It seemed like Oscar's decision on the track had been the correct one. Despite walking hours and hours in darker getting... darkness, they finally arrived at what was presumably their 'camp'. The place where that particular woman was in charge. Yet, having walked hours upon hours towards a goal that they potentially wouldn't have reached was exhausting enough that she was about done caring.

"We did it..." Somewhat relieved, those were the only words spoken towards her travel partner with a firm nod.

Unlike the cold cold night, the fire was warm. And there was food, too! Sharing some of the fat she bought with others, even the worst brew was a most welcome one under these circumstances. And not like she would follow her evening training's regime while on a mission.

Nonetheless, just wanting to calm down for a moment, it was in the end not supposed to be so. Muu only listened partially, way past 'I am done with your bullshit.', to Oscar and Ettamri arguing. Something about pathetically armored goblins eating their quarry on the spot rather than returning it to the supposed-to-be goblin village. Oscar could have mentioned those details, maybe he did, Muu didn't care.

She really did not.
Maybe, somewhere in-between, the tall bitch called her idiot again.
But she was beyond caring.

This was exactly what she had tried to tell Ettamri before.
She did not listen.
She did not learn.
For she was Miss Privileged of House Nobody Cares.
And somehow, she was still the leader?

Maybe they were lucky enough to not have any major, difficult encounter.

Instead, Muu focused on her meal and possible maintenance of her weapons and limbs. There was only so much attention one could pay after walking hours and hours clinging on just a bit of hope.

That was, at least, until the person closest to a light in the darkness spoke up. Katya, with her child like innocence, tried telling Ettamri exactly what Muu had told her a day or two ago.

She was a child.
But that was no excuse.
Yet, nonetheless, Ettamri's words were potential, slow poison.

No. Sure, Muu wasn't the most cheerful herself, but she nonetheless sought harmony in the many parties she had been a part of. Maybe it was because Katya reminded her of something. Maybe it was because Muu was simply a horrible person that, somehow, still cared about keeping that cat fight up. Or maybe it was a swing of the mood and she was, nonetheless, just as much of a horrible person as Ettamri by using a child.

"No." Muu spoke, to Katya.

"Don't listen to her." She gave the little girl a gentle smile. Gosh, did all kids radiate like that? "You're correct. Teamwork and getting along is very important for success. Don't let anyone make you otherwise. You just have to realize..." Yeah, she couldn't do it. She would not use this kid to get to Ettamri like some coward... not that she had any qualms about honor, but still. "... sometimes, people have to get words off their chest."

Instead, Muu — now finished talking with Katya — looked at Ettamri. "You." Had she put much thought into her words? For her? No.

"Stop being a privileged little—" She stopped for a moment. "—person..." Weak! "...and get of your high horse from castle-nobody-gives-a-fuck for a second and listen. Listen well. We're all in this together and you're not any better, or worse, than any of us. Katya is right. I've told you this before, teamwork and harmony is important. And you're constantly disturbing it. Increasing our chances for failure. Makes only sense, no?" That was a lot calmer than Muu wanted it to be.

"As for the goblins, they were too badly equipped to be part of any threatening commune. Not to mention they ate their catch on the spot. You know. Instead of bringing it back to whatever village they might have belonged to like Goblins would usually do. How's that for evidence?"

It didn’t take an expert to realize that the situation was escalating again. No more than fifteen minutes ago he finished his argument with the knightess and now the situation seemed to replicate again. But now it was between Muu and Ettamri, though judging from their apparently bad history with one another, it was likely that the ending of this confrontation would lead to more than just irritation and hurt feelings. Quietly he readies himself while standing on his perch, prepared to intervene in the situation if things get more intense than it needs to be.

Argen heard as the small bladedancer begin to continue the same argument that was just finished. This might be from her anger in that they are being punished for doing a small thing with little consequence to them. It could also be because she was getting annoyed of Ettamri and had enough of what she had to say, whatever it is, it could get ugly as they showed some animosity before. Argen made an audible sigh as he stands and finally breaks his silence, “Can we not for the night. We just finally found our way around the river and made some shelter against a cold death. We can finally make our way through and complete this. Can we hold these grudges for a few more days and get back to the city so we can split ways?”

