Overture

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Putting his bag upside down, Atticus dumped his pile of belonging on the ground. There, people could see he brought an apple he snatched from one of the guards, a brown bag of coins he stole (which no one needs to know), and some few maps. He handed the leather satchel to Serina, "Thank you," He grinned, though it seemed to be more mischievous than warming. While Serina was mending the poor rucksack, he rubbed his nose and decided to get to know Ezekul and Aben, as the older man went not too far away to check on his horse, "So, a blacksmith; huh?" He piped, "How's it like? Forging in your workshop near the heated oven?" Atticus saw that Timao didn't speak for awhile but paid no attention. The thieving cat was never one for socializing anyways. Atticus didn't like to talk much either; but he could at least tolerate it and carry on a conversation. Other than that, he is a quiet thinker.
 
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Aben grunts, saying "Hot, dirty, and sweaty. Not sure what you're expecting. With a apprentice who cant hit steel I'm surprised I can even send anything out these days." He'd sit there adjusting the saddle a bit, grunting and shifting his pack to the horse, keeping his hammer by his side before walking his awkward gait back to the tree, leaning against it and easing himself down. He'd sit there afterwards, not saying anything more now, apparently thinking he answered the question well enough to be left alone for now. Ezekul would continue scrambling about the tree, mainly trying to get a better view of everything, not actually on the lookout for bandits or anything of the like, just sightseeing really. He seems pretty sure footed despite the tree being so old, not seeming to think it's even possible for him to fall, but keeping sure foot and handholds all the same.
 
Jonathan finished his food soon and stood up and cracked his back. The group seemed to be getting along better than he expected and that helped. He walked casually to one of the other horses with supplies and started pulling out weapons. He wanted to make sure that everyone had weapons. He set out a couple quivers filled with arrows, as well as a couple of swords and daggers. The group would get around fine, but they needed to be protected. There have been stories for sometime about marauders coming up from Ekton and killing people on the path to Biltmore. The rumors have died down since the start. but he'd prefer to be careful.
"Ladies and gentleman, I have some extra equiptment if you would like to be able to protect yourself. If you already have a weapon, why not get an upgrade?" Jonathan pulled his green cloak close to him as he walked toward Teran. Once he reached him he pulled him aside and talked to him for a short moment, then began to ride out again.

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The group rode forward into the forest. The sounds of cicadas and other various creatures of the forest echoed throughout the forest. All of the horses stayed close together as Jonathan led them through the forest. It seemed like something was off. Yes, something indeed. Jonathan halted the horses and hopped off his horse. He stepped to the front of the horses and signaled for the group to get into position. The sounds of the deep forest soon was tuned out by Jonathan's heartbeat as he walked forward. He unsheathed his falchion and sat at the ready. He peered around for a moment and walked forward past a couple of bushes blocking the way.

"Aaagh!"

The sounds of Jonathan's cry were loud enough that anyone who may have been watching, could signal them...

​
 
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Ezekul's horse immediately starts to do a gentle bucking and shifting, backing up a bit, as even he looks around, saying "That was him, wasn't it? Wasn't it?" Aben frowns, his horse moving to back up, but with a few swift movements Aben keeps it from going anywhere. He'd dismount much quicker, ignoring the tinges of pain in his leg now, more important things ready. "Drop your packs and anything you dont need, ready your weapons and dismount, horses will only slow you down in a forest like this." He'd throw off his pack, pulling his hammer forth with quite some ease, closing his hands along the familiar handle and bringing it to a ready stance. Ezekul would look to everyone else, getting off his horse, nervousness causing the motion to be slightly clumsy as he puts his satchel over the saddle, patting the dagger but not drawing it. Aben looks back for a moment at his adopted son, saying "Do you want to die? Draw the damn thing, even if you can't use it." Ezekul fumbles for a moment with the knife, before pulling it out.

Aben would wait a bit, listening for anything, hoping the group is doing as he asked, knowing that they need to react fast to whatever it was that had just claimed Jonathan. He'd look back, saying "Ready your bows and what have you, Teran, next to me, on my right. The rest of you find somewhere you can keep a eye on us, be ready to fire at anything that moves and isn't one of ours." Aben peers at the bush, waiting for now, not willing to go headlong into a trap without others at the ready for when he fell prey to it. He'd test his fingers around his hammer, muscles tensing up further than they normally are, taking a slightly crouched stance, despite the obvious grimace of pain that it causes. Ezekul would move towards him, opening his mouth to say something before Aben almost shouts "Stay back you damned fool. You're not going to stab a man with a sword to death using that. Watch someone's back to be useful if you have to."
 

