After the paladin awoke from his coma, he stated the obvious, addressed the looter, and began consulting the brawler. Oh. Isn't this just adorable? Instead of taking action, they're chit-chatting. The lack of their sense of urgency was enough to consider leaving them to their fate. If only he didn't have to rely on someone else's protection to get to the next town. He sighed in resignation as he drew his stiletto from his sheath and took a few steps toward Bill, while keeping sure to maintain equal distance.

"As much as I hate to present an interlude to your... colloquy, we have already made clear that we are running out of time. Will the neither of you warriors finish him, or should I?"

Arastoph spat out the word warriors as though they were made to shame them; perhaps done so in a condescending sense, as there are two warriors stalling time and not finishing what they have started, and instead prompting the merchant, the citizen - the survivor - to do the dirty work.

"I might have expected the holy order to be so craven." He added.

People all around him were talking of strange concepts and used words he couldn't understand.
Kill. Pride. Mentally.

Furnace barely listened. All of his attention thuroughly occupied by the glowing wonder before him. As he peered into the bright lights he saw something akin to the positive energy he was used to. But rather than dancing coils he saw beams of light. Woven masterfully in glorious patterns.

Looking at Carver rise from splendourus light made it hard to maintain the current of negative energy. Absorbed as he was he didn't care.

When the magical effect had ended Furnace stared into nothingness, the bright images still dancing in his eyes.

Until a commanding voice snapped him out of it.
"He'll have to die."

Die? Finish him?
"Okay.. Finish him... How does that go? What do I do?"

"A life should never be taken lightly," Carver said. The man who had shot one of the enemies earlier was attempting to goad him. Carver wasn't so proud as to start an argument with the survivor - doubtless he was just lashing out thanks to the trauma he'd endured.

The paladin stepped towards the man who'd had the flail. "By the power invested in me by my order and my lady, the sun, I judge you guilty of crimes both numerous and heinous, and sentence you to death. May you find whatever rest you deserve." His piece sad, Carver swung his blade at the man's neck, hoping at least to offer him a quick end.

Even during a time like this, the paladin still had time to preach to him about the value of human life. To this, Arastoph nodded, but subsequently turned away to roll his eyes in a place out of their attention. Regardless, Bill had been quickly slain, prompting the muscles in Arastoph's body to ease. Now that they had the flail guy out of the way, they could focus on escaping this forsaken village. There wasn't any hope of fending off a whole army of reinforcements in their current condition. Well, Arastoph himself was fine, if not low on ammunition. The paladin did his paladin thing. The gnome, though, looked as though he'd be utterly useless in a fight against massive forces.

So, as for the escape plan...

"The swordsman crawled off that way," he said, pointing in the direction the bandit had escaped. "It stands to reason that he intends on meeting with his reinforcements. We should leave; now. In any direction other than that one. Ideally, we should make haste towards the nearest town."

Furnace followed the head with his eyes as it separated from it's torso and fell followed by a crimson stream of life holding fluid.
He wondered how he would repair damage like that. Perhaps this was the kind of destruction the voice had spoken off.
The idea was strange and intriguing. What did it mean to be broken?

The man with the explosion wands spoke again. His voice as himself unfamiliar to Furnace, but his tone very much so.
Although with more words he spoke with a certain.. directness that reminded Furnace of the ones that held him, from the dark days.
Without hesitation he started to follow Arastoph.

"My friend Kelvin said we had to get to the nearest town too."
Furnace put emphasis on the fact he had friends, as it was still a new and exiting development.
"We'll likely find him and the others on the way there. We have to prevent the harvest."

Carver sheathed his bloody blade and regarded the corpse coolly. "Look favorably upon him," he whispered. "All men deserve a kind voice in their judgement."

His commendation of the fallen concluded, the Paladin turned to the others. "Right. Now does seem like an excellent time to make an exit. I'll follow your lead, friend, if you say you know the way."

The knight began to jog lightly in the direction the man had pointed. "Alula!" he shouted, every so often. "Half-elf! Kelvin! Are you out there? We're leaving, come find us!"