Agren didn’t want a fight to break out right now as it would lead to multiple people getting hurt, god forbid worst. Yet, he knew the large one was worked up and could go off from anymore words, especially from the Bladedancer. ‘With everyone being tired and cold, what everyone needed right now was a good fight with those around them, absolutely’. Argen took hold of his gear and moved it away from him, he knew if people started fighting they could begin dragging others into the fight and he didn’t want to get hurt while not even being involved in some old issues. He began to gesture towards Katya to come over near him so she doesn’t get caught up immediately.

---

This was…difficult, wasn’t it?

It was a bad situation that got worse and worse as time went on. Though Katya was only twelve years old, she wasn’t nearly as impressionable as assumed. The blue-haired priest, bundled up in her clothing, narrowed her eyes and tried to think about both sides. Ettamri was right. It wasn’t ok for Muu and Oscar to end up being that mad about being left behind; time was a resource that everyone shared. But Ettamri was wrong too. Being nice and coddling others was basically all that priests did. An injury was a mistake that Alri-Qua forgave. Saving a flagging teammate was something to be praised for; if the weakest were abandoned, parties would simply become groups of one. And yet, there was still parts where Ettamri was right. It wasn’t ever good to make everyone else work extra hard because you weren’t able to hold up your own weight. Endangering yourself wasn’t alright, and endangering others while endangering yourself was worse.

All sides were valid. It was just a matter of perspective. Muu fed everything to the fire. Argen tried to interpose. Renault decided not to speak up. Oscar was already gone off to his own watch. Siwon slept. The snow continued to fall and melt around the campfire. It never felt as if any of them would be dry.

Katya gulped. She didn’t have too much time to think, too much time to stay still. What was a priest supposed to do here?

What would Alri-Qua do?

Katya looked Argen in the eyes and shook her head. Then, she hopping up on top the log-seat, wobbled a bit, and basically fell on top of Ettamri, giving the armored knight a hug. It wasn’t as if either of them could feel the heat from each other’s bodies, and Ettamri was fully capable of plucking Katya off and tossing the turnip into the fire, but the little priest did so anyways, burying her face in plate and cloth. “It’s ok,” she said. “You’re right, Ettamri. It's not good for someone to make trouble for others because they can't take care of themself. I know you’re saying this because you think about everyone, and you’re mad that everyone’s only thinking about themselves. But that’s normal. It’s easier to be selfish with people who you’ve never met, easier to be selfish with people you dislike. That’s why you still need to be nice, because, y'know, you can't make friends with people who are good but not nice.”

A pause. Katya tried to move her head back up, but suddenly, sparkles of pain shot up her scalp. Oh no, did her hair get squeezed between the sheets of metal?

“…it must be hard, being a leader of people you don’t know. That’s why you need to know them, and you need to make all of them like each other. This isn’t an army. This is a party. But a party that’s always fighting is just dead.”

The last words came as a whisper, unheard by anyone but the two girls.

---

Whether Katya's words were disregarded, whether Ettamri exploded, whether Muu remained hostile, in the end, it was the night that won out. Temperatures continued to fall, the untended fireplace soon turned into naught but dead embers. Katya extricated herself eventually, heading off into the snow hostel made by Renault, waving goodnight to all still outside, and one by one, others followed. Only those assigned to stay up and guard the camp remained awake, with nothing but the howling winds and the crinkling of fallen snow breaking the silence. Occasionally, the horses snorted, and occasionally, wood groaned. There was nothing to see, nothing to do, naught but darkness, illuminated by the reflection of light off snow.

It was the night watch. Soon, everything gave way to monotony and boredom.

Ettamri Belarence

---

There was naught a sane man that could have held their anger at that. Not after such insult, not after somehow being blamed for their own faults, and certainly not while they were in a rather volatile mood. Perhaps she should have, but for the small priest.

Her blood was beating in her ears, spurring her to war, the red child bared her fangs, urging her to spill blood, to feast on their marrow. She was still hungry and tired, regardless of how she hid those from the party. Ettamri would have just killed Muu right then and there, consequences be damned. Perhaps even the rest too. Maybe the red child was right. Maybe it wasn't really worth it to deal with people.

Were it not for the small priest's words, she would... no, will have acted on those impulses. Those simple words washed over her like cold soothing water. It was the first kind words she had ever received for... hell, when was it? She was supposed to be tough but here she was being comforted by a child. What a disgrace.