TERAN ARKLAR


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Teran watched the group converse, and he smiled. They seemed to be getting along better than he thought they would, considering they were a ragtag group and all. He then watched Jonathan get up before getting out weapons that was in a bag upon his horse. He looked at them, listening to Jonathan as he said for them to pick out weapons if they did not have any, or to seemingly 'upgrade' what they had. He shrugged before patting the sheathed scimitar at his waist. Teran liked this weapon the most, it suited his tastes. It was lightweight and sharp at the tip. After the group checked the weapons, he climbed upon his horse and rode out into the forest along with them. He looked around the eerie forest, listening to the insects and birds before coming to an abrupt halt. Teran looked ahead to see what the issue was, and he saw Jonathan get off of his horse. He watched Jonathan raise his hand, giving the signal for the group to get off their horses. He nodded, before doing the same hand signal to the others behind himself. While Teran was doing this, Jonathan walked into the brush, before letting out a scream.

"What in god's name was that?!"

Teran watched Aben panic before dismounting rather quickly. He wondered what caused this man to forget about the injury in his leg. It seemed that some people were more resilient than others. Teran's ears perked up at the sound of Aben's orders, and he complied. He dismounted his stallion before getting to Aben's right, and he unsheathed his scimitar. Teran listened to Aben advise his son once more, and he looked back before giving Ezekul a wry smile, to reassure him. He then turned back to the brush, before sighing and gulping.

"Jonathan?"​
 
Seeing that she couldn't gauge a response out of Jonathan, Rydia shrugs to herself and moves to grab her things once things seemed to start moving again. She looked about as everyone else would mount their horses and she soon follows. As they all were lead into the forest, Rydia's eyes started to focus on her surroundings, looking at particular areas of branches and trees, some that would make good ambush points. Something was off in the air, and it seemed the same way for Jonathan as well. As he dismounted his horse, hers had stopped by the others, near a tree. Instinctively, she took hold of her bow and brought it infront of her, resting at the ready as her eyes look about. Only a minute later, Jonathan heads into the bushes and yells out, alarming everyone around it would seem. Once Aben went into action, Rydia was soon to follow, moving to stand on her horse and jumping up to the nearby tree, finding a firm branch to perch herself as she'd ready an arrow, ~Bandits?.. Or something else..~ She'd hold the bow back a little to ready herself if arrows needed to fly, her eyes scanning the area for any signs of unfamiliar movement.
 
A scream from Jonathan was the only signal he needed to know that there was danger. Whipping his head from left to right, Atticus readied his guard. His horse, or well, his 'borrowed' horse, yelped from fear and it took about a minute or two to calm the animal down. This is what I hate about horses. Atticus was never good with animals, they never got along with him while the feeling was mutual. He wouldn't abuse the creatures but the thief very much destested them. With keen eyes, he swept his bangs away to get a better view. Maybe there was bandits around? Perhaps a bear attack? If so, then it should happen any moment now. With a dagger hidden in his boots, he slipped it from the shoe and unwrapped the cloth around the blade. "Jonathan?" He called, his voice unwavered, as it was loud and clear, "What happened?"
 
Serina stuffed the last of her bread in her mouth and took the sachel. She studied the it for a moment, then decided that the original bottom could be kept as an extra layer. She set to work sewing a new bottom on to the sachel, deftly working twine through the leather with a bone needle. It didn't take her too long, and by the time she was done, Atticus' sachel would probably last for a few more monthes, granted, the rough work wouldn't win Serina any awards. She handed the sachel back to Atticus, then looked up at the captain's announcement. She noted the filled quivers he set out and quickly headed over to get a closer look at them. They were made out of fine leather with a single strap attached to the side. She took an arrow out of it and sighted down the shaft. It was perfectly straight, and much better than anything she had. Hesitantly, Serina took the quiver and packed it in her travel bag along with her field journal which she retrived from the ground.

As the group rode into the forest, Serina saw more Aconitum growing alongside the road. She was suddenly struck by an idea. Grabbing her herbalist mitts, Serina hopped off her horse and carefully plucked one of the purple plants out by the roots, then quickly got back on her horse, wrapping the root in the same spare parchment she kept her previous plant sample. If what Atticus said was true, the next time she could get some boiling water, she could probably distill a powerful poison from the root.

