Really, Allereun was glad that he had the shift closest to sunrise, considering his impaired vision. His hearing was good, sure, but it was masked over by the horrendous snoring of Leifr and the snorts from the horses nearby. He, himself, had always been a near-silent sleeper, and such a quality has kept him quite safe during more...dangerous nights. But of course, now, he had to watch over a whole bunch of other loud, snoring people and horses, in a place that didn't feel all too safe.

Drumming his fingers absentmindedly on his knife's hilt, the young man looked up at the three moons overhead. They weren't completely full, but their light was strong, and only going to get stronger as time goes on. The Three Moon Bloom, was it? A special state that certain Lunar Blossoms attain, only during a night bathed in three full moons.

Turning his attention to his Herbal Pouch, he decided that he may as well make a simple Mandrake concoction, just to pass some time. He brought out the Mandrake root, stirred the embers of their fire, and was about to get started, when there was another distinct sound present amongst the campers.

Footsteps, and the whisperings of an unknown language? Was this one of those magical incantations that he had heard about? The curse of a demon, lurking under the shadow of the moon?

Was this the origin of everything the trio that he had joined was here for?

Nevertheless, he kicked the embers, feeding the flames more kindling, more firewood, before stepping to his sleeping companions. Leifr was his first priority, the one who was least injured, and who was one of the more capable fighters. By the firelight, he located the snoring bear-man, and kicked him unceremoniously.

Lyrisa, the second, and hopefully someone who may be able to make sense of the whisperings that were drawing ever-closer, was the second, awoken with an urgent, but gentle shake.

And Fiore was the third, with Allereun slapping his face a few times.

The owner of that voice was drawing closer now, and Allereun did not want to waste time explaining what was going on.

Lyrisa was back home, in Ulrich's library. It wasn't big enough to be called a library she supposed as it was only two bookshelves of various scrolls and bound tomes. Still, between the two of them it was know as such. Ulrich's room was inside one of the doors on the side. She was sitting in a chair reading a book. It was funny though. She couldn't read it at all. Not because she didn't understand, it didn't really have anything on the pages. Then the light sound of metal on metal sounds with the tattering of porcelain was accompanied by a somewhat distorted voice. "Good evening, Mistress Lyrisa." She was about to reply when she was woken but a gentle shove.

"Huh? What's happening?" She heard. . . Noises, as Allereun went to wake the last member of the party up by slapping. . . Repeatedly. Besides that though, there were some odd voices. She couldn't make out. . . She couldn't even make out they were saying anything. It sounded like gibberish. . . Not even a language. . . What was it? It didn't sound like a chant. . . The horses were freaking out as well. That didn't bode well if anything. "Perhaps we should make a hasty retreat. I'm not a fan of staying around horses not in a good mood."

Thankfully for Fiore, Fiore had a hard time sleeping, and thus couldn't sleep as soundly as he wish he could, so as soon as he felt the impact of Allereun's gentle hand smacking his face... for the fifth time, he woke up and grabbed Allereun's arm in an effort to stop her.

"You can stop it now, I'm awake," Fiore said, his tone more serious and angrier than usual. Odysseus, without warning, let out a neigh, but it wasn't his normal kind, it was more panicky, almost as if he was afraid. At the sound of this, Fiore stood up, grabbed Exalia by its scabbard and buckled it onto his belt, all the while he realized there was a sound, voices, voices that didn't sound like the normal language the people of Ithelia spoke, and in that instant, Fiore knew exactly what to do. Fiore looked over at Allereun and the girl, holding his finger to his mouth, shushing them.

"Mount your horses..." Fiore said in a hushed tone, his finger still to his lips. "We ride out of here, and we ride hard. We'll ride towards the nearest town and buy a room there, understand?" Fiore knew that he was in no condition to ride hard, if he did so the excruciating pain would hurt him a lot more than what a bandit could do, but he had to ride as fast as he could to the town, not for himself, not for Odysseus, but for the others. Fiore, slowly but subtly, walked towards Odysseus, trying to calm him down as he patted him on the head, slowly untethering him. After Odysseus was free, Fiore mounted Odysseus, waiting for the others to mount their horses.

