Daelin retorted to Marilyn's response. "Out here, safety is not a matter of following the given route. It's dependent on how well we respond with what we're given. Avoiding the beasts is better than following a path they've moved into just because we're told to." He finished.

"O-Oh..."

Marilyn didn't have the confidence to press the Mission orders at all. The Venbu seemed perturbed for a moment, but slowly moved to the left side of the road afterwards. As they approached the fork, Zay peered over the edge of the Caravan's roof with a small smile.

"New path, Marilyn?" He asked casually. She turned around and looked up at Zay's face hanging over her head.

"Yes. Um, Captain, I don't think you're supposed to stand on the overhang."

"It's fine, I don't weight that much." Zay backed up and returned to the roof to keep a lookout. It seemed like he'd forgotten to assign the team roles and duties. Was that intentional? It was hard to tell with that guy, especially when he showed absolutely no concern for their change in pathing. Marilyn still didn't like it one bit. It was clear from her rigid posture. She clamped onto the reins tightly. For a moment it felt like she could float away at any moment, like her soul was trying to leave her body. She wouldn't even look at Daelin.

Back inside the common area, Noru had been paying minimal attention to Flin's story about some overgrown bugs. Even so, he nodded to emulate some kind of interest in the man's ramblings. Tuning him out was more difficult than it seemed though. Noru glanced at Flin's burn as he pulled his shirt back and sighed to himself. "Gathering knowledge on the creatures of Thoris used to be a common practice. Nowadays it's almost impossible to be fully prepared. But the bestiary in Arcadia's royal library has plenty of info on the local pests, including those overgrown hornets. You may find it more useful to spend more time researching and less time blaming your allies if you value knowledge so much."

The cart shook a little as it began to veer off of the southern trading route. The path that Daelin had chosen leeched back towards Lake Hyu eventually, and the detour itself wouldn't throw them off schedule. But there was a reason for their assigned path. The trading routes were some of the most well maintained paths between Nations. Even small civilizations would link into the main routes and contribute to their safety. With so many powerful casters using them daily, even the aggressive creatures of the wilds would think twice before jumping at every last Caravan that came their way. Daelin's path wasn't exactly leading them into a jungle though. Between the fork in the road is where the Baeshri Hills started. Taking a left here merely lead them down the Eastern trading route.

Flin nodded at Noru, and crossed his arms. "Perhaps I'll take your advice and check out the beastiary more, then. But it's hardly difficult to say 'This section is dangerous, Get inside, Flin.'" He simply replied, shaking his head briefly.

"Well, no point rambling on about the past, anyways. Speaking of knowledge, do you know if there's any particularly dangerous creatures near the route we're taking, right now?" He asked. "If there are, at least I'd like to be somewhat prepared this time."

As Illruvae seemingly let Lyullia be, she decided to return to reading. Grabbing her book from the ground, Lyullia looks around for a place to sit and read.

Deciding that being able to look at the scenery would be nice, Lyullia decides to go to the roof of the caravan.

Once there, she spots Zay. "Hello Captain, I hope you don't mind me reading a book up here."

Not waiting for a response, Lyullia sits down and starts reading again, occasionally looking around at the scenery unless interrupted.

Noru rolled his eyes. "It's a trading route, and I'm not a prophet. The wilds aren't exactly a math problem. There's no telling what we'll see." He peered out at Marilyn after the cart shook and slowly made his way past Flin, trying his best to rid himself of the boy's questions. For such a experienced knight, Noru was awfully impatient with people Like Flin. One question after another accompanied by an unearned smugness... He wasn't there to babysit! "Excuse me."

Zay was perched over the railings that lined Centaurus' top floor, peering off into the plains as Lyullia called to him. He nodded quietly as she went ahead with her book anyways. It was probably about time to assign some shifts. People had to sleep after all. It would be the end if they were caught unawares by anything while exhausted. Maybe it could wait a few more minutes, though. "I'd look for a place to stop soon, Lia," Zay yawned, "We'll be outside of the city's scouting range soon."

With their initial path already behind them, Caravan Centaurus was already off course. There was really no telling whether Daelin's intuition was right or not. but it didn't matter. Centaurus wouldn't know what they were in for until they came face to face with it.



The hills south of Centaurus' new route could not be traversed by Caravan. Uneven paths, sudden stop-gaps, and random climbs that varied from shallow angles to sheer cliffs made it extremely dangerous. After several tipped carts, lost Venbu, and unfortunate encounters with the local beasts, Arcadia and the surrounding Nations had given up on taming its expanses. Most simply avoided them, but when there's nowhere else to run, the hills served as very efficient cover for unfortunate stragglers and lost travelers, assuming they didn't fall prey to the creatures dwelling within.

