"Hey Ivan! What're you doing up there?" Raven called up to him, walking up to the tree. "Kid, your hands are not looking so good. But anyways I got your bow and arrows! Also punched out a cultist. It was awesome.. So if you want, you can come on down now." Based on the freshly mixed texture of the mud, he supposed that the demon had attacked. Raven took off his gauntlets however, and held out his arms in case Ivan wished to hop on down. "Or if you want you can instead chill up there for a while, and I'll just rest here for a bit. Kinda tired and all."

...and on that note, the mud began to lose solidity, to the detriment of Raven. It made no noise, it was barely even noticeable, but it was certainly losing its ability to sustain human weight, and it was rather sticky stuff.

If the mud (?) was lucky, Raven wouldn't even notice. The sight of Raven getting shorter would likely not be missed on Ivan, though.

"Agh! Raven, vatch out!! YOU'RE STANDING IN IT!" Ivan cried like a madman, pointing at the mud as if it were turning to acid. He edged his way further up the pine, breathing in ragged, shallow gasps of panic. "Come up here,quick! There is room for both of us!"

The caravan master didn't exactly answer his question, but his reply gave Jameson even more questions and worries. So they're planning on something even demons consider taboo, Jameson shuddered at the thought of what that could be but he tried to keep his composure to not reveal anything. Everything points to running being the best choice right now, 'thirty-one dead men', Jameson doesn't intend to add himself to that number, and the unnatural-looking fog is coming visibly closer, whatever they decide next they had to decide quick.

"Alright, I got the hint." sighed Jameson, feigning disappointment. "Guys, we have no reason to stay here any longer, there's nothing we can do if they do not intend to lend us either the caravan master or Regina. Skylar, pack up your books on the table, we're leaving. Robart, you too, see if you missed any of your stuff. I'm gonna go get Baldur." said Jameson as he made glances between them and the table. Jameson walked towards the ladder and knocked on the trapdoor and shouted, "Baldur, we're leaving, weather doesn't seem well and they might be expecting other guests, this house ain't big enough for all of us."

Raven jumped up and grabbed a lower branch, pulling himself up. "Thanks for the warning kid... I thought the ground was a bit unstable. I'm surprised it was being so slow and casual about it. Weird."

He looked down at the mud and yelled down at it. "Hey, can you please leave us alone?! I'd rather not deal with you making me all filthy, and you know, dead!" Raven was getting a little ticked off by this thing always being around and being a bugger.

Ivan was slowly losing it, it seemed. He reached up for his bow and quiver, with a pleading and desperate look in his eyes. The weapon probably wouldn't do much against the mud, but he was very attached to it. He was out of ideas on how to deal with the mud demon, and now it looked like all he'd done was trapped himself and Raven up a tree. "I'm sorry" he mouthed, unable to say the words out loud.

Bladur mulled over the demon's offer, giving Regina a once over as if considering the option of pushing the demon further for the sorceress. After a few moment's in thought Baldur heard Jameson call from downstairs and he noticed that the commotion had seemed to calm down. "One minute!" Baldur called down in a somewhat irritated tone of voice before turning back to the demon. "I'll take you up on your offer. We're not going to get far without someone leading the way and the Caravan man seems like the best option at this point." Baldur said giving Regina one last look before moving the box and heading back down the ladder.

Once down, Baldur ushered for the Caravaner to follow along with a simple arm motion as he headed for the door, walking past the bookshelf and putting his arts of subterfuge and slight of hand to the test as he took a book at random from the bookshelf and slipping it under his robe. Really Baldur didn't need the book but he figured he might as well get something out of this whole ordeal even if it may just be a sappy romance novel or perhaps tips on how to prepare squirrel.

Skylar nodded curtly and turned, picking up the scattered texts and scrolls across the various tables and sweeping them into his bag. He buttoned the the bag and wandered his way towards the door Raven bolted from, leaning against the doorframe to wait for the rest of the group. He kept a close eye on the other group, a conjuring spell on his tongue. The wall it would create wouldn't hold long again them but it would give them a second to catch up.

He sighed. He was going to have to meditate after this fiasco for weeks. This wasn't doing his mental health any favors and his sleeping daughter shattered in the accident. At this point, he hoped they could just get this trip over with.

