Fantasy A Nation In Havoc (2.0)

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius carried the cart outside of the city, remaining in character for the entire time. It was not really too hard, considering he just had to shut up and make sure that every single one of his movements radiated incompetence. After they were a safe distance away from the city, he dropped off the cart so that everyone could get off. He then took off his cloak which he wore as a robe and then stretched his back, returning to his normal stature. He hung the rove behind his shoulders like it was before wore his shoulder guards. Then, he removed the mask from his head, and threw it back into the cart. The mask made his hair itch which was not something that he liked. Raimi being all hyperactive was a bit of a surprise for him. He figured that maybe he had grown used to risking his life to the point where it was just par for the course for him. "I don't think bears are great replacements for horses." he replied jokingly. Their plan to set up camp sounded good to him. The day of fighting, arguing and etc. had certainly made him tired. Decius listened to Nia and then promptly gave an answer. Due to him being the biggest, it would almost always be up to him to carry things, making the cart his responsibility for the time being. "I do believe that it would be wise to keep the cart with us to carry out things. I am not going to carry all of these things on my back." He said while gesturing to the boxes.

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio stumbled from the cart, falling to his knees on the ground. After like ten seconds he stood up and looked around, his neck tilted at an awkward angle. He brought a hand up to help ease his neck back into the default position. “Alright crew! That was both the most nerve wracking and the most exciting wagon ride I’ve ever been on. Maker damn, Old Man you just slithered by them! You had them wrapped around your finger, they didn’t even know they were being played like a fiddle. Im sure that wasn’t a goal of yours but still.” He looks over to the Bear, his face pained as his neck tried to reset to its factory settings. “You did good big guy, you did good.” He looks to their token non-human. “Shorty. I’m so glad you didn’t accidentally blow us up.”

He moved various parts of his body around, making sure nothing had been crushed to hell by those damn crates, which to some it would seem that would be an easy thing to figure out, but he really couldn’t feel much of his own body. Besides, you haven’t lived until you need to do a limb check because you can’t feel your own fucking body. “So I hate to be that guy, disrupting our well deserved celebration, but does anyone have any clue what to do next?”

MagicPenguin Duke of Doge The_Omega_Effect augmentedspartan Randomfella

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia looked through the boxes for a while before pulling out an armful of clothes. "Yay, new clothes" she looked around worried "now where do I change.... the woods?? Eugh" she was clearly not comfortable with this situation. "Whatever, let's go make camp." She walked over to the clearing.

 

[Randomfella]

"The day's not over yet, tall-ey." Jenny responded, looking up at the human with a small smile, before softly chucking the tome into the back of the cart. Placing her hands on the back of it, the halfling lifted herself up to sit upright. Turning her body over, Jen inspected the goods in the cart, before reaching back over to grab a large crossbow, pulling a crank on the side of it to load a bolt into the weapon. "Trees should be more than enough cover, your highness." The halfling looked back toward the princess, a cheeky smile still plastered over her. "Don't worry, I'll keep a watch on the men." She stated, holding up her crossbow like a sort of guard, before breaking her focus in a small fit of laughter, slapping her own leg in the process.

Jenny stretched her body, letting out a short yawn, before looking up at the limb-checking human. "Big guy must be tired, you two can take turns pulling the cart since the loud one is gone." She noted, looking out the side of the cart, toward the woods ahead. "We can camp a few clicks ahead, then I can look for something for the night, something edible..." Jen stated, her mind obsessing over just what the humans would call 'dinner'. Regardless, she had already missed far too many meals for her liking. Shifting through her crates once more, the halfling pulled a loaf of bread from a sack within one, eating it with her left, as her right hand clung to the crossbow hugging her side.

Duke of Doge TheCountryWarrior

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia nodded to Jennys words, having her as a sort of guard helped somewhat. Then, after a few moments of hesitation. She quickly got undressed, and while getting dressed into her new clothing, her complaints were heard "coldcoldcoldcoldcold. COLD" she said against the cold wind of the Dalanian wilderness. It must have been a world record for the fastest time getting dressed, well at least for Nia. The heir then emerged from the trees, shaking some loose snow off the branched of trees while doing so. "I feel ridiculous" she looked down at herself :ridiculous... but warm" she added with a small smile before meeting up with the others at the center of their in-construction "camp."
She looked around with her hands on her hips "how can I help?" she asked anyone in earshot.

Spoiler: Best outfit I could find online

augmentedspartan TheCountryWarrior MagicPenguin The_Omega_Effect Randomfella

 

[augmentedspartan]

"Damn right," was all he said the the wave of compliments. He ignored the changing Princess and hew new pint-sized bodyguard and rummaged through the cart for his stuff. Content that they hadn't damaged his books and notes, he covered the cart again and stretched, making more popping sounds than healthy. When was the last time he had to walk this much without resting? He should have listened to Jania and gotten a chauffeur a while back, he could have afforded it. Too little too late now, though, from both lack of funds and prospects. Although he could make something work out with Decius, after all, every animal could be tamed. Letting the thought drift to the back of his mind, he got on top of the cart with some effort, doing the best he could to find a position that wouldn't leave his back disfigured.

"I did my part, now you people do yours," he said before using his book bag as a makeshift pillow. Might as well catch up on some sleep.

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio keeps rubbing his two sticks together, trying to make fire. “I-“ pant pant “need no help” pant pant “but thank you for offering.” He furiously rubs the sticks together attempting to conquer nature and failing miserably. “Damn it... why is this so hard! Gah! Fuck nature!” He continues trying to tame the wilderness, though it’s clear the wilderness is probably taming him.

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

With his axe strung along his back, Decius watched as the different members of the group found ways to occupy themselves. He really had no idea what to do at that point, that is if we ignore the barely-resisted compulsion to violently murder everything in sight with his axe. He walked up to Armandio, who was having problems making fire in order to do it for him. With Decius setting up camp many times with his comrades in the army, he knew a multitude of ways to make fire. And the method that Armandio was using which was quite possibly the least effective way known to man. And he was not even doing it right.

He walked around the woods in the general area, gathering as many dried up leaves, branches and grass as possible. After doing so, he came to their planned camp site and then set them all in the centre, ready to create the fire. There were a multitude of ways of doing so. But Decius just got lazy and then took out his fire steel. Wielding his flint with the other hand, he struck the fire steel and pointed it towards the pile he had just created. The sparks came from the fire steel, creating a fire. Decius then went around to gather more fuel for the fire in order to have it last a longer time. "Could one of you go find rocks? We can't afford the fire to spread and burn anything else so we should surround the fire with rocks and create a circle around it. I will go find some more fuel."