It occured to him that this may incur further enemy attention, but it struck the knight as the balance of two paths. He couldn't leave his friends alone to fend for themselves in the woods, nor could he risk the safety of the others by searching for them. With luck, they'd solve his dilemma and come find him.

After the fight both parties wandered into the woods. As the night became darker, the parties managed to find each other while setting up camp. What they didn't know is that someone else had found them as well.

~~~~TIMESKIP~~~~

Furnace felt tired. His eyes weary and movements slow he looked around.
He stood before the tent Kelvin and Separ had helped him build.
Carver and Vis were standing near the fire seemed to be discussing something called a watch.
Furnace didn't care, he felt like lying down. He saw how someone had draped the other girl on the soft cloth.
Thinking this a good idea he fell asleep on a bed in his tent.

Slowly he drifted away back into the darkness, like he had many times before.
"You did well this day." The voice echoed trough the void.
Furnace remained silent.
"What did you feel when you released your negative energy?"
"I felt cold."
"You will get used to that, like the heat of the fire."
"Will I need to hurt more people?"
"There's more to the nature of the dark current, you are close to finding the taster of smiles."
The two were silent for a while, time passed while nothing else did, as there was nothing in the void.
"I had a question."
"Yes my mentee?"
"I saw a new form of energy today, it emanated from the steel giant I've come to known named Carver. The brilliant patterns, I can still conjure them in my mind."
"What you've seen is divine energy, the man must have been a target of some powerful spell cast by a divine creature."
"Divine?"
"As you know there are many ways of categorising the creatures that dwell here.
Some are mortal, like you and your new friends. And some are creatures from other places or planes even.
What you've witnessed was likely something from the higher planes of good and or order, though I could only guess at it's exact orgin and strength."
"Where are you from then?"
"I think that's enough questions for tonight."

They had been hasty in their retreat, lead by Arastoph toward the proper direction, but was expectedly thwarted of his lead by the others who had sought to seek out their companions. Surely, it was an irritable day, between raids and his stubborn protectors (as the term “rescuers” would be lending them too much credence). They did in fact find them, and promptly set up camp in the safest area that they could. From what he has learned from listening in on their conversations, the paladin was Carver, the brawler was Separ, and among the people the two were looking for was an engineer named Kelvin. The little one's name, the gnome, had not been mentioned, and the name of the woman had been mentioned so few times that it had left his mind. The tall half-elf, however; his speech impediment was so pronounced, so strong, that it annoyed the living hell out of the merchant to the point that he didn't even care to learn it.

He completely disregarded the child, almost as though he wasn't aware she existed.

Arastoph only hoped that they knew how to make a proper fire, even though he himself thought that starting a fire in this proximity to the ruined village invested with bandits was a terrible idea. He was bidding misère on his bet that trouble would arrive before anyone got a full night of sleep. Staying in one place was too dangerous. His input would undoubtedly be disregarded by this band; an infuriating concept that was beyond the merchant, to be degraded to such a degree, that his authority could be so easily undermined. It is under this cognition that Arastoph devises his plans to make the most of the current situation by taking advantage of the paladin's code, and perhaps the moral compass of the others – though he did not know how far the latter would take him.

Not once has he said a word during the process of setting up camp. Shared his opinion, his name – nay, not a word. During one brief moment of quiet amongst the camp, however, Arastoph broke his silence.

“Carver,” Arastoph started simply, “do you – or do you not – feel responsible for the failure in preventing the destruction of Ravenwood and of all its citizens?”

His voice ran smooth, like that of a practiced orator, nary a tremble in its consistency. His eyes bore into the paladin's own, expecting an honest answer.

Khat held on to Vis' sleeve as he conversed with the paladin, she looked up at him as he talked his twisted words, they didn't sound right to her young, unexperienced ears, they were strained, slowly spoken and broken. She pulled up her scarf to cover her face as he did and felt a little bit better, 'maybe this is why he wears it?' she thought to herself but her thinking was cut short by a rumble in her stomach, followed by a hollow pain, Khat was hungry. She pulled on his sleeve and he entertained her tugging.

"I'm hungry," she said simply, looking up at him as he looked down at her in a strange way, "Hello! Can't you hear me from all the way up there? I'm hungry." Vis blinked a bit before coming to. Looking at her with her scarf wrapped around her face sent shivers down his spine for some reason.

"I don'th haf anyfing for you tho eath." Voltus replied slowly, watching as her face grew into a look of incredulity.