Extricating the priest carefully, she set her aside, before replying to Muu.

"Perhaps you should learn to listen better before spouting pointless drivel."

A simple, pointed answer, before she went on her watch.

---

---

Ettamri first starting drinking from what was left of the bottle she had passed around. The first watch seemed uneventful at least. More than once she had taken the liberty of moving around, careful not to look at the fire directly or to trigger any of the traps the ranger set up. A form of patrolling but mostly so she stayed warm.

After a while however, she leaned on the tree where Oscar was, bending it slightly with her weight. "Hey."

Oscar was deathly silent upon his perch on the tree. When ever he went hunting in the reserve, he always made sure that he was just as quiet as his surroundings were. It was routine for the ranger to not speak or even make any major movements when he was hidden from plain sight and waiting. He was mainly focused on listening to the sounds of the environment, waiting for that loud snapping noise that would alert them that something, or someone, was getting too close to the camp. But he also took note that the larger woman seemed to have a more amicable side to her rough and gruff personality as she chose not to harm Muu in any way and instead walked away from the smaller woman after speaking her piece.

Though, when the large woman leaned on the tree he was perched after she had done her patrol, he tensed up slightly. But he soon relaxed when she simply greeted him. Looking down from the tree, the ranger greeted her back. ”Hey yourself.” He wasn’t sure what their party leader wanted to talk about with him, but he simply waited for her to speak.

She remained silent for a bit, simply leaning on the tree silently. It was times like these she was glad to have the mask on.

"A-apologies." She started." For getting worked up."

It was all she said before she left.

To say that Oscar was surprised was an understatement. Less than an hour ago the tall prideful knightess and the ranger were viciously bickering with one another. Now she was the one to apologize first for the event prior. The ranger regained his sense of time when he noticed Ettamri a short distance away. ”I apologize for my shortcomings. ” He pursed his lips inward and swallowed his pride. ”You are the designated party leader and I should have listened...I’ll do better next time around.”

And with that, the ranger goes back to his duties and keeps an ear for his traps.

It was nearing the end of the first shift when he heard one of his alarm traps trigger. The ranger furrowed his brow and let out a hushed curse underneath his breath as the thought of some filthy mud goblin managed to track them down with the near impossible circumstances. Nonetheless, the ranger hopped from tree to tree heading to where the sound originated and when he was 5 meters away from the East area he stopped and squinted his eyes. Trying to identify the silhouettes illuminated by the dim light cast by the campfire. Arrow nocked and ready to be drawn and loosed at whatever decided to enter the camp’s proximity.

Ettamri opted for a slower more deliberate approach, lest she trigger anything else or trip over something. Yet still, she approached sword drawn. There wasn't any cause for alarm, not just yet.

Even at a distance of only five meters, it was difficult to make out any concrete shapes through the heavy snowfall. Was it a shadow that Oscar saw, or merely a trick of the light? Had something nefarious triggered the trap, or had the wind simply been powerful enough to dislodge the trigger? Regardless of what the ranger thought, it was Ettamri’s approach that revealed more. In the near-nonexistent light, the warrior could only barely make out the traces of a bipedal creature stopping right before where the wire must have laid, appeared to step around a bit more, before heading back the way it came. The tracks were undoubtedly fresh, but her own experience was insufficient in gleaning anything more from this incident.

The ranger stood atop the tree in the near complete darkness of the night. He was unsure if the shadow he saw was someone or something that had ill intent to the party. The heavy snow fall’s ability to obscure its shape irked the ranger to a degree, but no matter. Weather or not it was an actual being or a trick caused by the dim light and the falling snow, the ranger drew back the bowstring and kept his aim on the silhouette. If Ettamri were to show any signs of distress or was attacked, that figure would be getting an arrow to the back at over 60 meters per second…

“Ranger.” Ettamri spoke simply, enough for it to carry to the man in the trees in the silence. “I see, tracks, two legged, but otherwise nothing. See if you can find anything else. Oh and perhaps double the traps if you can.”

Oscar nodded slightly to the large knightess’ suggestion. He was going to do it either way, but it was good to know that they had similar thoughts on the matter. If nothing were to occur this shift, Oscar would create more dangerous traps to ensure whatever tried to approach the camp again would have a strong idea that it is not welcome.

