Now that the thief had been dealt with, Trey returned to the campfire to get a little more rest before the sun came up. Just as he was starting to drift off to sleep, though, he was awoken by the sound of Dorisma dropping something next to the campfire. She'd managed to catch someone else lurking around the campsite, though this time it wasn't a human, but a goblin. There was still a good chance that he was planning to steal from or attack them, but he may have simply heard the fight with the human and came over to investigate.
There was a lot more questions that Trey wanted to ask him, but he decided to start with something simple. "Who are you?"

"Hey! HEY! Let me go, dammit!"

He was plopped right on his chest near the campfire, and quickly scrambled to his feet as he noticed that he was surrounded by other monsters. He didn't know what to think - after all, he despised humans but he had no strong opinion one way or the other on fellow monsters. After all, the only one who had done anything for Rudy was Rudy.

Gesturing with a hand to his mouth, he coughed and let out a loud "ahem!" noise.

"Rudavegas Vegatini here. Proud adventurer, prouder magical apprentice, prouderer human slayer, and proudererer Vegatini tribe leader!"

He held his arms out to the sky in a stretching motion before returning to a neutral stance.

"...Uhh, and if you guys could just not kill me, that'd be great. Iunno about the groofus doofus you guys killed over yonder, but I don't want any part of whatever that guy had going, alright? Humans are scumbags, I'm sure we can all agree."

Looking around, Rudy gauged the reactions of the people gathered at the campfire before continuing.

"So what say, uhhh, you help me and I help you? You choose NOT to kill me, and I choose to help you in whatever way I can until the time comes where I'm confident my new sanctum of research and hunting where I, to put it bluntly, may just ditch you all. On the lightest of terms, of course; I don't like hard feelings."

Rudy shrugged his shoulders and leaned on his staff to relieve the minor pain he had received from being dropped without hesitation, awaiting response from his potential friends or enemies.

Quite a bit happened in almost no time, for some reason, as if someone was just completely impatient and couldn't wait... just as well, we finished off the thief, however, all I could really find was his knife, which wasn't even enchanted, and four silver coins with a weird brand on them. The brand most likely represented whatever town he lived in, or, whichever place he recently stole from, and despite it looking interesting, it wasn't important enough for me to actually care about. What I did care about was the odd, robed goblin that Dorisma just plopped down in front of everyone. Apparently, said goblin was sneaking around the place, or, at least, that was according to Dorisma. He seemed to almost cower as he spoke about how he disliked humanity, and the princess just chuckled at that. "Yeah... if you're wondering why one of them's following us, well... we've honestly tried everything. She's clingy, and we can't hurt her because of some weird magic," I explained to the goblin before adding "By the way, welcome to the group, but uh... let's have someone just make absolute sure you aren't going to betray us at the first chance you get... I think Dorisma would do a good job of that," I then looked over to Dorisma to sort of give the new guy, apparently called Rudavegas, an idea of who that was. I then decided to sort of introduce the group "The drake's name is Miles... I dunno how, but he always knows where someone's weak point is... the other goblin is Backstabs, and, as her name might imply, she prefers to attack people from behind, the aves is Trey, he can use magic to burn stuff, the one you probably can't see is a troll by the name of Deravan... he's a ninja, so get used to not knowing where he is, and last but not least is Dorisma... I think you know who she is and what she can do," I then almost forgot to introduce myself, and I chuckled before adding "And I'm Robert... I dunno what I do, honestly. I guess... a little bit of everything?"

Dorisma shrugged, "No care. Just don't do anything stupid." The last part of her statement was directed at Rudavegas who would from now on be refereed to as Rud. She sat down and stared at him, making her intention of fulfilling her role as the 'anti-betrayal' system obvious. By watching him. Constantly.