"You're telling me that you came to a bakery and bought no bread?" she retorted harshly, glaring daggers at him, 'if he did't buy bread...' she thought but was interrupted by Vis' face turning red in embarrassment as he reached into his bag for one of the loaves of bread. He snapped off a chunk of staleness and handed it to Khat, she took it and tried it in her hands, she looked on the verge of crying, looking at the piece of bread, 'yesterday's bread,' she thought, 'before all this.' She bit back a sob.

Voltus looked down at the girl with a mixture of grief and understanding, he touched her shoulder awkwardly, "When you're done you should thleep." She simply nodded, knowing if she opened her mouth she'd burst out sobbing. She walked off to nestle herself in between some exposed roots of a tree, where she nibbled the bread.

Vis turned to carver, "I'll thake firtht watch, paladin."

Carver nodded to the half elf. "Your offer is a generous one, and I appreciate it. I will take the last watch, for I see best during sunrise. When your watch draws to a close, wake up Separ. Separ will have to wake up Kelvin. Kelvin will have to wake up..." The paladin glanced around the assembled party. A child, a refugee, a witch, and a wide-eyed gnome. "... Me. I'll take a double watch, it'll be no trouble."

The party was sore, tired, frightened and generally worn down, but they were alive, and they were together, which was more than the knight could have hoped for. At least, most of them were - Alula, the very girl he'd sworn to protect, was still missing. Part of Carver wanted to go look for her, but he knew it wouldn't be safe, and that it wouldn't be what she wanted - she'd seemed pretty insistent on being alone at night. His efforts were better spend on those he had eyes on - what they needed now was to rest and recover their strength - their next moved could be planned in the morning.

“Carver, do you – or do you not – feel responsible for the failure in preventing the destruction of Ravenwood and of all its citizens?”

The refugee's words, the one who'd tried to get a rise out of him earlier. Carver held the man's gaze. His home had been burned to ashes, everyone he'd ever known put to the sword. If he wanted to take it out on the man who should've prevented it, that was more than his right.

"Yes. Your village is burned, all those people dead, because I was not wise or fast or strong enough to stop it. On my head was the task, and on my head lay the blame."

Feeling exhausted and tired from such a long day, Separ couldn't help but yawn as he finished the last preparations on his tent. He laid out his sleeping bag and then left to check on the others to see how they were all doing. What he overheard however was a conversation between both the civilian and Carver. "Do you or do you not feel responsible for the failure in preventing the destruction of Ravenwood and of all its citizens?" It felt as though the man wanted someone to blame, a scapegoat to explain why his town had fallen. Listening closely Carver admitted to actually being at fault. Not liking where this conversation was heading, Separ decided to intervene before the conversation could go on any longer. He walked up towards the two of them. "Sorry if I'm interrupting, it's just that I would like to say that the destruction of Ravenwood is not your fault Carver, or at least not entirely. By your logic, I and all of the others are just as much at fault. Why couldn't I be strong enough to knock out an ettin in one blow?" Separ pointed to the little girl and Vis as well to further prove his point. "Why wasn't the elf swift enough to run circles around that whole army? And why couldn't the little girl over there be a master weapons user?" Separ already didn't like this man that much. He seemed to be one of those snobby types that always looked down on others. At least that would be what it seemed like as earlier the man complained about that quick duel between Carver and that Bill guy. Glaring daggers at the civilian, Separ ended his rant. "Finally, why weren't you strong enough to save Ravenwood?"

And with that being said Separ glared at the man for a moment before turning around to go into his tent. Separ then called out to the entire group, just audible enough for everyone to hear. "I'm going to bed you guys, I'm pretty exhausted after such a long day. Anyone is free to enter my tent and sleep with me, I'll probably be asleep when you come in anyways." Entering his tent Separ unrolled his sleeping bag and pulling himself inside, drifted off into sleep.

Carver's answer satisfied Arastoph. This was good. This meant that he could more easily get what he needs out of this by milking the "sole survivor" trope. However, there came issue with the brawler, who seems to have taken upon himself to present himself as the ass. Ah; setbacks, setbacks. So, how would be the best way to take care of this monkey while still playing the trope? Perhaps, maybe, undermine the brawler's efforts to absolve themselves of blame and pinning it instead on the "sole survivor", and putting the monkey up on spotlight. He'd have to really milk this, but it was doable. As Separ walked away, Arastoph began, not even bothering to look behind him at he spoke.

"So, tell me - Separ, was it? Have you ever seen what it was like to watch closely people being burned alive?" Arastoph asked. He paused for a moment for his words to sink in. "I imagine not, so let me explicitly descriptive: a small child, hunched over a bed of charcoals. Her screams of agony, oh so woeful that they were, have long since evanesced. Her blood is instead boiling, oozing through the pores of her skin. With the sight, the smell of burning skin mingled with burning hair. Her eyes pop like grapes when the water in and behind them boil."