One such traveler found themselves near the edge of the hilly terrain. A lone Captain of the Arcadian royal forces, and previous head of Caravan Cancer. But his team did not accompany him, and his Caravan was lost long before he'd made the decision to retreat to the hills for cover. Thankfully, after nearly a day of wretched travel, Captain Neale Geroldus found himself within reach of the Northern Trading route. The very same Route that Caravan Centaurus had chosen to take only a couple of hours earlier. But if he didn't hurry now, the Venbu keeping them on schedule would dart right past him and continue towards Marrenfall.

Ilruvae sighed to himself and from there simply tossed a rock back and forth in his hands, wishing he had a book or something to read.

Everyone aboard the Caravan was shaken about as it came to an abrupt halt. Marilyn tugged on the reins to settle the Venbu down, just barely keeping the beasts from breaking free of their restraints. By the time everything settled down, Noru was clutching to the rim of his bunk desperately, while Zay almost found himself flung over the railing by the quake.

"Everyone!" Marilyn called out, "There's somebody on the road!"

A single man was stumbling towards the Venbu with one hand clutching his shoulder. He wore a battered set of armor with Arcadia's royal crest embedded onto the width of a shoulder pad. His other arm was bare and covered in blood. It looked like it was stripped clean by something with strands of chain-mail and ripped leather hanging down to his elbow. It looked like he was about to wave Centaurus toward him, but as soon as he released pressure on the wound across his right shoulder, the bleeding continued and he stumbled forwards face first into the ground. Zay caught a glimpse of him as he fell, but didn't recognize the man. That didn't stop him from taking action.

"Flin, help me out!" Zay shouted whilst jumping down from the top of the cart and landing beside its Venbu. If they didn't act quick, that man was sure to die. But what they didn't know, is that the creatures likely to be responsible for his injuries were closing in on his scent quickly.



Blake stood proudly on top of a supply Caravan while holding his hammer firmly behind his neck with both elbows. He stretched his shoulders while looking out into the hillside, disappointed with not only his men, but the information they were given. Three others were scouting the area nearby at the Caravan's base, all wearing casual clothes with no indication of their alignment. One was generously tearing supplies out of the storage room, while the other was carefully examining the bodies of the previous owners. They were all garbed in stock uniforms, none wearing anything even slightly unique. Well, that wasn't entirely true. A few of them were coated in far thicker layers of dried blood. Another man popped out of the Caravan just below the torn awning. Unlike the others, he wore a stock Arcadian uniform much like the victims, untarnished by injury or dirt. He quickly climbed up to where Blake stood and shrugged as the man looked his way.

"Like I told you, there's nothing to suggest-"

"Search it again then, yeh dimwit!" Blake shouted, lowering his hammer to the ground with a loud thud that cracked the wood paneling. Where his hammer rested, laid the corpse of a woman dressed in silver armor. No doubt, it was the armor of the Paladins. "This was too damn precise to be a coincidence! Why the hell was she-" Blake lifted his hammer and planted it right into a slot in the woman's armor the matched its width perfectly, "-here as well!?" The Arcadian knight stumbled over his own thoughts to answer.

"I haven't the foggiest, but I'm certain that this group knew nothing about it as well. The paladins must have gotten wind of our situation somehow. She appeared mere minutes before you." He pointed to himself and sighed. "If you hadn't stepped in, I'd be dead. I'd say our mission remains a success-"

"Oh shut it!" Blake grunted, leaving his massive war hammer planted firmly in the lady paladin's corpse. The large man looked out into the hills and ran his bare hands through his hair, pulling at the follicles angrily. With so little hair left, the stress of this situation threatened permanent baldness on Blake. "I was lucky enough to get the drop on this righteous little harlot! The captain escaped and we lost a man. This is hardly a success! If he gets away and alerts another Caravan, that's that!" Blake's arms crashed down to his sides and went limp. "All becomes lost! We become public criminals!" He began to break down into a panic, "That's if she doesn't kill me first..."

"That injury was severe. He'll bleed out in less than an hour at this rate, assuming the beasts in the hills don't get him first," The knight assured Blake, "You're blowing this out of proportion, sir. We have nothing to worry about." Blake lowered his head into a slow nod.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. I guess you're right about that." He turned his head and began inching his way to the front of the Caravan's roof. "But y'know..." Blake leaned forward and glared at the two slaughtered Venbu in front of him, while scoping out the path that lead to Marrenfall. "...I'm more worried about the sisters."