Deravan sighed as the thief was defeated, before lot of things suddenly happened. Great... no going back to sleep soon he guessed. He looked at the new goblin that Dorisma had caught, and looked at him unsure. He then heard what Robert said... He shake his head as he moves forwards to the group.
"Not knowing where I am.... Kinda annoying to be always in the shadows sometimes." he says bluntly as he moves to the group.
"But ya... it seems sometimes the group just loses sight of where I am." he adds at this, shaking his head.
"Well, nice to meet you Rudavegas. And any help we can get against those humans that keep hunting us will be appreciated." he says

The goblin, apparently named Rudavegas, seemed to be friendly, and even asked to join their group. Nobody seemed to have a problem with keeping him around, though Dorisma was still keeping an eye on him. He was just caught sneaking around their camp, after all.
"Now, if you all don't mind, I'd like to get at least a little rest before the sun rises." Trey said, hoping that his sleep wouldn't be interrupted again.

Rudavegas just nodded his head, taking in whatever information his little goblin brain could soak up in this state of confusion and worry that he might be a few steps from death any time now. When people began to move to go to sleep and do whatever else, not intent on doing anything negative to him for the moment at least, he took a seat exactly where he was dropped.

Sighing, he leaned on his staff as he sat, eyeing the campfire for a moment before his gaze drifted over to Dorisma.

"That, uhh, won't be necessary. I'm smart enough to know when not to screw with someone. Attacking one of y'all would open up one hell of a hornet's nest on my ass."

With that, he leaned up against a nearby log and continued.

"But enough about me... you lot don't seem much for conversation, huh? Why is that, exactly?"

Dorisma shrugged. "Night time. Just fought. Not good time. Also you creepy." All true things. At least Rud said he wouldn't be screwing with anyone, but that didn't mean that he was all good intentions. Hopefully he didn't keep talking like the human did, or else he might end up leaving them a little earlier than he intended. And not in one piece. She wondered if this was a good plan after all. Theortically doing this would end up in them being on favorable terms with the dragons, but she wasn't sure how helpful that would be. They seemed like a prideful bunch, not eager to help those they considered below them. Bah, she would worry about that when it came down to it.

I looked ahead where Dorisma had gone, still prepared to swing out a few knives. Even when Dorisma arrived with a struggling goblin, who somewhat reminded me of Backstabs. I wasn't quite sure what to think of it, and I more or less felt suspicious considering we were just attacked. Everyone else was a lot less apprehensive and almost friendly towards the goblin, which was quite startling. For all I knew he was the thief's accomplice, something I've learned while growing up rough. Robert had some rather fantasising descriptions of everyone around here, such as describing me with a sixth sense and Deravan being invisible. No we don't, at least I haven't yet. I thought, regarding his role as a ninja.

I couldn't quite remember the last few minutes before we slept. Obviously nothing bad happened, but we ended up letting the new guy join. Under pretext of Dorisma promising to smash his face if he betrayed us or something.

With that out of the way, I found myself falling into a deep sleep, again... only for morning to come shortly after. Morning, already? I didn't even get a chance to dream, this time. I thought as I gathered my stuff and sort of waited for everyone else to get ready to go, again... we really couldn't stay here, too long, after all, we were right on the path... a path made by humans, for humans. The weather was actually somewhat pleasant for this time of day, though, the fact that it was summer might have something to do with that. Even if it seemed like nothing was going to happen, I had to keep watch, just in case some people decided to walk down this path. It probably wouldn't look too good to them, either, after all, there was a burnt cart nearby, and the corpse of a thief near our camp... said corpse was also starting to stink, unfortunately, and soon enough, I couldn't bear it, I tried to wake everyone up with he booming sound of some of my lightning magic, just to make sure we didn't stay in one place for too long, though, I also had to wonder if anyone else heard that... either way, I'm sure we'd just take off running as soon as we woke up, right? As soon as they were up, I had to explain "Sorry about that, but we kinda camped a little close to a human path... I don't feel safe staying here. More could come... and they'd be angry," I hoped that would work as an explanation as I somehow managed to actually head in the right direction, towards the old goblin cave. "Ugh... really? You really don't think we could rest a little longer? I'm still tired... I think we could take on a few more humans if it meant we could rest for longer," Backstabs spoke up, with the princess adding "THIS early? What are we, farmers!?" I didn't want to answer either of them, and I just focused on heading towards the cave.

