Lob watched with an air of curiosity to watching another treat the body, he also had a repugnant air emanating from him as well. When the dead was done, he followed behind to see what she was doing with the body when she threw her 'catch' into it and leaped back lke a frightened frog as her axe explodes.

"GOOD CATCH!"

Looking behind him, he saw he had bumped into a rain-barrel that was full from last night. First he dunked his head in and took a deep drink before climbing in the barrel to wash himself clean, clothes and all. It took some doing and nearly drowning in his own 'tub' but he managed to right himself and come up for air before the cooper rings strained at his mass. He knocked the barrel over and crawled out on all fours before shaking himself like a dog and hopping back up onto the wagon with the rest.

Fiona returned to the wagon as well once the work was done, almost unwilling to believe that she was finally going to get some sleep. Surely another monster, or a loud stranger, would come by and ruin the peace. Pushing the negative thoughts aside, she found a space in the back for her blanket and unbuckled her armor, arranging it in a neat pile next to her.

"If anyone would like a more peaceful sleep," Zoe said, coming over to the front of the wagon, "I can help with that. Just let me know. I'll be awake for a while yet... make sure this village doesn't get any more lively when we're all asleep, y'know?" She climbed nimbly into the front seat and took up a relaxed posture, watching the various members of the group settle in for some rest.

"I'll be awake as well," Derrix said stiffly as he leaned a shoulder against Charroux. The man had little to say to the group, half of which he had no idea who they were; well he had their names... but this was not Charlin, and a name only said so much outside of her borders. All Derrix knew was this: wearing plate armor all the time chaffs you up something bad, and that he needed to see this quest finished and concluded.

The night went smoothly and as the sun rose the next day the villagers remained hidden away, seeming to not want to have anything to do with the group that had come in the night before. Shela snorted somewhat as the light hit her eyes, her pipe still held tight between her teeth. Groaning she sat up and butt hopped over to the edge of the wagon, her feet dangling off the edge. Yawning deeply she sucked in the morning air.

"Ugh, jasmine still!" she complained rubbing her nose and the sneezing. Shaking off the feeling the sneeze left behind she stretched her short arms above her head before reaching over and grabbing an Apple out of her pack and taking a bite.

"Okay, where's big boy? Need to follow his nose to loud mouth," she said as she climbed to the front of the back of the wagon.

Lob was indeed gone that morning. Not by any evil fog, but merely taking in the surrounding village for sights and smells. Many were gone from the group, be it in their sleep like him or other reasons. But he watched and waited for signs of trouble then got bored and came home to the wagon.

"Sun up, we go."

He waited for everyone to get fed and ready to go before he lead the way away. No great send-off like before or anti-paladin's to fight in the night. The half orc put his bone to his back and his nose to the grindstone as he sniffed all over sansa's horse to get a good lungful of her scent and was soon leading the way.

***Room for other people's posts here***

Much like he had with the slavers before, he went this way and that, crossing the road or shooting up a tree as the wind shifted. He saw a fox flit past but let it go, the were not out to feed them all again but he did stop at an oak, old and wise.

"Food!"

The barbarian declared as he swung his dragonbone club against the lowest bough and let acorns rain down from above, not to mention a few squirrels. He hopped back down and gathered up the acorns in his loincloth with the glowing green crystal that the healer had not wanted. Now with a handful of nuts between his legs, he continued tracking the alpha female while looking at the new ones to the group.

Vaeri woke up early and prepped the wagon and horses for the journey. Everything seemed alright, and although the jasmine spell was odd and somewhat obtrusive, it was rather simple to ignore. Jasmine was never a scent that really stuck in the nose like rosemary, rotten egg or skunk. Now that she thought about it, yesterday had been the first time a day passed out without something cataclysmic occurring. Maybe this pattern could continue. It was a faint hope, but at least it was a hope that wasn't unfounded. After helping with preparations, she spent a good half hour in prayer as she waited for Lob to return and lead the way.

For breakfast, the cleric ate a humble meal of some of the rations she had in her bag while she observed the town idly. It did not really bother her that the townspeople were avoiding them. She just adjusted the hood of her cloak and kept her gaze down. The snout of a black stallion entered her field of view, she turned her head to see the horse of one of the new travelers, his name was Trombe if she remembered well enough. On his back was his owner, the swordsman, Kazuo. Cautiously, she pet the horse's head a few times before he walked off, apparently satisfied.