Leifr always had a terrible time trying to sleep when he was unhappy. He could just never relax without resolving his distress first, but this time he managed to finally slip into his dreams. Until a blunt force hit him right on his bandaged wound, causing him to writhe in pain for a few moments before his consciousness begrudgingly returned to reality. Sitting up with a grimace clearly etched in his face from the manner in which he was awoken, he noticed the strange sounds as they headed towards the group.

Before he could say anything, Lyrisa and Fiore already spoke what needed to be done. Leifr actually wanted to sate his curiosity by staying just out of reach of the owners of this voice while waiting for the sun to shed light on what manner of man or creature it was. There was also the brass key Leifr had and the locked door in the bandit camp, but Leifr had already marked this place on his map and without the key there wasn't much chance of looters getting in.

There was also the fact that Leifr and Fiore were wounded and everyone had just awoken. If the voices turned out to be hostile creatures, would they be able to combat it? Leifr couldn't figure out how many creatures there were as the whispers seemed to blur together. Maybe it was one. Maybe a dozen. But survival came first.

Rushing over to his warhorse that carried his arms and armor, Leifr quickly took his shield, short sword, and Honor and equipped them to their rightful buckles, belts, and sashes. Forgoing the process of putting on his chainmail for now, Leifr ran to the front of his warhorse and unhitched it and then did the same for the hauling horse. Mounting his warhorse and making sure the reins of the hauling horse were stable, he gently reached for the handle of his average short sword. It was easier to pull a sword out of its scabbard than unbuckle a blade from his belt as he must with Honor.

Allereun waking everyone up and mounting up on the horses took a bit of time since waking up quickly was a bit difficult, so it took a bit for them all to get ready, except Lyrisa. While indeed it took her a bit to wake up, getting on her horse was a bit different. She managed to mount up immediately on her horse, in a matter of moments, allowing her to still ride after mounting up very swiftly, which was a good thing. The footsteps grew closer, and the groans grew louder, some of the strange sounds sounding more feral or guttural now. It was clear that they were very close.

Allereun, however; would be able to discern them even more quickly than the others, and able to react even sooner and do more if he wanted to since he had a couple of seconds of spotting them ahead of the others. Approaching the group now were six strange humanoid creatures. While the sounds would have been noticable, what was probably noticable before their visages were was the terrible smell. They smelled of rot, death, and decay, a very distinct smell. Blood being another that Allereun was able to pick out as well, as well as dirt or soil, a very earthy smell.

Upon noticing them... Fiore and Leifr would seem a bit unnerved by their very presence, as it was most disgusting and sent a chill into their very beings. The same thing occurred for Lyrisa and Allereun, only they managed to steel their nerves quickly and stay composed. Approaching them were five strange creatures that seemed to move on both two legs, yet also on all fours as well. What they were was unclear. They looked like they some kind of humanoid, but at the same time they looked nothing like it, their skin and flesh seeming as if it had rotted and decomposed, their heads looking like some twisted monstrosity. What they were was unclear, but they weren't friendly and seemed to be the source of those strange growls, but in the distance it was still there, those strange whispers that didn't seem Galmin at all.

Whatever was going on, this could be the source of the bandits disappearing, and it was clear that sticking around now probably wasn't a good idea, but the horses seemed to be completely unnerved. Whatever they were the horses didn't like them and they began to buck and move about, forcing Fiore who was on his to hold on for dear life as the horse, since Fiore wasn't able to control Odysseus, began to flee the scene, Allereun's and Lyrisa's horses still tethered fortunately, the creatures letting out hisses, growls, and groans as they soon enough began to zero in on the group quickly now at a pretty fast speed, but luckily the group of travelers, minus Fiore on his fleeing steed, would be able to react when they were about five yards away now.

For awhile, Vialesa could see the faint glow of a fire off her path, clearly a temporary place of rest for one or several strangers. Up and down the short hills, Vialesa cared little to approach; whoever they were and whatever they were doing was of little concern and importance. If she stopped to say hello to every band of travelers she caught wind of during her own solitary journey, it'd be a slow progression indeed. She caught sight of the camp approaching from a long ways away, and purposefully angled her trek such that it wouldn't pass through them. Eventually it was positioned to her right, and she was well on her way to passing it by.