 

[MagicPenguin]

To most people, the forest south of Dalania was inscrutable and unknowable, nothing but a vast expanse of tall trees and cold snow and hostile wildlife. To anyone with a bit of knowledge and a keen eye, though, it was so much more. Where a typical person saw meaningless patterns in the snow, Raimi saw tracks, a set of tiny footprints. Where another saw nothing on the ground but leaves and sticks of no meaning or value, Rae saw a broken twig or a small patch of overturned dirt. Where they saw identical trees and rocks in all directions, she saw a chance scuff on a rock or a random tree missing a small bit of its bark. To her, these small discrepancies in the environment that most others would ignore made a trail she could follow, one that screamed food as loudly as any dinner bell possibly could.

Rae happily followed these signs wherever she saw them, swerving swiftly and silently through the tall trees that surrounded her on all sides. The forest was quiet and serene but for the soothing sounds of the night. She felt more at peace now, among the tall trees and the snow and the darkness that others found so inhospitable, than she had in days within the walls of the city. She could almost forget the terror and sorrow the day had brought with it.

After an hour of silent tracking, Rae found her prey: three wild rabbits. Deftly, she retrieved her bow and nocked an arrow. She took the largest one right through the neck. The other two naturally bolted in opposite directions after their companion's death. Raimi wasn't one to let game get away when it was right under her nose, however, so she grabbed the dead rabbit and immediately set to work tracking them down as well. It took thirty minutes to find and put another arrow in the second and she was starting to retrace her steps back to where she killed the first so she could go after the third when she heard a long, deep howl in the direction she was headed. Wolves. Damn. Not good. They probably smelled her kills. Two rabbits would have to do; she promptly changed course and decided to circle around and take the long route back to where she told the others to make camp so she could throw off her vulpine pursuers. She would have to move fast to lose the pack. She abandoned stealth and silence for speed and moved as fast as she could away from where she heard the howl. As she did, she heard another unexpected sound. Laughter from somewhere nearby.

Curious, she decided, against her better judgment, to abandon the race back to the camp for the moment and see what the source of the noise was. More of the wizard's cult? Were they out in the forest as well as in the city? This could be valuable information. She had to check it out.

Rae slowed once more and moved quietly toward the laughter until she came to the edge of a clearing where a group of men and women sat around a fire. She ducked behind a tree and observed the group from a safe distance. A huge orc was speaking to a slightly smaller, but still huge man with two axes at his hips.

"I still think we oughta stay, boss. Lots of lootin' goin' on in that city, y'know? We don't wanna miss out on that, do we? Maybe we can even get in good with the guy what killed the king!"

"This is why I do the thinking, you nimrod," responded the other man. "Who d'y'think caused all that chaos today what ruined our camp and killed all our other men? The wizard, that's who! He and his cult're no friends of ours. We're packin' up and movin' on for clearer pastures. That's an order. Askary is always a welcome refuge for honest thieves like us lookin' for a handout."

"Aw, c'mon boss," said the orc, "my cousin's in that cult. I'm sure Mr. Kruziik'll let us in if we ask real nice. We could live like kings! You two agree, dontcha," he asked the two women sitting across from him at the same fire.

The first woman to respond was an elegant looking lady with long auburn hair, diamond earrings, and a jewel-encrusted staff. She had only plain leather armor, but somehow wore it with the air of a queen. "I, for one, agree with the orc. I'm sick of living out in the wilderness like some savage neanderthal. A noble woman such as myself deserves luxury and class, not dirt and mud. Surely Kruziik will recognize me for the brilliant mage that I am and lavish me with the lifestyle I deserve, unlike you sorry lot."

The next to speak was a short-haired, blonde elven woman with a bow and quiver wearing leathers and a dark green cloak similar to Raimi's. Her voice was soft, but her eyes were sharp and serious and her movements belied the adroit precision of someone possessing the deadly grace of a trained killer. "It matters not to me where we go, you know this; however, before we do anything, we need to decide what to do with our 'guest' here," she said, motioning with her hand to the corner of the clearing.

There lay a cage that Raimi had not noticed before the elven woman pointed it out. Inside, Rae saw to her horror, was the slumped figure of a boy about her own age, bound and gagged. He looked weak, malnourished, and above all, terrified. Despite that, he kept stealing glances at a small satchel that sat just outside of his cage. It was then that it became clear to her just what type of gang she had stumbled upon: bandits.

"We kill him, of course," said the apparent leader of the group. "We could have ransomed him to his rich merchant family before today, but with all the merchants dead or fleeing after that wizard's bullshit earlier, he's not worth a single copper now." He spat angrily at the ground. "All that gold, up in smoke! What a fuckin' waste that was! Idiot wizard..."

"Yes, I agree," said the elven bow-woman solemnly. "He knows our faces. Far too risky to leave him alive."

"Oho," said the mage with a sensuous, greedy sparkle in her eye, "in that case, why not leave him to me? I can think of many forbidden rituals that require the blood of a strapping young lad with proclivities such as his." She stepped up to the cage and picked up the satchel the boy kept looking at. "Oh, yes. His life, along with the fun toys in this cute little bag of his, can grant me much arcane power indeed, if used correctly." She then dropped the bag unceremoniously back from where she'd picked it up. Its hard impact as it landed back on the ground caused the prisoner to wince and scream into his gag.

"Whatever," responded the leader with disgust, "do whatever you want. But do it fast. We leave at first light for Askary and the kid will be a corpse by then. Is that clear?"

The orc didn't argue, but he looked dejected that they wouldn't be going to the city. The mage's earlier discontent, on the other hand, was evidently all but forgotten. "Crystal, boss. Did you hear that, sweetling?" she asked the boy in the cage. "You and I are going to have fun tonight! You should consider yourself most fortunate that you get to spend the last moments of your life in the esteemed company of a beautiful, well-bred woman like myself. Even if you will be in enough agony to snap your fragile mind like a dry twig in a bonfire."

The look of terror in the boy's eyes and the growing wet stain in his crotch indicated that he did not consider himself fortunate at all. The mage simply fixed him with a stare from her smoky, hungry eyes and laughed in a pretty, nearly musical tone of voice. The boy gave another longing look at the satchel just outside his cage, as if trying to will its contents back into his possession.

Her laughter was cut off by another loud howl in the distance. The elf woman tensed at the same time Raimi did.

"Wolves," said the elven huntress cautiously. "We are armed and have fire and numbers. They should pass us by for easier prey. All the same, someone should keep watch tonight in case they venture too close."

"Right..." said the leader thoughtfully. He pointed at three men who had yet to speak and started barking orders. "You three! You'll rotate the watch. Make sure the wolves don't come too close and make sure the kid doesn't escape before she-" he pointed to the mage "-kills him. And you make damn sure he doesn't get his hands on that bag there. That's the last fucking thing we need after what happened today."

"Sure thing, boss." The three moved to the perimeter of the clearing and began discussing who got first watch. Raimi carefully adjusted her position behind her tree so they didn't spot her. What to do, she thought. She couldn't just leave the poor kid to be sacrificed to some dark god by a crazy magic woman. Her first instinct was to race back to camp to get the others to come back with her, but who knows if the boy would even still be alive by the time they got back? No, she had to handle this now if she was going to handle it at all. But there were seven of them and one of her. She needed to sneak up to the cage without any of them noticing and for that she needed a distraction.

