As Jack made his way to the western gate, he caught up with Ren and Devlin, who both appeared to be distracted by their own matters; Devlin producing some sort of electrical barrier around a forest golem- when had that arrived? Was it attracted to the town by the siege?- while Ren was occupied fighting the undead around them. It seemed that the golem, whether by choice or coincidence, had been fighting the undead, and they were trying to convince it to retreat to safety with the rest of them.

He left them to their efforts, be they successful or futile- he had heard of the forest golems before, but had never encountered any himself prior to today, and those few stories he knew of them had conflicting details of their intellect- and continued to the west gate, glancing back. It seemed Gabriel had ended up behind him, though he hadn't lagged too far behind. A good thing, too- there had been enough death in this forsaken little town as it was without Jack's circumstantial allies falling in battle.

Jack arrived at the gate in time to see Fauve disappear into the forest outside of town, wearing a mix of new clothing and the same clothes as before but in far worse condition than the last time he had seen her. Seemed that she had seen battle as well. Amidst whatever straggling civillians were still fleeing the city out through the gate, Jack noted a group of familiar individuals, plus one new face; the Myti, Elf, and... little girl? that had been at another table in the tavern and had taken to a small hill outside of it earlier were grouped up at the gate, along with an orc wielding an impressive-looking mace.

He approached the group, starting, "Seems fate has drawn us all together again. If you believe in such things, in any case." He turned to look at the orc, looking up to him- something he hadn't had to do in a long time- and continuing, "Well, looks like we've been joined by an Orc. Been years since I've seen one of your kind." He turned again to look back towards the town, partly to survey the damage and partly to check if Gabriel had fallen behind. "Rest in peace, small town of Nadaska. Damned monsters are getting too organized for my tastes..."

The arrows may've stopped raining down upon Foeldar, but he didn't seem to care, he just kept throwing himself at the undead hordes as they approached. That is, until a woman leapt at him and clung to his body. At first a wave of panic rushed over him, resulting in a slight trembling of his legs and the raising of his arm to crush her body against his form. Before Foeldar could really act, however, the woman projected a large sphere of lightning magic that encapsulated both of them, which startled him into a period of hesitation as he directed his attention towards figuring out what the hell was going on. Get rid of her. Foeldar didn't want that woman on him, he didn't know her - she wasn't Lily. She could never be. The entish being reached to pull the woman off of him, wrapping his fingers around her torso and squeezing ever so slightly. But he stopped there, seized by fear. "Lily... no..." He muttered with a weary breath, his grip loosening. THIS ISN'T REAL.

"I'm not gonna sit and watch you die..." Her voice whispered, yet still it resonated as loudly in Foeldar's mind as if she had been sitting atop his shoulder. She was a sickly, pale corpse, her face contorted and devoid of life. The little girl standing before the mighty giant was no longer the Lily he had come to love. What stared up at him was instead a monster wearing her skin. "You're not Lily!" Foeldar's voice boomed, anger giving way to fear as he took several steps back. STOP IT. The undead hordes ceased to exist in his mind, and soon so did the world around him. He was back in the forest, only this time he was watching her house burn.

"What're you talking about? Silly Foeldar..." The pleasantry of her voice transformed into thorns in his heart and mind, the walking corpse becoming further twisted and contorted in the flames of the burning house. "Are you feeling okay?" No sooner than the words escaped the imposter's mouth, she vanished. Foeldar glanced down to see the horrid apparition clinging to his form, his firm grip on Devlin returned. "Go!"

Foeldar ripped Devlin away from him and threw her off to the side, her body disappearing into the trees. He couldn't bring himself to hurt her as she had appeared to him as Lily, but he wanted no more part of the visions he'd seen. The hallucinations slowly subsided, even as reality felt like it was rushing back. Foeldar broke out into a dead sprint towards the West, heading away from the near-limitless army of undead that surrounded him from every other direction. He just wanted to get away from here, he didn't care where he went.