It was as Oscar knelt down to reset the triggered trap that the ranger drew in more details. Smaller, or perhaps, lighter tracks revealed that whatever had approached the perimeter of the camp to begin with had also walked the length of the eastern section, or maybe even circled the camp completely. They weren’t goblin tracks either, the footprints smaller, three toes splayed out instead of five. A small relief, perhaps, that they weren’t being tracked after all.

"Can you identify these tracks, ranger?" Her eyes flitted here and there, wary of any danger. "We might have to sleep with one eye open from now on. I do not like this feeling I am getting."

"Three toes on each foot...at least we can rule out goblins." Oscar said as he racked his brain to what kind of creature could have left these kinds of footprints but no matter how hard he forced himself to remember, he couldn't pin down the idea of what it was. "Well, whatever it is it was curious. See how it walked the entire Eastern section. Possibly even scouted the whole perimeter...get some rest, Ettamri. I'll deal with it." Oscar then quickly reset the trap and started walking back to the cart, seeing the horses shivering in the snow caused him heartache. As he walked to the Northern section of the camp to put a secondary layer of traps, he asked Ettamri if it would be possible for her to bring the horses closer to the campfire. He was confident that she would make the right call and then headed off to set up the traps. This time, these traps were meant to maim or kill.

Meanwhile, she took care of the horses, noting the fire has gone down a bit. Adding to the fuel, as well as putting the horses a little closer, she pulled the cart closer as well. Never hurts to be prepared.

The wind continued to howl, a sharp screech through the white night. The fire crackled back to life as Ettamri tended to it, the horses stomping the ground, unnerved by the foul weather. And then, sharply, clearly, there was another snap in the air. West this time. The trap left by Oscar was triggered, another alarm splitting the night.

The ranger was soon in the area, hopping from tree to tree with bow and arrow at the ready, expecting their mystery creature be present this time around. Ettamri waited for confirmation from the ranger, wary of it being a diversion for the enemy to swoop in from another side.

The weather, once more, was against him. Hopping from tree to tree had been difficult enough in the sparsely-wooded area that they had sought shelter in, and by the time Oscar arrived onto the scene, all he could see were more figments of imagination, shadows that may not even exist. Ettamri’s instincts, however, proved right, when, quite suddenly, the back end of the cart burst with noise. Though her night-vision had been hampered somewhat by tending to the fire, it was still clear enough that some small creature, perhaps half the size of a goblin, had hopped out from the covered cart, a bulging leather pouch strapped onto its back. Without looking back, it shot off, footsteps muffled by the environment but not completely out of sight yet.

Now the ranger was irritated. Not only were the creatures toying with them, now they had the gall to attack the cart? This will not stand. Turning to face where the cart was, he called out to the tall woman. "Ettamri! Breach! Breach!" hoping his voice reached her. The ranger hopped down from the tree and began dashing through the snow. Hellbent on killing whatever did this chaos. She stayed behind, rousing the others first before going to look after the wagon and horse. "Wake, we are being raided."

Oscar was long-legged and accustomed to movement, but the creature had the agility of a small beast and a headstart on the ranger. By the time he had closed the distance enough to get a proper visual on the creature, they were already at the perimeter of the camp. It was a stout, black-skinned thing, white fur pulled over its body to shield from the elements. Compact, the creature moved as if perpetually leaping, and it had a tail that whipped from side to side. The sack lashed onto its back was perhaps four times the size of a man’s fist, and a small knife, chipped and dull as if crafted from stone, hung from its hip.

The ranger snatched an arrow from his quiver and drew back the bowstring in one motion as he slid to a halt in the snow. He likely had only one shot to kill this thing. He took aim at the leaping thief and took a shot aimed at its body. Aiming to kill or even maim the creature. By sheer luck, the arrow landed its mark and soon killed the creature. Approaching the trail of blood and grain, he inspects the corpse before grabbing it and returning to Ettamri.

"Any idea what this thing is?" He asks her while presenting the small creature's corpse.

"Some kinda rat?" She dismissed the others once she was satisfied there was nothing else.

Shrugging, the ranger simply removed the bloodied bag of grains from the body and did his best to salvage whatever wasn't soaked in blood. Other than that, he left the 'rat' corpse beside the campfire. Hoping someone from the party could properly identify the creature.

