"Devil scum," Robart's mind was made up, and he snarled under his breath "My soul will never belong to you."

His sword moved quickly out of its sheath, and the shield appeared out from under his cape with an unintentional flourish. He had minimal experience fighting with magic, so, since there seemed to be one man for each of them, Robart decided he would take the big man. He seemed to handle big blunt force better ever since his flesh became wooden...

"Oi, hairy oaf!" The knight shouted, pounding his shield with his pommel, "Why don't you leave the old man and the cripple to your friends and take care of the heavily armed one like a good little henchman? You'll look like you actually know what you're doing!"

Baldur wasn't entirely sure what was happening anymore, some magic had been fired and the whole situation was now spiraling out of control. While most of the words simply went over Baldur's head he particularly latched onto the part the Cultist said about the sorceress whom he was now taking a educated leap with and guessing he was referring to Regina. Maybe that woman might be a saving grace to the group after all and with that final thought Baldur climbed more spryly than a man of his age should be expected to and rushed into the room above, likely completely unready to take on whatever was inside. Before doing any of this however, as a cautionary measure, Baldur casted an illumination spell in the room below just in case one of the magic users decided they wanted to mess with the lights or at least daze one of the enemies for a moment.

Raven suddenly rushed into the room, behind the largest cultist, and swung his spiked metal fist with full force at the back of the man's neck where the neckbone was. He took note of the muds behind him, but from the sound of it this guy was major business. Perhaps if he was dead, they would back down. He could not actually hear what Ivan said, so he made no response.

Damn it, how far did we go? Thought Ivan, finally pulling himself up onto the branch and into a position where he was at least fairly safe from falling. However, he had nowhere else to go from here. He was completely trapped by the mud, unless....

Ivan was about to do something very, very stupid. He knew it, too. He took a small knife from his pocket, and started sawing away at the tree trunk where it was thinnest. He hoped to cut the tree top down, forming a bridged to the next tree over. This was an unbelievably dumb idea. He was more likely to hurt himself or simply waste time than actually form an escape from the sentient mud. But it was the only possible solution he saw.

The tree finally snapped, a few feet of branches and trunk falling into the next tree over, a sturdy looking pine. Ivan started to carefully climb his way across his makeshift bridge, feeling it bend precariously under him.

He got to thinking as he was making his way across... what was he going to do once he got to the pine? Throw pine cones at the mud until it stopped pursuing him? He growled in frustration, gripping the branches so tightly it made his fingers and palms start to bleed. He had no idea what he was doing.

Reference environment image (full left, other side)
Upstairs was a dark (literally and figuratively), dismal sight indeed.
Regina was pinned to the center wall with a sword buried to the hilt in her chest, slumped onto the stone table with dangling limbs and with every appearance of death save for a slight rasping from behind a curtain of messy brown hair. Sitting atop the bed was the man from earlier with the other sword in his lap and the same dark clothes from before, watching as Baldur came up.

"A mess down there, I hear." He said with a hint of amusement in his tone. "I must say, my colleges do like to have their fun. I'm hoping they take out the brute and the human before going down. I like the minor demon, though, and I'm sure you've met Quisel by now. I'm not sure what Cav is waiting for, but he has his own ideas on how to run things. Doesn't particularly matter." He stretched. "It'll all be settled soon enough. I thought I had her-" he pointed to Regina - "Properly managed the last visit, but as you might have heard, she still isn't cooperating. She'll live, as long as I keep her that way. It'll take more than death to get her to cooperate, unfortunately. It's good that they haven't found the bell, that would certainly complicate things..."

"But what about you? What's your next move? You seem to have tired of the commotion downstairs." He spoke as though the two were old friends.

Ivan's trick was a success, giving him some extra escape time - sorely needed as the mud moved at an ever more steady pace and seemed to pursue him with vigor. It also began to make its way up the new tree for good measure. The fog growing ever denser, almost all that was visible was tree branches, leaves and suspiciously moving mud, the latter almost certainly to no good end.

"Ideally I'd like to be on my way with some assurance that I'll get up north safely." Baldur said in a somewhat flustered tone "And that woman of yours seems like my best bet all things considered. She seems to know this area well and all." Baldur explained in a more calm tone yet there was still a hint of anger to his voice. Baldur looked over the woman, just stifling the feeling of being sick. Before talking anymore, Baldur mustered all the strength of his aging limbs to move a decently heavy crate over the trap door to allow the duo some privacy. "How about a deal. You loan me and my party Ms.Regina here and let us be on our way, that way I have a navigator along with some extra muscle to help me get along through the forest, then once we've traveled safely to the North you can take Ms.Regina back and do what you wish with the others with the added help of my own set of... skills at your disposal to help with any resistance from the party. I'm also open to negotiation." Baldur said, now in a calmer state of mind as he sat back on the crate. However before the man could answer, Baldur was filled with a familiar sense of dread as he once more thought he saw another figure in the shadows of the room but, again, upon closer inspection this proved to be nothing.