The glow of the fire burst to life in one moment, and Vialesa waved it off as being a simple act of feeding the flames a tad too much. It wasn't a particularly cold night by any means, but perhaps the campers desired a greater flame for whatever reason. However, she stopped when the sounds of distraught horses caught her ears. One in particular continued its cries louder than the others, and it seemed less like a peaceful gathering in the night and more like an act of violence waiting to happen.

Vialesa looked over at the camp from atop a hill, deducing as best she could what was transpiring. Little was visible beyond the vague figures of several individuals seated around the campfire. None of them appeared restful upon the ground, and Vialesa concluded something was amiss with certainty. Someone was in trouble, and she had the possibility of granting aid, whatever it was that spooked the horses. Bandits, wolves... Whatever it may be, she couldn't walk past the idea that common folk were about to be assaulted in the dark.

Hand planted upon the hilt of her warped weapon, Vialesa approached the campsite with a brisk pace.

It wasn't that he could see them clearly in the night, really. Allereun, after all, was more blind than a bat at night, and even with the fire and the moon, he couldn't see those odd things clearly at such a distance. However, what he COULD discern was the blurry individual movements of the things that approached them. There were six of those monsters, and they smelled of dirt, blood, and rot. Demons that rose from the ground, perhaps? Or were these some sort of undead monstrosity, intent on tearing them apart? Nevertheless, Allereun clicked his tongue, and with the extra few seconds he had, kicked the fireplace that he had stoked up moments before. Scattering the burning embers roughly over their camp place, he hoped that the embers would deter those humanoid beasts for at least a few moments longer. The dew of the night had yet to set in, and the bedrolls, filled with what was pretty much kindling, would make for a great fuel.

Animals would shy away from a large blaze, and Allereun was hoping that these demons were also adverse to fire.

Of course, the same could be said for horses, and he clicked his tongue in disappointment as one of the horses of the nobles, apparently one that wasn't very well-trained, panicked and bolted off, dragging the unfortunate Fiore with him. Great. Just what they needed.

Mounting his own horse with some difficulty, his foot missing the stirrup a few times as one of his hands was holding onto a burning branch, providing more of a method of finding him than actual illumination, Allereun took one last look at those ugly beasts that were approaching. Yep, they were definitely ugly, but it didn't seem like they'd be any faster than a horse. With his spare hand, he drew out his skinning knife, chopping at the ropes that tethered the horses to the tree. After it began to fray, his own horse bolted off as well, the young man pulling the reins and directing the horse towards the location that Fiore had been dragged to.

“We need to follow him! Come on!”

It would be great if Leifr was skilled with the crossbow that he had pillaged from that bandit, but somehow, the man didn't look like he'd be good with such things.

When Allereun kicked the fire he would hurt his foot a bit, but not much since they were mostly hot embers. Sure it would sting somewhat with how hot they were, but no serious burn. When kicked a few of the bedrolls caught flame and the fire made the area a bit brighter, so the creatures, five yards away, were a bit more visible. While they weren't completely visible, it was clear that these... things... were not any bandits, wolves, or anything else. Unfortunately though the fire did not seem to deter them in the slightest, as great a strategy as it was.

Sure it probably would keep them away from that exact spot so they could use it as a bit of cover maybe, but judging from reactions of these beasts to the bedrolls catching fire they were not afraid of fire like many animals were. It was still unclear to everyone what these beasts were, but judging from the smell it was clear that indeed getting out of here to a better defended spot was the best idea, especially with Fiore's horse having fled the scene.

For Vialesa, who was moving more quickly now, she was still a good thirty or so yards away, unable to see what was going on still since it was dark, but it was clear that something was happening up ahead.

As the creatures came into view, Lyrisa couldn't help but lose her cool for a second. From atop her horse, she saw the. . . Beings of rot. . . And other things. "What. . . What the hell are these things?" They sure as hell didn't seem like anything natural. They didn't seem to fear either if their lack of it against the fire was an indication

Before anything bad happened she needed to get away. So did everyone else. . . Wait, the Creep was already gone with his horse. It seemed more like he lost control of his horse and it ran off on it's own. That was one person safe at least. Really, they would be idiots if they were to stay there.