---

Soon enough things settled down and he managed to reset all his traps before returning to his favored Y tree. He was the only person in the current party that Oscar had known and a prior friendship with, as he routinely joined his usual party and acted as the group’s scout and ranged attacker. He never really knew why he wasn’t with the usual party and chose to form a new one with everyone present. Oscar kinda liked working with the old group; they already had great party synergy and he was already more than used to working with them. The transition with new groups was always hard at first, but Oscar never remembered it being this hard.

Perhaps he could elaborate on that matter in the near future?

As of now they needed to focus on guarding their resting companions and make sure that no more beasts or monsters could interrupt their well deserved rest.

Renauld was tired, mildly wet from the snow, but his body was functional. He was awake enough to make it past the two hours watch, but it wasn’t too pleasant of a time. He carefully emerged from the hovel, careful not to accidentally wake up anyone else. With everyone inside acting as a space heater, it was rather pleasant. Well, it wasn’t. Compared to outside, it was heaven.

When he emerged, he didn’t really say much. He only gave Oscar a nod with little effort and sat down. He just tried to keep his wits about him for the long watch ahead of him.

The ranger offered the caster a faint nod in return, if he bent his head any further, the snow that had accumulated on his wide brimmed hat would have likely fallen onto the man below him. So that small gesture had to suffice. There were no words spoken between the two in the cold. But in the dim light that the bonfire radiated in the distance, one could notice a faint smile on the ranger’s face if one would look close and hard enough. No words needed to be spoken. He was content with the caster just being there accompanying him on the watch.

The second was not as eventful as the first, but at the very least no more of those creatures appeared or set off his alarms. Soon enough the quiet two hours pass and it was time for Oscar to finally get some rest. As the ranger bundles himself up in his bed roll, he can only hope that the others would have a less...exciting time while on watch. For now, the ranger falls into a shallow sleep.

Argen slowly makes his way out of the shelter and begins to grab some of his supplies: his spear, shield, his large bear fur, and his scarf. As he begins checking his things he finds himself shivering and his hands shaking profusely as the cold has been getting to him through his layers of fur and cloth. His countenance didn’t show it though as he just stood up and began to look around to find a nice spot to post up at near the cart. It seems the bad weather has cleared up and the clouds dissipated allowing the night to actually show through. With all of the stars over head it looked like someone had lit the moons on fire and the stars danced around it. It looks absolutely lovely and has Argen stealing glances quite often in between him watching the forest around him.

After having been woken up again this night, despite nearly stabbing Oscar to death out of reflex, the second time was a lot more pleasant. Sure, it was a lot colder. Way too cold, in fact, but at the very least there was a clear sky full of bright stars to look at. Not even back in the city, around the same time, had she ever seen something like that.

"Beautiful..." She whispered under the cold, making sure to move each of her muscles properly. Sadly, however, she had a job to do. Even now Muu couldn't quite recall if Ettamri had put her on this job whilste calling her an idiot or not. But this deep into the night... someone had to do it. Thus, together with Argen somewhere close(?), Muu made sure to watch between the trees under the bright moon- and starlight properly.

And it got colder, and colder... yeah, okay, this was set to be ultimately pretty boring, no?

Argen began to watch the forest less and less as he began to look at the sky for long periods of time. He slowly sighed as he then throws a question towards his partner, ”Do you think the moons is actually 2 large eyes of a god looking at us?”

This question has eaten at him since he first saw the moon. Anytime he nearly met death he saw that moon watch him as he made it through those tough times. Maybe some god watched him survived those terrible times and they either took pity on him or watch his struggle with joy. He just can’t tell because he will never get to know what they think.

Somewhat perplexed, maybe at the fact that after a long period of silence her 'party member' started to talk, Muu looked at him. Just for a moment, however, before she checked back onto the trees.

"There are no gods." Simple as that. A non believer.

Argen took this answer but he always had questions needed to be answered, and in all honesty this past month has made him question everything around him.

”Then how do you suppose magic works? Especially the magic of the priests and Paladins?”

"Well..." Indeed, how did they work? A good question, but... "I am not a magician, so how should I know? But as far as Gods go, I have yet to meet one myself. You believe what you see." Very downright to earth indeed.