Dannisus' ability to think clearly was suddenly overshadowed by a numbness that he'd not felt since attending to his duties in Sylsashia. 'Kitty?' His mouth hung open as he mulled over Fauve's unbearably lax comment on his whiskers. Nothing she said afterwards registered in his mind as anything more than baseless bragging as he glared dully at Corc, still somewhat astounded by that crude woman's tone of voice. 'Kitty??' He half expected to see a little girl as he slowly craned his neck towards her, perhaps the same girl he'd entertained earlier in the day. But he didn't. He saw the wench that had shouted an obscenity at him back in the tavern where he'd met Lui and Aelih. He glared at her, his expression blank as she went on about a map- The same map that Corc had mentioned.

"Um-" He mouthed inaudibly, immediately cut off by Fauve again before he could say anything. She made her way past him, and the rest of the group, out into the open forest with a firm slap of her own buttocks. Dannisus cringed. Where the hell was she going to find clothes in the forest? Did she think the survivors were stationed nearby? Even if they were, would any of them willingly offer up their garments to this woman?

"I..." Dannisus started. There were simply no words. Some humans were just... Repulsive. He gave his head a light shake and turned back to the group, trying to recollect his thoughts, when he caught sight of another one of the pungent tavern-goers approaching their little circle. He glanced at Lui and Aelih for a moment, and then back to Jack, who stepped into their group with some ill-conceived notion of fate. Even worse, he pronounced the little gathering as some kind of coherent group! "Mya..." Dannisus reached for his bad ear with one hand and gave its base a light rub.

"Pardon me if I'm intruding on something here," He mumbled, "But, I'm to believe- No, I'm almost certain- Quite certain actually, that I have no idea who you are, save for a passing glance, sir." Dannisus' eyes worked their way towards Jack's gauntlets as he spoke. It wasn't long before he was staring at the curious artifacts. He sighed and looked at his feet for a moment, before raising his eyes back towards Jack. "Is there anyone else alive in town?" He asked, reluctantly.

Lui listened to Dani argue against her idea. Apparently Dani was really good at leading the way, though the mention of hunting parties was... unsettling. What were they hunting in the first place? Magical Constructs? Lui really didn't want to find out.

Then, Dani apparently heard something, and Lui heard it too. She was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, Dani's idea was far superior to her own. After all, how could they hope to fight something really big? Although the scary orc was big, perhaps the undead had something even bigger. Lui hoped that, whatever it was, wouldn't come for them.

As Dani states that he is against the idea, Lui opens her mouth to agree, only to be interrupted by the arrival of the woman from before.

Lui already didn't like her, but she did give more information about the map. It did make Lui more curious, but she still wasn't as sure of her plan as before.

Then, someone else arrived, a man wearing strange gauntlets. Lui had seen them before in the tavern, and she still didn't like the idea of being within range of the gauntlets. So, she did the most sensible thing ever, and hid behind Aelih. At least they were tall enough to hide her, right?

Dani then spoke again, asking about survivors. Was he planning to go in if there were? Lui hoped not. She'd much rather stay outside after all.

"...if there are, will we wait or will we try to rescue them? Can we please not go inside again?" Lui cautiously asks, peeking out from behind Aelih

Jack looked back at Dani as he insisted that he had no idea who he was. His usual blank expression broken by a single raised eyebrow, he responds, "No, of course you don't know who I am. But that doesn't change the fact that the same set of people that had been in the tavern not long ago has ended up here." He turns, crossing his arms as he continues, "Who I am isn't important at the moment, in any case. As for survivors..." He briefly glances over his shoulder at the town before looking back at Dani. "There were two others who were in the tavern earlier- a hooded woman and a mute man with a flute- and a forest golem. I believe they were heading this way. Aside from them though... whatever stragglers aren't already on their way here, well, today may be their last."