Then there were the wolves. Even if she got the prisoner away from this group, she needed a way to get the wolves off her tail so she could get him back to her group's camp. Maybe, she thought tentatively, one problem could be the solution to the other. If she could get the wolves to close in on this campsite, both the pack and these bandits would be distracted enough that she could sneak the boy away safely. She glanced at the two dead rabbits still in her hands and came up with a plan.

It was dangerous, but Raimi had already survived lethally dangerous odds more than once today. What were a few more? She moved away from the still-chatting group and did perhaps the stupidest thing imaginable. She started moving toward the howls instead of away from them.

As she moved farther away, the sound of the bandits' camp grew softer. Raimi focused as hard as she could to listen for the movement of the wolves in the distance. She didn't want to confront the pack, just get close enough for them to smell her rabbits. When she was far enough from the bandits that she could no longer see the light of their fire, she began to hear growling and barking from several yards up ahead. Too scared to get any closer, she flung one of the dead rabbits into the trees ahead of her with all her strength and immediately started legging it back toward the bandits with all she had, any pretense of stealth forgotten. It was not long after that she heard the wolves' snarls grow louder and more furious. She heard them fighting over their newfound prize and the wet sound of their teeth ripping into the meat of the poor rabbit's dead body. Most importantly, she heard some of the growls coming closer and footsteps slowly gaining on her as she ran headlong back to the bandit camp. Rae clutched her second rabbit and ran faster.

Finally, she saw the light of the bandits' fire once more. She spied from a distance the three watchmen on the camp's perimeter, closely monitoring their surroundings for intruders, four-legged or otherwise. She was about 50 yards away and concealed by trees and foliage, close enough to see them and the others at the fire, but not close enough that they would spot her unless they knew where to look, nor close enough to hear what they were saying or see what they were doing. Raimi dropped her second rabbit there and then started to circle around the camp from a distance toward the opposite side of the camp where the cage lay. She sneaked closer to the camp and ducked behind another huge tree just in time to hear the wolves descend upon the rabbit where she'd just dropped it.

Ordinarily the elven huntress's earlier assessment of the wolves would have been correct: as long as the bandits were vigilant, the wolves would have passed them by for an easier meal. Now, though, after chasing down and devouring two rabbits, their blood was up and they were in a frenzy. The bandits were right there and they wanted more food. The pack leader let out another long, loud howl. The entire bandit party stood tensely and drew their weapons.

"Damn it, woman, you said they wouldn't come here!" screamed the leader at the elf.

"They shouldn't have," she said. Her eyes narrowed in the direction that the snarling and snapping of the wolves could be heard. Then she took a long look around the camp, as if searching for something out of place. "Something is not right here..."

"Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? We fight or we die, people. You five are with me," he said, gesturing to the orc, the huntress, and the three watcmen. "You," he said to the mage, "will guard the kid. Make sure he doesn't get out of that cage in the chaos. The sooner you finish your ritual or whatever and kill him, the better for all of us, so just hurry up and get on with it, will ya?"

"Ugh," she whined, "You don't have to tell me twice. Just keep those mangy, flea-ridden beasts away from me. I'd much rather spend time with my good-looking new friend here," she said with a wistful tone and a longing stare at the terrified boy in the cage, who was in a fetal position crying for his life at this point.

With that, the bandit leader ventured into the darkness ahead to deal with the wolves, followed enthusiastically by the hulking orc rambling happily about getting a new wolf pelt. The three watchmen looked terrified, but they followed anyway, weapons in hand. The huntress took one last suspicious glance at the camp behind her, her eyes passing right over Raimi's tree apparently without noticing anything amiss, nocked an arrow in her bow, and then ran after the others, leaving only the sorceress to watch the cage with the boy in it. A mage was no easy foe, but Rae liked her odds of getting to the cage much better now that it was one on one instead of seven on one.

When the barking in the distance intensified and she heard screams and battle cries in return, Raimi quietly inched closer to the cage. The mage gave no indication of seeing her, crooning as she was over her prize in his cage. "Oh, darling, you have no idea how much stronger I'll become thanks to you and the contents of that bag of yours. I might even finally be able kill these foolish savages and move on to the next stage in my grand plan with the kind of power your suffering will grant me." The boy merely whimpered in response. "Aw, don't be like that, poor baby." She poked his cowering form through the bars of the cage with her opulently crafted staff. "If it makes you feel any better, when I'm ruling the world at Kruziik's side, ushering in a grand new world order, living like the queen that I was meant to be, you can be content with the knowledge that it was your sacrifice that allowed it to happen! Why, you might even say YOU are the one who is going to change the world forever, in a roundabout sort of way! Isn't that something, dear?" The boy whimpered again and snapped his eyes shut, plainly trying to pretend that he was somewhere else, anywhere but where he actually was.

As she spoke to the boy, the mage's back was turned to the campfire where the others had been sitting before. Raimi moved around the cage, into the clearing, and up to the fire without the woman taking any notice whatsoever, distracted as she was. She grabbed a thick log from the top of the pile of firewood nearby, raised it above her head, ready to strike, and began to inch her way closer to the back of the woman looking inside the cage. Sweat poured down her face from the heat of the fire and the stress of the situation. If she could just get close enough...just a few more steps and...

The boy opened his eyes and saw Raimi sneaking up behind the woman. Though he didn't intend to give her away, the mage must have noticed he was looking at something behind her. "Whatever are you looking at, darling?"

She turned around just in time to see Raimi bring the log down with all her might. Her eyes widened with fear, and "What the-?!" was all she had time to say before the woman was knocked out cold by a vicious blow to the forehead. Her staff clattered uselessly to the floor alongside her limp body. She was still breathing, but she'd be out cold for some time.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Raimi quickly closed the distance to the cage's door and swung her log at the lock. It was a cheap thing and came off after a few good swings. The boy was staring at Raimi as if she were some hallucination, like his desperate mind had conjured her out of thin air to save him.

"Hey, you're alright now. Let's get out of here before the rest of them come back, yeah?" She took out her knife and sliced through the bonds restricting his arms. He shook himself out of his fear-induced stupor, scrambled on his hands and knees to collect the small bag, and stood. He reached up to take the gag out of his mouth and he was about to say something when suddenly his eyes widened in surprise again at something behind Raimi.

That brief second of surprise she saw on the boy's face was all that saved Raimi as she ducked and turned quickly to see what was behind her. As she did, an arrow whizzed right through the space where her head had been just a millisecond earlier. A few hairs came off the top of Rae's head where it grazed her in passing.

