Separ looked back at Vis, who now seemed to be a bit annoyed, possibly even angry. Given the circumstances though, it was easy to see why he was so frustrated. Of all the people that had to follow us, it had to be this little girl. Regardless they were now stuck with her, as even if she had agreed to head back to the others it would definitely not be a good idea. By now our group had probably moved on and Separ wasn't sure the girl would be able to find them, and the forest would be dangerous with all the raiders running about. Separ sighed. For now they'd just have to make due, and who knows, perhaps the girl could actually be useful at one point or another. In fact, Separ could probably use this to his advantage to make it really seem like he was a prisoner. If he just acted like the girls father, it would really help sell the whole being captured plan.

Suddenly Vis hissed into Separ's ear breaking him from his thoughts. "If anyfing happenth thoo me, you are in charthe of her. Break free from those bindingth and geth outh." Separ glanced at Vis, a small smile forming on his face. "I promise in that case, but I also don't plan on leaving you or anyone here for that matter, not if I can help it anyways."

Vis nodded, he was sure thar the Separ would follow up on that promise. He took one last look at Khat, with her red hair peaking out of her head scarf, he had promised to himself that he'd look after her and if he botched this up, who knew what he'd have to pay. Vis grabbed the pair by their bindings and shoved them through foliage into town, as a child he use to play bandits and guards and memories of those games came back to mind, he was always the bandit. 

They had not walked five minutes before they were interrupted by the yelling of a raider, "Oy you!" he barked from a distance, "Where ya goin' wit them prisoners?!" Vis gulped and plunged into himself to find a reply.

"I'm thakin'em thoo tha thavern!" He yelled back, in the best gruff voice he could, "boss man wanth'em there!"

"What's wit yer voice?" he called back, making the raiders around him laugh, that angered Vis but he knew he was on thin ice, so he reacted appropriately.

"Wath with yer face?!" the raiders burst into laughter and Khat stiffled a snigger, it seemed that this rouse was going to work.

"I'll come wit ya," said one of the gruff raiders as he walked towards them, "I needa swig anywho." Vis was cursing like mad under his breath, he couldn't have the raider following them around, he wracked his brains until he came on an idea. 

Vis threw his voice as far as it could go, casting it as a yell behind the collapsed building that the group of raiders had called home, "Oy, you lot! Get yer arses over here!" The raider turned around and yelled.

"I'll be there in tad!" he turned to Vis, "sorry mate, duty calls." Vis was elated that it worked.

"No bothar, I'll save ye a bo'le." replied Vis as he continued down the road, his panic subsiding a tad. "thath wath close." he mumbled, to no one in particular.

A bead of sweat dripped down from Separ's chin. Th...that was a close one. It was a miracle that they had managed to get so lucky thanks to that other raider. Continuing down through the destroyed city Separ caught sight of multiple dead bodies and just destruction and carnage everywhere. Turning towards the little girl he looked at her briefly, wondering if she was becoming frightened by the whole ordeal. Whatever the case, she really should not have come. Turning around the corridor Azorel overheard some people talking. It sounded like a small group, as only a few different voices could be heard. "V...Vis, there's a group farther down and to the left, it might be a good idea to see if they know where the girl, or any other survivors for that matter may be." Still though, listening in closely it sounded like they were flirting with someone. Quite a bit strange, were there female raiders as well as male raiders too?

@Kimiyosis "Well Cutie-Pie, if you must know. We are here because somebody slaughtered are patrol group. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that now, would you?" Daven moved to tie up her arms and wrists making it harder to keep them up. "If you have any information, I may be willing to let you go."

@gammaflux@Voltus_Ventus The raider with the face, Aran, was walking towards the direction of the voice when something clicked, "Wait a damn minute, the tavern was destroyed. We've been played." He gathered the rest of the men and started heading towards the destroyed tavern to see if there were any excuses for this ignorance. 'And if not.' Aran laughed as he put his hand on the hilt of his blade.

