Jameson nodded to Baldur and said silently, "Seems like your intuition was right..." as the group of newcomers walked in one by one. Jameson's suspicions rose even more at the events that unfold before him, ever slight they may be to the rest of his group. It was clear that the caravan master knew Regina, but the way the caravan master stood by the door, it was as if he was expecting guests. The caravan master must have been here before, how else would he know where to get the blankets and pillow, but why did he hide this fact? Jameson didn't need a magic expert this time to tell him that something dark is afoot.

Jameson tipped his hat at the newcomers to show his friendly side, or rather to hide his skeptical eyes. He then gave Baldur a pat on his knees as if to warn him before walking towards Skylar by the bookshelves. Jameson stood in front of the shelf acting like he was looking for a book, then said to Skylar in a quick but hushed tone before the newcomers came much closer, "These don't look like the type of people you have tea and biscuits with, be on your guard."

Skylar turned to take a glance after Jameson spoke. He went rigid and turned back a little too quickly. His face pale went pale before he took a shakey breath and gripped Jameson's arm tightly.

"We need to get together and near an exit." He whispered to Jameson. "Rune cloak is a demon cultist. We need to watch them carefully or we may be on the wrong side of a sacrificial knife." He wanted to leave. He could set up a few spells for security outside if necessary. The way they lounged around made it seem like they had been here before. The more he learned, the less he liked this.

He turned and leaned against the bookshelf to look at the newcomers a little more. Three people in the room. Mage, fighter, and a common boy possibly. He pursed his lips and started reviewing spells to himself. Two of the three he could take. The barbarian over there may be a bit more of a challenge.

Ivan grew somewhat upset when nobody answered him. He tossed and turned around in the blankets, feeling nauseous and tired. His face was still smeared with vomit and the blood he coughed up, but he didn't have the strength to wipe it away. Despite feeling dehydrated, he had actually been drinking quite a lot of water over the course of the caravan trip... but he knew he was going to have to hold it unless he planned on going out in the rain. He writhed around in discomfort, unable to see past a few feet. It seemed like nobody was in the house, as nobody said a word, but he could hear movement. Hoping it wasn't rats, he curled back up and tried to rest up so his vision would clear.

Raven tapped Ivan and whispered to him: "I'm still here kid. Something is definitely up."

Then, standing up, Raven put both gauntlets on and stood at the ready. His face was no longer one of laid-back happiness, but of a steely gaze as he looked around at everyone in the room. His eyes narrowed opon looking at the Caravanian. How did the lady know they were here? Why this particular time just when three people who so far haven't been exactly friendly showed up? He tried to be optimistic about this at first, but things were getting a little ridiculous. And now the pale fellow and the cowboy were chattering it up in whispers. Were they in on whatever was going on here? No, they were probably just suspicious as well. Hopefully. Everything about Raven's instincts were screaming danger.

For anyone paying attention, there was an odd sight outside the back door – mud coming up from the ground in the back yard. The mud congregated in a large pool before rising up and taking the very rough shape of a human.

This mud-man slowly began to stride towards the door, leaving muddy footprints in the back doorway as it stood within the frame. “Quisel present.” It rasped in a distinctly inhuman voice. “Canaveron?”

The young man frowned, bringing his fist up to his chin and leaning on it as he leaned from his position on the chest. “He’s around these parts, though I get the feeling he’s skulking down below. We can start when he shows his face.”

Quisel nodded and raised an arm to Ivan. “Remove.”

The rune-cloaked cultist nodded and began walking towards him, to be met with the caravan master staring at him. “No.”

The cultist scowled. “Quisel’s right, you know.”

The caravan master continued to block his path. “’es no concern to ya. Shoo.” He turned to Quisel. “You too, eh?”

Still scowling, the cultist stepped back to take vigil near the front door.

"You've gotta be shitting me Skylar!" exclaimed Jameson, trying to keep his voice down after hearing this shocking news. He quickly took a book from the shelf, flipped a few pages and showed it to Skylar. "We can't just walk out the door, it's too obvious, and besides, some of us are in no condition to flee." said Jameson as he flicked his eye at Ivan's direction. He flipped the book some more and placed it back onto the shelf, giving himself some time to think. "Alright, right now we outnumber them by one, not counting Ivan, but I'm sure big guy over there can take two of us so we're pretty much even", he gave a slight pause and took another book. "I say we stay at the side of the house close to the back door, if they decide to pull some shit, I can take down one or maim two, you cast a few spells to stun them and then we bolt." Jameson knew the plan wasn't at all a good one, but there's no way they could just walk out freely.