At the other end of the clearing, bow at the ready, was the elven huntress, glaring daggers at the prisoner and his would-be rescuer. Raimi brusquely grabbed the dazed boy who had only narrowly avoided the arrow intended for Raimi's head himself and dragged him behind a tree for cover. She quickly handed him her belt knife and pointed straight North. "I'm gonna distract her. Go thataway! Just keep running straight that way and you'll find a clearing with a bunch of shady lookin' fellas layin' low." She gave him a sunny, reassuring smile. "They look suspicious, but they're alright; I promise. Just follow that really bright star up there," she said, pointing to the North Star, the brightest in the sky. "Keep running toward it and you can't possibly miss them. They'll protect you. Go!"

The boy didn't argue. He ran into the woods as fast as his wobbly, malnourished legs could carry him, clutching Raimi's knife and his tiny satchel for dear life as if they were a life preserver on a sinking boat.

Leaving Raimi alone with the elven woman that wanted nothing more than to murder her brutally.

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

The boy panted, already weak with hunger, thirst and exhaustion, having stayed awake for the past two days for fear of not waking up. He clutched his satchel like it was his soul itself, and held the dagger with trembling hands. He rushed rushed in the direction his hero had pointed, north, towards the North Star, the Ever Guider. He heard the bandits fighting the wolves, and reminded himself to thank the lady who saved him when she got back. She’s be fine right? He stopped in his tracks. Right? Surely she could handle the Elf.

His thoughts were disturbed by a yell. His gaze snapped over to the noise, and he saw one of the goons approaching him. “Ey! Youse not s’posed ta outta ya cage!” He the boy approached slowly, grinning. “Now now, ‘old still. This ‘ill only hurt til your dead!” The boy stood frozen in panic, until he panicked and shoved his hand into his bag, and pulled out a stick with a ruby and an emerald next to each other in one end. He pointed it at the bandit lackey. “D-don’t come any closer!” His voice cracked from dehydration. He began circling around the bandit, and the bandit stood still, unsure of what to do.

The boy pointed the stick at the bandit’s feet and vines sprouted out of the ground, wrapping around his legs. The boy took off as the man struggled to free himself.

He soon found himself at a campfire, surrounded by a strange menagerie of people. A massive man, soldier by his armor, an old man who was either sleeping or trying to sleep, a man in a hood who looked slightly defeated, a halfling with a crossbow that seemed as big as her, and a girl with cropped hair and a hood on.

He ran up to the big one, the military man. He should be in charge here, or at least a capable warrior that could help. He showed him the dagger. “Your friend is in the woods, due south! She freed me from bandits and told me to run! She needs your help!” He looked at them all with pleading eyes. “Please!”

 

[Caffeine Freak]

A leg.

Or... was it the neck?

Samuel sighed heavily through his nose, tossing the charred gib back onto the bloodied forest floor. This is the last time I'm hunting with landmines he thought resoundingly, continuing to pick through the fifty yard-wide spread of whatever was unfortunate enough to step onto his makeshift shrapnel contraption.

The sleeves and collar of his once white dress shirt were caked with dirt and dried blood, while his creased waistcoat was vacant of one of its buttons. A less vain man would forsake formality and have ditched the extra garment in such circumstances. Samuel, however, didn't quite fit the description of 'not vain'. Besides, ditching the more formal accents of his attire would be solidifying the fact that he wasn't ever returning to Dalania, and Samuel wasn't quite ready to accept that just yet.

After discovering the scorched relic of what unnervingly resembled an engagement ring among the remains, Sam was rather content to abandon his attempt at salvaging meat and walk very quickly in the opposite direction. Before he got far, however, a sound Samuel hadn't heard for a while drifted through the trees.

A voice.

Eager to meet his apparent salvation, Samuel instantly took off running in the direction he heard it, his satchel flailing around behind him. The the sound got louder, and louder, until he burst right into a clearing.

He was met with a number of figures encircling a campfire, including a rather frantic looking boy, and a girl whose hair gave her away immediately.

Samuel couldn't quite believe what he'd stumbled into.

Perhaps he would have muttered some sort of greeting, but instead what came out of his mouth was a reply to the boy's words that he had picked up on the way over.

"-I'll help."

Samuel blinked at his instinctive response. It didn't matter who, how, or why - saving people usually meant cash or favors, and Samuel was rather fond of both cash and being owed favors.


Duke of Doge TheCountryWarrior The_Omega_Effect MagicPenguin augmentedspartan Randomfella

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius had collected enough fire wood for the campfire when the boy came rushing up to him. He looked weak, probably running to them for help or something along those lines. He could also be a trap used by bandits and the sorts in order to have them lower their guard. Whatever the case was, there was little reason to keep him alive. The boy told them of how their "friend" was caught up with some bandits. Deducing that it was Raimi, Decius dropped all of the firewood and walked over to the small fire he had created earlier, stomping it to put it out. Another unfamiliar voice was heard by him, claiming that the owner of it wishes to help them in this rescue mission. The feeling that this could all be an elaborate trap, crept up on him almost as soon as he registered what he said. He could be possibly luring Decius away to help Raimi so that his bandit friends could steal the cart. However, he knew that if the numbers of those bandits were high enough, they would've already been attacked. Chances were, that they were either a small band of thieves, or a large band of bandits that were not fully aware of their presence.

Trust issues aside, Decius had to figure out how they would split up the group. It was obviously a terrible decision to leave the cart behind, as it contained many valuable objects. They needed someone to defend it but they also needed to organise a small group to quickly help Raimi. Ambrose was next to useless in this predicament, leading to him being discarded from the plan. Jenny was injured, limiting her capabilities with the crossbow. She also had to carry her explosives in order to use as a distraction to cause chaos, leading to her having to stay as well. Bringing Nia along could be a double edged sword as doing so would not only put her at risk, but it would also possibly alert the nearby bandits that princess Nia was travelling with a small group, rendering the rest of their journey to be incredibly difficult. That left Armandio, him, the boy and the new guy. The group that they would have to intercept would be on high alert already due to the presence of Raimi. So stealth would not really play a big role. However, Armandio is agile and he is capable of holding his own in a fight which would lead to him being a valuable asset. The boy was next to useless from what he saw, meaning that the boy would have to be kept at the cart, preferably at the end of a crossbow. Bringing the new guy along would mean that they could easily get betrayed and killed. But leaving him at the cart could put Nia in danger.

He raised his voice in order to make sure everyone heard him. "Alright everyone. We are going to have to split up into 2 groups. One to defend the cart, and another one to help Raimi. Ambrose, Jenny, Nia, and...you boy stay here and watch the cart." He then walked towards Armandio and pulled him by the arm. "Me Armandio and the new guy will go and save Raimi." Decius pulled Armandio up and walked towards where the boy came from, turning his back to the new guy. He whispered to Armandio "Should he pose a threat, kill him immediately. Don't hesitate." This made it harder for his lips to be read. He then walked forward and waited for the others to come along.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"Marvelous!" Samuel exclaimed, utterly oblivious to the silently exchanged threat on his life just a few feet away. "Name's Samuel, by the way. Samuel Weiss. I'm a famous chemist." His ecstatic introduction fizzled ever so slightly as he surveyed the general lack of recognition. "...Soon to be famous chemist, I suppose." He corrected himself, starting after the two armored males. "So I assume that, since it's just us on the rescue mission, you have some sort of plan?" Sam piped up behind his new allies - or, at the very least, people he hoped were his allies.