@Everyone else, While arguments were going on about what to do next, a patrol group of ten men sneaked up on the group. With no Vis to hear them and the arguments blocking Alula's capabilities, there was no warning. The men struck out from all sides but the far side that led to the next town. (I'm sorry, I don't like Godmodding but I kind of have to) Carver looked to the men and back towards the group. Assessing the situation, he lifted his sword and shield and cursed himself for not attaching his armor earlier. "Run, I'll hold them. Just get out of here and don't even dare to look back or try to help me! No one else should fall because of my inability to protect them."

Furnace was just tying everything he was going to carry onto his back when armed men jumped them.
He panicked in confusion, none of them spoke to declare their intentions. Was this another fight?
Just get out of here and don't even dare to look back or try to help me!
A clear command.
Without blinking Furnace nodded and did as he was told.
He started running, unsure where or why. Looking up at the road before him he saw he had instinctively chosen the road to the other village.
That made sense, they were already going there so the others would probably go there too.
Furnace wondered if the others would run too, he assumed, but would not look back.

Suki squirmed as the raider tied her arms and wrists, before mentally sighing in resignation as she allowed gravity to take hold of her bound limbs. Though the raider said that he 'may' be willing to let her go, if she spoke, it wasn't as if she could just tell the raider what happened. Besides, that group might prove useful after all, and it would be such a pity if she were to lose them right now.

"Unfortunately, I have no clue." Speaking normally, she noticed that, with her being held up be her legs, upside down, it not only dropped her skirt, revealing what was underneath, but along with her chest also being pulled by gravity, pulling them against the front of her dress. Perhaps with this position, she can use it to her advantage.

"If you'd let me go, I think I have another way of paying you back. Would you like me~?" She'd never try seducing someone while being in such a disadvantageous position. There were also quite a number of things that could go wrong. However, she still wasn't willing to bring out the undead just yet. So she spoke with her usual sultry tone.

Vis nodded and shoved them forwards as a patrol of guards passed by, trying to look as convincing as possible. When he turned left what little color in his skin drained from his face. The girl was suspended upside down and her, 'bits' were exposed. he grabbed the pair by the wrists and hauled them back around the corner, for her sake as well as theirs.

He looked around and found a building that didn't look too destroyed and he lead them there, going inside to find it was a book store of some description, "alrighth, hide in here and I'll be righth back, these raiderth don't look thoo welcoming." Vis turned to Separ and leaned in close o his ear, "I hope you inthend on keeping your promise," his eyes flicked to Khat who seemed to be looking around at the books, "I.. I think I mighth care abouth her." He left the building and propped up a wooden plank to obscure the entrance.

Vis popped around the corner and kept his eyes off of the woman, he instead acted like he was pissed, "Whath the fuck!" he yelled, waving his arms exaggeratedly, "Cuth 'er down! If tha boss hearth abouth thith, he'll kick yer atheth."

Thins were rather quiet around camp, until they suddenly weren't. Raiders, likely finding them by following the trails of Vis and Separ. She frowned, knowing what would happen if she was around danger. She tried to level her breathing, telling herself there was no need to get hasty and attack.

Because Carver was going to protect them.

Alula clenched her jaw, eyes glowing brightly from under her hat. She was horribly confused and overwhelmed. Voices screamed from every direction, and she was unable to hear a single command or vision. It was chaos. Not only did her head feel crowded and distant, her body hurt as well. It was a foreign feeling, watching as Carver ran off into the woods, into the danger. Her stomach was twisting into knots, and her chest felt tight. Perhaps her time was almost up.

She glanced around camp, trying to keep herself composed. Everyone was in danger, so many possibilities. Alula frowned, muttering to herself.

"Everything is foggy, thick and unseeable. Like fog across a lake. Danger lurks but life stays hidden."

She shivered. Vis, Separ, and the female child were off and likely to die. They may or may not have found the woman. Carver was off into the woods. This left herself, the merchant, the gnome, and Kelvin remaining. As well as the young boy, but she refused to take responsibility for him. She couldn't. Alula watched as the gnome began to grab gear and then run ahead, following Carvers direction. She would do the same.