Before Skylar could reply, Jameson placed the book back and walked towards Ivan. The sight of Ivan's intestinal discharge mixed with other questionable fluid disgusted him but he cradled him with his soaked pillow and blanket anyways and placed him next to Raven. He then whispered to Raven, "Keep an eye on him, and those guys..."

Ivan jolted slightly as Raven tapped him, but calmed down slightly as he heard him speak. What he heard, however, was less than comforting. What Regina had said telepathically to him still echoed in his head, and the general air of the room was an uneasy one. Aside from the vomit still on the floor, something else smelled off... in a more metaphorical sense.

Ivan used the pillows to prop himself into a more upright position, having a look around. He could see the room more clearly now. A few strangers had entered the room, and it looked like everyone else was still there. He blushed slightly, knowing that they probably didn't appreciate having a sick boy around. He felt like he should leave or something, but he knew he couldn't. He could barely even sit up.

A man who appeared to be made of mud gestured to him, and said quite distinctly "remove". Ivan's dark brown eyes froze wide open and he cringed back slowly, not sure what to make of that. He eyed the going's on of the room warily, feeling very sick and confused. The next thing he knew, he'd been picked up and placed next to Raven. He tensed up, not knowing how to react.

Skylar turned back to the bookshelf and muttered a quick incantation. His eyes flare blue as he connected to his fellow travelers' minds excluding Ivan. He didn't want to spook the sick boy. He held his breath.

'Listen very carefully and don't respond. The man in the rune cloak is a demon cultist from the south. Jameson suggests we group towards the back door and get ready to bolt if we need to.' Skylar let out his shakey breath and the spell vanished. He leaned heavily on the bookshelf, trying to recover. He started swearing internally about thier luck, or lack thereof. Of course he'd stumble right into what he was fleeing from.

Raven heard what Skylar said due to being right next to Ivan. He tensed up. Surely somebody would be bound to notice how uneasy the travelers were, he thought. He was most worried about the large man, and the random mud dude. And while normally Raven wasn't afraid of the occult, if these people summoned a demon it would really suck. Raven refrained from saying anything for now and he just stayed on guard just in case a fight broke out.

Baldur had his back turned to the group of newcomers when they entered but he leaned around the backing of the comfy chair to take a look at the group. He didn't look at them too closely and returned to his resting position in his chair. He didn't trust these strangers either but right now he was still resting his sore legs from walking through all that mud to this small cabin. His suspiciousness of the group only grew as one of them led Regina up the ladder and when the mud man walked in and began to, quite clearly, make threats at Ivan. Baldur listened to Skylar's mental message and agreed with him with a slight nod towards Skylar. Baldur gave his legs a small shake before standing up and looking at the cloaked man "So your friends of Regina's I take it?" Baldur said, leaning on his staff for support even though he didn't need the extra help. He wanted to try to get some information out of this group before something less than ideal went down.

The rune-cloaked cultist looked somewhat surprised at the question. "...Friends, yes." He stated those words with a shortage of conviction. The young man sitting on the chest spoke up.

"We don't come around here much, but we've been on the path a few times. She gives us lodging, we tell a story or two, and we move along." He chuckled. "We've grown to know her a little. Did you know her mother was a sorceress?" The big man lifted his head and glared at the speaker, who simply nodded and idly toyed with a pair of small black knives. "Yep, we've been around the block. So it's you guys who have the busted caravan?"

As he asked, a female scream followed by crashing shelves sounded upstairs.

The young man winced. "He knows her best. They haven't gotten along lately..."

The mud man was still freaking Ivan out even though he hadn't done anything since the first threat. The confusion and fear coursing thorugh him was enough to make bile crawl up his throat again. He clamped a hand over his mouth and gagged heavily. He had nothing left in his stomach, so he brought up nothing, only retching and getting blood tinted spit all over his hand. He shakily started scratching the dried vomit and blood off his face, his cheeks blushing deep red.
He was slowly regaining his strength, now able to sit up without the support of the pillows. He was crossing and uncrossing his legs, shifting around nervously under the blanket. He still felt disgusting, but was glad to have been carried away from his puddle of vomit at the very least. He looked up at Raven, who was still right next to him, but said nothing.