Jack takes a seat on the ground, legs crossed, elbows resting upon his thighs and hands folded together as he thinks. "The undead legion has completely overwhelmed this place. I don't expect a siege like this would have taken place unless the town held something important... but I don't know what it could have that would justify such a force. The church seemed to be a target, so perhaps there was something there..." He tilts his head forward, resting his forehead on his hands for a few seconds before swinging them out sideways, forcing them into the ground to push himself up into the air and landing on his feet. "Regardless of their reason for attacking, nothing can change the fact that whatever battle may have been fought here has already been lost." Looking down at the girl who was now hiding behind the elf, he continued, "Afraid there's not much we can do other than wait for whoever may be left."

---

---

Major Interaction: @Hokum
Minor Interaction: @Polaris North

The sight of Devlin writhing through the air as the golem launched her sideways jarred Ren's breathing into a gasp of air. Even if the undead barricaded his approach towards Devlin, a sudden surge of fear and rage coursed within him. He smashed his shoulder against the wall of skeletons, breaking their defense with a loud crash when Ren charged through them in a frantic attempt to get to Devlin's side. He only met her for a night and a half, but Ren could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of protection over her-- as if she was precious to him. Ren valued life, that was for certain, but deep within the darkest recesses of his mind, Ren knew that he valued her life better than others. The reason for that, Ren still grasped at straws to find the answer, but one thing was for sure: he needed to save her, and not the rise of the damned would stop him.

He silently thanked the archer for continuing to watch their back, allowing him to thin out the onslaught of skeletons going after them. When Ren finally reached Devlin's side, the musician paused in disbelief as he witnessed brutal forks of lightning lashing out at the conclave of undead gathering around her. As the last skeleton fell to the ground in an ashen heap, Ren found the courage to dash to the fallen rogue, deftly catching her in his arms whilst she grasped at him. How he wished he could whisper words of comfort to her; how he wanted to speak, to tell her that everything was going to be okay now that he was at her side. But, the only thing Ren could muster were strangled groans and voiceless breaths as he clutched her closer to him.

But, Ren digressed, words paled in comparison to actions-- especially, since, out of all the possible myriad of appropriate actions, her lips pressed against his without much strength, but still hard enough to jolt the living hells out of the man. Ren's eye twitched for the most miniscule of moments before fixing himself. This was good enough for his ability to take effect, and without much thought into it, Ren angled lips against hers as his body began to transfer thousands upon thousands of cells through the fingers caressing her face and through the bruised lips brushing with hers.
Meanwhile, his other hand crept over to the arrow piercing her shoulder, and without warning, he yanked it out of her before crushing his lips harder with hers to drown out any shouts.

'Close enough,'

Confident that the emergency amount of cells he had transferred unto her body would at least anchor her from the most grievous of her wounds, Ren looked back up as he realized that they were still in the heat of battle. With the undead cleaving at the now withering golem, the musician took the chance to hold her hand in his. He did not know how 'in control' she was of her senses, but at this moment, Ren faced a dilemma: She was definitely injured in more ways than one. She could not even stand properly. If he wanted to restore her at least so that she can walk, he would be the one suffering as healing the rather large injuries she had, especially the one bleeding out beneath her attire, would leave Ren on the brink of incapacitation. Something he did not want, by the way. On the other hand, if he became stingy with his cells, her recovery would not be enough to get her out of there. She would be doomed to the undead cleaving her in pieces until nothing remained.

There was only one option, and Ren felt bile rising to his throat as he glanced at the new wave of skeletons prowling towards them from a distance. Taking the saber in his hand, Ren edged the blade over the skin of his arm. The lad breathed deeply, feeling a surge of memories welling up in his mind-- of some horrid... people... consuming...

NO!

She was not like them. She was Devlin, the woman who saved him when no one else would. She was Devlin, the woman who made Ren believe that kindness did not always come from sweet smiles and gentle gazes; it could also come from calloused and rough hands who did what needed to be done to save a life she barely knew.

Ren waved to the archer, signaling for him to start running away from the heat of battle. Then, he gritted his teeth before pressing the blade deep with one fell slice, causing the flap of Ren's skin to dangle as crimson liquid spurted from the bloodied visage of what appeared to be connective tissues and some layers of fat. Ren peeled off the loose skin before rolling it into a small object.