She first made sure that Kelvin and the merchant were in front of her. She would take up the rear, it was safer that way. She then, despite the voices, turned to the boy. She didn't speak but instead gestured down the path. Hopefully the child would catch up to the gnome. And then began to limp down the path herself. She refused to look back.

@Kimi and Voltus

"Well if you think you could be of service then maybe..." Then some random dickhead came strolling in. "What do you mean, this was the boss's idea to capture some survivors. What do you care what I do with her now that we've done what the boss asked?"

Vis decided that he would be intimidating, after all, bandits admired that. He marched right up to the man who had talked and pushed his forehead onto his, "Maybe if ya cleaned tha waxth ou' of yer ears ya would 'ave 'eard that the guy in charge wanted them to be put in tha town center, by tha tavern." Vis had his hand on his dagger, drawing his rapier would take too long in such close quarters.

It's pretty obvious you do care about her Vis. Thought Separ as he glanced towards the girl but it was kind of hard to see her in the dim light. "My name's Separ, what's yours?" He whispered, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible. It wasn't exactly the best way to go about things what with there being a whole bunch of raiders outside, but Separ figured he should at least say something every now and then so the girl didn't become bored or anything. Besides, who knows just how long this rescue mission was going to take. It would probably be a good idea to at least get acquainted with each other on a first name basis.

@Voltus_Ventus @gammaflux @Kimiyosis Daven started to ignore Vis and walked to the girl and cut her down, leaving her wrists and legs tied, "If it's that big of a deal to you then take her yourself." At that the men walked off. The other group of raiders arrived at the broken down tavern and,seeing no sign of Vis, started a patrol group for a possible impostor with a speech impedement and two or more prisoners. As the searched, Night began to fall.

@The Wanderer @Spoopy Scary @Dragonbud @akje As the party reached the halfway point to BitterBourne, night began to fall and the group had to decide whether to stop for the night or keep going. Des walked up to the noisy lady(Alula) and tugged on her robe to get her attention. "Miss, what's going to happen to the sun man?"

The entire walk away from camp Alula was silent. She had nothing to say to anyone. She tugged her hat down over her eyes, but occasionally peaked out from under her hat to watch the sun sink down behind the trees. Night would be coming and she needed to leave.

They soon came across a good place to camp, where Alula stopped right in her tracks. She spoke for the first time in several hours.

"I do believe this would be a fine place to stop for the night."

She spoke with a strange clarity, uncharacteristic of her slow speech. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that she was starting to glow.

"With any luck, the others will catch up with us before the morning."

Without explaining herself she tried to make her way towards the woods, hoping the others would take the hint and stay put for the night. She felt bad leaving the child and the gnome with Kelvin, but he was tough enough for the two of them.

Unfortunately, she was stopped before she could get away from the others. Someone was tugging on her cloak. The child. She suppressed a growl and tugged her hat down over her eyes.

Alula spoke with a strange amount of anger, as well as the corruption echoing in her voice as she spoke to the boy.

"Isn't it obvious? The man ran off into the woods to battle an unseeable amount of bandits. He lacked armor and was clearly outnumbered."

She grumbled something about stupid children before, again, trying to get away from the group.

It was quite a long and eventful day. Between having had no sleep the previous night, half of the party he had recent acquainted himself with going off to who-knows-where on what was apparent to be a mission to willingly swan dive into the dragon's maws - the merchant had little sympathy for the fools - and then they were suddenly surrounded by bandits, with the foolish knight sacrificing his life so that the others may flee. Foolish, certainly; Arastoph definitely would not have done the same, but he appreciated the act as it allowed him to live another day. However, that extra day comprised him of hiking through rough terrain to get to the next town over while he was sleep deprived. While he still detested the idea of sleeping among strangers, he felt that his body might win out this time around.

He had no interest in talking with any of those who were left; he was too exhausted and irritable for him to be so patient with them. The boy, however, still seemed to have plenty of energy left to harass the seer girl as she began to wander off.

"However you look at it," he began to explain, "every man and woman is a sinner. Some sin less, some sin more, some are better at hiding it."

Arastoph sighed and closed his eyes just as a cool breeze blew by and soothed his hot skin and aching muscles.

