Ellyn wasn't paying much attention as to what was going on, to what the others were talking about or how far they have walked. She just wanted to sleep and find one poem of hers. looked up as she saw a green orb flying around. Seeing what this orb was doing she got increasingly worried, obviously not liking the orb at all. 'umm... what is that!!?' she projected out as she sighed softly, hoping that this orb is deaf and cannot sense presences that are alive.

Tagged; Everyone in the party,

Thoroughly and Meticulously reading through the tome. It detailed the work of ancient enchanters of old and Artos couldn't fully wrap his mind around the text. The intricacies of the tome was rather hard to understand thoroughly, and to be able to cast any type of spell you would need to completely understand the workings of said spell. While the spell itself was not too difficult to utter, it would prove useless as the spell would just rebound and fail. To a normal person the text would look wholly like utter gibberish. "Auguriis." he said out loud, only for light to appear for a split second then nothing. With a click of his tongue he went back to the tome, and started to re-read the passage.

Soon after his failed attempt, the goblin approached him, or better yet rolled close to Artos. When he did get close enough, he scratched the light cerulean armor resulting in a grating noise that snapped Artos out of his reading-like trance. He didn't really mind his armor being lightly grazed as the weak enchantment repaired small and light scratches. With a glance, he looked below him to see the Goblin with an interesting potion that transformed him into a gorilla-esque being. "Well, I am a Magus, basically, reading this tome grants me my magic." he replied to the Goblin "Do you have a name, honored alchemist?" Artos had read about goblins, and it was odd to see one without it's tribe as they almost never separate. He has never heard of one travelling alone, and an alchemist to boot.

Looking towards Hugh he was flirting with the woman again, I wonder if I should mention I have met another paladin to him, maybe when we get to another campsite or when he asks, he deserves atleast that much. he thought, eyes filled with slight pity and distraught.

Suddenly, a green floating orb appeared out of nowhere, since Artos was a magus, he is very sensitive to the energies around himself. The orb was oozing some type of energy that felt extremely malicious and dark, Artos couldn't place his finger on what 'it' was. The presence gave Artos a chill that ran up his spine, something that rarely happens. He had felt this kind of presence from somewhere, "T-This aura... It feels similar to 'The Devour.'" he accidentally said out-loud instead of thinking. It began to suck up the energies of the dead gnolls and the bodies just disappeared. After finishing with all the gnolls, It was a good idea to burn the gnoll I killed to ashes. It soon whizzed past their heads and seemingly flew through the direction they were heading. The group had then begun asking questions about what was that orb that flew past them was. Normally this is where Artos would reply, as he is quite knowledgeable but Artos was stumped. "I- I don't know, but all I know for sure that that 'orb' siphons life energy, as you all saw." he replied in a rare tone of worry, "And it's heading directly in the direction we are heading."

Ellyn looked to Artos and growled under her breath softly, obviously worried and confused on what to do. She eventually walked to Artos as he seemed to know what he was doing and stayed near him. As she did so she clutched onto her harp tightly, readying for anything that will happen to her group, she may have just met them. But no way in hell will she let them die (even if she was one of the weakest!)

Bjoric shrugged the hammer back onto his shoulder now that he'd finally gotten the last piece of charred gnoll wiped off. He chuckled as Hugh and the archer continued their awkward flirting. He was just about to comment when the orb appeared.

He redied his hammer as it floated overhead, he thought he recognized the orb but couldn't remember where from. Closing his eyes he muttered a few words in ancient dwarven, when he opened them he looked at the orb again it waa outlined with a red glow, confirming his fears.

Hearing the newcomers guess he replied, "It was created by evil, that is for certain. And it ain't feeding off life force, they're all dead, it's taking their corpses." he said gravely.

The night seemed to go on forever, until finally light began to break from the horizon. Giving a golden hue to the sands as the sun began its climb. Vivian shifted her gaze from it and away. Her eyes could never get used to that kind of light so suddenly. Hopefully as she traveled on the surface her eyes would some how get used to it. Ellis saw this as he sat next to her on the wagon.

"Let me take over for awhile until your eyes adjust." He said. He took the reins form her hands letting her rest awhile. Oddly dispite the orb and everything she began to drift into sleep. She let her head rolled to her right. It rested upon the halflings head her silver hair flowing around him. Ellis, with a hand brushed the hair from his face and he looked over at her about to say something. However, with her angle and his he could almost see down through her cleavage and he looked away instantly. He sighed and decided to let it go.