Kazuo did not wake up until the group had been traveling for a couple of hours. An annoyed Trombe did most of the legwork of keeping up. Kazuo could tell because his entire body felt like crap. It took him a good minute to wake up and observe his surroundings. There was a green guy crawling around sniffing the ground in front of the group.

Kazuo rode up to the man in armor and leaned up close to him.

"What's with the green guy?" he whispered at a volume he was sure the elf chick wouldn't hear. Growing up around a half-elf got him pretty familiar with the enhanced senses of the Fair People.

Fiona felt better after sleeping, though it wasn't the most comfortable in the back of the wagon. She'd slept on worse, though, and while she didn't feel fully restored, she felt functional again, and that was enough. She ate lightly as well, once it was apparent that this village wasn't interested in providing them with anything. She helped prepare the wagon with Vaeri, and made her sure her horse was fed and watered for the day's ride. After that, it was a matter of simply accompanying the group, and remaining silent.

Zoe did so on the edges, often changing positions, her eyes bright and awake. She was energetic seemingly by nature, though it was unclear just how much sleep she'd gotten the night before. She giggled a bit to herself as she watched Lob enthusiastically smash his weapon against a tree.

Derrix chewed on the inside of his cheek as the moon rose high, he blunk, and as his eyes opened, he was greeted wit the flush pink of dawn. It almost felt like he had slept, almost. Or at least he thought so, he wasn't too sure what sleeping felt like anymore, but he remembered it being quick like that.

He was sure he was awake though, he could feel the magic coursing through him, perking his skin into goosebumps and riding along the trenches the scars dug into his skin.

Slowly people woke up and slowly he watched them like a sentinel.

The group traveled and they traveled, ever following Lob as the scent grew stronger. Jasmine began to mix with the smell of salt in the air as they traveled north and west from the last village. Three days of travel and nothing happened, thankfully for the group. It seemed things were going in their favor but the group grew smaller. Lack of excitement seemed to push others away or perhaps they had something else to do. Shela however kept on, at least for now. They were looking for someone while searching for what they needed for what they needed for the cinder sickness. Evening began to fall when they approached the port city of Trien. Large stone walls surrounded large city and the sounds were loud as people spoke and traded and worked and fought.

"Let's get something to eat, to drink and settled in," Shela suggested as they rolled up to a local tavern in the heart of the city. If Sana was here it was going to a take a while to find her with so many people, so many buildings and they had been on the road for days without a proper place to sleep. Shela was getting tired of pulled splinters out of her rear end from sleeping in the wagon.

"Any takers?" she asked as she looked at the remainder of the group.

Lob was worried, three days of tracking jasmine and... that was all. No other horses, no other campfires, no other people to blend the scent. He had never tracked a smell like this for so long without it breaking or mingling with others. Time distance and weather didn't even seem to effect the strength of the scent.

"Alpha smell, magic smell."

He tracked by day, slept by night, over the next three he found himself sleeping closer and closer to the dwarf, using the hedgehog as a pillow more than once after draping his hide armor over her as a blanket then curling up beside her. He still kept the glowing crystal in his loincloth with whatever bits of food he was foraging for the others.

Part of him worried how many cubs were dying because of this search for the alpha, three days with no other parts for the sickness. Not even a gnoll bandit, a scent he knew too well as he rubbed his scarred forehead. Oddly, as the scent of salt passed his nose, he started getting an idea as he pulled out the paper of ingredients. He held up the apothecary notes with two of five scratched out. This was a big place with a lot of traders, surely someone had to have what they needed.

"Let's get something to eat, to drink and settled in. Any takers?"

"Food, yes. Bed, yes. Buy parts?"

Vaeri rode out the three days of travel mostly in silence. Sure, it was worrying that nobody else turned up and Lob didn't seem to be very comfortable with the fact that his tracking wasn't turning up any results, either positive or negative even after 3 days, but there wasn't anything she could do but rest her faith in the gods to clear this up. She would pray, but ultimately, her survival skills would not really help out, especially since Lob never really had trouble keeping a good grasp on the scent of Sana.

Vaeri took in a breath of sea air, the first she had had in about half a decade. The sea was nice, but not really her thing. It was too large, chaotic and blank for her to have a connection with it like she did the forest. Deserts and Plains may also be similarly expansive and unchanging, but they were not quite as much at the mercy of weather that oceans were. Perhaps she just preferred dry land.

