[center]Annabeth Gulch[/center]

The trip was done in silence. Annabeth took it upon herself to man the balista should it be needed, taking some advice from one of the guards before they left. While she knew how to operate it, it was much different from her bow, and the best she could do was apply her knowledge with bows to the balista. At the very least, it made her feel a bit more comfortable being behind such a powerful weapon. Going through the east side of the college, Annabeth did her best not to pay attention to the staked demon heads. They were rotting on their spikes, but when Annabeth would dare steal a glance at them, she swore that they were looking at her, watching her. She shuttered and her had eyes closed doing most of the trip through, until the smell of their decaying skulls weren't on her nose. Once they came to a stop Annabeth opened her eyes.

Getting her meal from the horse bags, Annabeth's lunch was just some hardtack bread, water, and dried fruits. Not the most luxurious meal, but if they're expected to be out here for long, she packed only want didn't spoil if left out. As they ate their guide, Eural, explained more about the Roc. Form what Annabeth was hearing, the roc was well out of their league. Eural made the roc out to be some sort of monster, which in hindsight it was. Annabeth wavered for a moment before steeling her resolve. [i]"No! I chose this mission. I'll see through it to the end. Besides, we have a balista. No monster, no matter how big, could just shrug something like that off."[/i] Annabeth tried to assure herself. When Eural was done talking he wanted to know if they had any questions. Aramir shot off a few questions, which Annabeth followed up on. [b]"Are we the first ones to try to take out this roc? Do you think we can lure it away with the horses, or any other beast near by? Do you think it'll try to eat us, or maybe even bring us back to it's nest?'[/b] Fighting the roc was certainly something on her mind, but any way to avoid a direct confrontation was just as good.

[center]Caravan Escort[/center]

The in chaos that ensued, the caravan barely made it across the bridge. The fire was spreading to the bridge however and threaten to bring it down. The bandits got to their feet quickly and drew their weapons at Alaira. But they knew that they were outnumbered, and didn't have any leverage. One of the bandits threw down a smoke bomb to cover their escape. They ran quickly for their lives, hoping that the guards would be too concerned to protecting the caravan to give chase. But now the college students had one more problem, one that could not be defeated with blades. The ropes snapped on the other side of the bridge just as the cart crossed.