He looked at the little girl that the lisping rogue had made her companion. "That could have just as easily been her."

He took a deep breathe, as though it were meant to regain his bearings. Now it was time to really milk it.

"Now what if I told you, that girl was my daughter?" He stated, clenching his teeth and emboldening his voice. "Would you then be so bold to suggest that I did not do everything in my power to stop that? Whereas the lot of you - all with combat experience, weapon training, and practice - had far more tools to their disposal than I ever had? As a trader, I picked a different path, which just so happened meant I couldn't support a family by ways of fighting."

His head turned back to face Carver, his face a little pink with forced, feigned anger. "If you do take responsibility," he said, "I do expect reparations. Safe passage to other towns. The lives of people are not insurable, but I expect at least the compensation for everything I've lost. I'm a merchant who had a pretty penny to his name. I've lost a lot. This would mean paying off a large monetary debt, however long it takes."

Separ sighed as he listened to the man's words. This guy was unbelievable, trying to get him to feel guilt over something he had nothing to do with, as well as wanting payment to boot. Without turning around either Separ replied with. "I have never seen a person burn alive, I'll give you that. But what does this have to do with anything? Yes it was your daughter, and I feel sorry for your loss. Nonetheless, we're human too. Just because Carver has a sword doesn't mean he's some unstoppable juggernaut. I'm not invincible either, none of us are. We're only human, well excluding the gnome and the elf, but while I do wish I could have saved the town I know I'd just add to the death pile. I barely escaped with my life, and," motioning towards the cloaked girl who was still fast asleep. "I managed to save her life as well. That's as much as I could muster, so sorry if I'm not Mr. Superhero the fourth. Also don't expect much money out of me, I mean I'll help out, but from what I can tell, you appear to be no good. I just hope the only reason you're acting like this is because you just lost your town and family. So I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. Goodnight."

And with that Separ finally entered his tent and fell asleep, exhausted from such a long day of fighting.

Khat nestled herself between the pillar like roots of the oak tree, looking small among the woody tendrils of the massive plant. She nibbled into the bread, looking as if she were not hungry, however she was starving but her seized up heart wouldn't let her eat, like a lump in her stomach taking up all the space. As the man spoke of his burning daughter, she shrunk further and further into the recess between the roots, until she was as small as she could be, her head between her knees and her arms pulling them towards her chest. She had lost her appetite. To her own frustration, she started to cry, ever so quietly so she could not be heard.

Vis turned away from the flickering flame and cast a green light behind him with his cursed eye, his heart stumbled over itself and reached out to the little girl, his green light softening to almost nothing. He moved towards her, taking his time to shove his way past the new guy to express his feelings. Vis crouched at Khat's feet and looked at her before he spoke.

"You're muther wouldn'th wanth you crying, you know thath, righth?" he asked her gently, putting a hand on her's. She shook it off harshly and barked in his face.

"How would you know?!" She had had enough, bursting into tears she launched herself at Vis and clung to him, thumping his back with her balled up fists as she wept, "I've got no one! No one but a dumb half-elf!" Vis knew her rage was only fueled by her grief but her words still hurt. 

Soon she grew exhausted and fell asleep, her face tear stained and her long red hair tangled and matted from her thrashing. Vis rested his head on the tree as he sat, the girl sound asleep on his lap. "Whath am I thoo do?" he mumbled to himself.

Carver watched Separ enter his tent. The man was generous in his defense of Carver, but ultimately, misguided. It had not been his responsibility to defend the village, nor Kelvin's, nor Vis's. When Carver put on the armor, he swore an oath - he made the defense of all things good and peaceful his responsibility forevermore.

The refugee's words were compelling, however. Truly, the man had lost much, endured much, and he deserved to be heard out at the least.

"If you do take responsibility," said the refugee, "I do expect reparations. Safe passage to other towns. The lives of people are not insurable, but I expect at least the compensation for everything I've lost. I'm a merchant who had a pretty penny to his name. I've lost a lot. This would mean paying off a large monetary debt, however long it takes."

Without him even realizing it, Carver's upper lip curled into an expression of disgust at the words. "So that's it, then? Money." The paladin rounded on the man, hands clenching into fists. "You speak of money when homes are gutted and pillaged. You speak of money when innocents are slaughtered, women defiled, children burned. You've borne witness to carnage indescribable, and yet you have words for your fortune?!"