"Who wouldn't take up the offer of food and rest?"

"Good! It's on me!" Shela exclaimed as he looked around. She was just about to head into the tavern when a large brute of a man with a wiry bear came crashing out of the doors of the tavern and sprawled out before the group with his face planted firmly into the gravel and dirt. Over a dozen men came rushing out after him and formed a circle around the man, taunting him as he spat the ground out of his mouth.

Slowly from the dark entrance to the tavern the figure of a woman appeared. Long raven hair with streaks of silver falling well past her shoulders tilted her head to the side and peered a the man through her ocean blue eyes. She look long strides in high heeled boots and her face, though older, seemed to hold a beautiful regal youth and life to it.

"One does not place his hands on a lady without her permission," the woman said in a calm and commanding voice. Shela was laughing at the man with his face covered in dirt but as the woman spoke her eyes widened some and she spun around on her thick feet.

"By the day, if it ain't be the queen of the sea! Regalia, I see you still be kicking much an ass," Shela laughed as he wobbled over to the woman. The woman smile and knelt down, hugging Shela tight, carefully avoiding the spikes of the dwarfs armor.

"And by the seas, I see you that you are still as brash as ever my old friend," Regalia said in a kind voice before standing back up straight. "What brings you to these parts?" Regalia asked curious.

"Long story, care for a drink?" Shela asked.

"I would never deny my oldest friend, especially not after the stunt you pulled with that dragon," Regalia chuckled softly before holding up a finger. "If you would excuse me for a moment, I do have some unfinished business to take care of before I join you."

"Not stopping you," Shela laughed as she hefted her pack onto her back. "I be inside," she quipped before toddling off. "Come on folk, let's drink!"

Vaeri stood back and watched Shela talk to her friend blankly. Her ear felt kind of weird. Maybe a bug got in it. Not a lot happened. She didn't know this city and she wasn't about to split the party to try looking for an inn and potentially get lost from the rest of the group forever.

Derrix squinted his eyes at Vaeri. She's got a bug in her ear, He thought to himself. He shrugged and shook his head, looking around at the splendor of the city.

It almost reminded him of Lrev, but the architecture was all wrong, and this place smelt stale to him; stale with a hint of lavender. He looked down at the helmet in his hand and groaned. Lavender.

'Focus...Foocuuss...Fooocuuusss...'
The small sorcerer was staring down a candle flame, drawing up the light with his will, pushing it down with the force of mental effort. He made it bend to the left then to the right and even change colors from amber to azure. All wonderful tricks, but not what he was supposed to be focusing on!
The card across from him was like any of the 78 others he had been staring at for the last weeks laying on months, its maroon back was painstakingly painted with a blue diamond inside of a maroon diamond inside of a blue diamond ad-nauseam until it was too small to tell. He knew they were made supposedly of sheets of ivory from a dragons tooth but could just as easily been tusk from any other large but more believable creature like an elephant's face.
At the moment he was staring at the back of the card but he needed to know what was on the front of the card, for all his divination spells, he never studied clairvoyance outright. He could read the mind of someone holding the card, or he could use the animal skull on the shelf behind the card to peek over, but those methods used something else to see through, he needed to be able to do the same without a medium. Adding insult to temptation, there was even a mirror angled just so across the room he could look at if he left his seat to see the card. He knew the mirror was there to tempt him to cheat.
Pondering, he reached out to touch the card. Not flip it over, but perhaps if he put his focus to the actual object by touch, he could read what was on the other side. As his skin touched the painted ivory, he saw a flash of children tossing and turning in bed, blisters like lava oozing ash down their faces until they erupted in screaming flames. He Fell back into the chair which in turn fell back with a crash as he tumbled out of the furniture into the waiting boots of the gypsy leader.

"See something you like?" The Voda of the clan spoke with that same sly grin. A smile is the most polite way to show your teeth to someone and he knew his one carried more than one of those 'folding knives' on him under three layers of tops with a scarf all full of pockets, up the sleeves, in the belt or in the boots. Either it was enchanted or he truly had over a dozen of the damned things on him, either way, Jymsine was more than the pretty face of his people. Further evidence would be the 'witches wagon' they were both in. Stereotypically, it was reserved for the oldest mother of the tribe who had 'the sight' that even brought Penish to where he was, much to his surprise to find this cat-like man leading them all with more than one hat on his head.