As he fell into step behind them, Samuel began rifling through his satchel, retrieving a series of both empty glass syringes and full conical vials from within. "And- uh, it might help if you told me what this Raimi looks like so I don't end up stabbing the wrong person." His words were just about intelligible, or at least as intelligible as words could be coming from someone holding a syringe between their teeth. His hands were busy mixing the contents of two vials, forming a rather viscous-looking substance.

Of course, this wasn't his first run in with bandits picking off what survivors remained of the Red Eruption, yet until now he'd managed to skirt around whatever camps popped up. Now that he was going out of his way to face the ruffians he'd so carefully been avoiding, Samuel was very eager to test his chemicals on live subjects.

 

[Randomfella]

"Just relax princess." Jenny casually noted at the girl's question. "Staying alive is help enough." She noted, looking toward Nia, clearly doubting her ability to offer much outside of the city. "Now where did that girl get to?" Jen thought to herself, her stomach rumbling, bread could only go so far.

As a strangers voice arose, it instantly grabbed the halfling's attention, and not in a good way. Eyes gazing toward the child, she only expected more trouble to come of it. Another joining only deepened that concern. "You might have the body of a warrior, but clearly not the mind, calling her name before strangers" She spoke up to the large human's plans, and his reference to Nia. She had no doubt it was a trap, yet the chances of the foolish girl being captured were also high. Jen had spent too long waiting around, she needed some excitement in her day, that and some dinner. "I'm coming t..." She began to announce with spirit, jumping from the cart, only to clench her side from the impact of the ground. "Ungh, on second thought, someone will need to protect these lot." She noted in short breaths, glaring toward the boy whom had arrived. Perhaps he was a child, but he was still a human, adept to crossing others.

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio nodded and whispered back to Decius. “My thoughts exactly.” He began walking, keeping behind Samuel. “Shouldn’t we be moving faster? She’s one against an unknown number, and while she’s good with a bow I don’t know if it’ll help if they swarm her.” Armandio’s eyes darted around, desperately searching for some sign of their Huntress.



The boy stared at the ones he was left with. He was a half Elven young man, no older than Nia, not too short, with brown eyes. His clothes are peasant clothes, ragged and torn. He is clutching onto a satchel and a stick with a ruby and an emerald next to each other on one end. He collects himself and stands a bit straighter. “Uh... hello all. Um... thank you for your assistance.” He sits in the ground, his head hanging. “Damnation... if only I could’ve helped.”

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Upon hearing Armandio's words, Decius picked up the pace in order to travel faster. "Raimi has orange hair, she is human, not too tall." Although, everyone was "not too tall" when compared to Decius. "We'll point at her or something when we get there." After walking for a bit, they came across the bandit lackey that was chasing the elven prisoner Raimi had saved. The lackey seemed to be just about done with freeing itself from...vines. Decius knew this was a little weird. No doubt a work of magic. It was not the climate for vines to grow, nor was it natural for them to grow and wrap themselves around a person in order to immobilise them. That boy was a magician. He felt worried about the group and the safety of Nia. But they were on a mission and the sooner they were done with it, the faster they could get back.

Decius grabbed the handle of his axe with one hand, ready to kill him quickly. From his movements, he did not seem to be too bright and would most likely fall for an easy faint attack. Decius moved in, winding up and attack that was very telegraphed, expecting it to be blocked. When the lackey placed his guard up, Decius stopped his swing, flipped the axe around and then pushed towards his guard with the top of his axe with both hands. He then moved to the left of him while simultaneously pushing his guard and getting his axe around his weapon. He then pushed his shoulder forward with his elbow and placed his axe between his weapon and his head. He then pulled his axe back so that the back of the axe went around his neck and then slit his neck wide open. He then kicked him in the back, leading to the lackey choking on his blood and falling face front to die.

Decius looked down at his axe to notice that there was very little blood on it. He got the feeling that the axe somehow soaked some of it up. Such mysteries needed time to solve. Time that they did not have. He turned around and proceeded forwards at running pace, occasionally checking whether they were going the right way of not by looking at the clumsy tracks left by the buffoon he had just killed.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Samuel gave a mildly enthusiastic round of applause as he hopped over to the slain bandit the armored male had cut down. "Well, that's one way to do it." He mused, picking through the dead man's pockets. The sword was as blunt as a wad of coal, too heavy for Sam's build anyway. Aside from that, there wasn't much on him worth taking anyway - minus his bag of pinched coins, of course. Samuel rose back to his feet.

"Well, if this gentleman came looking for the boy, I'd say the rest can't be far off." Sam turned his gaze to the barely walked path the bandit had followed. It appeared his party member had eyes on the same tracks, and Samuel kept pace as they hurtled off in the hopes of bumping into another poor sod they could use to lead them to the woman.

 

[MagicPenguin]

Meanwhile, back at the bandit camp...

Rae drew her bow and quickly nocked an arrow. If it was a shoot out this girl wanted, it was a shoot out she was gonna get! She poked her head out from behind the tree to get a look at where the woman was. She had her bow trained on the boy's retreating form. Raimi quickly fired an arrow of her own at the woman, causing the elf's aim to err at the last second and the arrow to fly way off course when she loosed it, missing the kid by a good three feet before he disappeared into the forest.

The woman tsked and directed her attention to Raimi, the boy seemingly forgotten. She could track him down later. She had to kill the girl first. She knew something was off when the wolves came so close, but her suspicions had been confirmed when she saw the rabbit's corpse. It hadn't wandered there by chance; it had been killed with an arrow and left purposely to bait the wolves. When she realized it was a diversion, she ran back to camp as fast as she could, just in time to see the green-clad human free the boy. If she hadn't gotten lucky enough to dodge that arrow, the girl would've already been dead and the boy back in his cage where he belonged. Useless mage, letting herself get ambushed like that. She was going to flog the pompous bitch before this night was through. Just as soon as she was finished flaying this tiny human's foolish skin from her foolish bones, inch by bloody inch.

Raimi quickly fired another arrow, but the woman had already ducked behind a stack of crates for cover of her own. The two traded arrows and moved positions for several minutes without either taking a hit, but Raimi knew she was at a disadvantage. All the elf had to do was buy time until the rest of her party finished with the wolves and then Raimi would be done for, outnumbered and cornered like a scared doe. Rae could run now and probably escape, but then the huntress would track down the boy and kill him as easily as she herself had done earlier to the rabbits and there was nothing she could do about it. She had to take a risk and try to end this right now. If she could get close to her before the woman could nock another arrow, maybe she could knock her out as she had done to the mage and get away before the others returned.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Raimi nocked an arrow, burst out from behind her tree, and started moving in a zig-zag pattern toward the crates where the woman was hiding, keeping her bow trained in their direction all the while. The elf quickly popped out to fire an arrow, but Rae loosed before she could do so, forcing her back behind cover. This bought Raimi a few more feet before the woman was able to show herself again to fire, but she inevitably did just that. The arrow was aimed at Rae's chest, but she swerved at the last second and it went clean through her left shoulder instead and got stuck there. She screamed in pain, but kept moving forward. She was only a few steps away from the crates now. The woman ducked to nock another arrow, but not before Rae closed the distance and tackled her to the ground. She pinned her torso beneath her with her legs and used her good arm to bludgeon the woman in the head with her bow. Not satisfied with this, she did it again, over and over. If she had kept going, the woman's face would have been a bloody ruin; unfortunately, the elf was not so easily conquered.

