Alula had noticed Separ staring at her, but really took no mind. The man was strange, and so was she. Most of the time people payed her no mind, but when they noticed her she was truly the center of their attentions. She didn't like it. Once the man turned away, after staring at her for minutes, she tugged her hat down over her eyes.

She didn't keep quiet for long, however, as she noticed something while Furnace was packing up camp. There was something on his forehead, something drawing her in. Once the gnome was finished with his task, looking quite proud, Alula limped over to him. With a bit of ungraceful struggle, leaning on her staff for support, she knelled down in front of him.

With a strangely sudden movement, one someone might miss if they had blinked, Alula's hand whipped up and moved the gnomes hair off of his forehead.

She studied the marking with a strange intensity, her expression looking distressed.

"Furnace..." She started, looking into his eyes. "Where...when...did you get...this..."

Furnace flinched when Alula suddenly touched his head.
Surprisingly close and with eyes filled with concern.
Furnace stared back at her in confusion, then at his empty hands before looking back at her.
"What did I get?"

Suki frowned as she looked at her scythe. She had a knack for noticing things unusual, and this was quite odd. It hadn't been touched, left where she dropped it. That, and her skeletons alongside it, in pieces. However, standing here was not going to solve her problems. Taking a breath, she reached down, before grabbing the scythe.

Alula frowned, feeling rather troubled. How could he not know what was on his own body? Perhaps it was a recent addition, and he just hadn't looked at her reflection lately. She furrowed her brow, trying to remember if she had seen it on him when they had first met. She couldn't remember. The voices were keeping rather quiet, unnerving Alula even more. After a few moments of silence Alula realized she still hadn't given the gnome an answer. She spoke, trying to keep the concern out of her voice.

"It is...a word...written on your forehead...in a rather...exotic language..."

She paused, trying to plan her next words.

"I have...met few others...who can read and write...in such a way...other then myself..."

As Suki picked up her scythe, the sound of a tripwire being activated could be heard. Before anything could be done, a rope ripped Suki into the air causing her to flip upside down and drop her scythe. Three raiders stepped out from their hiding place, "Look at this one boys, a real cutie. And she's got a nice pair of legs and little something else to show too." (I'm assuming she's wearing a skirt) The raider who was checking her out walked over and placed his hand on her cheek. "Hey sweetie, my name's Daven. And you are?"

Suki only managed to formulate a squeal, as she found herself hoisted upside down. Craning her neck to look down at her feet...or up....she found a rope tied to her ankles that was responsible for holding her in this position. Although the idea of trying to untie the rope had flashed through her mind, she gave up almost immediately. She probably couldn't even reach, since she'd have to fight against gravity, move into an awkward position, and stay in that position to free herself. It was more likely someone would arrive before she could finish. Most likely whoever set up this trap.

Not disappointed, she looked at the thee raiders who stepped out from hiding. Only having herself to blame for not being more cautious, she frowned as she heard the raider speak. Hurriedly pushing her skirt over her legs at the front, while accidentally squeezing her bosom together, making her cleavage more pronounced. Fighting the urge to turn slightly and bite the hand on her cheek, Suki chose to try and talk her way out of this.

"Well Daven, I'm Suki. If you wouldn't mind me asking, why are you three raiders around here?"

Vis arose from his root and started to snap on some loose segments of his leather armor, making sure they were fitted properly and checking his built for his weapons. "I'll come wif you." Vis called out to Separ, and approached him, he'd rather be going back into town then staying in the clearing with the merchant. As he got to Separ, he felt a tug on his sleeve, turning around, he saw that Khat had latched herself to it with both hands.

"I want to come to!" she said, rather too excitedly. Vis however, simply replied.

"No."

"But why?!" she whined, tugging on his sleeve a bit more.

"It'th too dangerouth."

"I've been in there before." she rebutted, looking him dead in the eye, which made Vis a bit uncomfortable.

"I recall I had thoo carry you outh."

"I didn't need you to!"

"You didn't protest when I did."

"Fine!" she yelled and she stomped back off and plonked herself in her little nook between the roots, crossing her arms over her chest and grumbling.

"Shall we be offth?" asked Vis, Khat had been pacified.

Furnace eyes brightened in excitement.
"Exotic words? Spontaneously appearing? Sounds like magic!
And you know it? Please tell me about it. What kind of energy is it? What's it's purpose? Can I learn it?!"
While any other would have picked up on Alula's discomfort and concern immediately Furnace completely failed to notice.
His mind immediately swarmed with questions and half answers. Memories of lessons on spell-craft long ago.

All magic is energy given shape and purpose. The shape is like a vessel for the energy, an instruction that spends the energy to rewrite the laws of nature to a purpose. The purpose is chosen by the entity who gives shape. Shapes can be learned. The most potent shape, the hardest to master but the most versatile of all shapes, is the word.