Dorisma frowned at the needless display of magic and noise. Really, he couldn't he have just poured water or shaken them awake or something. Robert continued blabbering on before managing to actually head in the read direction, a pleasent surprise for once. Backstabs and the women whined about something and Dorisma snorted in disdain. She began following Robert ,a risky plan usually: though she made sure to keep an eye on Rud. She wasn't going to forget about him that easily. Dorisma wondered if they would run into any more humans on their trip. She hoped so, those they fought so far had been surprisingly weak. Still, they were fun to beat up and sometimes had money on them and the only good human was a dead human: so she didn't really care what kind of humans they found.

Trey was suddenly awoken by a thunderous crack coming from nearby. The source? Obviously the guilty-looking Kobold standing in front of him. Robert was worried about more humans showing up, and apparently decided that thunder would be the most effective way of waking them all up. "That was unnecessary, Robert." Trey said. "Couldn't you have thought of a different method of waking us up? Perhaps one one that wouldn't give away our location?"

A lightning strike on a day like this was bound to raise some suspicions. If there were any humans nearby, they would be headed for them right now, without a doubt. Backstabs and the princess could complain as much as they wanted, but it wouldn't change the fact that it was no longer safe to stay there. Their only option at this point was to keep moving.

Deravan went to sleep right after the attack, wanting to rest... this had been a hard night. When Robert woke up the group, Deravan grumbled at this, before getting up and going to fallow the group.
"Way to waste some magic Robert... geez... but ya... I guess that worked... lets just hope no human heard that and want to check it out..." he says , shaking his head from all this. He didn't know what else he could do. He just hoped next night he would have a better night and... not get hit at a weak spot.

My dreams were quite nerve-wracking and haunting. It was something involving witnessing a young scholar facing a cart full of books and scrolls he'd have to hand in, and my own inability to help out with the workload, despite somehow knowing everything that he needed. Anyway, back to the story...

Did I mention I nearly lost my eardrums? The weather's usually bad around these parts, but it wasn't insane enough to strike thunder out of nowhere. I was shaken alright, my usual habit of grumbling and stirring awake replaced by panic and flailing. It sounded like we were being shot out of a cannon, but I didn't need to look around for a conspicuous siege weapon. After all, Robert was the loose cannon in this case, somewhat unsurprised yet apologetic. I crossed my eyes at him and lifted myself up, the feeling that I needed to stab him slowly fading away. I didn't really chip into the tirade of others until they quieted down, which let me say "Whatever deity that's up there, you could at least smite Robert instead of the air."

I kicked away at the grass and tightened the buckle around my coat, which was starting to get frayed and dirty in a few places. I mean, I already looked shady enough with alcohol stains and alleyway moss patching me, but the dirt and twigs embedded in the cloth was starting to make me look homeless. (Which technically I am, but that's another story.) Aside from that, Robert's skill had me awake but groggy, because you clearly can't cure insomnia and interrupted sleep. "Just go already, goodness. I'll wake up properly as we walk." These people were fussing about bandits and road agents, but I just wanted to stay awake.

We walked in this early morning chill for much longer than I would have wanted, and the complaining from the princess, Backstabs, and even Trey didn't really help that much... I guess in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done that, but I didn't feel like wasting whatever little water we had for this adventure. I guess, next time, I'll make sure we make a camp near a lake... at least then I won't be tempted to do that again... I thought as we continued unfortunately close to the path. Why we didn't just head into the part of these dry plains that wasn't a path, I'll never know, and, just as expected, a cart, one with a human passenger, stops about fifty feet in front of us. How do I know that it had a human passenger? Well... they decided to start lobbing arrows at us from a distance, after climbing on top of their cart... and they had one of those cowardly beasts known as a horse pulling the thing. Before I could really act, both of the supposed archers decided to shoot at us. One of them aimed... somewhere in Trey's general direction, while the other decided to try to go for my chest. I tried to dodge, but, by the time I saw the arrow coming, it was already too late. I shouted several words nearing on profanity from the pain of it all, and I try to pull the thing out so I can properly heal myself, but... it was stuck in there just a little bit too deep. I could already feel the blood from the wound pouring out, and yet, there wasn't much I could do... worst of all, they'd get a few more hits in before we can even reach them. "H-hurry! G-get in close!... These bow-people are... useless up close!" I painfully shouted to my teammates... at least Backstabs heard me, as she nodded.