"R-R-Ra-Raven?" Stuttered Ivan, climbing closer to the young man and leaning his head on his chest. This was strange. Ivan almost never sought out physical contact. "I-I just vanted to say that... i-if we die, it vas m-my fault. I do not vant you to go to your grave... thinking you let me d-die. I did this, okay?" Ivan hugged his bow close to himself, as if he were afraid it were about to be snatched away. It would be a pity if he never got to bring it back to his father... if he never saw his father again, for that matter.
He remembered what his father told him before he left for the North. "плохие вещи случаются в северных лесах. Будьте осторожны, сын." He supposed his father was right. This whole trip had spiraled into a crazy supernatural disaster faster than he could blink.

"This is by no means all your fault, kid. Don't blame it on yourself. I made a couple bad decisions on the way as well. In fact, it's really the Caravanian's fault. This was all a trap you know." Raven spoke, trying to sound calm. His mind was racing as he said this, trying desperately to think of a way out of the situation. But for the first time, he had nothing. No wild plans, no tricks left up his sleeve, no weak points to punch. He was surprised at first when Ivan got so close to him, but it made sense as despite everything, Ivan WAS still just a scared child. He patted the top of the boy's head, in an attempt to be comforting. He clutched his amulet.

Then he realized something: The stream was probably the best bet for being safe from the mud demon, at least for a while. It couldn't be reached by foot however, and the branch did not go far enough. However... Would the amulet work on a material that wasn't a human being? Could he possibly throw it into the mud to create a patch of ground that the demon could not control? It had worked on cursed items to cleanse them of dark magic. It was worth a shot right? And even if it didn't work, maybe, just maybe, Raven could still get close enough to the water to throw Ivan into it.

"Ivan, I'm about to try something a little ridiculous... Okay, a lot ridiculous. But it logically could work and it means we have some small chance of living. We're not that high up, so jumping isn't going to hurt a man like me. If neither of us survive this... Well, I'll see you in the afterlife in that case. Just get ready to swim okay?" Raven whispered to Ivan. "Also, hold your breath."

Raven flung the anti-magic amulet in front of the tree, just nearby the stream. It landed in a mud puddle that was likely to be possessed. Raven ran to the end of the branch and leaped into said mud puddle (while holding Ivan) where the amulet landed and, with much of his leg length buried in soil, threw Ivan into the water just a few meters ahead. Then he struggled to get out of the mud and into the water himself. That was easier said then done however, because the impact of landing with their combined weights made his legs pretty well wedged into the mud.

Whether or not the amulet works on the mud depends on what the mud is. If it's possessed mud controlled by the demon, it would make sense for it to work. If it's the demon's body and it just happens to look and behave similarly to mud, then it wouldn't work.

The amulet, secret weapon as it was, proved uniquely successful. It was successful at the task it was thrown for, yes, and it was also successful at pissing the entity off - immediately after Raven jumped off the tree, the material keeping it in place was sucked out, causing it to fall in Raven's direction. Though an impact would not be fatal given the angle that the tree fell (the main trunk off half a foot from Raven's head), it would certainly make the process of escaping more difficult if he failed to dislodge himself from the mud in time.



Craxis watched as Baldur took his leave, looking idly at Regina. "A good end in this case, well, I see not." He stated with a chuckle. "No need for the Hidden, nor Cav, nor much at all. Indeed... not much at all to pull an abyssal into this world. Why you kept that particular book is beyond me, but I thank you for it." He stood up, regarding her one last time. "I did hope it wouldn't come to this, and for his personal flaws, the cultist was a professional. But realize there is no setback, as I can do the job just as easily. It just won't be as quick."

Moving towards the ladder, he stopped as he quickly pulled a mirror off the nearest shelf. "Quisel... I feel two less presences. Have you dealt with them?"

They have gone into the forest. Complications arising. Definate conclusion impossible due to split attention.

"Very well, I'll have Cav and if necessary some Hidden clean matters up. Do what you're doing."

He went back down the ladder with a dismissive glance at the wall of magic. "So they're out?"

Tarizel nodded. "Grabbed their things and are just leaving."

"Good, good." Craxis walked over to the bookshelf. "I'll have this set in- where's the book?"

Tarizel blinked. "What book? The group just grabbed their stuff and left."

Craxis went over to the table. "I had those books laid out, they were there when I went in. Where are they? Where are the materials? You realize I can't summon shit without the materials, right?"