"Well aint I in a pickle..." He said, mostly to himself. The sun gave the observer a better look at her face. Drow were no different from their surface cousins. Each one just as beautiful as the last. The darkness often hid these features due to their skin being so dark. Ellis shift and tried to position Vivian in a way it wouldn't be uncomfortable for both him and her. "Of all the times to sleep she picked this one."

His thoughts lingered on the orb though. It was almost a emerald green and too bad it was evil. He would have loved to stuff it along with belongings. However, he doubted it was actually valuable, unlike the actual gem. He sighed and looked back to see the others were rather concerned with it. What made it more concerning though was when both Bjoric and Artos practicly said it was evil. He then turned to look back towards their destination only to see something in the distance. He could see something sparkle, a red kind of sparkle.

It looked like they were not the only ones hit by the Gnolls it would seem. As they got closer he saw one figure sitting against a rock. Blood all over the place, whether it belonged to him or not was yet to be determined. Every inch they got closer his features were more and more detailed until finally it was revealed. It was an orc. Judging from the weapons laid about he did fight some body. Ellis turned his head around to the others.

"Something up ahead, looks like a orc. He looks like he was in a big fight, no other corpses can be seen ,so I think that green orb sucked up what foes he had." He said.

There were only six weapons strewn about the small battle field. Blood covering the sands. The weapons were three war axes and three long swords. The orc was holding his left side, his helmet right beside him. He was covered in the blood himself. Some of it was his, some of it was whoever he fought with.

Upon seeing the Orc Ellyn rushed to him, she felt sorry for him and wanted to help him badly. She tripped up in the process of running and got up, spitting some sand off her mouth and stuck to following the wagon untill the group reached him (looked like a him to her... can't tell because she was more focused on getting the rest of the sand off the mouth) she was worried about the orc... All she could hope for was that they would all reach him in time to treat his wounds.

Sana looked over at Bjoric and pursed her lips. "Well ain't that peachy," she said as she climbed up into the wagon and resumed her position. That was all they needed, something running around the desert harvesting corpses. Placing her hand on the rail she kept watch, wondering just what they had gotten themselves into. Sana remained quiet and kept a vigilant eye out around them; her bow gripped tight in her hand. After a couple hours her watch was over and she resigned to let Hugh and the rest watch things. Hopping out of the back of the wagon she began to walk aside it towards the front. She wanted to see what was coming at them now straight on. She was tired of looking behind.

Glancing over to Elis and Vivian, she chuckled lightly before turning her attention back before them. As her eyes fell on the Orc and the blood, she pulled an arrow from her quiver and knocked it into place, keeping the bow low for now. Perking a brow as Ellyn ran off towards the creature and face planting into the sand. "She's gonna get herself killed," she grumbled as she kept close to Ellyn. Taking a look at the missing bodies but the remaining weapons she looked over at the Orc, still keeping her arrow in place but the bow lowered for now.

"Gnolls, orb, bye bye corpses?" she asked in a flat voice as she stood there.

Hugh nodded to Sana, not all to familiar with gypsies, he didn't react to what she said, but she seemed rather worried about what he thought. When she said all this, the orb took flight overhead, interrupting the conversation for the time being. Hugh felt as though he knew what it was, but something was keeping him from figuring it out. Something that he was missing.

When Ellis cried out, remarking that an orc lay on the ground ahead of them, the bard took foot and ran towards it. "No, that could be a fucking trap!" He yelled, as he too gave chase, his hand tightly gripping his sheathed falchion. He was angry for a little before laugh snorting when she face planted into the sand, which sounded more like he coughed. He shook off his amusement and shouted, "Are you okay?!" right before she got up and continued. "I guess so." He muttered, continuing his run, kicking up sand, and slogging through it.

They finally came to a stop, the bard being the first to reach the presumed dead orc. When Hugh finally skidded to a stop, he drifted a little in the sand, and drew his falchion from its sheath. He began checking around the area for anything, like traps, or enemies ready to pounce. There wasn't much to check, just kick the sound around a little and look behind the rock. "Does anyone else see anything? We can't risk being surprised again."

"Well, least we know something for certain." he replied to Sana. "Something is gonna be waiting for us."

Bjoric continued along with the cart, keeping a warry eye on the sky in case the orb decided it wanted fresher bodies. He couldn't help but feel some hint of memory in regards to the orb. Probably a passage in a book he'd read decades ago but hadn't paid attention to. He silently cursed himself for not reading it more closely.