She just needed to go, they were down a fighter anyhow and these creatures looked too. . . Disturbing. She didn't want to be around them anymore if she could help it. Perhaps it was these creatures that instigated the missing peoples and disappearing bandits. It didn't look too good. She kicked her horse into action to leave hoping that her allies were going to follow behind her.

"Odysseus..." Fiore whimpered as he clung onto Odysseus for dear life, the harsh riding hurt Fiore more than anyone could ever imagine. "Odysseus..." Odysseus was riding too fast, the thumping noise of his feet hitting the ground blocked out all noises of Fiore, Odysseus was riding as fast as he could towards the nearest village, freaked out of his mind. Fiore managed to smile, despite being in an immense amount of pain, at Odysseus' speed, but Fiore needed Odysseus to stop. "Odysseus..." Fiore went once. "Odysseus..." Fiore went again. "Ody-... Odysseus..." Fiore went for the final time. Odysseus couldn't hear him, the clattering of his hooves on the ground was too loud. Fiore clenched his hands, sat up, grabbed a hold of the reins, and pulled back.

"ODYSSEUS!" Fiore yelled out at the top of his lungs. Odysseus, shocked at this, slowed down until managing to come to a stop. "Thank you..." Fiore said as he sat on top of Odysseus, who stood completely still, waiting for Fiore's next order. Fiore, however, was too preoccupied, he could feel something unraveling. Fiore touched the bandages, and they were slowly coming off, he needed to change them.

"Odysseus, I know you're afraid," Fiore said, Odysseus interrupting him with an loud neigh, expressing his current state and emotions, which was that of being scared out of his mind. "We need to wait for the others, that means Allereun, Leifr, and the girl, okay?"

Odysseus let out a soft nicker, agreeing with Fiore. Odysseus then put his head down out of shame while Fiore calmly awaited the three to arrive. "It's okay, boy, they'll come soon..."

Odysseus would have kept going and going in the direction of the bandit camp, moving as fast as it could go until it was about a good around twenty five to thirty or so yards away from the campsite, or at least at a point where it and the ghouls couldn't be seen anymore, which in the dark was about a good thirty yards away, the smell not being here either, and boy did those things smell foul. Even now Odysseus would still be on edge a bit. Not utterly terrified like before, but still on edge. Lyrisa would soon ride up as well, having been a bit swifter than the others in her mount up so she was able to get there sooner.

Leifr and Allereun, unfortunately, were not so lucky since it took them a bit longer to mount up, even though Allereun noticed the powerful stench and blurry figures of the monsters ahead of time. The monsters began their charge, guttural growls and hisses escaping them as one of them, the closest one, moved towards Allereun and his horse, his and Leifr's horses both being a little freaked out by the fires. Before the beast could attack though it suddenly hissed loudly, the fire nearest to Allereun's somewhat freaking out horse and the beasts seeming to flare up for a single instant by just a tiny bit as it grew lighter, catching more of the leaves, grass, and kindling within the bedroll now.

The fires seemed a bit brighter now though, burning a bit brighter than before as the leaves and grass around it added to a bit of its flame. Four of monsters were held back by this, one of them even seeming to hiss very loudly and retreat back, covering its eyes, looking almost stunned by the brighter fire. One of them though seemed a bit hesitant to approach as it was shielding its eyes a bit, but it still managed a guttural hiss and groan as it lurched forward and slashed up at Allereun's horse with the claws on one of its deformed looking hands. It might have been the brighter fire as the beast missed.

With the other four temporarily held back, Allereun and Leifr could escape with the others towards the camp down the hills from here in hopes to get to a position that would be more easily defended rather than trying to fight or run away from these beasts while in this more hilly terrain. Besides, whatever else was out there may also attack the group if they run, if there is anything else out there of course.

That missed swipe at Alleruen was the final straw for Leifr: they had to leave, now. Snapping the reins on his warhorse and the hauling horse's reins firmly held in his other hand, Leifr's two steeds broke into a sprint (the warhorse was trained enough to run at a similar pace with the untrained horse) chasing after Lyrisa and Fiore. Alleruen was on her horse already so Leifr expected her to be close in pursuit.