'Trust me.' He signed with a weary yet worried look on his face.

He looked at Devlin, signing for her to close her eyes before edging his peeled skin towards her lips. With the cut of the skin so deep that it exposed some blood vessels and fats, Ren was confident that this was more than enough to give her a large burst of regeneration.

Rumors about Ren's skin circulated around the mines and even in some parts of the Akropolian desert about how it was a miracle cure-all. The lad preferred for it to be considered as such (the more non-existent, the better), because he had an inkling what would happen if people knew of the truth. The concentrated amount of strong, mutated cells latching on his skin meant that these cells would immediately cater to the consumer's bodily needs. It was a potent yet portable version of Ren with the added benefit that it allowed the boy to regenerate the lost piece of skin on his own without necessarily draining all the cells in his body at once. The process was quicker than how Ren would heal his allies and definitely safer, but there was a disgusting side effect: aside from the vile idea of cannibalism, there was also the issue of addiction as all experienced when consuming too much of any substance. Hence, the rumor has it that consuming Ren's skin was similar to a miracle draught of healing. It was effective yet addictive when not controlled.

It was her choice-- always her choice, and while he believed that she would not get... attached too much, Ren knew that people had standards. But, this was the path he was offering, and how much he prayed that she would understand how hard it was for him to offer this as much as it would be hard for her to eat it.

He did not know whether it would be all worth it in the end, but just one look at her battered face and wounded torso, and Ren knew that, perhaps, for her, it would always be worth it. Maybe, she was worth it.

Corc glanced over at Dannisus, who mentioned that he could guide them. That was good to know, a guide would be useful to steer clear from the undead and whatever else that was after them. As Corc began to decide against waiting for the map, Fauve provided several reasons why they should try to get a look at it anyway. All of it made Corc curious. He may have been just a dumb orc for many, but even he wanted to know what the circled area on the map would be. He frowned as Fauve walked off. He'd respected her as a fighter, and she seemed nice and trustworthy. Of course, Corc wasn't exactly a master at judging people. He didn't mind Fauve's foul way of speaking, though. He was used of dealing with tough sounding people.

As Jack approached the gate and spoke about fate, Corc shrugged. He didn't believe in such a thing. The orc always did whatever he pleased to have a good time, besides during missions when he had specific instructions. As Jack commented about him, Corc responded calmly. "Corc not very liked by humans...but Corc have no problem with them!" He responded quickly, looking the man over. He noticed the gauntlets the man wore, and was about to ask about the map. That's when Dannisus spoke up. The orc remained silent as people continued discussing things and waited until he had a chance to speak up. "Gauntlet man..." Corc began. "Fran said you have map!" He blurted out.

The orc glanced further ahead to the direction where Fauve went, feeling somewhat concerned for her safety. He knew she was strong, but she wouldn't be able to take on an entire army of undead by herself. He wasn't planning on leaving her behind. "People, stay close to Corc!" He said in a serious tone, glancing over at Dannisus briefly who seemed frightened. "Corc will do his very best to protect cat man!" He said reassuringly. Naturally, the word of an Orc wasn't very trustworthy. But Orcs were well known for being strong fighters. The giant orc rose his mace skyward, roaring his battle cry to prove his confidence to all.

Fauve slowed her pace when she arrived at the tree-line, as she had noticed a streak of blood on the leaf of a rubber-tree plant. Below the plant was a few more drops of darkening scarlet fluid leading a broken trail into the woods.

Well, that was easy

She pushed her way through the snapped twigs and blood smeared leaves for what must have been a good thirty yards before arriving at a clearing. The source of the blood was a human male, leaning with his back against a tree. As fortune would have it, he was about Fauve’s height and build. Unfortunate for him, he was damn near dead already. The horde had done a good job with this guy, numerous lacerations decorated his chest and right arm. His brown trousers were in a miraculously good condition, though, minus a few small spots of blood, and his boots were much fancier than her usual choice in footwear. But that didn’t matter, it’s not like she was about pay money for them or anything.