Deravan saw the rangers at a distance suddenly going to shoot towards the group, 1 arrow missing Trey COMPLETELY... At least that was good... until Robert was hit... At Roberts command, Deravan nod as he then started to run towards the cart... and getting his enchanted dagger out. He could not get to them yet... but he could still attempt to go and hit them... from range at least until he gets there. He then threw his dagger right towards the human ranger... who attempted to dodge the attack but was his on the side of his chest as he gives a large grunt of pain from this. Then Deravan though about something.
"If anyone can use powerful fire magic, set that cart on fire!" he then says, hoping that it would be heard. If the cart would burst into flames, it might first off make the archers lose some time to attack, the time they get out.. as well as possibly burn them. It was the best case here.

To be honest, I was originally going to cast a lightning spell on the human archer, but, then I heard Deravan shout back at us about the cart. Backstabs and I both tried to get as close as we could to the archers, and she somehow got somewhat closer than I did, but, it didn't matter, I was in range, and the cart was in sight. Without a word, I cast a fire spell on the cart, knowing that they wouldn't be able to use it as a vantage point anymore once it burned, and, of course, it worked like a charm. Not only did it catch on fire, but it scared away their animal, causing them to fall down on the hard earth below them. That's when I finally caught a glimpse of our enemies, and sure enough, one of them was human... however, the other one wasn't. Sure, I've heard that some drakes help humans, but I didn't think they'd help them kill what they call 'monsters'... especially since that definition included dragons for some reason. I was shocked, but, I tried to not let that detail effect the fight, too much. The human then groaned as he got up, though, his drake friend might need some help, and he shouted "You! All you you! You KILLED my first character! HOW DARE YOU!" yup, the human was officially insane, which made the drake's continued aid just confuse me even more. If he was going to team up with a human, then why would he team up with an insane one? Maybe the drake was just as insane as the human was... then again, the drake didn't shout anything at us... of course, that could just be because he's too focused on trying, and failing, to get up off of the ground.

As soon as Dorisma soon the humans she was overwhelemed by the unmistakable feeling of, i told you so. However she was far more focused on sprinting towards the two archer's, chuckling menacingly as they fell to the ground. As she began closing the distance she let out a bloodthirsty roar to announce her intent to crush them both into bone paste, rather uninterested in what the others were doing.

We slogged on in the morning, trying to overcome morning fatigue and drowsiness. Every little bush and standing tree passed only served to remind the village we lost, as well as the unwitting peace soon to be disturbed.

I'm narrating too quickly. Alright, not too long passed until we were beset by arrows, Parthian shots whizzing past our ears and heads. One skipped past my coat in the middle of the confusion and chaos, leaving a small tear that quickly left me awake. "Oh goodness, not this again." I reached into my pocket and swung out one of my knives, enchanted and warm to my hands; dragonsteel, green and shimmering with a degree of dragon's rage.

I positioned myself carefully, focused and rigid against the morning chill. One quick jerk threw the knife out of my right hand as it cut through the air, through smoke and cold breaths into the left arm of the Drake. A little spark unsettled him if the plunging of a knife didn't. I wasn't exactly intent on killing the Drake, but peace didn't seem much of an option at this point.

It didn't take long for the group to get attacked. Whether or not they were investigating the cause of the mysterious thunderbolt earlier that morning remained to be seen, but they had more important things to worry about at the moment. There were two archers shooting at the group from the safety of their cart. Trey flew closer in order to close the distance between them, avoiding a poorly-aimed arrow while he did so.

Deravan suggested that someone with powerful fire magic set the cart on fire. Obviously this was directed towards Trey, but Robert beat him to it. He did get the job done, though. The fire startled their horse, and as it ran away, both archers landed hard on the ground below them. They were out in the open now, with nothing nearby to use as cover. Trey took this opportunity to hit the human with a fire spell, but he saw it coming, and managed to avoid it. "I need target practice." Trey muttered to himself. He was starting to notice that he'd been missing a lot in the last few days.