As Zay rushed out and called Flin to aid, Daelin hooked his arms onto the top hatch of the caravan and hoisted himself out quickly. He pulled his ax clear of its sheathe and watched carefully for the surroundings, particularly the side of the road that this stranger had come from. Whatever did that to him couldn't have been far behind. "I'll watch for ya, Cap'n!" He peered at the stranger, specifically his arm. It was mangled but didn't seem to be missing chunks. "Whatever hurt that man wasn't very big Cap'n. That doesn't mean his blood won't attract other attention though. We'll have to increase our pace to lose them once he's inside." Daelin suggested.

Flin heard the captain call him out, but it wasn't a casual shout. There was clear stress in his voice. The man moved quickly, immediately snapping out of his relaxed stance. He ran past Marilyn, and soon realised the situation. His eyes widened, and he hopped out of the cart. He was surprisingly agile, and faster than most. He landed into the dirt, giving a very brief annoyed glance at his boots as they were covered in dirt, but he didn't slow down for a second.

He rushed over towards the injured man, and knelt down beside him. He tried to gently roll the man over to reveal the wound, and began to channel arcane energy towards the wound. It began to form into a compress, to stop the blood from coming out for a moment, at least. "Shit...Come on, don't give up! We'll help you!" Flin stated to the man. It was clear that Flin wasn't the best at it, but he didn't seem to be a stranger at this either. Had he encountered these kinds of things in the past? At any rate, he was trying his best. "Captain...can you assist me to carry him? I'll keep pressure on the wound. Not trying to order you around...but we should get in the caravan quickly, right?" He stated, preparing to carry the man along with Zay.

Ilruvae looked up at the Captain calling out for Flin’s assistance, and joined Flin in rushing outside, hopping down onto the ground and running over to the wounded man. Looked like somebody hadn’t been friendly to him...

He watched as Flin treated the man, and raised an eyebrow, adding his own Arcane compress to the man’s wound, mostly to firm up the edges of what Flin was doing, and make sure that Flin didn’t let up. Pretty simple task, really. That done, he stepped over closer and prepared to help out carrying the man, on the other side of Flin

Zay held a hand up and looked down at the Knight's arm. His right shoulder pad was completely missing, and part of his breastplate was shattered. "Hold on Flin. This wasn't done by beasts," He said quietly, touching the edge of Captain Neal's shoulder. It looked a little lower than usual, and the gash wasn't a simple cut or bite. Something must have come down on his shoulder hard. The skin itself had been torn and his shoulder was completely dislocated. Zay pushed at the magical compress lightly and felt for any more significant injuries. There was dark bruising on top of his shoulder and the bones beneath his flesh were in pieces. He'd seen injuries like it before, mostly accidents. Things would fall and crush a man's shoulder from high above. But there were no injuries anywhere else. Zay felt Neal's face and head, but couldn't find any more contusions or fractures. Worst of all, the injured Captain had fallen unconscious and showed no sign of waking up. The rest of his body seemed completely uninjured. He turned to Pyra and sighed. "Good, you can help Flin in my place. Bring this man inside. There are medical supplies in the back. Noru will treat him and we'll take him with us to Marrenfall." Captain Copp stood up and began to scan the open fields to the north. He looked to Daelin and waited as Flin and Pyra began to lift the man at his feet. He turned to Marilyn and tossed her the Caravan Key as well, knowing that she'd likely know what to do with it. The woman barely caught it and nodded back.

Daelin's instincts weren't wrong though. Several creatures were slowly making their way around the foothills, trying their best to remain hidden within the cracks in the earth, and behind the mounds leading towards Centaurus. Zay couldn't see or hear them from where he stood, but he remained at the ready regardless.

Marilyn settled the Venbu and put the reins at ease, moving towards the back room to help fetch some medical supplies. Bandages and stitches wouldn't be enough if the man had already lost so much blood. Thankfully, they had healing tinctures in stock. But getting an unconscious man to drink wouldn't amount to much. Noru moved alongside Marilyn, ahead of Captain Copp's orders, and lifted the top of one barrel. He took no time in fetching a few bandages and a vial of blue liquid. Noru turned towards the metal gate at the back of the Caravan and whistled. "Lower the door. They won't be able to heft him in through the front," He ordered, waiting for Marilyn make tracks.

"Lyullia, make sure the reins are in good condition. The Venbu took a rough stop there," Marilyn said to Lyullia while quickly leaning back to peer at the woman, "Metal joints, chain integrity - The rune locks especially!"

Daelin leaned his head into the hatch from above and reported, keeping his voice lower to keep their would-be predators unalerted. "We've got something rolling in Cap'n. Saw slow movement in the hills. Couldn't identify it but they're still prowling. If we get a head start now, the caravan joints will likely be the only thing we need to worry about."