”That’s fair you aren’t a magician. I was just wondering. I haven’t met a god either and I think I never will, however I think seeing is believing is not quite right”.

As Argen lets out a sigh and continues, ”Magic needs to come from somewhere, a place we cannot see. Like a fire mage being able to conjure fire from thin air or an ice mage using an ice wall with no water nearby. These seem like strange thing happening out of nowhere, even Siwon seems to have a form of magic. It just seems it is connected to his little ‘friend’. They seem to talk and react to each other and their surroundings separately. And they seem to communicate not out of his own deranged mind but maybe out of some ability he was given to communicate with a spirit who helps him and gives him power”.

As Argen looks back out and around him again making sure nothing is coming near their camp or snuck past as he was talking as he continued, “That’s where this idea comes from. If a god does exist do you thing they actually watch over us, or do you think they leave us to our own devices?”

Being long winded was not a normal thing for Argen, but he has had a lot of questions he needed to get off of his chest. He knows Muu probably wouldn’t care otherwise, but he really needs to put this idea out and for a second opinion on the matter. Besides talking is better than sitting in silence for the next few hours freezing to death.

"..." He sured liked to ask a lot of weird questions, did he not? "If some sort of God would exist, we — I — would have seen it, sooner or later, wouldn't you agree?" Muu simply, kind-of, repeated herself as she kept looking over the nightly winter wonderland. "But... entertaining the thought they do exist, clearly they do not bother with us. Since there is no proof. So, what differences does them existing make?"

”Maybe to watch their creations struggle and survive? To watch them grow and become their ideal? Or maybe they are just watch waiting to see us suffer”. This last part sounding colder than Argen normally sounds.

Argen looks up at the moon again and sighed as he continued, ”I just don’t know. It feels like something has kept me away from Death’s hands for this long, it just feels like something is here to keep me from dying quite too early”.

As Argen continues to look out into the forest as he began to walk around the campsite trying to make sure he didn't leave anywhere unattended for too long.

Muu sighed for a moment, before she responded flatly. "Again, what difference does it make? They can watch all they want — or don't. Nothing changes. Besides..." The brunette went silent for a second. "Listen, I don't know you, and neither do I honestly care. But the 'something' that made you survive so far hasn't been some higher being. It was you. You, with your own strength. You should be more confident in yourself."

”I don’t know. The parties that were wiped would say otherwise”. As Argen continues to walk around and watch the forest.

”Besides I just think it’s nice to just talk. Especially in this cold environment. Anything you have you want to get off your chest?”

Argen asking as he has said quite a bit and found it would be better if he started having the other person begin to speak. Especially since she did seem to know about his past parties.

"I..." Muu was about to speak up as quickly as she stopped. Silent for a few good seconds, using this time to make absolutely sure that their surroundings had been safe. "You ARE the silver-eyed shieldbearer of misfortune!?" While before her voice was somewhat neutral, there was now a genuine surprise. Maybe even a bit of a shock.

With a sad smile he looked towards Muu as he said, ”I am”. As he continues his rounds every once in a while looking up towards the sky and taking in the view again. It was fair she would be surprised or even scared. Maybe even apprehensive towards him, but he needed this off of his chest and he never really found a time to do it, so now seems like the best of any.

"How does it happen?" Muu now asked. "You don’t strike me as someone who purposefully gets his party members killed."

”Well now that’s the story. How did I end up with this title? I would like to say I was stronger, wiser, or just smarter. But I wasn’t It felt like plain dumb luck for me to get out alive of deadly situations”.

”If you wanna know what happened I am willing to tell, but it is a bit of a story”.

Or maybe he was just craven? Shieldbearer - protector of the front-line. Hah. Giving a slight shrug, the brunette now said with a light smile. "We got time."

”Well, we’ll start with my first party. On our mission we were tasked to hunt down some goblins, our party was ambushed and massacred by a gang of goblins lead by a strange skull-faced spear goblin. I got split away from the rest of my party and fought on my own for a bit before, in an act of self preservation, I ran away from the band instead of charging in as I knew I was no match for the group of goblins by myself"

As he took in a deep breath as he sighed out, "They died because we took this job as a fun journey. Not work, not as a dangerous endeavor. And we paid the price…they paid the price".