Despite being so close to death that he couldn’t even lift an arm to reach out, his eyes widened with that futile hope for salvation she’d seen so many times before. She knelt beside him and faked a reassuring smile.

“Ple… hel.. me….” His plead for mercy was so weak, Fauve could barely hear it, but the message was clear.

“There’s nothing I can do for you, Bub. You’re as good as dead.” She was candid about it, while tapping her index finger on the tip his nose in an oddly playful manner. “But not all is lost. I’m gonna go ahead and put you out of your misery.”

The young man gave a half shake of his head, apparently not liking the idea too much, and tried his best to form a few words of objection, but failed.

“Now – now.” She placed her finger on his lips to hush him. “There’s no point in fighting any more. You’re gonna die either way so we might as well make this quick, right? So, what I want you to do is say a little prayer to whatever God you might believe in – And if you don’t believe in any God, well, now might be a good time to start.” She took her finger from his lips to observe his response.

What energy he had left was present in the horrified look of his eyes. His upper lip trembled as well. That was all he managed to display of his obvious understanding on the matter, not that he was any keener on the idea than he was beforehand.

“Good. I’m glad we could reach an understanding.” She told him.

Providing him a few seconds to say whatever silent prayer he may or may not have had to say, she then reached out, faked another smile, and pinched his nostrils closed with finger and thumb, while smothering his mouth with her palm.

It sure didn’t take long. He barely had enough strength for one final struggle. With a few small jerks of his body and a sloppy flip of one hand it was over. Fauve watched with solemn regard at the life drain free of his terrified glare. That wasn’t the first time she looked someone in the eyes as their soul departed this world, and in a place like Akripola, it probably wouldn’t be the last.

“Sweet dreams, Bub.”

Another life gone.

Before too long, Fauve was wearing the dead man’s scuffed, black boots and trousers, and he was wearing her old shredded trousers. Not like she was so damn hardhearted that she’d leave his corpse naked from the waist down. She did have… uh, well, a few standards, at least. Turns out, though, that his boots were a very specific and custom design, and were perhaps the most comfortable footwear to ever meet her feet. Such was a pleasant surprise.

While fishing around in her new trouser pockets and finding two gold coins, one silver, she wondered what the dead guys name was; if he had any family left alive, or maybe a wife, friends perhaps, anyone out there who may have been looking for him.

“Nah.... They’re probably all dead as well. Hell, he was probably the only one left in completing an afterlife family reunion.”

Feeling half decent about her score, Fauve retrieved a fresh bottle of liquor from her shoulder bag and started making her way back to the gate. At that time, Corc could be heard calling out his own name in the distance, maybe some sort of battle cry. She laughed and took a swig from the bottle.

The slight glow on the spearpoint faded as, well, the enchantment faded. Aelih kept it out nonetheless, watching as a couple others. "Stay for others, retreat for now, I don't care, lets just make a decision." Aelih stated dryly as an opinion to the small debate, glancing up as the orc, Corc it seems his name was, lets out a roar "aaaand now all the undead know we're at the west gate."

With that, Aelih walks over to the man with the gauntlet, and extends a hand for a handshake "Aelih." Aelih smiled coolly at the man, eyeing his gauntlets. Interesting. But enough about that. "Either way, we need to decide something, and preferably soon, now that our very large friend has announced our presence."

He could feel her cold breath on his back as he ran, but a quick glance back revealed her position to be much farther away in truth than it had felt. Lily's possessed corpse stood a ways down the street behind Foeldar, her empty eyes meeting his for only a moment but still long enough for the meaning behind them to be understood. She was trying to protect him in the only way she could think to do so, but even in the realization of this fact Foeldar was still horrified by Lily's appearance. Had he really consigned himself to death so easily? Why did he fight? Sure, he was angry... but was that really enough? Why was he even here? Was Foeldar even in control? Of course he was, why wouldn't he be? He shook his head to try and clear his mind, deciding that these thoughts didn't matter. At least, not right now.