"Ahh goddammit Skylar!" shouted Jameson as Skylar flung his spell at the cultist. He wanted to avoid any physical confrontation if possible, especially with demons, but it seems that it's not possible anymore. "I didn't come all this way to be some demon's sacrifice!" exclaimed Jameson after hearing what the cultist had said. The terrible gut feeling came rushing back to him, he felt like he could burst out at any moment and that would be good for no one, he had to end this quick. As Robart taunted the brute, Jameson fired both guns at the cultist, A loud boom echoed through the house, both shots hitting the cultist square at the chest. If everything is to be believed, the cultist is the only human of the group, made no sense to fire two small metal balls at the young man if he's a demon, and from Jameson's experience, hardly any human could survive two blasts from his guns.

Ivan grinned widely as he made it safely across to the next tree. Finally he'd done something competent and independent. If only the others had been there to see it...
His grin faded as he realized the mud was still pursuing him. He had a couple of other stupid ideas, one of which involved burning the tree down and jumping off at the last minute, leaving the mud to burn. Good thing he didn't have any flint, or else he'd probably be dead already.
This left him trapped up a tree, with nothing else to try to do except accept his fate. He caled out for Raven one more time, though he knew the man most likely couldn't hear him. From Ivan's perspective, this looked like the end.

Raven's attack was successful, snapping the cultist's neck. As the cultist sagged, the two shots from the gun knocked him into the wall, and he slumped to the floor, though the bullets rolled off the glowing red runes of the cloak.

Tarizel looked with just a slight expression of amusement at the fallen cultist. "Sore bastard. Should have left him at the altar. Oh well." He began to pace, waving a hand at the big man, "Stay there a moment, would ya?" The big man gave him a very dark stare but stood still.

"So, lets get the facts down. We got you gents up against big man, the caravan what's-his-name" - he pointed to the caravan master - "and me. We're all not so easy to take out, and Quisel out here is a pure demon. That means he can probably take you all out by himself. But there's another course here. Go back South. The North isn't a good place for anyone, especially humans, and there's weird shit up there that even I feel like keeping a distance from. So lets call it a draw. You guys walk back home, right out the door, and nothing happens."

He sat on the chest once more, that seeming to be his favorite spot.

"Lets see... you're safe enough in these parts during the day, and you should get to the border wood before nightfall, nothing to worry about down there... week journey, tops. No fighting, no nothing, just leave the witch here and take your leave. She deserves the next part anyways."
He raised his left eyebrow. "Yes?"



The mud stopped as close as it could short of actually touching Ivan.

"Jump." A rasping noise arose from bubbles in the mud. "Jump now or lose all essence." The mud consumed a patch of leaves below and became a large gaping maw. "Jump..."

Ivan took a deep, ragged breath, looking at the mud creature with the straightest face he could must. "Vhy do you vant me to jump?" He asked, doing his best not to stutter. He knew that if he jumped from this height he would likely die or at least break nearly all his bones, so his only option was to try and reason with ht. It seemed incredibly idiotic, but he was out of ideas. He bit into his lip, hoping Raven would make a speedy return.

"Demon huh? Oh yeah I'm real scared. Right shaking in me boots I am!" Raven said with a laugh. "So the Caravanian isn't on our side anymore? I'm not surprised. He led us to this trap in the first place."

Raven walked over next to Skyler and Jameson.

"I'm with these lads. If they decide to go, I'm not going to fight you by myself. If they stay, well, I'm happy to fist some demons whenever necessary. Also, there's a kid out there who's probably getting bored without me. So it'd be great if we could make this snappy."

"Not sure about you lot, but for me, there's nothing South of here but people who would have me hanged or feathered for refusing to kill for a war that won't end, and others who would have me rob graves for their own gain... If you really don't want it to end this way, then that's fine... Dissappointing, but I'm supposed to be repentant, so I'll go. But I don't plan on leaving the North. There's nothing for me in the South." The knight said, "I dunno what's North, either, but hell, it's not war and mass corruption. Not enough people around for that."

Tarizel, true to his habits, sighed again while looking at the group. "If you want to go north, you'll have to do so alone. It's not all that they make it out to be is all I can say, but whichever way you go, it is perfectly fine. I just don't think you will want to stay for what happens next here."

The caravan master again silently moved around the table towards the back door, to an angle on the other side of the human group.



"Oh, I don't believe I introduced myself. Call me Craxis. I don't usually walk around as a human, so human manners have escaped me." Apparently forgetting the traditional handshake, he leaned back, stroking the edge of his sword. "She" he pointed to Regina "Is unfortunately unable to go anywhere. Just keeping the blood in is a little annoying, she isn't particularly cooperative even now, so I can see her doing something dumb the moment she starts moving her limbs. It's a dilemma. But I could spare the caravan fellow, all I need are three of the gents down there to finish matters up. Take him with you if you like for good, he's always been odd around humans. Some form of unfortunate weakness. Regardless..." he lost attention for a moment, looking down to the floor after the noise of the gunshots. "If I understand correctly, I've lost the cultist. Ah well. Tarizel should be able to handle matters himself." He looked back at Baldur. "He's not much by demon standards, but he has a good sense of logic and he's a killer with obsidian shards."