Serina's thoughts were jerked from her plans when the captain called a halt. Seeing the others dismount and arm themselves, she quickly followed, untying the simple but servicable recurve bow from behind her saddle. She jerked when the captain screamed from somewhere ahead in the bushes. She quitely followed Aben's orders, hauling herself up onto a tree branch, and nocking an arrow.
 
Tiamo only watched in silence as different actions and conversations played out in her surroundings. This was something she grew accustomed to doing if she were to do some social recon without actually initiating a conversation. It's pretty obvious why she would prefer it like that. She made more minor mental notes of her group members just in case it would ever come in handy.

But then that snoot Jonathan signalled them to a little mini armory of sorts. She rolled her eyes at his advertisement strategy, sure he wasn't a merchant by trade but surely everybody had some minor bias to their personal weapons. Tiamo did. In fact her blade and sheathe were her only momentos of her troupe days but regardless she hopped up and swiped an assortment of daggers that she would later tuck into her belt.

And they once again began to move. Tiamo kept to herself like before, still refusing to mount her horse. It however seemed like everybody got the damn picture Tiamo was trying to send out, they all left her alone. Except Atticus who would talk of casual things time to time. She didn't mind in particular, but her responses were hardly enthusiastic.

It was moments after their surroundings transformed into thick bushery did Tiamo finally snapped back into her senses from those odd times where her thoughts would consume her. It's was Jonathan's alert. "Oh fuck it all." She muttered under her breath. Everybody quickly got into an impromptu formation, with the archers in the trees and all. A whirl of thoughts went through Tiamo as she separated her sheathe from it's blade cautiously. These forests for the most parts were uncharted, who knew what the captain saw. Tiamo slowly moved into a position behind Atticus where she held her scabbard in a defensive stance.

"What the fuck is it Johnathan?"
 
For a moment there was silence, it was chilling. There was not a sound.
Jonathan came from the brush and waved the group forward. He made sure that everyone was quiet.
Quickly, he moved the group around the scene and showed them what had happened.
Bodies, there were a couple dead bodies and it was recent. They looked like bandits from Ekton, but their bodies were too mutilated. For the most part, all of Jonathan's boot was covered in blood. He had stepped in the stomach of one of the bodies. He made no move to clean it, and let the stench settle in. "From what I have deduced most of these people are from Ekton, but they are too far away. That means they must have come from Dulemar, and it's possible that they have already taken it. If that is the situation, we will need to kill the captain and capture their warriors. I thought that this mission would be easy, but I guess all of your talents will be needed."
Jonathan walked over to a small bag that one of the bodies held and cut it open. It had a couple of scraps of paper, a notebook, and a bag of gold. He searched through a couple of other bags, but the only thing useful from them was a small box. The box was oak and very dark, from what you could tell it had a hand with a slash through it. Whatever it was, it was important enough that Jonathan immediately slipped it into Teran's sack and left it with him.

"Search the area, if you find anything give it to Teran or I."

OOC: Look at the OOC there is important information.​
 
Aben would look over the bodies, before stepping away, not putting away his hammer, but not getting any closer, not wanting to get near the bodies now, assigning himself to watch duty as he steps back and away, not wanting any part of searching the dead, saying "I've had my fair share of exhuming already, you guys can have at it.". Ezekul would put away his knife as he saw Jonathan, looking over the bodies, grimacing and getting out some gloves, and starting to circle around them, not really wanting to get too stuck in, looking for anything that really caught his eye, not for any weapons or anything of the sort however, kind of splitting off a little bit as he does so, almost more interested in what was around the bodies.

Aben would not release his hammer, saying something about "Whatever it was could still be around." before starting to just watch the horses, figuring he can do that instead of having to deal with the dead, having his fair share of dealing with them and then some. He'd take a few moments to try and get the horses to a bit more of a centralized area, starting to tie them up, before thinking better of it and just putting their reins around branches instead, allowing for easy access.
 
Releasing some of the tension off of her bow, Rydia lowers it and looks towards Jonathan from above, moving to follow through the trees. Shutting her eyes momentarily as she spots the dead about, she breathes out and looks ahead, something Jonathan had just said seeming off to her, ~Something tells me there's a lot more to this mission than they're letting on.. Best search further out, Aben could be right, and maybe there could be traps.~

And with that, Rydia moves to bound from tree to tree where she could, only saying one sentence clearly before heading off. "I'll scout ahead. If there's trouble, I'll divert it away if I can to give you all time to act."
 