Flin began to carry the man towards the back of the caravan with Pyra's help, making sure to keep applying pressure on the compress as they moved. "Not by beasts, huh.." Flin muttered softly. Did that mean that the man had a rough fall? Or was he specifically targetted by humans, or some other race? Regardless, this man's safety came first. He noticed that the compress was more perfected than what he usually made, and glanced at Pyra briefly. He gave him a nod as they reached the back, with a small smirk as appreciation for his efforts. When Daelin mentioned that something was coming, getting inside the caravan was even more important now. He prepared to carry the man inside with Pyra, the moment Marilyn lowered the back door.

Ilruvae carefully carried the man, concentrating on holding the compress over the entire wound whenever Flin eventually let up in a certain area. He noticed Flin’s nod out of the corner of his eye and gave a return nod, focusing nearly entirely on keeping the compress up, didn’t want the man to bleed out.

He speaks absently, still focusing mostly on the compress “Flin, slowly let your compress up so I can take over. I’m an Eldi, I easily have the mana pools to hold this wound by myself for a while, and it’s better to only have one person distracted by keeping it in than two.”

Flin nodded, slowly letting his compress up for Ilruvae to take over. "Alright. That should allow me to focus more on moving him, too." He responded, eager to see what Ilruvae's own compress would look like. He didn't like getting out done when it came to magic, but Eldi's were something special. He might be able to learn a thing or two from Ilruvae. With his full attention on carefully moving the man, their pacing seemed to be a bit quicker now as they made their way to the back of the caravan.

Ilruvae slowly takes over for the compress as Flin lets up, his compress looking rather simple, just a thin layer of magic exerting force into the wound to prevent the blood flow from coming out. "Hey, um, Marilyn!" He called out absently "How's the door opening going?" He was strong enough to help lift the armored man, but it wasn't very easy to concentrate both on that and on keeping the compress on. If he had priorities, the first would be compress, then on lifting the wounded man.

As Pyra spoke, a mechanical click signaled for them to move back slightly. Then the metal barricade that acts as a back door swung down, granting both men an access point. Marilyn held the key with an anxious smile. Noru rushed towards Flin and Pyra to assist, while examining the man's wound through the Eldi's magical compress.

In that same moment, three creatures emerged from the hillside with gaping maws and slick white coats of fur covering their entire body. They were small in comparison to most wild beasts, perhaps no larger than a domesticated hound, but had elongated bodies that curved as if made of rubber. Each one approached slowly on four legs with their mouths hanging open without restrain. It looked as if their jaws were unhinged. Even more curious were the closely crowded teeth that started behind the creature's thin lips and didn't show any signs of stopping until reaching the back of their throats. Zay Kept an eye on the path in front of the cart, unable to immediately notice the dangerous approach. They tried to sneak up from behind, staying out of Noru's line of sight entirely, and waiting for the best moment to pounce on the injured knight and his aides.

Lyullia nods. "Will do!" She says, as she puts down her book and climbs down from the Caravan's roof and heads towards the reins.

Checking every bit of metal for signs of damage, Lyullia uses her ability to reinforce whatever looks like it could use some strengthening. They could be replaced if needed later, but right now it'd be more important to be able to get going without having to worry about the reins breaking.

If she spots any cracks, she fills them. If she sees anything that is just slightly damaged, she adds another layer of metal.

Hopefully she wouldn't find anything that needed immediate replacement - she didn't have the tools to do that on the spot.

After finishing, she looks up at Marilyn and gives a thumbs up. "All done! This should last at least until we get the chance to set up camp somewhere safe." She says, before climbing onto the caravan, unaware of the approaching danger.

Daelin reeled his ax back while the white maw beasts drew in closer. He threw it with both hands at the center beast's back from his position above. Drawing his hand up to his lips he whistled loudly to alert the others. "Look alive! They're on us!" He announced, pointing down at them and watching for any sudden moves he could take advantage of.

Flin glanced over at the incoming creatures as Daelin called them out, and grit his teeth. He wouldn't be able to fight while holding the man. Neither would Ilruvae while he was focusing on the compress and carrying the man at the same time. "Noru, Daelin...can you make sure those things don't reach us?" He asked. He sounded serious, and it sounded like more of a question than an order. After all, doing this may just endanger their lives. So they certainly had the right to object. He tried to move behind Noru with the man, as quickly as he could. "We'll help you out in a moment, but this man's safety comes first." He spoke calmly, attempting to carry the man inside with Ilruvae and make him rest on the one un-used bunk within the caravan.