The mud swirled, like a very slow whirlpool below. "Jump." the voice repeated as the mud began to crawl up other trees in the area. The original tree Ivan was on began to lean forwards, stripped of underlying material to support its roots.

"I vill only jump vhen Raven comes back." Ivan told the mud sternly, as if it were his own petulant child. He stared down at it, trying to tell himself that he wasn't at all afraid of sentient mud. Of course he was, but since he had no idea how smart it was it seemed like the best idea not to show fear.

Skylar sneered as the woman slammed against the wall behind the altar and went still. Skylar sneered. Then frowned. Something wasn't quite right here. The scene slowly faded away along with the anger.He blinked a few times before reforming the large hand, placing it between the opposing group and themselves, swearing violently.

"Catch me up. What's happening?" Skylar whispered sharply. The hand in front of them. All but blocked their view, the fingers spread just enough to see their bodies. He gritted his teeth as his hands started stinging from keeping the spell up for this long. That was stupid, this situation was stupid, and he was the stupidest of all. His brother was dead, his mother very much alive, and here he was lapsing into memories in front of demons.

Raven turned to Skyler. "Well me and the cowboy here kicked some ass on a cultist, and now I gotta run. Luckily they seem fine with me leaving, but I probably should not have stayed here so long away from Ivan." And then he turned, grabbed Ivan's bow and quiver, ran out of the building, and bolted towards the stream where he left Ivan. He probably didn't want to be around for what happened next anyway.

A few minutes later, he was up against the water. Looking around, he saw no sign of Ivan. "Where did he go, I wonder..." Raven thought. Luckily, the ground was wet and soft. Meaning that opon further inspection Raven could track the boy's footsteps. He followed them. Raven was getting tired of all this running around, so by this point he was panting for breath and wanting to stop and take a nap. He continued walking however.

"What do you mean what's happening!? You basically gave the cultist there a magic fist out of nowhere while shouting for some 'Alexander', then Raven gave him a real fist at the back of the neck and two shots from me to seal the deal." whispered Jameson sharply back at Skylar. Jameson had heard Raven's reply to Skylar but he just had to let some of his rage out. He stared at Raven with bewilderment as he grabbed Ivan's bow and quiver and bolted, he then took a deep breathe and exhaled, "Right now the offer still stands, we can walk out of this house in peace", then he turned towards the one named Tarizel, "but I still insist that we take either the caravan master or Regina with us, one way or another, we're heading North."

The immediate threat of the cultist seemed to be gone, Jameson managed to calm himself down a bit but he's not out of the frying pan yet. He eyed the caravan master suspiciously as he walked over towards the group while he reloads his guns, he believed that he wouldn't have to fire them again but at this point, he didn't want to take any chances. As the caraven master stood by their side, Jameson said to him, "You've been awfully quiet in all this, I know their plans, so tell me, what are yours? Did you plan to bring us all here to witness some demonic magic?"

Skylar flinched at the name but let out a shakey breath and let the hand fade away. He shook the black mist off his hands and rubbed at the rapidly forming bruises. Too much magic, too quickly, and using the wrong preperation methods took a toll. He winced and looked over at the caravan master. Staying here would be insane at this point and he just needed rest.

"If the offers still on the table, we should get out while we can. Though we're missing someome?" Skylar counted heads, "I remember Raven taking Ivan but where's Baldur?" He took sometime to look around, think maybe he was being them or outside.

Jameson turned back to Skylar and gave him a weird look then thought to himself, "Wasn't he here when everything happened? Hell, he was the one who escalated everything!". He shook his head slightly and replied, "Baldur is upstairs with one of them and Regina, he's-", Jameson's words trailed off into his thoughts, "What IS Baldur doing up there?". Jameson knew Baldur wasn't too fond of them, but would he somehow sacrifice them for a safe passage to the North? Given Baldur's talents in magic, and the lack of a human cultist right now, would he end up in their ranks instead? Jameson dismissed those thoughts not long after and gave Baldur the benefit of the doubt, Baldur was self-centered, but not selfish.

Jameson then turned back to the caravan master, "So, still waiting for your answer."

The caravan master spoke simply. "Of that I know, one thing is sure - 'irty-one mortals have seen Quisel, and 'irty-one men 'ave died after seein' Quisel. An' ye know... another thing...hmm..." He placed his next words into Jameson's mind. What they've planned is somethin' even demons shan't abide by.

On that last statement, Tarziel stood up from the chest and looked out the door. "Ah, any time now I figure," he said. The fog outside had become very close to the house, and a cold breeze swept through the open doors. "So, what'll it be?" he asked looking back at the group.



As the fog became ever more dense in the forest and on the walkway, the voice rose from the mud to Ivan. "If you insist..." The mud fell back to the ground with a loud splash shortly before Raven's arrival into earshot.