As he continued to run towards the west, with the west gate now in site, he saw two humans run past at lightning speed. They were, coincidentally enough, surrounded by electricity. Foeldar thought he recognized one of them, but couldn't quite place why. He then leaped up into the air to avoid a house in his path, but instead of running through it he ended up landing on top of it with a large crash. Debris flew up high into the air, some of it pelting Foeldar both as some went up and as some fell back down a little later on. He had only needed a moment to regain his footing and he was back to running, and only a moment longer until he passed up the two humans that had sped by earlier. He almost couldn't believe he'd already passed them up, and so quickly at that.

Foeldar turned his head around to look back at the two humans that had previously been so quick, wondering what had happened to them to slow both of them down to the crawling pace at which they now moved. Though before he could really make any observations he suddenly impacted the stone wall next to the West Gate's arch hard, cracking much of the stone and causing several pieces to crumble away. Recoiling from the pain, Foeldar frantically stumbled around and away from the wall as he held his head and shoulder firmly with his hands, and once he had passed through the arch he fell to his knees. "That... hurt..." He wheezed out between pants as the immense, throbbing pain slowly began to subside.

Dannisus backed away from Corc and his ears went completely flat against his scalp for the duration of his roar. He shared Aelih's sentiments with gusto, nodding rapidly while he turned away from the gate and threw his hands up in a fit of absolute disbelief. "Alas Aelih, it is our fate to be encumbered by brutish warriors, swarmed by the living dead, and dragged into a cavalcade of insanity!" He flicked his tail impatiently and turned back towards the group. Running off into the forest without them seemed like it was his best option. But the danger that those skeleton's wrought didn't post an immediate threat. He groaned quietly to himself and crossed his arms, whipping his tail from side to side like a furry little metronome. There were plenty of opportunities to expand upon his research in Lui, and Jack's gauntlets. But was it worth sticking around? As he thought on his choices, yet another person approached, bypassing his hearing entirely. He noticed Gabriel a moment after he spoke, approaching from behind Corc. The stress must have been dulling his senses. That, or Gabriel was very light-footed.

"Why are you so concerned with that map?" Dannisus hissed, "The town has fallen. This man with the gauntlets speaks the truth- Though I'm sure most could come to that conclusion at a first glance. Anyone that exercises the desire to investigate the origins of this tragedy will find themselves party to unnecessary danger for the sake of petty vengeance, and nothing else." His nose contorted fiercely as the stench of violent mana burst through the air. He covered his face for a moment and looked past Gabriel. "Regardless, there is no reason for us to stay here any longer. Look." Dannisus pointed past the group towards Devlin and Ren. Foeldar's sudden approach was out of view at his current angle, but he heard the rumbling of his charge. His ears adjusted slightly and he looked towards the wall that stood by their escape route. A moment later, it it nearly gave way to an unexpected impact that sent several of its carefully laid bricks flying through the air. Dannisus' entire body flinched, but he held his ground.

"Mya.. Are there still objections to leaving immediately?"

He didn't care what any of them had to say. Within the next few minutes, Dannisus would be gone.

Mention @Jensoman@Hokum@Seraphin

Direct interaction @Valkon@ArkmageddonCat@tex@Polaris North



Fauve exited the trees in her new clothes right when the Treeman ran into the wall by the gate. He disturbed her train of thought about Corc. She had been wondering what the big guy would be like to have a little private party with. By reputation, orc’s really knew how to let their hair down and have fun when they weren’t going around killing folks. Besides, she liked big guys, especially the rough brute type. They had a way of turning her on.

Since the tree ramming the wall had diverted the attention of the rest of the group, no one seemed to notice Fauve’s approach. She arrive just to the side behind Dannisus as he was finishing up with his ever growing list of concerns, and figured it was a good opportunity to have a little fun with him. With that in mind, Fauve’s tongue stretched from her mouth, extended a few feet in a coiling fashion, and then slapped him playfully up side the face, leaving a streak of saliva in his whiskers and fur. Her tongue flicked back in her mouth with a sharp whip-crack action.

