good now if that's cleared up Dispell your spell and get ready to move we need to get away from here as quickly as we can." Qrow kept his voice as even as he could but the three must have noticed some subtle difference as none made any argument or complaint and instead gathered their belongings.

Watching them deconstruct the campsite he took another bottle of the liquid flame and toosed it onto the pile of corpses as he watched them burn in the edges of his vision a smoky cloud began to form.

"Hey Tai." Qrow spoke before the cloud became distinct.

"Qrow is everything alright? Ruby told me her Weapon vanished."

Qrow paused and made sure his students were to far away to overhear anything. "No Tai, I just ran across a Slinger and a Knight plus over fifty assorted minions."

"A Slinger? how far east have you traveled?"

"Less than a months walk from Vale."

Tai's jaw set firmly at that. "That's not good, did you kill it?"

"Couse I did, didn't take any chances, you know what happen's every time I take the other half of the weapon."

"Right, right. Sorry, it's been awhile since you have become 'The Shroud'. So what's your plan, report this to The Wizard and return to Vale?"

"Actually my Paladin just used a Holy spell and well you know what that means."

Tai sighed and looked away from the spell for a moment. "Yeah, I know what that means, get him clear I'll deal with contacting The Wizard for you."

"Thank's Tai I owe you one. Let Ruby know I'm sorry for stealing her weapon and that I will make it up to her later."

"Oh trust me she's going to hold you to that, she already put two and two together when I told her you had taken it and her mind is already spinning with the possibilities."

"That's frightening but I need to get back to what I was doing."

"Right, you take care Qrow."

"You too Tai." Qrow turned from the dissipating cloud and was glad to see that in the time of his short conversation the camp had been entirely deconstructed and the three stood ready to go, Qrow led them to where Blake rested and quickly led all four from the area.

The five traveled in silence for hour's, the four disciples were not told to remain quiet but some unspoken order felt like it had been issued. Qrow had led them from the Camp site in silence and seemingly at random would pause in the silent march and listen intently to the surroundings.

Any path or sense of direction they had had been lost when the sun finally dipped past the horizon and the world was engulfed in a quiet darkness.

With the loss of light they had assumed the days travel had been all but finished but Qrow simply kept moving, weaving his way through the darkened landscape with ease, his disciples somehow found following him in the darkness easy even despite the visibility being negligible from the scattered light the shattered moon was casting on the world.

Their leader paused at the edge of the tree line, the forest had finally ended and a huge grass filled plain stretched out before them.

The Four disciples, even with the darkness covering the landscape stood in awe of the landscape, they had grown up inside the city of Vale or the surrounding countryside, all four knew nothing but forest and city and so much flat open terrain had them stunned. The moment was broken when their Mentor stepped forward in the grasslands and reached into his bottomless pouch.

Qrow withdrew his arm and inspected the object he had pulled out, the vial was the color of midnight, even in the blackness of the night sky the vial stood out, it seemed to absorb what little light there was and deepened the darkness that surrounded itself.

"Jaune come here."

The paladin walked forward exhaustion clear on his face. "What's in the vial, it doesn't feel right." Jaune stared at the substance he felt oddly attracted to it and repulsed at the same time.

"Something I don't like using." Qrow carefully pulled at the wax seal along the stopper of the vial, working with meticulous care to open the small container. "This is going to hurt, a lot, like you're going to hate me for this but this is also the only thing that's going to save our lives."

"Are Holy Power's really that dangerous out in the wild?"

"Without training, yes, they are deadly to you and anyone around you. With Training you would be an army of one, the Black Legion would cower before you if you could master yourself like those who did during the golden age." Qrow pulled two more items from his pouch, a brilliant white powder that shone with a radiant light, he then poured a single drop of the vial onto the powder. Carefully he handed the Vial to Jaune. "Just hold that and be careful with it." Next, he took the other item and poured it on top of the white powder taking care to not cover the single drop of black liquid eventually the white powder was obscured by a faint red powder with the single black drop remaining barely visible.

Qrow let out a long slow breath and refocused on his task, taking the mixture he carefully took the vial back from Jaune. "Place both your hands around my hand, taking care not to touch the mixture and I need you to consecrate it."

Jaune did as he was told and felt the mixture resisting the consecration, he repeated the chant necessary for the spell and still felt it resist, long moments passed as Jaune repeated the chant dozens of times each time he felt the consecration resisted until gradually the effect changed but he knew somehow the effect hadn't been completed so he continued to repeat the chant, eventually it became easier and easier, also he wasn't sure how but he felt his exhausted body recovering rapidly from the days events with each new cast of the spell.

"Okay." Qrow pulled his hand away from Jaune's and tightly squeezed his fist, when it opened again inside was a perfect white sphere no larger than a blueberry. "How are you feeling, refreshed?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure why though I should be exhausted." Jaune marveled at how terrific he felt currently.

"Well, thats not gonna last, eat this before the effect wear's off and try to be quiet while you do it."

Jaune stared at the small object with apprehension but followed his order and placed the pill inside his mouth and swallowed.

Having a ton of fun with this story mixing together RWBY and a home brewed DnD world.

Rapidly getting to the meat of the story that I'm going to focus on telling and throwing around all kinds of hints for those interested later on.

Some hints will be huge and obvious other are very subtle and easily missed but its the way I enjoy writing.

Anyways with this done gonna head by to Well this is Different!? for awhile, the newest chapter is proving challenging for multiple reasons that I won't get into but its going to be a incredibly long chapter you have that to look forward too.