"Carver is probably dead and will be suffering eternal damnation. We can just hope he's being tortured by two hundred ninety-nine pitchforks instead of three hundred."

Khat climbed up a bookshelf and sat on top, looking down at the suddenly shorter man, "My name is Khat," she hissed down, trying to be quiet but still audible, "What of it?" she scanned the man with a scrutinizing eye, he wore little armor and didn't even carry a weapon, 'what kind of adventurer is this guy?' she thought to herself. Standing up, Khat leapt to the other bookshelf, landing with a gentle tap as opposed to a clumsy thud. "Are you Vis' friend?" she asked.

Vis bundled up Suki, throwing her roughly over his shoulder, "if ye artheholes find any more prisoners, 'ow about lockin'em up inthead of trying' tha rape'em?" he walked off back in the in the opposite direction he came in, as if he were going to the center of town, however when he was out of sight he looped around the long way, heading back to the bookstore where he had hid Separ and Khat.

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to introduce myself is all. So Khat's your name huh? It's rather pretty. And as for Vis, you could say he's my friend. Though, whether or not he thinks the same of me, well that's debatable." I sighed as my thoughts jumped to Vis and the girl. Hopefully they were both okay, but all I could do was hope. I couldn't even see from outside this building, so that would make things a lot more difficult. Please be safe.

It was painful. Men seemed to crash in on all sides, breaking the safety of the clearing and leaving it shattered like sharp glass. Luckily, he was packed. Kelvin snatched up two of the packages the gnome had made in either hand, and booked it. He didn’t pause- he wasn’t a Paladin.

Even so, he could feel stabbing pain in his gut- the jerk of leaving behind an ally. Carver had only his sword, his shield, and the blessing of a god to make it through. Brave man, likely a dead one. Kelvin couldn’t take the time to look back, just muttering a small offering for the man.

”Go Paladin, a man born of plight to fight through sin.
Never fall, listen to the child’s call.
Go my kin. No amount of steel can hide your heart of tin.
Enemies may maul, but a hero stands tall.
Come Paladin, dance for heaven’s ball.”

He wasn’t quite sure where he knew it from, but it was an appropriate lyric for the situation. Kelvin did little as they slowed. Constant running would leave a man tired. ”I didn’t know you were a believer, merchant.” Kelvin glanced at the man. ”Odd.” He wasn’t really that interested. Kelvin glanced about, beginning to count heads.

Exhaustion was already overtaking the merchant, and was slow to address Kelvin's passing comment. The long trek took a lot out of what was left of him and was beginning to drift into slumber as he sat upright with his back against a tree trunk.

"I've seen and... experienced enough to be aware there is more to this world than your mortality." Arasatoph answered dismissively with a lazy wave of his hand. "Believing, howe'er, is not the same as holding faith in higher powers..."

This was a terrible time for him to be discussing anything, much less religion, and was already growing irritable. He wished to remain left alone so that he may catch up on rest. On the bright side, he felt he had no reason to worry of his safety around these ones.

"But for now, let me be," he continued, "I am weary."

Suki 'vainly struggled', as she was thrown over the disfigured man. "Be more gentle!" Hissing softly at Vis, she shifted around, attempting to settle into a more comfortable position. As comfortable as one can get carried like a sack of flour.

She sighed in exasperation after a short moment, before muttering, "Why did you even bother coming? Waste your time on better tasks." with an annoyed tone.

When they were far enough away from the raiders, Vis decided to hold her differently, one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back, like carrying a dead body. As far as he was concerned, he wasn't wasting time putting her down and cutting her out of her bindings.

"Tha way i thee ith.." Began Vis, jogging at a steady pace, "you've done me a favor an ith only righth that I pay you back." He looked own at her and cast the grin light of his eye on her face, there was something about her.

"Use your flattery elsewhere," snarked Khat, as she leapt off one of the book cases and landed gently on the ground with barely a tap, "It's just a nickname and thats as far as I'd like to take it with a stranger, Separ." she said his name with disdain, it seemed that being in the town she once called him was bubbling up lots of negativity inside her.