The sun was on the rise when Bjoric began to feel the lack of sleep getting to him. He almost didn't notice that the halfling had spotted something and most of the party had taken off from the wagon to investigate. Unable to shake the tiredness from himself, he climbed into the front od the wagon to pull on the warhorses reins.

"What are ye durned fools yelling about now?" he called out, taking a standing position on the wagon bench to try and spot any that may be waiting in ambush.

The bard looked to the marksman and the human and smiled as they approached her, in her opinion, they seemed cute together. She kinda got jealous at that because she wanted to act cute like that with someone. Sighing softly she tilted her head to the presumed dead Orc, wondering if she was still in time to try to heal him somehow.

'E-excuse me...?' Ellyn directed this at the Orc, although it appeared to be a bad time since she felt too intimidated by his body build and by his facial expressions. 'c-can I help you??' Ellyn stuttered that out in a worried manner... yup... Ellyn loves helping others yet she appeared to have no sense of danger.

After the dwarf had corrected him, it appears the the orb absorbs the corpses rather than life energy as he predicted. Normally he would feel a tad stupid, but the large green orb was all he thought. "Dwarven cleric are you sure about that?" he asked towards the Dwarf, who looked a tad fearful. The elfven woman who appeared to be a bard suddenly got close after his wrong theory, and she looked a bit frightened. The woman reminded Artos of a childhood friend whom he was very close with, he was about to comfort her but Artos had no idea how to.

Continuing the trek, Artos' mind was wrapped around the floating orb and when the wagon suddenly stopped he landed face first into the rigid wooden frame. Falling unceremoniously to the ground he was about to say something until his eye caught an orc, the smell of blood and iron suddenly plunged Artos' nose. Aftermath of a battle? The elven woman suddenly darted off, with Hugh following behind her. Artos had gotten up already, nose slgihtly red due to him hitting it on the wagon. He began slowly and warily walking to the seemingly dead, or most likely unconscious orc. The running elven bard suddenly tripped and fell face first into the sand, Artos chuckled but covered it with his hand.

Reaching the battered and beaten orc, "I can try healing him, but I am not sure if it'd work." Artos offered, standing over Ellyn and beside Hugh. "As for traps, well, I could also activate Mind's eye, but I don't think there's a trap."

'you can!?' Ellyn seemingly smiled as she heard that from Artos. Even though she knew it might not work she would be glad if everyone did what they could instead of not being able to do anything at all. She looked down from Artos and chuckled to herself softly, thankful that the young man offered his healing services.

'please try... sir...' was all she said to him, knowing that the newcomer may be friendly towards her afterall...

"It seems clear Hugh," Sana said quickly as she kept close to Ellyn. Turning around and looking at Bjoric she sighed slightly, thinking he must have been asleep.

"Oh just about a lot of blood and the body of an Orc, nothing special," she said quickly before turning back and eying the Orc.

As Ellyn asked Atros to heal the orc, her brows furrowed deeply as she resisted the urge to drop her arrow and cover her face with her palm out of disbelief. "I swear woman, you'd take in a lost Necromancer," she half teased.

'if he can help then I will do anything... I'd die to learn how to heal others... but I was never taught that...' She giggled at Sana and smiled, possibly showing a bit of a flustered look from Sana's teasing. 'meanie...' Ellyn muttered, still smiling. She glared back to the orc with her worried expression returning.

'I wonder if they will have any song books in the ancient ruins... might not be but if there is there may be a song to heal grievous wounds or something... hehe'

'I want to help him... if nobody can then I will myself...' Ellyn thought long and hard about that decision but she will do it. Even if things came push into shove.

Hugh nodded to Sana, "So it seems." He said. He turned to see the orc. Creatures he had never liked, but his life had not been turned upside down by orcs, but by other humans. Orcs seemed to have a pretty bad reputation and there were some very good reasons for that. They were violent and had no respect for the weak. You would not find mercy at the end of an orc blade. They weren't all to intelligent, but they were magnificent fighters, and you could win their respect by besting them in combat. The one redeeming quality Hugh respected the most of orcs.

Hugh was honorable most importantly and he would provide healing for the orc, if he could. Although he was an ex-paladin, old habits always die hard, especially the ones you are raised with.

Hugh was suddenly taken aback by Ellyn's words, stating she would die trying to learn how to heal others. "Whoa! None of that! It's not that difficult. No selling your soul involved for this." He said aloud, possibly taking her a little more serious than she meant. "Just let me heal-" He stopped himself before he finished that sentence. He had let his tongue do too much talking, for it was almost as if he had forgotten his lack of holy powers. "Artos will probably be able to take care of it. Right Artos?" He said, giving a friendly grin, hiding his embarrassment.