TERAN ARKLAR

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Teran stuck his left hand into his sack, pulling out the oak box with a slash through it. He examined it closely before shrugging, and he placed it back within his sack. Whatever the oak box had inside, he would have to check it later. Teran than nodded to Jonathan's words. If the group found anything important or extraordinary, they should immediately report back to them. Teran took one more glimpse at the dead bodies before cringing, and crinkling his nose. The bodies had a wretched scent. He looked up at the trees for a moment, wondering what could have happened to the corpses that lay in front of them. His ears perked up as he listened to Aben's comment, and he was correct. Whatever thing that killed these men, could in fact still be out here.

His head turned to the side, noticing Rydia, and hearing her statement about scouting out ahead. He gave the woman a thumbs up before nodding in her direction. Although Teran did not like the idea of a member of the group going off by themselves, he knew that she would be ok.

"Hmm, I guess this is our rendezvous then."​
 
At Jonathan's signal, Serina clambered down from the tree and followed. As she caught the sight and stench of the bodies, she immediately covered her mouth and nose and tried not to retch. She had seen dead bodies before, but most of those bodies had been half disintegrated and they certainly hadn't smelled this bad.

Aben was standing guard, and Rydia had gone off to scout. Serina was unsure of what she could do. She didn't know how much use she would be at either scouting or guarding. As she was thinking, she unconsciously fell back into her habit of walking while she thought, and wandered away from the group and into the forest. By the time she was aware of her surrounding again, there was no familiar land mark in sight. Serina only sweared in truly dire situations, so after doing a bit of review (You are lost. Check. The cause of the dead bodies in the clearing are possibly in your vicinity. Check. You have no food or water. Check. You have no herbs. Check. Alright looks dire.) she let out an impressive string of curses, under her breath of course, to avoid drawing more unwanted attention to herself, she may have been a bumbling idiot, but she wasn't that much of an idiot. "Well, it looks like I'm scouting" she muttered to herself.
 
Everything had gone to hell. Or at the very least it had, it was a utterly stomach-turning experience walking up to those horribly mutilated people. Tiamo managed to keep enough composure to look completely normal as if everything was fine. She even crinkled her nose and lightly tapped the decaying head with the tip of her boots to add the effect she was unaffected by the current events. She made a face of disgust whilst watching the maggots escape through the holes they dug through the flesh. As much as she hated to admit it, the dead unnerved her. Yes, yes. Tiamo had never directly killed somebody yet. Wild animals and beasts of course but no human heart has been pierced by her sword. She just often resorted to disabling her foes instead of executing them.

"Oh gods. Fuck, fuck." She spoke mentally as she walked from one dead body to another. Each earning another swear. Whatever the hell caused this was nothing short of brutal. She examined them one by one while still staying in eyesight of the other members. And then she noticed one singular body slightly cast off to the side. She approached it slowly, the bleached blonde hair catching her eye. The corpse laid face first and Tiamo cautiously flipped it. She sighed. For a moment she expected to see the bony, alcohol-ridden face of her mother who also had such blonde hair but instead it was a much younger girl. It wasn't any less disturbing however.

The slight ruffling of a nearby bush finally took Tiamo's attention from the deceased girl. Her hand tightened around her weapons and she bit her lip in thought. She thought of calling out to her group-mates but that would give off her location, but then again who the fuck knew just what was only a few feet away. She slowly approached the bush, entering it after cautiously examining it with the sharp edge of her blade. And she found nothing. She searched the surrounding area afterwards, just as wearily and after around fifteen minutes she realized she had wandered way to far off from the group.

"..Shit."
 
The Oddsman traveled along the small dirt track that's marked as the best route to... whereverthehelltheysentmeto. He rode atop a sturdy, strong horse, a beautiful horse, really, but simply a packhorse by the Royal Stable's or whatevertheyarecalled's standards. This horse can keep going far longer than a battlehorse, and probably faster, too, though it isn't as tall, broad, or strong as one. Of course, the moment I found a good horse from a farm, I switched the saddlebags [too much stuff, are they really so reliant on pre-prepared supplies?] to the new horse that I bought, and now rode a quality horse, tan all over.

With the current pace, the Oddsman figured that he'd be to his destination in probably another day or so. And he had a nice new horse that he ripped off of the royalty people, and he got a bunch of free supplies, and ya.

The Oddsman stopped for the night later, and searched through the supplies. He found a pouch of gold coins.

Nope, that's mine.
 