Argen began to grab at his bear cloak and sighed as he began to continue, "The party I got to help me purify my friends bodies took me under their wing and began doing simple hunts, as they became more comfortable with my skills they decided to hunt a man-eating bear. In an ironic twist of luck it snuck up on us and mauled our backline before me and my friend could get into position. He died to give me an opening for a heart piercing strike. All I could do was end it and pray for them. Taking some parts of them with me". As he lifts his shield and takes hold of his cloak.

He took in another deep breath and continued recounting his tale, "Now I was growing a reputation of being a lucky, or cursed, SOB as I survived 2 party wipes. As it took some time for people to accept me into their group as they feared they would be the next party wiped, but there was a party who needed a tank really bad, so they let me join them for this one mission. We went down to a kobold mine, only for us to get lost after being chased by way more kobolds than expected. Our priest succumbed to environmental exhaustion first, and afterwards, infections from ill treated wounds got everyone else slowly as it left me to trudge back to the town alone".

Argen took in another deep breath as now he was getting winded from talking so much, "By this point it was hard to find a group who didn't know the rumor and didn't take precautions against people holding my description so it took some time for a group to agree with me joining. When they heard my story and found me to not be a bad tank they decided to let me join their party. In this party it was where I met Siwon we didn't make the likeliest of pair but he was strange enough to not show much care about what has happened in my past. And he doesn't find my rituals disturbing. He just gets upset when I waste blood. But besides that…". As he waves his hand in the air as if waving away a fly.

"The mission I joined in on was to hunt for an orc. Our entire party jumped the lone orc, only to realize that even with our superior numbers, we were outmatched by the sheer size of the thing.

I got knocked out early but managed to get back up to deliver a death blow to the creature with Siwon. Leaving us to try and find a new party, but maybe with better ease as I had someone with me so people wouldn't assume I was the Cursed Shield bearer".

As Argen looked towards the forest as he continued his round, he said, "And it seems to have worked as it would have been a large hassle to try and re-explain this to everyone while in the city as we would have wasted time just sitting there talking".

As Argen looked towards Muu as he finishes, "But yeah, that's my story". With a bit of a sigh he finds a place to sit for a moment and look back out towards the two moons and stares at them for a bit. He takes out his water skin and drinks a bit of his alcohol before his mouth becomes too dry.

Argen talked. A lot. More than Muu liked. So much, in fact, that she now started to miss the silence. He told her about classic tales one heard every so often. He simply happened to be always there! But... simple coincidences. The brunette did not believe in silly concepts like luck and misfortune. One had to grasp destiny with their own hands, and change ones own Fate with their own hands.

Ultimately though, it sounded to Muu like he had a tendency to join rather naive parties. She had killed orcs, with a group, before. And if this group was willing to take a 'risk' like him than clearly they were desperate and/or underprepared. "I see..." Muu ultimately answered, pushing back any feelings of guilt she might have gotten to give a two word answer to his long monologue.

"Thanks for sharing." She did add, however. "But what happened in your past will not repeat again." Quite more than two words, by now!

”Hopefully that’s the case”. Argen says as he begins to stand and begins his checks on everything to see if there was any tampering with the supplies or gear they didn’t notice. As he says in a low whisper to himself, "I don’t think I want to go through another party wipe".

It was warmer than expected inside Renauld’s snow hovel. With three people fit comfortably inside the small hut at any one time, it had certainly been a usable place to sleep. Body heat expelled from the larger occupants served a great boon to everyone else, and the snow, though packed and hardened, wasn’t nearly as unmalleable as stone. With tarps to keep their backs dry, everyone slept in only mild discomfort as humid air condensed, dampening their clothing. In the morning proper, they’d notice the sogginess of their garments and be doubtlessly displeased, but in the throes of slumber, no one cared.

The night watches too, had been less dangerous than expected. Outside of that moment of excitement in the first watch, every other watch had been relatively safe, relatively quiet. The snowstorm dissuaded all but the hardiest (or stupidest) monsters from raiding the camp, and by the third watch, it was too late at night and too early in the morning for any more attacks. Peaceful, exhausting silence reigned over the place, broken only by the stirring of miserable embers. But such peace never lasted. In the wilderness of Altera, reprieve and repose were temporary, as fleeting as the winds of winter.