"Yes-no. Yes I saw something from the card, but not what was on the card itself. I saw fire, screaming children with black tears."

The taller one poured himself around the vardo do the other side of the table and picked up the card. His dark pants creaked as he sat and put leg over knee like he was taking tea with those sky-colored-eyes looking at it then to the halfling he flipped the card over on its head rather than around on its side.
"Five of Swords, when held Upright it means a strong sense of disappointment and failure is inherent in the Five of Swords. It may be that in a quest for power, underhanded tactics were employed - lies, gossip and envy undermine everyone, including yourself. It may be that disappointment was necessary to force a more realistic plan of action. When following a path where nothing seems to work, this might not be your best course. The only thing affected if you change your mind will be your pride.
When the Five of Swords is reversed, it is time to cut your losses. Sometimes, wanting to prove we were in the right becomes more important than being right. At this point, you have already lost this fight, no matter what else you say or do. Jealousy, pride and self-righteousness may be keeping you in battle but it is time to embrace defeat and walk away. Accept what has happened, learn from it and start anew."

Frowning furiously, the wee wizard righted himself and took a firm stance. Was he being dismissed? Had he somehow failed the test even after weeks of indentured servitude at the camp? "You lost me somewhere, what does that card have to do with my situation."

"Absolutely nothing, that is just what the card means in a reading. The fact you saw a vision while using the card is what keeps you here. You didn't see what the card was, but you saw through the card... That is enough for now. Now go take our new guest some food and water. If she tries to kill you to escape, it is no loss to me."

Stopping himself before he was goaded, the small one saluted and left. He made his way to the cook caravan and opened u one of the baskets hanging from the side full of simples for the kids to get into. He plucked an apple, an egg, and a fist of cheese with a blackbread roll and started to juggle them as he made his way to the golden guards outside the door. He knew them and he knew he could take them each in a heartbeat. That thought made him smile as he stoed tossing the food about and entered the tent.

"Lunch."

"DRINK!"
Was the war-cry into the boisterous bar they were about to enter. He braced his nose and went inside behind the dwarf, grabbing her by her belt and setting her in a chair to save her embarrassment of trying to make it work out in her favor. He liked the one in spikes, she was simple in what she said and did, it made it easy to follow. And she had a really good ax!

He preferred to crouch, but his height still let him rest his chin on the bar, he sniffed about as he looked at their surroundings, having not gotten to go very far into the last inn except for breakfast of cleaning off other people's plates before the raider arrived. When the bartender looked to the monster for his order, it took Lob longer than usual to find the word.

Kumis!
He called out, it was a fermented mare milk his people once got for trading with horse-riders. The kinship to the animals spoke much to Lob as he remembered the high grasses of his homeplains and hoped to return to them, but there were no more of his people to return to so going back also seemed like it would do no good. His head hurt now.

Sana glanced over her shoulder and looked at the one that was speaking to her about food. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she turned back around as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"I'm not hungry," she spat.

"You need to eat Miss Rawn," Jymsine said as he peeked into the tent. "You won't be any good to me if you don't have your strength," he added with a sly smile gracing his lips.

"Oh piss off! Like I give a good damn what use I am to you, you better be glad I don't care about keeping up my strength for your wants, otherwise I would put you through that tent and into an early grave," she hissed.

"Then do it," he challenged as he stepped towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I may be hot headed, I am not stupid," she said with a smirk. "I'll leave when the time is right."

"You'll leave when I tell you to," Jymsine whispered in her ear. Sana shrugged off his grasp but he spun her around and grabbed her face. "You'll do what you are told when you are told or that little blonde beauty back at the village will be your replacement."

Sana felt her heart plummet into her stomach and she suddenly felt sick. Her skin going white as her eyes widened slightly.

"That's right, we know there is another Rawn walking about. So either do what you're told or I go for her and that sister won't be able to stop me," he said as he pressed his lips to her forehead before turning and walking towards the tent flap.