“Still feeling a little skittish there, are ya, Kitty?” She laughed real hard, took another swig from her bottle and swiftly turned her attention to Jack. She placed a little peck on Jack’s cheek, and said; “Good to see ya again, Handsome!”

Fauve was just having herself a little fun at the expense of others self-preservation, not really caring how they might react. Continuing on her way, she gave a little nod and a wink to greet Gabriel who had also arrived, holding out the map she mentioned earlier.

Walking around the gate now, Fauve plucked a leaf from the ground while catching a glimpse of Devlin and Ren approaching, then gave a swift kick to the golem’s shin. Not too hard, just enough to draw his attention. She held the leaf up to him and gave it a teasing wag.

“I think you might have dropped this, Shrubby.”

Having another laugh, she flicked the leaf aside. Even though her butt cheek was no longer exposed, she gave it a good scratch while making her way over to take that second look at the map.

"Well," Jack replies to Corc, "I had a map, yes. But..." He cut himself off and turned to Gabriel as he revealed the map, which had managed to stay in one piece during the battle. He took a brief glance at it again, though whatever line of thought he may have had was quickly interrupted as his attention was drawn away by Corc's battlecry, followed by the elf from before introducing themselves and extending their hand. He returned the gesture, replying, "Jack," as he shook the elf's hand. Picking up a rumbling sound, and a slight rumbling of the earth as well, Jack turned east to face the source of the disturbance.

The forest golem was heading their way, having crashed through the roof of a building as Jack caught sight of it. Seemed it had ceased fighting the undead, realized the futility of its battle, and was retreating as well. Either that or someone- possibly Devlin or Ren, who Jack noticed heading towards the gate as well- had seriously pissed the golem off. Given the fact that the living tree had soon passed the two stragglers as it picked up speed, though, Jack guessed the former was the more likely of the two. In picking up that speed, as well as turning to look back at Devlin and Ren, the golem failed to slow down before crashing into the wall, sending loose a few bricks of the otherwise sturdy barrier.

Jack gave Dannisus a glance as he suggested leaving immediately, turning his focus back towards Devlin and Ren as they scrambled towards the growing group at the gate. "Aside from waiting long enough to ensure those two reach the gate? Not particularly, no." He turned to face Fauve after she greeted him, giving a nod in response. "You as well, Fran." Given that she appeared to be wearing a new outfit, Jack guessed she had found what she was looking for in the forest. As she moved on towards Gabriel and the golem, Jack looked back towards Devlin and Ren, observing them as they approached.

Corc turned towards Gabriel as he approached, blinking as he showed him the map while Jack pointed out that he was the one who had it. "Corc..." He muttered, overlooking the piece of paper. The giant looked past the map briefly, to see what the fast approaching sound was. Realising it was Devlin and Ren, the orc simply nodded. Just survivors. The giant looked at Aelih and Dannisus, and smiled confidently. Clearly, judging from their responses, they now recognised his strength! Corc had succeeded! The giant then heard a loud rumbling noise. Was that the Boar, already? Was it faster than Corc anticipated? The mighty orc got in a combat stance and readied his mace, peering in the distance for what may have come their way.

The giant soon recognised the giant Tree golem from before who headed for the gate. And now, Fauve was speaking to him with some new clothes. Corc glared at Foeldar. "Is Foeldar up to no good again?" Corc asked the golem, still feeling suspicious of him. He turned towards Dannisus again, who really wanted to leave. "Corc agree, might be good to leave. Corc follow directions on map. Others do what they want!" Corc stated firmly, looking over at Fauve briefly. "Is Fran coming too?" He asked. After a short pause, the orc turned to Gabriel. "Will human show Corc way? Corc bad with maps!" He whined.

"Name is Corc, if want to know. Corc the orc!" He quickly said to all.