Tarizel frowned, a slight look of weariness coming over his eyes. "You didn't specify anything-"

"And didn't I tell you that all witnesses are to be eliminated? Removed, as I explicitly told Quisel?"

As the caravan master left the room last, Craxis glared at the bookshelf, the table, and the open doorway. "Almost a half dozen witnesses and the entire fucking ritual just picked up and left, along with the book to put it all together. What the fuck did I bring you for? Those scrolls had detailed instructions. The book had every key binding spell in it. If we still had the cultist we'd be able to advance, but you two idiots just let the entire bloody ritual walk away out the door. If Quisel hasn't killed them already, I'll kill them myself, and you fools will be lucky if I don't spoon-feed you to Cav!" He stormed out the door as the two remaining demons looked at each other with helpless shrugs.

The trapdoor to downstairs burst open as a rotted, clawed hand grabbed for traction on the floorboards.



Outside, Craxis stood on the porch, a half silhouette in the thick fog. "Just one moment. Who sent you lot? Who, exactly, told you it was a good idea to steal documentation that you have absolutely no right to?" He crossed his arms with his sword on his back. "A mixed group such as yours is no coincidence. None of you will last 'till nightfall, but return the items you stole and I will deal quick ends and leave your souls as they are."

The fog was as thick as soup outside, but the feeling of dread in that house was even thicker and Jameson was glad to be out of it. "Glad you guys caught on, opened books and trinkets strewn across the table? They had to be related to whatever they have planned for Regina to be studying them. We best look for Raven and Ivan, we'll discuss everything further afterwards once we regroup." said Jameson to the group. "But before we say anything more...", he then turned to look at the caravan master, "...you best explain what's going on, starting with your name." Jameson couldn't believe that after all that has happened, they still had no idea of the caravan master's name.

It wasn't long after Jameson spoke that he heard a voice coming from the house. Judging by the accent, it must've been the one upstairs with Regina. Jameson turned around to listen and examine the figure, from what he could make out from the dense fog, the man doesn't seem like he intends on giving chase which seems awfully suspicious given that he just confirmed that the group had took something important. One thing's for sure - they just angered a really mean demon.

"You guys heard that right? We took something important, but for some reason he isn't coming after us after those threats..." said Jameson quietly as not to be heard by the demon, although they had quite a distance between them, it was better to be safe than sorry. He then quickly turned towards the caravan master, "...unless the threat is already here."

"So we took stuff. In my opinion, we should just blow it up." Skylar said after listening to the voice from the house. "I mean if anyone here can do that. Fire is really not my department." He clutched the bag tightly in his arms. Worse comes to worse he could try and seal it as best as he could and hope it was enough. Times like these made him wish he'd suffer through combat magic. It just made him too sick.

Now they just had to find Raven and Ivan. At night. In the fog. In the woods. This night certainly wasn't getting any better.

Raven spat and cursed and wriggled about in the mud. His gauntlets were back on, and he furiously punching through swathes of branches and clutching the amulet once more. "Make room for me kid, I'm coming in!" he shouted. Raven pulled himself out of the mud clearly by using the fallen tree for leverage. His boots were sadly unobtainable and remained stuck. With multiple grunts and growls, Raven was able to position himself in the midst of the fallen tree's branches and was atop the trunk. He looked all scratched and battered from the tree assault, and far more angry then he had been before. This was because a combination of pain, desperation, and tiredness had worn his patience down. Now that the gauntleted man was astride the fallen wood, there was but one thing to do. Which was run and jump into the water. This was a slower process then you'd think, because he was walking along a tree's side which was still covered in branches. With some swift punches however, he managed to get close enough to the stream to make a jump into it. There was a loud splash as Raven leaped into the water, and floated on the surface. He looked around, and took Ivan by the arm and held him up to stop Ivan from sinking. He was fairly sure the boy knew how to swim, but this was by no means a gentle, lazy steam. And he couldn't risk putting his feet down at the bottom. So until he had received some sort of confirmation that Ivan was fine staying up without Raven's help, Raven made sure to prevent Ivan from drowning. After all, being thrown can be startling.