The voice had refused to teach him how to use words, said it didn't suit him. He had affinity with the natural path, the path of learning to shape energy trough intuition. But that didn't stop Furnace from desiring this knowledge. And suddenly an opportunity stood before him.

Alula leaned back, eyes wide with shock, when Furnace began to ask her questions in his excited tone. He was smiling, which was a bit of a surprise to Alula. He didn't fear her. Everyone she had ever met eventually became scared of her power. Albeit, he didn't know everything about her. Regardless, it was nice to have him excited.

She leaned back forwards, smiling herself.

"Yes the words are quite different from what you would see in this world. It's not in a common language or elvish or gnomish." She decided to skip around in his questions.

"The words themselves, while not of this realm, are not magic. What is magic is how they got there." Alula looked around, making sure they were far enough away from the group that no one would overhear her. Especially Carver and the children.

"I am an Oracle, one who gets power from the moon. Much like how Carver finds his strength in the sun. The marking on your forehead is the result of one of my powers."

Alula considered explaining further, but decided to stop there. She felt rather dizzy all of a sudden, pulling her hat down over her eyes.

"As for you learning it...I would say...it would be rather impossible..."

Furnace listened intensely to her explanation.
While he studied her words he thought of the way he could get a hold of energy from deep inside and send it outwards.
He saw a mental image of how he'd move his hands to manipulate the strands and strings that flow trough the ether.
The image shifted to Alula plucking strings from the sky, weaving sharp beams of moonlight with grace and ease.
Then his imagination shifted to an opposite. Carver making the same movements under the sun, weaving bright lances of sunlight with strength and vigilance. Both receiving their power, flowing down from the heavens in a shower of inspiring patterns.

These were energies of a nature strange to Furnace.
Like the positive and negative they were two sides of a coin, but that was were the similarities stopped.
"I understand. Complex forces don't come as natural to me as the more simple energies like light and dark. Or heat."
Furnace looked defeated, yet still curious. He carefully touched his forehead.
"What words are there here?"

"Hmm, I suppose it would be better to have some sort of back-up in case I have to fight. Alright, you can come with me." Separ then looked towards Kelvin, however from Kelvin's expression he realized he wasn't going to get that stick of dynamite. He'd have to make due without it. "Okay, once we rescue the girl, all three of us will meet you at the next town over okay? If we don't show up in a few days after you arrive, something must have went wrong and you don't have to wait for us. With that being said, let's go!" Separ swung his hand forward pointing into the direction of the Ravenwood, the fallen town.

A long walk was ahead of them, but with any luck they'd be able to find the girl and escape without detection.

***

A few hours of walking had past and now both Separ and Vis were nearing Ravenwood. Separ cautiously moved forward, sneaking towards the town while hiding behind all manner of trees and shrubs. The town of Ravenwood could now be seen, and Separ figured they had at least a mile left til they reached it. As Separ approached closer, he felt more nervous though, as every little noise was thought to be an ambush of some kind. Eventually however, they both finally made it to the outskirts of town without running into any raiders. Here was where things got interesting though. Without the cover of the trees, only the debris of fallen buildings could hide their presence, and with the girl nowhere to be found, it was only a matter of time until Vis and Separ would be spotted.

"What now?" Separ asked himself, as he slowly examined his surroundings. The only thing he could make out were some raiders which all seemed to be occupied or to far away to notice him, as well as the one giant ettin. Separ examined his options, but wasn't able to think of anything other than just picking a random direction. So instead he looked towards Vis and shrugged, "I don't suppose you have any bright ideas do you?"

It seemed like a member of their party was in trouble, Alula could feel it. But she also knew that the women had hidden strengths, and was more then capable of taking care of herself. She didn't mention any of this as Separ and Vis made plans to go after her. She wondered if it would really take them days to find Suki. They were likely to run into trouble.

Alula peered out from under her hat, as if waiting for the gnomes expression to change. Hrs it'll seemed excited, and inquisitive. She was pleasantly surprised, as well as relieved, when he ceased his questions. It was true, lunar energy was quite complex. She had trained her entire life and even then some to become as proficient as she was. Alula smiled when he asked what was written on his forehead. She moved closer and moved her hat and hair away from her eyes, in an attempt to make herself see better.

She studied the markings intensely before leaning back away from Furnace. She covered her mouth, as if suppressing a laugh.

If the girls teachers could see her penmanship now they would be appalled.

Alula smiled, uncovering her mouth.

"These symbols..." She paused, thinking. "There really isn't a good translation..." She paused again. "Hm...you would often see these written to friends going through a hardship, a condolence."