Leifr didn't try thinking about where they came from or what they were. All he had to think of was that they were hostile, numerous, and Leifr and his company were in a disadvantageous situation. Leifr abandoned his curiosity of the creatures from before and was now filled with only the need to survive. Leifr was taught to be the rear guard in these cases, but he was also taught to protect the supplies above all and in this case Leifr held onto the horse carrying those very supplies.

Leifr's mind was conflicted though; should worse come and the monsters turn out to be fast enough to catch up to them, would Leifr be able to let go of the hauling horse's reins and use it as a distraction? Leifr grit his teeth in both fighting against such thoughts and the pain his wound was inflicting due to the harsh riding he was putting himself through. Think of something else, he told himself. His mind drifted to how to combat the monsters. Their bodies, though grotesque and unnerving, didn't seem to be of natural origin. Their was no plate or scale on them so Leifr assumed blades could cut them. They also hesitated at the flame – no, they were unaffected until it grew out of control. Was it the heat? Light? Leifr imagined that the best bet would be to recreate the fires, but clicked his tongue in anger when he remembered that he had no fire-starting equipment.

There was also the fact that Leifr was unarmored and wounded. Though he could survive the pain his wounds caused, without his armor Leifr would be injured much more gravely than his current condition. Leifr looked up at the sky. It was a twilight hour, when the moons' lights were dim yet the sun had yet to rise. But such an hour was short lived. Leifr focused back to chasing Lyrisa and Fiore and quietly hoped that they'd be able to avoid the creatures until it was even slightly brighter.

The monsters were indeed giving chase, but they were not as fast as any of the horses, so naturally the party would be able to easily go ahead of them. Riding onward still, another twenty five yards or so and the party made it to the inside of the bandit camp, the monsters probably not all that far behind as they were most likely chasing the group, or so it would be safe to assume so to keep everyone on guard. Still, they were in the bandit camp, which was a nice, one hundred yard enclosure with three huts, as they had seen before, although the fourth, that had a door, was most likely the most defensible.

In the meantime Vialesa got closer to the fire and she could see some blurry figures now and a somewhat brighter flame. There was only one blurry figure there that seemed to somewhat back from the fire and be hunched over a bit, but that was all that was visible from this distance to Vialesa. While sight wise it was hard to see who was there, in the air there was a very... powerful smell. Rot, decay, and death. Smells that struck the senses that were coming from the direction of that fire. At around twenty or so yards away from the small campsite she could choose to get closer to see just who were there at the fire, or with whatever that smell was that was around there choose to stay away.

Odysseus let out a loud neigh as Fiore dismounted him. Fiore, in an effort to calm Odysseus down, continued to pat Odysseus on the head. Fiore looked over towards the others, his stance told a story, a story where he was brave, a story in which he knew exactly what to do.

But that would be a lie.

In reality, Fiore didn't know what to do, he was afraid, scared, not for himself, but for the others, for Odysseus, for Leifr, for Allereun, and for the girl. He didn't know what to do, should they fight? Should they try running? All of these ideas flew around in Fiore's head, but Fiore couldn't single one out and pick one, all of the ideas seemed stupid in their own way and highly illogical. But Fiore continued to stand tall, even if he didn't know what to do, he had to seem brave, he had to seem like he knew what to do, fore if he didn't, there could be a possibility for panic in the group.

Fiore scanned the bandit camp, there were four huts, three without a door, and one with a door. Fiore raised his hand up, pointing his finger towards the hut with the door. "Leifr, what do you think of that hut?" Fiore asked, his voice louder than usual. "Easily defendable, no?"

The further away from those creatures she was, the better she felt. Lyrisa and the others came upon the bandit camp again. It's funny how they left here because of the possible dangers in the first place, and now they've come back there to find a place to settle because of that very danger. Now, what could they do to defend themselves? There was the option of setting up traps. She wasn't sure how much time they had really, but there had to be something they could do to mitigate the numbers of enemies. To the others of the group she spoke, "Other than JUST holding out in that building, can we think of some traps we could set up? What do we have to work with?" She asked, more to herself than to the others as she looked around.

When Leifr arrived with the others, hauling horse in tow, Fiore immediately asked Leifr's opinion. Leifr exhaled harshly in irritation, but Leifr quelled his annoyance. Now was not the time to be angry at each other, he thought to himself. Leifr glanced at the house Fiore was talking about before closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair. Lyrisa seemed to share Fiore's opinion of holding up in that area and staving off the creatures.