@Hokum

The overwhelming connection seared him like moth to a flame, threatening to reduce the shocked musician into ashes as she took him by the hand in a mad dash towards the western gate. Every nerve lining his body sang to piercing heights, a look of pure ecstasy clouding the musician's features with his half-lidded eyes and lolled tongue. Without thinking about it, his legs paced one after the other like a maverick's gallop which allowed the dyad to batter through the wall of undead surrounding them with violent surges of lightning which lashed out at anyone foolish enough to come in range with the shield of concentrated storms. Ren always refused to look at his clients whenever they toyed and mangled his body in their desperate attempts at morbid pleasure; he found it impossible to ever gaze at something that willingly sought out to harm another, even if their hands forcibly threw Ren over the precipice. But, now, as he felt a euphoria like no other, Ren's eyes refused to look away from the tantalizing sight of Devlin in a blood-crazed state, her devilish smirk and scraping voice making the mute lad's blood run wild.

He never really processed how much time has passed, but when his consciousness slammed back into his body with the force of a sledgehammer, Ren could not stop himself from falling face first into the stone pavements of the western gate as Devlin's grasp left his. Immense rivulets of sweat cascaded down his dirtied skin, his body now writhing in an attempt to compensate for the intensive fatigue inflicted upon it by whatever frenzied mayhem Devlin led him into.

With the last remnants of the mutated cells flowing through him, Ren sat up with a gasp as his arm began to regenerate the skin it lost when the open wound began to close with subtle gurgles. The gashes and wounds on his face also closed, blocking off the blood from bleeding out on Ren's face. When Ren felt confident that all wounds on his body now laid healed, he switched off that strange switch in his head which allowed his ability to rest. However, the repercussions began without mercy. Ren's chest constricted, almost cutting off his air supply. His arms weighed heavier than two caravan carts, and his legs seemed as if they melted right off his bones.

They were safe, for now. And, the brief lull allowed Ren a few seconds to at least stabilize himself.

When he felt that the world stopped spinning for once, Ren forced himself to his knees, and then, to his feet as he focused his attention on Devlin who also walked a few paces ahead of him. Ren could make out a few figures standing meters ahead, and while his eyes blurred too much for him to get a definite clue of who they were, the mere fact that the figures were not yet shambling towards them meant that they were not part of the undead. That offered a slight respite, at least.

The golem's sudden crash against the walls of Nadska drew Ren's attention, his eyebrow raising in exhausted confusion before he moved towards Devlin. He dragged his feet against the concrete earth before finally managing to catch up to the rogue who looked just as messed up and terrible as he was. The once fierce and confident visage she possessed a few moments ago was now only the ghost of a distant memory, replaced by a sickly pallor which crept all over her face. He really could not muster any strength to produce any signs, but as they reached at least a few feet away from the gathering of the survivors, Ren could pick out a few of their conversations.

Most of their topics as well as their body languages suggested that they were itching to leave this god-forsaken place, and he could not blame them. But, for Ren, this place was all he had ever known for the last months or so. Where would they go? What was the assurance that the undead had not taken up shelter in the caress of the trees, ready to pounce on unsuspecting drifters?

The lad glanced at Devlin once more, and a moment of clarity dawned on him. He would not leave this woman. Aside from his curiosity to find out what exactly in Heren's name caused that event to transpire, he had also developed some sort of camaraderie with this woman. He enjoyed being with her, and if anything, he felt safer knowing that she kept an eye out for Ren's back.

He could only wish that she thought the same.

When he managed to at least get in front of her, Ren raised his arms to start signing. 'What do we do?' He grimaced, using the word 'we' as if there was a definite unit which consisted of him and her. 'They plan to leave. Where do we find safe place?'

He so wanted to talk to her about what had happened; how he desired to know more about the truth of who she was and what she had done to him, but all that gratitude and adoration would have to come later. Before he would pour his thoughts and gratitude on her, he wanted to make sure that they could continue to breathe even until the morrow.

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