She frowned, pulling her hat back down over her eyes. She felt dizzy. "I am not sure what they mean in relationship to you."

Bright Ideas. Vis was never the sharpest sword on the rack, however this time he was wracking his brains to think of a solution. Then it hit him. "Yeth, I haf one idea." Vis turned around and began to rummage through his backpack until he found what he was looking for, the black poncho he took off the dead raider. He pulled it on and ducted it off from most of it's dirt and mortar dust. "I go in drethed as one off them and you'll be my prithner."

Vis didn't know whether this was a good idea or not, he rarely had them but it seemed feasible, as long as no one asked him what he was doing with a living prisoner, everything should be alright.

Meanwhile back at the tree, Khat was missing, she had gone after Vis and the shirtless man.

"Intresting"
Furnace pondered his forehead calligraphy.
"Are these words given by or to me? I wonder what hardships the could be. They aren't future ones are they?"

Separ considered the thought for a moment, pretending to be a prisoner, and a raider huh? It was just crazy enough to work, though it was also incredibly dangerous. While Separ would have liked more time to think up and discuss plans, time was of the essence. Finding and saving the girl would not be a simple task by any means. "Alright Vis, we'll go with your plan, let's just hope we can find the girl fast enough so we can get in and slip out though."

Separ faced away from Vis and held out both of his hands behind him. "Bind my arms loosely if you have the means too. It should help us really sell it."

His expression remained locked during the man’s reply. No, he didn’t grasp the concept at first, but it didn’t catch until the man further expounded the idea. Then it made all the logical sense in the world. He still wanted that two hundred a month lowered- no matter what the man said about what he could make them in profits, that all was dependant on actual trade being performed. Which, while Kelvin was all for employing his services as an engineer, they would need to actually get loot to sell for any large profits.

Carver stepped in before he could counter, but the man was right. They needed to move. The little gnome had an impressive grasp of math though. It made Kelvin wonder what else he was capable of, recalling his past experience of having his profession practically guessed by smell in the bar. He waited a bit, considering ways to lower that monthly price, letting the numbers roll through his head like cogs in a wheel. The girl and the gnome had their chances at conversing with the merchant. Kelvin was a bit surprised that the man replied at all, considering the innocence of one and the emotional nature of the other. Men like this weren’t usually so patient, even with the venom he used in his wordings. Then Carver planted himself between them.

The knight was right in all respects. Kelvin nodded, blinking away the haze of bargaining and numbers. He had a tendency to focus too much on one task, when it came to anything resembling an intellectual challenge. Part of the job. He had turned back to their gear when the seer started speaking. The girl? Kelvin slowly turned about. She was missing alright. He froze. Was she part of the raiding party? He hadn’t seen her until Separ had arrived last night- but it would make sense for her to head back if she was. Slip away and rejoin the group, then bring down an avalanche of enemies on their heads. He practically ignored the extra boy who had joined their group. Just another possible survivor, people joining them wasn’t as concerning to him as people leaving.

Then of course, Separ said his peace. He was your typical hero. Not that it was a bad thing… Kelvin could use more blind optimism in his life. The guy was crazy to ask for dynamite. It wasn’t that Kelvin was stingy with his gear, but there was plenty to go wrong with that. All he had on himself was flint and steel anyway- which would take a bit of time to light dynamite with. It wouldn’t be much for close combat. Only the gnome had a dependable way to light it up on the fly. He was relieved when the man turned away, and a bit ashamed. Separ and the half-elf left, the little girl going off to pout next to a tree. He spared a glance towards the gnome and seer. She had pulled back the little guys hair and exposed the mark. Kelvin felt a chill go through his spine watching them, flexing his gloved hand unconsciously. That would have to wait for later.

”Carver is right.” He nodded at the merchant, promising further discussion later in the motion. ”We need to be moving, as much as I hate to leave so many team members behind.” He didn’t feel like alerting the others that, assuming the girl was a traitor, Separ and the elf were going to their deaths. ”We can leave behind their packs here, since we don’t need the extra gear. When they come back this direction they can pick it up on their way past.” He looked about, counting their people. Not so bad… He recounted, and then frowned. Where was the girl. He slowly counted everyone again. Kelvin stared hard at the roots where she had been a moment ago. Various expletives ran through his head in a flash. Kelvin turned sharply to Carver.

”The other girl is gone too… I doubt she would have gone anywhere but...” He glanced in the direction of the burned-out town. ”I understand if you want to go after her, but let me make a recommendation. Leave behind your armor and take your sword and shield. You will need to travel fast, and if you get bogged down in the fighting you could doom Separ and the elf as well as that girl.” He sighed, a sinking feeling in his stomach. It would be simpler if the knight chose to just push on with the party, but that sense of honor would possibly be Carver’s undoing. Go after the two girls, or press on to safety with the other innocents in the party. Not a great choice for a paladin to make.