Baldur nodded at the response as he began to try to 'feel' around for anything especially magical going on in the house. While he expected something to come from the mudman, he did not count on something else he was feeling in the house. He had a sudden surge of urgency race through his mind but kept his cool on the outside. "So how do you all know the muddy fellow?" Baldur said as he began to walk towards Jameson nonchalantly. While he looked clam in his steps and overall bodily motion, Baldur's eyes were wide open, trying to make eye contact with either Skylar or Jameson as he would alternate between looking one of them in the eyes and then staring at the floor below them with a great deal of intensity. He stopped this once he made his way over to the book shelf and his eyes once again went calm.

Jameson was startled by the sudden appearance of this mud-man and thought to himself, "Well, there goes our other escape, and now we're definitely outnumbered." He stood silently and listened at their conversation, "remove", they wanted to remove Ivan, but why? The caravan master knows, more than he seems to know, no doubt about it. And "skulking below"? Jameson shuddered at the thought of what lies beneath them.

Jameson wanted to address the mudman-shaped elephant in the room, but before he could, he was interrupted by Skylar's telepathy. Jameson released a breath of relief after hearing what Skylar said, he was glad that the group knows about the plan. He felt grateful for having Skylar around, without him, this whole journey would be a total pain in the ass. Once again, before he could speak, he was interrupted by Baldur addressing it first. Though perhaps it's for the best, Baldur seemed much wiser then Jameson.

He listened as they conversed, "A sorceress mother... Is being a mage like the common flu and I somehow missed it?" thought Jameson to himself to lighten up the mood. Though the mood didn't stay, for not long after, he heard the scream and crash. Jameson reluctantly believed the young man's words, not wanting to bring up trouble, besides, Regina should be able to handle herself thought Jameson.

He noticed Baldur walking towards him, and then he caught his eye which seemed to be gesturing towards the floor. He couldn't really make out what Baldur was trying to convey, but as he stared at the ground himself, he started to feel uneasy.

The young man chuckled again. "Muddy there? Aw, he's harmless. He just doesn’t like the way people look, so he made his own look. Tasteless, I must agree, but it’s his choice.”

The caravan master stepped besides Raven, staring intently. Telepathically, he told him;

Take the boy and leave.



While there was nothing special about the floor itself, it did seem to ooze a feeling of unease - and if he listened closely enough, he would hear ever so slight scraping footsteps.

Because of the sudden telepathy, Raven silently agreed it was time to gtfo. So he picked up Ivan, and calmly walked out of the building innocently. He tried to look as casual and non-suspicious as he could.

"Vhere are you taking me?" Ivan asked, sounding more alert than he had been the last time he spoke. He curled his arms around Raven's neck and his legs around the man's middle to avoid being jostled around so much. He was a bit tense, his legs squeezed together as close as possible. They weren't quite out the door yet, so he looked at the caravan master as if to ask if he had permission to just up and leave like this. The whole situation was highly confusing. He hadn't even had time to pick his bow and quiver up, let alone been told where he was being taken. It seemed odd for Raven to just scoop him up and carry him out the door without a word.

Skylar jumped at the scream and narrowed his eyes at the man nonchalantly tinkering with his knives. He did a quick head count and stepped forward as he confirmed their party was behind him. He scowled and let his magic fly. A family trait, his irises glowed blue as flashes of blue swam through his viens as he stared down the cultist.

"So I'm going to be frank. We really aren't comfortable with this. A mud man and a giant at the exits, a boy playing with weapons as soon as the presumed owner of the establishment screams, and a demon cultist." Skylar spat the last word lie a curse. "What the hell is going on? And if it's nothing, I think I speak for the group that we would rather not be here anymore." He held one hand at the hulk at the door and one at the mud man, a violently swirling black orb in each.

However the orbs faded brief before returning as he watched Ivan and Raven walk out the door. His sudden intensity seemed to falter just a bit.

Baldur quickly rushed next to Skylar and in a hushed tone told him "the Mudman has demonic magic about him so use any anti-demon magic you got with that one." and with that Baldur took a step back getting ready to sprint for the door. Raven and Ivan had the right idea of getting out there when they could since now things weren't looking good... or sounding good come to think of it as Baldur began to hear the noises coming from below. Baldur began to make his way closer to the ladder with a few small steps every few seconds.