Jonathan looked over the group of bodies with a grim feeling. He had no clue why these warriors were out this far. If they had already taken Dulemar, then the war may be over faster than it started. The area they were to travel was not that far, and they could make it by night. What if there were more bodies? What if the pass was taken by bandits? Either way, they have a journey far ahead of them. Jonathan brought the horses together and waited for the group for the group to return with any information about these bodies. Jonathan paced around the bodies looking at each individual one. In total there were seven bodies, four of them were recognizably males while the rest were hard to distinguish. A couple of them had limbs torn off, while the other bodies had halves of their body missing. Each one of them had some sort of special treatment, like the killer did it to them for a particular reason. It was obvious, maybe not to everyone, that the killer was close and watching them. Continuing to investigate, he flipped over a couple of bodies and examined the wounds. In one of the bodies the heart was completely torn from it's torso and put into it's mouth, while others were not much better. After examining it, a pregnant woman had her child completely taken from her stomach. The scene was gruesome, and he knew it would be worse when the group finally reported to him.​
 
Aben grumbles and walks around the horses again, grouching to himself "Of course they wander off, no sense in sticking around to make sure we can keep alive if whoever it was that did this comes back..." He'd keep going around the horses for quite some time, alternating between grumbling and pacing and tattooing his fingers into his hammer, his awkward gait causing him to struggle occasionally with the terrain, not that he was making more progress than leaving a circle of tracks that'd likely look as if caused by some sort of madman to any tracker.

Ezekul on the other hand is making a lot of progress, running back through the trees now, glancing over his shoulder once, having been calm a moment ago, but suddenly not so pleased with being alone in the forest. His hands are still faintly stained with blood, and there's a large splatter on his shoulder as he finally makes it to the original clearing, placing his hand on a trunk and hanging his head as he pants for a moment, before seeing he's standing over a horrifying visage of a face, and scrambling away, but he does keep his lunch to himself to his credit. He'd kind of try to step over it, seeking out Jonathan for a moment, and starting with "There was... This guy... He was... There's this..." Aben would have finally moved over towards the clearing again, seeing his adopted son and shouting out "Spit it out, why do you have blood all over you?" Ezekul would take a moment to breathe deeply, pulling out a wad of various papers and shoving them into Jonathan's hand, saying "They're these warriors, and they were going to conquer Dulemar, then march on Biltmore, there's one-hundred thousand on your head and there's this thing that did it called Shilakas and the grass doesn't grow there or something and the world stops when it speaks its name and it's killed them and... And..." He'd already be out of breath again, as Aben says "Make sense boy, you saw a dead guy and he ranted for a bit, that's not a unique experience." Aben grumbles, already starting his awkward gait back to the horses.
 
Rustling a tree branch as Rydia seems to make her arrival back to the group in time to hear Ezekul, she drops herself down onto the ground with a grim look to her. She looks back to where she came from with her typical cold eyes and her teeth grit, hidden. "There was plenty of smoke coming from over in that direction, likely where we were heading but I didn't risk getting a closer look to see exactly what could be causing it. The further I headed out, the more the forest felt dead to me.. One thing caught my attention and it was the carcass of a horse.. Half of one more like it. The damage that was done.. I can say for certain it was not a bear or any recognizable animal that's known to hunt by far, no normal animal could have done that. I don't know how long it's been there, but maggots were all over it." She continues to look off where she came from, bow in hand and very tightly held in her grip. Whatever was out there, she was prepared to move into action warily.
 
And then I ride up to the village on my lovely steed [I've decided to call her 'Ink,' for some reason], with my purchased formerly-farmhorse-now-packhorse trailing behind me, head lowered slightly. Ink knickers a warning to me, and I rub her neck, happy to have such a nice horse. Nice horses are good.

Nice people are planning to kill you, and therefore should be cautious about, for they are insane people. Everyone's insane, really, especially compared to me. I seem to be the only one with any kind of sanity, but oh well. Look at this, all this death! I marvel at someone who could do such a large scale, and why are the people I'm supposed to provide these supplies to are all grim and grumpy about it? Obviously, they aren't much of a fighting force if they'll look around and grow somber.

Oops, my horse stepped on one. Hmm... I stop my horse, jump off and take off a small purse, full of probably copper coins, and pocket them. He doesn't need it anymore. He also has a rather nice knife in his hand, seems he at least tried to die fighting... Nice! I'll keep the knife as a memento about his attempt to fight back!

With the knife in my boot and some more money in my pockets, I approach, holding the rope lead to keep Ink, and from Ink the packhorse, following. I raise up a hand in greeting, and I say a bit mockingly, "Greetings, fellow traveler, why the grim look!?"
 
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