Leifr suddenly remembered the brass key from the bandit leader. When they searched the camp earlier, the very hut Fiore was pointing to had a door on the northern side. Maybe it was the key for that door? If that was so, Leifr could probably lock themselves inside and wait out the creatures, or Leifr could just lock the others in hiding and try luring the monsters away. Leifr bit his lower lip in thought, then quickly snapped the reins and headed towards the door. Both of these ideas only worked if the key was for this door in the first place and only if the door wasn't able to be smashed open.

Quickly jumping off his warhorse when he was near, Leifr ran into the hut and towards the door.

“The bandit that wielded two axes had a key on his person. If they were resting here and planned to take it over, perhaps this key...”

Leifr tried pushing the key into the lock. There was a chance that this key was for something else, perhaps a chest they buried elsewhere, but Leifr didn't have time to hesitate. It either worked or it didn't!

When Leifr slid the key into the lock and turned it, the lock clicked a satisfying one as the door opened. They probably could have tried to break down the wooden door if it didn't open, but the lock did indeed open when the key was inserted, allowing them entry into the much larger hut. This hut seemed much more furbished than the others, a bed, some boxes, a desk, and even a weapon rack with a few weapons upon it. The back wall of the hut though seemed to be built in to the side of the hill, with there being no back wall of the actual hut. It seemed pretty large and somewhat sturdier than the other huts, meaning it was a good place to hole down to hide from the monstrosities that were chasing them down. On the back 'wall' of the hut there was also a large, stone armoire that seemed to be somewhat carved into the hillside.

The smell killed it, Vialesa thought to herself. She might have laughed at the unintentional joke in her head, but such abilities were beyond her at the time, danger present or not. She gripped her sword tighter as she took a few more careful steps towards the campsite. She highly doubted anyone would make a camp right beside a rotting pile of trash-ridden corpses, and so she could only deduce something much more sinister had come upon the travelers. Someone hunched over by the fire, and she could hear the sound of horses riding upon the Earth away from the campsite.

Before she could actually make it to the camp and ask the hunched individual if they were in trouble, he and the other obscured figures in the area broke off into a strange run towards the path the horses she heard had taken. Vialesa stopped about the campsite and surveyed it. A few items were left there unattended, and so she deduced that the occupants had little time to gather their belongings before they ran off into the hills. The fetid smell lingered, but it was less foul as the time passed. Whatever had brought it there had left, clearly. Her gaze wandered over in the direction of the retreating party's direction. Worst case scenario, the foul entities had followed the travelers into the darkness beyond. If she charged in the very same way, she might find herself staring at the backsides of that which was chasing them. They had horses, and she didn't. If anything, coming upon them would only cause her to become the new target.

She doubted she could outrun the entities if they were bold enough to chase horses. Vialesa took a less direct route then, breaking off of the direct path and instead moving parallel to it several dozen feet away. The way the strangers had taken lead to another much larger campsite she could see down the hills. She could approach it from another direction, if it was indeed the location the travelers followed. Otherwise, she would simply move on and make her way to the town initially sought after.

The monsters weren't as fast as the horses, and that was a good thing. After that initial scare while he was trying to make his getaway, Allereun was now able to think for a bit. About what to do in the situation, and how to make it out alive. His horse trailed after Leifr's war horse as they rode to the bandit camp, and Allereun began to list off the shoddy facts that he have made out from his first encounter with those rotten things.

Most important was that they were either adverse to extreme heat or light. Unfortunately, he had to sacrifice all the bedrolls were sacrificed to that initial blaze, but still, it was something that was nice to know. That, combined with the fact that there was no light reflected off their face, showed that they were beasts that primarily depended on scent or hearing to track down their prey. They ran on all fours, yet they appeared to be humanoid, so it should be assume that, in terms of physical strength, they were still much stronger than any Galmin. But they were also linear in their pursuit, not giving up even though it was already proven that they were slower than the horses. Smarter predators would have attempted for a sneaky ambush and given up after it was shown that they could no longer chase, and Alleruen found some comfort in the fact that they were stupider than overgrown dogs.

There was, however, something that did disturb him.