Raimi felt a stab of pain in her right side and looked down to see a concealable hunting knife stuck in her up to the hilt, blood pouring from the wound. As she was reeling from the pain, the woman swiftly reversed their positions, putting Rae on her back and pinning her to the ground with her legs. She violently twisted and jerked the knife from Rae's side causing another spasm of pain to shoot through her and put it to her throat, fully prepared to open it and end Raimi's life.

"You are a clever girl, but petty tricks only get you so far against a professional. Goodbye, little human."

In a fit of adrenaline-fueled desperation, Raimi bucked her torso with all she had in her. The movement caused pain to radiate from her side and her shoulder, but she hardly noticed it. Somehow, she managed to get her arm free and dislodge the knife away from her throat before it could slice her open. She frantically grabbed her bow and swung it at the elf's face with a strength she didn't know she had. It impacted into her jaw and nose with a sickening crack, Rae's bow snapping from the force of the blow.

The woman fell off of her in heap and she went still. Raimi stood in a daze and heard the woman groan from where she lay. Then she stirred and started to stand as well. Raimi was far past the point of rational thought; in a mad rush of fear, she dropped her now-useless bow and pushed the crates beside her so that they came tumbling down on top of the still-recovering assassin's body. Raimi didn't stay to see whether or not the woman got back up after that, but somewhere within her she knew that wouldn't be enough to hold her back for long. Rae rushed blindly into the forest, trailing blood from her open wounds, trying to get as far away from this woman as possible.

She couldn't say how long she ran for, but she had to stop when she started getting light-headed from the exertion and the blood loss. She sat at a nearby tree to catch her breath and logic slowly started to return to her. She looked behind her at the direction from which she came and saw the line of blood that traced her path. That woman would get up before long, and she would track Raimi down as sure as sunrise with a trail that clear. Her left shoulder still had an arrow in it and her right side was bleeding profusely where the knife had stabbed into her. Before anything, she had to deal with these wounds before she bled to death. She quickly took off her bloody green cloak and tore two strips off of it, one very long and one very short. Then she grit her teeth, closed her eyes, reached behind her, gripped the arrow in her shoulder by the shaft, snapped the point off, and finally pulled it out from the front. Her eyes teared up and she couldn't help but let out a blood-curdling scream. This was more pain than she had ever experienced in all her life. It made her dizzy and it was all she could do to hold on to consciousness, but if she passed out, she was as good as dead when that woman found her, and she couldn't die here. She couldn't. She had too much left to do. She had to get back to her friends. She had to live long enough to see her mother and her father again, and all her siblings. The thought that they might be dead didn't cross her mind this time, as it had in the stable with her horse; they were alive, and she was going to find them. That meant that she absolutely could NOT die here, alone, scared, in this dark, desolate forest. Funny, she thought wryly, how certain, impending death really put things into perspective.

Wasting no time, she fought through the pain to use her right arm and her teeth to wrap the shorter strip of her cloak around the gaping hole in her shoulder. Then she did the same with the longer strip around her abdomen to cover the hole in her side. They were hastily done and far from perfect, but the cloth wraps might just keep her conscious long enough to escape from her assassin. How much time did she have before the woman came looking for her? She had no idea how far she'd run from the camp, nor in what direction. It was a lucky thing she hadn't run straight into the other bandits fighting off the wolves.

The woman was going to find her very soon, that much was clear to her from the trail of blood she'd left behind. She couldn't run; she'd be found no matter where she went. That meant she had to stay and fight. She left her tattered cloak on the ground and stumbled up to a nearby tree. She climbed and clambered as fast as she could, fighting through her eye-watering pain, hoping that the woman would not notice her up there before Rae could get the drop on her. She fought through the mind numbing pain and managed to make it to a branch high up in the tree, where she went completely still and lay in wait for the woman to follow her trail.

After minutes of silence, a thought occurred to Raimi. What if she made a mistake? What if the woman didn't come? She might decide to track the boy instead. If she did that, he was as good as dead. She was considering whether or not to get down and go look for him instead of waiting in ambush when her fears were put to rest. Her assailant finally appeared. The woman's nose was broken, her jaw set at an awkward angle, and her right eye swollen shut, but there was murder in her eyes and she looked as focused and deadly as ever as she glided through the forest, following the trail of blood Rae had left behind. She followed it right up to the cloak on the ground beneath Raimi's branch where she left it. The woman looked left. Then she looked right, perplexed. The trail ends here; where had her prey gotten to?

She didn't look up.

Raimi swallowed her fear and jumped, aiming right for the woman directly beneath her. She landed on top of her, forcing her to the ground on her stomach. Rae wrapped her good arm around the woman's neck while she was face down on the ground, and squeezed with everything she had left in her. The woman struggled and flailed her arms and tried to stab the girl sitting on her back with the knife she still carried, but to no avail. The prey had become the predator, the hunter the hunted. Rae shut her eyes tight and kept squeezing. She didn't know how long had passed--Seconds? Minutes? Hours?--before the woman's struggles ceased and her body relaxed. She sank languidly into a state of unconsciousness and when she stopped moving, Raimi rolled off of her in a heap of pain and relief. She might have fallen asleep right there, exhausted as she was, but she knew she had to get back to camp to see the others, had to see if the boy from earlier had gotten away, had to survive so that she could see her family again. She struggled to her feet and gathered up her torn, bloody cloak. She looked for the North Star she'd pointed out to the boy earlier and followed her own advice. She didn't know where she was, but she knew her friends were somewhere north of her. If she just kept walking that way, she'd get there eventually...

So she left the elven huntress's limp, broken form behind her, ignored her pain and her light-headedness, and walked. And walked. And walked and walked and walked. Her eyes glazed over and her mind slowly emptied of all thoughts but that she had to keep moving, had to get to camp, had to survive. She didn't know how long she kept it up for. It could have been minutes or hours or days or years for all she could tell, but she just kept going. The forest around her started to grow dim and hazy and soon the sounds of the night began to fade as well until all she could hear was the unrelenting sound of the ringing in her ears, but still she kept on walking.

Then she was on the ground. She didn't know when it happened or how, but she'd fallen down. She wanted more than anything to get back up, but she couldn't move. Her body wouldn't listen to her anymore. Absurdly, her last thought before she drifted into unconsciousness was that she had forgotten that she was supposed to bring back dinner for the others. Instead, all she had done was send them another mouth to feed. Funny how that worked out.