The knight was shouting now, the full weight of his fury bearing down on the man. "What I failed was beyond sums and figures. The peaceful life that was taken from those villagers was worth more than all the coin you could ever put your hands on. I will live in penance for this failure and for many others, but I will not spend my days recompensing a miser his 'pretty penny.'"

Carver turned to walk towards his tent. Almost as an after-thought, he yanked his coinpurse from his side and tossed it over to the man. "There. Ten coins, all the money to my name. Take it, if you value it so greatly. I do not care for its stink."

With that, the paladin entered the tent, still bristling with indignation.

Only human, of course, that was likely where their value fell short. Only human. Though, he had to wonder - did the brawler come back out only to argue with him, then go back to bed once more? Was arguing with a supposed refugee so important to him? A supposed refugee who had supposedly lost so much? It was adorable, to say the least. Now, back to business... with Carver. He felt that his delivery was smooth and tactful, yet the paladin seemed to have interpreted his words in such a different way. Taken at face value instead of being contemplated upon. Indeed, these holy knights were valued for their initiative, though Arastoph felt they were too quick to act. As the paladin stood at his full height, raining his anger down upon the merchant, Arastoph held his composure but at least kept his eyes wide with intrigue and leaned back - if not to avoid the spittle from the knight's rage as he flung his coins at his lap.

He watched the paladin retreat into his tent, annoyed at how poorly negotiations went this time around. Arastoph sighed aloud, then spoke up in a calm and easy voice, in his attempt to temper the paladin's ire.

"Perhaps I should have clarified, Carver... but clarifications or no, I wouldn't have expected you to be so naive as to jump to conclusions so quickly without asking me to explain myself. Money is required if I am to rebuild my life. Money is the only thing that our society cares about. Without it, I'm as dead as I would have been back in Ravenwood."

Arastoph paused as the reality of his previous situation sunk in. He really could have died.

"I just ask that I receive the resources that would allow me to rebuild. As much as I would love to spend the rest of my days grieving over my parted kin... I will make it a mission to carry on; if just for her."

He ended his explanation there, not expecting an answer back from the paladin. He hoped, at least, that the knight would hear what he said and consider it. Sleep on it. Arastoph looked around the camp that had suddenly grown quiet. He never was much of a sleeper. Less so outdoors, and less so among strangers. Especially if one or two of those strangers distrusted him. The most he will be able to do this night is to rest his eyes, and listen to the excited activity of the forest.

The rest of the night was rather eventful for Alula. She had returned to the field where she first departed from the group, only to discover that her allies were nowhere to be found. Not only that, but the space at one point had been occupied by raiders. Likely the same raiders that Alula was able to drive away. Alula had considered this a sign, and was ready to leave with Alula to find a newer and quieter location. But a quiet, anxious, voice in the back of her mind urged her to keep searching for the rest of her friends. Of course Alula knew where they were, it wasn't difficult to locate them.

They had not yet fallen asleep, and Alula knew she had to wait until at least the majority of them had gone into their tents. After waiting for awhile she noted that all who remained were the current watch, as well as a few stragglers. It disturbed her that the half elf and girl stayed outside. There was also a new presence, two in fact, but she would leave those to the morning. Alula drifted into the field where they had decided to make camp. She looked up at the moon with a smile. She felt much better, much stronger, now that she had had her time to bask out in the moonlight. All she had needed was some alone time to charge. Her glow as much brighter then before, as if she was her own light in the sky. She looked over at each of the tents. The girl seemed content to rest outside.

"Child, you are lucky I was given control this night. But your luck will not continue for long. You will have to tell the others, despite that scaring you."

She drifted silently through the field, avoiding the gaze of the watch. With a soft sigh Alula floated gently to the ground, the tall grass seeming to pull towards her. Her light slowly dimmed out before leaving Alula completely to sleep in the grass. And she would remain there until morning.

Kelvin nodded wordlessly as the elf came over, taking on the burden of both a small child and the young woman himself. He sighed with relief as she was lifted off of him, though the relief came from the release of responsibility, rather than weight. He kept his eyes closed as they trudged deeper into the darkening forest. Alone.

It was really his choice now. Continue with their few companions, and bind his fate to theirs, or maybe give up and let worst roll over him. With the others, he had no choice, as their lives became tied to his decisions. Now however, at least those two girls would survive. He had done his duty. Kelvin remained there peacefully, crossbow ready on his lap, until Carver’s nearing calls brought him to wakefulness. I guess my story isn't finished quite yet.