"An orc? Is that you're all in a fuss about?" he asked incrediously. "What have none of ye ever seen an orc before? Just put it out of its misery and be done with it. I don't want to be in the open any longer than we have to."

He sat back down and turned to the drow. "Can ye believe these..." he saw that she had been asleep for the whole ordeal. "Bloody elves." He grumbled.

Sana rolled her eyes slightly. "No, it's the missing corpses and left over weapons like last time that has me a bit concerned," she stated flatly. "And it seems Ellyn wants to save the Orc," she followed up with as she looked around.

"Hate to say it, he's right though. We have to keep moving, so kill him, heal him or move him. We need to go," Sana said in an even tone. The orc didn't bother her, orbs she was told were made from evil that are collecting bodies did though.

Tagged; Everyone in the party.

Dismissing the dwarf's attempts to dismiss and leave the beaten orc, "We're already out in the open, Dwarf." he replied coldy, glaring back at the dwarf with his undaunted scarlet eyes "Sit on behind the wagon and cover your eyes, and maybe your ears if you dislike it so."

Seeing the elf's resolve to save the orc somewhat moved Artos, though he himself held no ill-will towards Orcs. He viewed them as warriors, honorable to a degree. They will acknowledge you after you best them in a duel and it is rather considerably strenuous to beat them in single combat. "Another oddity- orcs normally travel with tribes." he said to no one in particular. It seemed like he was battling a whole party of something- gnolls or otherwise and managed to win... albeit falling unconscious. "If what the dwarf says rings true, then this orc is not dead. He said that the orb takes corpses? So it's safe to say, that he's not dead... yet." he continued, noticing the hoarse and subtle breathing of the orc.

"I will try Sir Hugh, though you might be able to do it, unless..." Artos prattled but stopped. instead placing a reassuring hand on Ellyn's shoulder."Alright, this spell, WILL suck up all of my remaining mana as it siphons alot. I have not fully mastered it, but I'll try." he continued, "Step back."

Placing both his hands over the battered and beaten orc, jagged breaths paired with an alarming palpitation, he began to conjure the spell. Magnus.. Sanitas. Streaks of white light appeared beneath his palms and around his irises as the strong hum of magic reverberated throughout the plains. The orc groaned in pain as the flow of Artos' magic coursed through his veins, all throughout his body. After a couple of long, grueling minutes, the healing process came to an abrupt halt. Artos collapsed on the sandy floor. The mage had exerted what was left of his mana. Through labored breaths, he says "W- Well, I- I've done all that my power wills me..." he continued, with the sun's unforgiving rays of light hitting his pale face as he laid still on the sandy terrain."Now we wait."

'let's heal him!' Ellyn looked to Sana with a determined look, she wasn't planning to let this orc go any time soon and she would probably fascinate everyone until she got what she wanted...

'or else...'

The moment Ellyn spoke that it was in such a tone that you probably wouldn't even think it was Ellyn anymore, but a elf that you don't want to mess with whatsoever, She knew this was probably the only way for someone to heal him. 'I don't care if hes right, the orc needs urgent medical attention! if we can help him he may repay us'

Upon feeling the hand gently place on her shoulder she smiled lightly at him, maybe someone will listen to her after all, upon seeing him heal the orc she patiently waited, nodding in thanks to Artos, finally relaxed from what everyone was saying, the moment he did what he could Ellyn looked at him and shown her cheeks going red lightly, no because she started liking him, but because he did what he could 'thankyou...'

Hugh was surprised by Ellyn's sudden threat. He was put off a little. "Okaaay, it's not that serious. Just an orc. All you need is a little healing spell. If I had my paladin powers I could easily bring him back." He said with candor.

After Artos healed the orc Hugh looked on in wonder. "Well, that was a little underwhelming. Let's leave him now." He said. That was about the extent of his mercy, as orcs were very cruel creatures. He wasn't too keen on being around an orc when it was back to health and spotted humans, elves, and a dwarf. None of these races got along with each other all too well, and Hugh hadn't had any positive experiences with orcs, so he was alright with leaving it, now that it was healed. "Alright, let's get. That's all the mercy for the day. Orcs aren't very kind when they can walk and talk." He sheathed his weapon and motioned back to the wagon. "LET'S GET!"

"And Ellyn, don't threaten Sana like that ever again." He said in a very serious tone. "It's not polite."