Ivan gritted his teeth to keep himself from shrieking like a little girl as he was plunged into the stream.
Swimming was not a common skill to have in his village, but thankfully Ivan's father had taught him. After a few moments of trying to recover from the sheer startle of being thrown into a rapidly moving bottle of water, he found himself being held up by the arm. "Th-thank you, Raven." He coughed out, taking in frantic gasps of air. "You vere right, this was... what is the word.... stupid. Very stupid. How do you think ve are going to get out!?" He tugged himself out of Raven's grip, slapping the young man across the face. "Mud is all around us! Ve cannot get out, nor can we swim forever! Within the hour, ve vill be out of energy..."

Raven didn't necessarily look hurt, but instead seemed offended when Ivan slapped him. "Hey, at least now we're moving kid. But here's a tip: if you're tired, lay on your back. Humans are naturally buoyant. And this water is fast enough to keep us afloat as long as we maximize our buoyancy... And maybe we'll end up somewhere else downstream where the mud creature is not... Okay, you're right. This was a stupid idea. Remaining up in a bloody tree that wasn't going anywhere was a much better plan. A tree which, as you saw, the demon could make fall over. Yep, we'd totally still be alive right now if we just stuck there."

Raven then noticed that without swimming, it was difficult to stay afloat with all the metal stuff he had on including his gauntlets and chain mail jacket. Since Raven knew there was no way he was going to swim all the way downstream, he took these things off and threw them to the side. They landed near the stream. This necessary action only irritated Raven more, as he lay on his back in the water and floated downstream, carried along by the current.

Ivan stayed where he was, struggling a bit to stay afloat. He was small and very skinny, so he wasn't naturally all that buoyant. He watched Raven floating downstream, and not wanting to be separated from the only companion he had he followed, letting the water pull him downstream. He was still a bit cross with the young man, but he realized in retrospect that doing this was probably the only thing they had left to try. Staying up in the tree and waiting for death wasn't any smarter.

The House

Craxis stepped aside as Tarizel stepped out on the small porch. "Minus one objective?" Craxis asked, leaning on the wall of the house.

Tarizel nodded. "It appears to be the case. And without the cultist we can't finish the first one. We'll need to make do with the second and third. I know you wanted to be the one to do the summoning... but who knows, maybe we'll find another one of the daughters."

Craxis scoffed. "That'll never happen. We were lucky to find this one."

Sighing, Tarizel stared at the fog, watching as it began to quickly recede. "Grab a cultist and hunt. Second plan."

Craxis nodded. "Second plan." He turned to the mud and spoke to it. "Quisel, desist, clean everything up, and please, find a real body. This isn't a dead forest, you know, have some variety. You're getting as bad as Cav."

Listening to the scratching and scraping inside the house, Craxis shrugged. "Well, Cav is going to be happy. I must admit even I don't want to see what he'll do up there. Lets have a drink, some human things are rather enjoyable." He turned back to the door and began stepping in.

Tarizel nodded. "What about the scrolls? And the book?"

"We'll manage. Let them have their... victory." Craxis stepped in just as a scaled foot vanished through the upstairs trapdoor. "We did plenty. North or South, it doesn't matter. In a year they'll all be the same. No way they could come out anything less than they are supposed to."



Raven & Ivan
The stream carried Raven and Ivan a considerable distance in a short amount of time as the fog began to clear and the sky brightened, revealing freshly wet trees. It was a rather nice scene as they went along.

A few minutes later the sounds of camp rose in the air. Though there was a ledge obscuring view of the surrounding area, the sound of human voices was audible through the trees.



The Main Group
The caravan master said nothing as he walked up the path to the North, trudging slowly through wet mud and muttering in a low tone. The fog had cleared up considerably, and the sky had brightened some as well - by all indication, the worst of the storm had passed, with not a single drop of rain and the frequent sound of drops coming down from the trees.

Raven drifted along, half asleep atop the water. The sound of human voices woke him up fully.

"Hey Ivan! You hear that? Sounds like company. Maybe our companions have set up camp. If they're fine out there, hopefully the demon hasn't followed us. I mean, how far can it really go from it's alter?"

He stepped onto land and pulled Ivan out of the water, sighing contently. "We'll be able to spot any sign of the demon much better now that things are brighter, eh? I'm gonna go see if I can scout out who those voices belong to. Feel free to join me."

Raven crept through the foilage in the direction of the human sounding voices.

Ivan followed, creeping along as quietly as he could. He was small and very light, so he was quite good at this. He kept his eyes on the ground, careful not to step on any branches or trip or anything. He remained aware of Raven's presence in front of him, sticking close.