"Make sure she eats, we reach the port city tonight," Jymsine added before he stepped outside. Sana stood there frozen, whatever he had planned she had no choice now. Slowly she sank to her knees and lowered her head. She couldn't let anything happen to that precious little angel.

~~~~~

Regalia grabbed the man by the back of his collar and tossed him to her crew before dusting off her gloved hands. Turning she perked a brow slightly and stepped over to the so called poet.

"Derrix, tis been a long time. I wondered what became of you. Good to see you still drawing breath. Join Shela and I if you would," she said with a soft smile before turning on her heals and pushing into the tavern, letting her crew take care of the man she had tossed their way.

She looked around a moment before spotting Shela at the bar, strolling over she took a seat next to her old friend and smiled as a glass of wine was set before her. Gingerly pulling the gloves from her long fingers she sat poised as she tucked them into her belt.

"Always the proper one," Shela sniggered. "So what brings you here?"

"Kings calling, there is a masquerade ball this evening. Apparently it is some celebration but not much is being said. Only thing I know is that it is supposed to be big. I was sent for and here I am. I figured it couldn't hurt and there is supposed to be this rather remarkable pair singing this evening, you know me. I am such a lover of any art, even vocal ones."

Shela perked a thick brow and looked over towards the rest of her group that remained. "A singer? You don't say," she said more to them than to Regalia, who was sipping her wine.

"Yes, apparently one each of two different gypsy troupes, a first appearance," Regalia said as she ran her finger over the edge of her chalice.

Vaeri followed Lob up to the bar and sat on the stool to his right. As she put her weight on the hard wood, she felt the seat shift location. Experimentally she shifted her weight to the other side and the stool rocked over to that. She looks down and saw that two of the legs were shorter than the others. Figures.

"A pint of mead." Vaeri pulled out her sack that could be called a coin purse and pulled out a few pieces of dingy looking copper and placed them on the counter. Growing up in the forest, bees were pretty easily available. And with the collection of honey came its fermentation into alcohol. Mead was just about everywhere, almost more common than water, and certainly more valuable in trading than it. Any human traders that would show up were keen on buying it. They said that labeling the drink as elven made let them sell it for a lot more and much quicker than more domestic drafts. Vaeri found that she didn't quite like the mead she'd find traveling abroad as much as what she would have back home, but she wouldn't say that it was all that much worse that "elven made" would be a marker of superior quality. Still, she enjoyed ordering mead because it did remind her of Lianyu and helped stave off the occasional bout of homesickness.

As she waited for her drink Vaeri stared down out the counter and idly thought about the various going ons. Why Sana's scent seemed to have lead them here, what the next ingredient for the Cinder Sickness would be, how they would ever take on a Mist Dragon. That was a great uncertainty when everyone had first met up, and now their numbers had been halved.

I suppose that's an issue we'll need to worry about when we get to it. Vaeri sighed as the mug of mead appeared before her. It was no use getting all worked up over something that might happen when now was the time that was set aside for relaxation. Head tilted back, the first of what could be many drinks was chugged down.

"Another, please." Vaeri asked as she set down the mug with a decisive clink.

Penish watched on at the exchange, silently casting the spells he did know to read the surface thoughts, insight is worth its weight in gold. He waited for the leader to leave before approaching. He kept the safe distance of her reach and her reach again in case she found a cudgel or started practicing her throwing skills.

If she didn't try to brain him, he tried to get close enough to speak softly as far from the guards at the front as he could. There was still the risk of some sort of eavesdropping device, but it would have to be a calculated risk.

"I'm an outsider as is, and you are a bird of a gilded cage. Even if one of us tells on the other, its suspect at best. So, how about half rations, apple and cheese and I'm out of your hair. But, perhaps you can explain to me why he's keeping you. He's keeping me here on promise of new magic to learn. But if all you want is out, and you help me get what I want, I can help you on your way."


Lob was ignored by the dwarf with her old pack, and now he was sat beside by the shaman of the group. He reached down and pulled out the glowing green stone as the fermented mares milk was given to him in a massive serving bowl. He took it up in both hands to tilt back for guzzling in long lapping gulps before wiping his face on his hairy arms.

"You no like Lob. Many go, you no go. Why stay?"

Any hopes of Lob secretly being a brilliant alcoholic went out the window as he basically drank a whole bottle of wine in a single sitting that others would take to drink just a glass. He set the bowl back down and looked over at the healer and waited for her to respond. He looked over at the dwarf again and tried to understand what they were talking about, but it escaped him at the moment so he looked back to the elf.