"Sorry, guys..." she mumbled weakly before she finally succumbed to the beckoning darkness.

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius looked back to see Samuel dig through the corpse he had just created, picking at everything and looting the corpse. He sighed as they were strapped for time and really could not afford to screw around. Raimi could be killed any minute. "Come on. We don't have t-" He was cut off by the sound of a wolf being killed nearby. He immediately turned to the direction from which the sound came from, preparing himself for a confrontation. A group of people who no doubt were the bandits Raimi had to deal with, were in front of them. Decius was curious as to why they would be here killing wolves. Whatever the reason was, they had to fight them right then and there. He turned to the two he was with and pointed his axe at their opponents. A large orc, a man that stood out and a few more bandits who seemed to be just as dumb as the one he had killed. "I'll handle the big guy. You two can try to survive against the others until I am done."

He knew that he had to be the one to kill the orc. He only wished that his companions would be able to hold their grounds. With a sigh, he approached the orc. At that point, one of the men who the rest seemed to listen to ordered for the gang to be murdered. In order to get the best chance at killing the orc, Decius had to lead him away from the others so that it would get no assistance, allowing Decius to outmanoeuvre him and kill him. He changed his walking trajectory a bit away from the bandit group, allowing for the orc to gain full vision of him. The orcs first instinct would be to charge Decius down due to it being bigger than him. And that was exactly what he wanted. As the orc started to run towards him, club held high in his right hand, Decius lured him away from the group.

Although Decius was able to run at a greater speed in a shorter time than the orc, the orc's huge size meant that its massive steps would eventually allow it to catch up if it was given enough time to accelerate. Decius turned around and he dashed to the left of the orc, making a cut in its thigh in the process. He planned for the orc to crash into the ground and become dazed, allowing for Decius to kill him easily. However, the orc's skin was thicker than Decius thought. He left a simple cut that did nothing to throw off the orc's balance. It was unsure whether the beast even felt the damn cut. This fight would take much longer than Decius had hoped for.

He ran towards the orc in order to get a cleaner strike on the leg area. He dodged a very telegraphed swing, spun around and chopped the creature's right knee, leading to it collapsing on that very knee and screaming in pain. Decius could easily cut its head off at this point. If he could free his axe. It was stuck in the giants knee. His struggle to remove the axe was shortened by the orc recovering his weapon and delivering a clumsy strike to Decius. It hit him in the chest and knocked him back quite a distance. He could barely breathe due to the strike hitting his lung and due to the pain he was feeling. He could almost count the amount of ribs that had been fractured or even broken.

It was not long until Decius got up. He was slower but he could still win the fight if he got to his axe. With the orc kneeling down on it, simply pulling it out would be impossible. He had to find a way to knock it over. His cape gave him an idea that could work. Running to the orc in a straight line with his cape in hand, Decius wanted the orc to deliver another obvious strike that he could dodge. The green creature prepared a massive overhead strike that would devastate any living being. It would be the greatest warrior ever had it not been for the fact that these strikes never actually hit anything. Decius just dodged the strike that shook the ground and jumped up to the orc which was on its knees. He got over its shoulder holding the club and wrapped his cape around its face, pulling it back wards. The orc tilted back a bit but still stood his ground. Decius used the cape to pull himself back up to the orcs head and then slammed his fist into the massive eye socket.

The orc screeched in pain and fell backwards. Decius barely avoided being crushed under its massive weight. He quickly moved to the knee and the pulled out his axe. However, while doing so, he was met with a backhanded strike from the orc's offhand. The hit was mostly absorbed by his shoulder-guard. Some of the force however, made its way to Decius' head, dazing him while the strike overall knocked him off of his feet. He crawled to his axe that dropped a little bit away from him. He was getting pissed off with this fight. He just wanted this thing to die but it was so persistent. Decius started to get a little mad.

The axe wanted this. The axe wanted him to just break loose and murder everything. This dumb fucking moron was able to survive him for this long? How dare he? Rage overtook him as a mist with a slight hue of red started to evaporate from his skin. Decius ran towards the creature at full speed, preparing a mighty swing with his axe. The orc did a sideways strike which proved to be difficult to dodge with its range. Decius however, had no intention of letting this thing live any longer. He leapt up in the air above the strike, and brought his axe down to the orc's skull. They have very thick skulls. Decius figured it was complementary to the peanut sized brain. He pulled his axe back and smashed it into the orc's skull over and over again until there was nothing left of the orc's face that was recognisable. Decius was completely drenched in the creature's blood. The red mist stopped radiating off of him, along with the blood on him starting to mysteriously vanish and his internal wounds healing. He pulled his axe out of the orc's "face" and dragged his cape from under the now dead orc to wear it. He then looked to the others.

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

“Affirmative captain.” Armandio unsheathed his blades and stared the Half-Breed down. The bandit leader, said halfbreed, flipped his axes around in his hands and grinned.

They rushed each other, Armandio dodging to the side as the axes swiped down on where he stood a moment before. He brought up his sword to catch an axe and slide it away from him as he stabbed his offhand dagger into the Half Orc’s gut. The leader grunted and kicked Armandio back. Armandio wasted no time in regaining his footing, and grabbed his pulled out his grapnel. He fired the hook at the leader, wrapping it around an axe and yanking it away from him. The Half Orc growled at his apparent disadvantage, and gripped the remaining axe harder. He rushed towards Armandio, who crouched low to the ground, grabbed a handful of dirt, and threw it into his opponents face, rolling out of the charging bandits path.

The Orc’s eyes shut as the particles made their way into his eyes. He rubbed at his eyes with one hand and swung his axe around with the other. Armandio plunged his dagger into the bandits knee, and stabbed his sword through his stomach. The Half Orc collapsed as his knee gave out, and Armandio wrapped his arm around the Half Orc, dagger against his neck.

The Half Orc began pleading for his life. “Pl-please don’t... I’l- I’ll get an honest job! I’ll be better!” Armandio, this once strong warrior at his mercy, thought on it. His leg was damaged. Even if he got help, he would have a limp forever. But he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone, as effectively as before anyway.

Armandio was torn. And the Half Orc took the time to wrench himself from Armandio and slash at him, trailing a long shallow gash across his chest, Armandio only missing the mortal wound by frantically backing away. He pulled a knife from his belt and threw it, the blade landing in the Half Orcs chest. The bandit leader stumbled back, falling to the ground, unconscious, bleeding from his chest, stomach, and right leg.

Armandio fell to his knees, and scampered behind a tree. He held his bleeding chest and looked back at the battle, surveying the situation.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Samuel was already pillar-spined, staring down the grunts who figured he was the easier picking of the three. The nearest one charged, sword aloft over their shoulder, ready to part Samuel's head from his neck.