Alula slowly struggled out of her crouching position while Furnace pondered the marks on his head. She cursed silently as she tried to depend on her crippled leg. Eventually she was able to get her staff under her. She looked back over at Furnace as he asked a few more questions, but she had to pause to think of the answers. She tugged her hat down over her eyes.

“These marks...certainly pertain to the...future...but that can...mean many things...”

Alula shivered.

“The future...is many things...it could be days...or years...or minutes...”

She paused for a few moments, staring blankly ahead.

“And the...future is always...changing...”

Alula let a tiny giggle escape her stoic deminor.

“Being an oracle...doesn’t leave much room for surprises...but things are never set in stone...we can never be sure of what will happen...”

Another far away look, much sadder this time.

Arastoph sighed somberly as the negotiations were halting as soon as he was about to close the deal with the engineer. The look on the man's face indicated he still wasn't pleased with something or another, but it was of no concern to the trader; everyone was good at something. For Kelvin, is was building things. For Arastoph, it was economics. Each individual should concern themselves with what pertains to them - stretching oneself too thin was a sure recipe for failure in all fields. Alas, there was also the problem with his payment. The engineer directed the down payment of gold towards their transaction working under the assumption that if the service agreement were to settle in, the gold that the seer had given him should cover that. However, the negotiations has fallen through. By all respects, the gold still belonged to the seer, who was utterly willing to give it up for the hat and seemed to place no value in it.

As a result of that, the engineer would have to relinquish his control over said currency, and it no longer bared any significance in the contract that could have been. Failing that, Arastoph had grounds for blackmail in which he could use in addressing the paladin, for the engineer would have practically robbed the seer of her money whilst simultaneously jeopardizing his contract with the seer and cheating him out of the money. Arastoph was fine with cheating, provided he or others could get away with it. But were that not the case...

There's little that he hates more than being cheated.

Retaliation, however, was an action for another time. Right now, everyone save for the seer and wee one, were focused on getting out. The engineer and paladin were squabbling over what action to take next. As a result of his frustration and impatience with the two grown adults bickering over such a simplistic issue, the trader snapped at them.

"The two of you are gabbing along like a pair of broads whilst we've still a stretch of road beyond us! We have sent already two strapping young dullards off and away to save the damsel, surely that is enough. Do not forget, there are people who we know for certain are still alive that need protecting."

He gestured to the gnome and the seer; pointing out them, as opposed to himself, might appeal to the knight's good graces more. Though for all intents and purposes, saw the knight as little more than a bulwark for his own protection.

Vis wrapped some twine up in a into a coil before he tied it around the man's wrists. He tested it's strength and was satisfied as it tore with one quick tug, if anything were to go wrong, the man could free himself of his bindings and flee (preferable flee as fighting in the town would most likely end inter deaths).

As he tied the mans has together, he found himself in need of some one to hold down two crossed pieces of string, he was fiddling around with it before a finger came down and held it in place.

"Fank you.." mumbled Vis as he finished the knot, "waith a minuthe.." his head snapped to see a smiling Khat. "Whath are you thooing here?!" he hissed.

"I helped you tie the knot." she replied instantly.

"Go back!" he ordered, pointing in the direction she came from.

"Nope, its a long walk back and I figured you might need me, since we are partners and all." She smiled slyly but Vis didn't notice.

"We are not partners," he whispered angrily, as they were close to the town, "now get back to the camp!" Khat lifted up a tiny hand and beckoned for him to come closer, he did and she whispered into his ear.

"If you don't let me come, I'll tell everyone about the scroll.." Voltus' heart stopped for a moment and the tips of his ear, both the normal and tattered one, went rouge from embarrassment.

"Fine, you wanth acthion? you'll get ith." Vis started to bind her hands too and once done, he turned to the man, "If anyfing happenth thoo me, you are in charthe of her. Break free from those bindingth and geth outh." he hissed into the man's ear.

Furnace stood and stared into the distance with Alula.
Pondering the magnificent energies he'd seen and was seeing.
This sun. the memory of that moon. It was fascinating.

From the corner of his sight he saw the aurumancer point at them.
"Do not forget, there are people who we know for certain are still alive that need protecting."
He was right. They were both dressed in cloth and nothing but cloth.
"That is ok. I can make more, I'll need resources though. We might find them at the town."
Furnace started to list materials needed for protection of the top of his head.
"I'll need metals, lots of iron,
coal,powdered metals like gold, magnesium and silver,
a cold-iron or stone surface to work on,
a bucket of walnut oil...
any other tools like chisels and tongues save some time making them...
I already have a hammer."