He had seen six. Yet there were only five that approached the party, and one of those five was warded off by the intensity of the flames. So where was the one that didn't approach? Could it be leading a larger section of its 'pack' towards them? Was that the reason behind why those monsters were continuing such a fruitless chase?

Or did he simply think that he had seen those things? Clicking his tongue and tapping repeatedly on the reins of his horse, the young man dismounted as they entered the bandit's camp. Lyrisa spoke of traps, but all things considered, they didn't have much time, nor equipment, for digging up pitfalls, and Allereun's own knowledge of snares was limited to small game. Holing up, if his assumption that the monsters would soon have reinforcements was correct, would be suicidal.

There were four monsters that were chasing.

There were two fighters, one war horse, and two useless people.

There were three huts without doors, and a fourth one that did have a door, one that was just unlocked by Leifr. Seemed like having the noble pillage the corpses of the bandits was useful after all.

But going inside meant leaving the horses outside, since the doors weren't large enough to shelter the horses.

Welp, he was always the type of person to go travel by foot, anyways.

Stepping into the unlocked hut, he took a look around, before setting all his bags and packs and kits down in a corner. Too dark to see anything, but that was why he had brought a torch along with him why he rode away. He crossed the room and then placed the torch where a stone armoire was. There were still a few weapons left in the weapons rack, as well as basic furnishings.

Good.

“If everyone doesn't mind, I believe I may have a solution for surviving the night,” he spoke, turning back to the others.

“When the monsters first arrived, I spotted six of them, but only five attacked us. One was then pushed away by the fire, leaving four left in pursuit. While I'm not aware of where the sixth had gone, I'll assume that it may have gone off the alert the 'main pack' or something to that effect. Furthermore, if we assume that these monsters travel and hunt at night, they'll have an extraordinary sense of smell, and thus...holing up in this hut will only mean that we'll be trapping ourselves in a fixed location.”

“I believe that it'll be best if we fought them immediately, utilizing the doorway of this hut as a...choke point, I believe it was called? Though my knowledge of the art of war comes only from history books, that should be the right term. Through this, we can force them to fight in a 1v1 situation, or, if you two men could get over whatever silly feud you have with each other at the moment, a 1v2 situation.”

“The first kill must be quick though, something along the lines of an ambush immediately as the first one crosses the doorway. Hopefully, the second will stumble over the corpse of the first, and we can force the door shut, in order to trap the second one inside. And after that...we'll have leveled the battlefield, hopefully. Some insight from you men of war would be useful as well, so...what do you think about this?”

Allereun hoped, if nothing else, that Fiore and Leifr's dispute wasn't something as silly as fighting for the hand of Lyrisa in marriage. Things always got ugly when cooperation was required between two men who were fighting over one girl.

Ah, it'd also be useful if they captured one of those monsters alive, wouldn't it? He'd so love to experiment on that thing and see what exactly made it tick. While he wasn't a man of the living sciences, it was always nice to get his hands onto something new~

Luckily Vialesa decided to not head directly for the 'campsite' where the hunched over figure was, as soon enough it seemed to recover somewhat, luckily, or maybe unluckily, not noticing her. The figure soon ran in the direction of the encampment in the hills below where those on horseback had gone. If she had gone towards the hunched over figure instead of going at a distance parallel to the campsite the figure may have noticed her, but fortunately it did not. There was indeed something going on here, but with a bit of walking towards the encampment in the distance gave a better view of its large, wooden pole fence.

It didn't seem like a guard's encampment, yet there were no sounds coming from the encampment in the distance at all, as if it was completely deserted, but it was definitely where the obscured figures and those on horseback had run to. Still, for now she was completely alone, and whether or not she wanted to keep going towards the seemingly lifeless, or so she could tell from this distance as for all she knew everyone in there could be asleep or elsewhere, encampment was up to her.

---

The monsters still did not seem to be there yet at all, as they were still probably lagging a bit behind. Given their stupid nature the party could have a brief reprieve to plan and think about their next course of action, but not too much time to do anything too intricate, especially with what limited resources that they had in the hut, which was now only lit by the flickering torchlight from Allereun's torch. Allereun feels that with the general physique of those monsters that they could probably go at about half the speed of the horses, but it was only an educated guess that came from his look at them earlier.