With a flick of the wrist, Samuel hurled a syringe at his assailant, which viciously whipped cycles through the air, until it struck needlepoint into the grunt's windpipe. The force of the impact merely let a few drops of the syringe's organophosphate content loose, yet the bandit seized up like a wooden board, collapsing to the forest floor. The other grunt flicked his eyes in awe between his puce-faced, violently convulsing comrade and Samuel, before resoundingly charging himself, sword raised to deflect any projectile Samuel followed through with.

Huffing, Samuel mirrored the charge. The grunt grinned in manic anticipation. His sword had a superior reach over Samuel's fisted syringe, and it seemed like Sam was about to barrel head-first into his own slaughter. As Samuel neared, however, his free hand disappeared into his satchel, re-appearing with a vial of fine powder.

In an instant, Samuel drove the vial into the ground, crushing his eyelids shut. The bandit, unfortunately, did not have the same intuition, and had his vision engulfed by a scorching white void.

Rolling under the arc of the blinded grunt's flailing sword, Samuel came up behind his target and buried his second syringe right into the back of their neck, right before pressing his thumb to the plunger. The bandit dropped like a pebble beside his comrade.

Samuel wiped the dirty needle with the folds of his waistcoat before tossing the instrument back into his satchel. It seemed all that time he spent playing darts at inns as well as the genius idea to keep volatile compounds in his personal satchel worked out rather well after all.

"Well, there goes our chance the question them." Samuel brushed his hands together, admiring his handiwork, then immediately began rifling his hands through the pockets of the deceased. "But at least there's the opportunity for more souvenirs."

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia stayed quiet while the more prominent fighters of the group went of to save Raimi. Opening her mouth to discuss strategy would just be a waste of precious time. So the heir did as she was well accustomed to- obeying orders. Nia then looked over to the not who had escaped the bandit camp. "Hey. Are you alright? Do you need food or water?" She asked him with a sympathetic gaze. No doubt he was treated very poorly at the hands of those brigands. Nia was never one to turn away a stray.

She once adopted an entire litter of kittens that someone had abandoned. Her father wasn't very happy about it, but her mother was. Allowing Nia to keep the little furballs.
Looking back at it, she probably didn't need to take all of the kittens.
TheCountryWarrior Randomfella augmentedspartan

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

The boy, didn’t meet her gaze, anxiously looking around as if expecting to be attacked by monsters at any time. “Um, I-I- Well Yes, If it’s no trouble... I can imagine you’ll need all you have, no need to feed a stranger. Don’t feel obligated, I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I know your friend is okay.” He clutches onto his stick, his lifeline, and the dagger that heroine had given him. “Spirits I hope she’s okay...”



Armandio stood up, clutching his chest as the blood slowly seeped from him. “Good work crew.” He plucked his knife from the Half Orcs chest and placed it back on his belt. “To their camp. We need to find Raimi, and help her in anyway we can.” Armandio started walking in the direction they were walking before they were waylaid.


Meanwhile....
The Bandit Mage woke up, her head pounding as of it wanted to get out of her skull. She felt the bump left in her by the damn woman. She seethed, standing up and looking around. “Damn,” she thought, “the boy is gone! And he took his bag! No!” She gritted her teeth and listened for her companions. She heard no wolves, but she didn’t hear her allies either. Which means they either got themselves killed, or left without her. Typical. She had to find the boy and his book. They were the key to more power, she knew it!

Thankfully she had a bit of a trick up her sleeve. She knelt down and touched the ground, closing her eyes and concentrating. An invisible ripple flowed under the soil, telling her the location of several things. Three individuals stood among four bodies, and she realized with a start that they were about the same size and shape of her companions. The massive Orc, the boss, and those two imbecile lakeys. Further down she felt the body of their elven Huntress, though she couldn’t tell whether she was alive or dead. She felt the body of the one who had knocked her out, though her fate seemed unknown as well. She felt a twinge of sadness for her fallen allies, though it didn’t last for long, because even further she felt the boy, sitting by what was a cart most likely. He stood out from the others that were there by the slight ripple he gave off, denoting his ability.

She stood up, and made a wide left around the three warriors approaching, ensuring they wouldn’t find her. She started making her way to the boy, though with the detour around the three it would take a while.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Samuel tagged along just a few paces behind his two companions. After a while of crunching dirt, he felt as if he had regained his breath, and decided to pipe up. "So... um, I didn't happen to catch either of your names." He flicked his eyes between them. The injured one didn't seem too stricken by his wound, but Samuel still felt guilty for having drank away his supply of disinfectant straight after fleeing Dalania. The threat of gangrene in such a climate was all too real. The other's axe gleamed unusually clean for a tool that had just been used to open an orc's face. Something about the blade made Samuel uncomfortable, and he found himself averting his gaze from it before long.

"Wonder if that was all of them." Samuel muttered, eyes darting around the surrounding treelines. The bandit camps he'd encountered before had been too various in size to slap any kind of average on how big a typical gang would be. Then again, if that was the last of the bandits - then where was Raimi?

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius got back to the group to see how his comrades did. After checking and making sure that everyone was dead and that they had won, he turned to the direction that they were originally going in, walking at a pace faster than before but slow enough to let Armandio catch up. It was at that moment that Samuel, the chemist nobody heard of asked them of their name. Well, "nobody" was a bit harsh. Perhaps if Decius wasn't a soldier and was a scholar, he might have known of him. "Call me Decius." He did not have some long title or some reputation with his name that he wanted to show off. It didn't really matter to him at that point as they had an objective.

After a bit of travelling, the bandit camp could be seen. It was oddly abandoned for and for a camp of that size, it surely couldn't have composed of just the people that they had fought. They were probably out for something else and happened to just run into Decius and the others. Whatever the case was, they had the opportunity to find out where Raimi went. The most noticeable things to him were the many arrows that were stuck to many different areas. But they were mostly concentrated around two places that could be used as covers against each other. With Raimi being a hunter, she was no doubt caught up in a fight between another archer. He looked around for quite a bit before being slightly confused as to where she could have gone.

His fight with the orc lead to the axe clearly taking control of him. It was really less of taking control of him, and more of suppressing his logic and thinking with rage and a very strong compulsion to murder. The mist of his own blood that evaporated from his skin was the biggest clue to this fact. It meant that Decius got more powerful, with the trade off being that he has to kill in that form to not take any permanent damage that would be grievous for him. Due to this, he still needed time for his "mind" to fully awaken.

He moved to the cover that was further within the camp to discover a pool of blood. Decius got closer and placed a finger in it. He placed his hand in it and raised it in the air to look at the colour. It had not grown too dark yet, meaning that it was spilled recently. With no bodies being around, the fight must've moved away from this location. He stood up and looked around to find the rest of the blood. At first, he could not really see nothing as it was hard to see the thin trail of blood amongst the ground. But suddenly, something in his mind just clicked. He immediately turned around to where the blood trail was and stared at it. "Blood..." He then started walking towards it. His walking soon turned into running as his speed kept increasing.