~~~TimeSkip~~~

Setting up camp was a simple task, one that he relished. Proper supplies. It was great fortune that Separ had procured supplies before fleeing the ruins. The tents were fine, if they crammed in, but there wasn’t a way to stretch the sleeping rolls between so many people decently. Some would go without. Even so, setting up the tents was quick and automatic for him, so Kelvin took pleasure in working with both Separ and the little Gnome, answering questions freely. Even so, it was late when they had finished the cold camp. No fires tonight.

He waved a hand in Carver’s direction as the watch order was called. ”I’ll take the double watch. I don’t mind the time to think.” Kelvin yawned and held up a hand to forestall an inevitable paladinish protest. ”Look at it this way, not only have you been fighting today, but you need to be at your best for tomorrow. Let some of us take the smaller loads so you can focus on bigger challenges.” He sat back against a tree- not far from the girl- to watch the slight debate between the newest rescued villager, Carver, and Separ. He personally didn't like the way this conversation was going, mostly because he probably had more valuable stuff than anyone else here, save possibly the paladin’s armor. On the other hand, he didn't quite feel like crossing this guy either. The man looked more edgy than that half-elf, so Kelvin chose to keep out of the mess. He retired soon after Separ, sparing a thought for the missing Seer, though not for long. She probably had better protection than they could afford. His last act was to move the strange girl he and Vis had carried into a tent, rolling her onto a sleeping bag. Kelvin then proceeded to choose the tent farthest from hers to sleep in. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself if she had woken up with him still in the tent with her. She had too much fun toying with the heads of men, and it was frustrating. Kelvin pulled his backpack into the tent with him, finding himself sharing with the gnome. Not a bad companion, though he still took care to arrange his things away from the creature. No need for accidents. With that taken care of, the engineer let out a breath and let himself sink into sleep.

Des walked into the clearing once everyone was asleep making sure not to be spotted by Vis. He walked by the entire lot thinking about them. 'This one's presence is loud and annoying, like a bickering family.' He thought as he passed by Alula. He looked into the tent of Kelvin and Furnace. 'This one's head is too busy and the other feels warm, yet somehow cold.' He walked into Separ's tent and stared at him. 'This one can think of only one thing, what is he to do when that purpose is filled.' Finally he walked into the tent of Carver. 'This one is protective and comforting, like the sun.' He then laid next to Carver, the only presence that didn't bother him, and fell asleep.