It happened when Argen ended his shift, crawling back into the snow hovel to rouse Siwon. There was a slight tremor, the turning of a dreamer, a heavy thump against the walls, and then, quite suddenly, everything came crashing down, the dome of snow losing its shape and burying all those who slept underneath. To call it a rude wake up call would be an understatement: a face full of cold, slushy snow was a terrible way to start the day, made even worse when some of that snow got underneath one’s garments, soaking the body underneath. A quinzhee was a temporary shelter at best, after all. Whether it be rising temperatures, a rowdy occupant, or simply bad luck, it was never meant to last a day, perhaps not even the length of the night.

If there was anything to be grateful for, it was that the majority of occupants inside were strong, adventuring types. Regardless of how sleep-deprived they may have been, none were weak enough to simply suffocate under the mounds of snow, and soon, they all burst out, cold and bleary-eyed, exposed to the thankfully-mild elements. No other shelter had been constructed in case the first fell, and regardless, it was only two hours till sunrise, the clear, cold sky already turning from black to indigo. Whether they tried to snatch some more sleep or did what they could to prepare for a day of marching was up to them; regardless, it wasn’t only Siwon now, who was awake before the rooster crowed.

Ettamri, on the other hand, sleeping in her own little tarp tent, spent her night colder, her sleep occasionally interrupted by sharp hunger pangs and the rattling of the wind against the frozen-stiff cloaks that made up the walls of her own shelter, but when the snow hut collapsed and everyone was roused, the warrior, at least, was unaffected by that bit of misery. Whether or not she chose to rouse herself afterwards was simply her choice.

---

Ever since he finished his training under his mentor it had been ingrained in his behavior that he wake up at the same time every morning. And as per-usual Oscar, like clockwork, woke up at the early hours of the morning and quietly unwrapped himself out of his sleeping roll and nimbly maneuvered over the rest of his still slumbering companions. Once outside again, he began stretching and performing rudimentary exercises to both prepare his body for the long trek ahead as well as get the blood flowing and warming his body. With his morning exercises done with and he could feel his body temperature rising, he begins to put away his roll and obtain the rest of the dried strawberries and consume them for his breakfast meal. He only put aside a small piece of the food as an offering to Kur-Innus. He hoped the God would be understanding. He needed the all the energy he could get for the long day ahead of him.

Even more so due to only had gotten a couple of hours sleep in the previous night.

Maybe it was a mistake that he decided to make more complicated traps? No matter now, the time had passed and there were no taking back time already spent. Oscar simply brushed away the snow that had accumulated on the log he sat on the previous night and tossed a few extra sticks and split logs into the fire. Grabbing the semi frozen body of the creature he had killed earlier, he begins to thaw the corpse in preparation for skinning. If his party did not know what manner of creature this was, surely the people back in town would. As soon as the creature was thawed enough, Oscar began his handiwork. Skillfully using the knife to skin and de-bone the creature and in a matter of minutes the creature was completely stripped of meat and fur. He collected the creature's head, hands, feet, and bones to be set aside underneath a nondescript tree as offering before going back to his seat before the bonfire.

He then observed the knight approach the snow hovel and the ranger raised a hand briefly to greet the man. The following events seemed to go in slow motion. As soon as the knight entered the snow hovel the whole thing collapsed on himself and the rest of his slumbering party. At first, Oscar was concerned that one of them was injured by the falling snow but after seeing the snow shifting and hearing them groan and grumble from the rude awakening caused the ranger to fall onto the snow behind him as he laughed so hard that he fell off his seat and into the snow below.

As soon as he regained his composure and rode out his laughing fit, he went over to his recently awakened companions and help them.

Ettamri Belarence

---

"Ah, damn, that's really cold."

She collapsed the low to the ground tent quickly, shaking off the snow from the fur, rolling the two pieces back together before donning the furry cloak she had been using as a blanket. For the moment, while she was a bit aways from the rest of the group and with no one close, she took off her helm.

Damn, been looking out of bars since I was little, and now I have to wear them on my face huh?
It was a refreshing sight, seeing all this without anything obscuring her vision for once. Sighing, she picked up a handful of snow, washing her face with it, along with her horn. Feeling how solid it was, she had a feeling that she could headbutt something with it and really do some damage. An insane urge to headbutt a tree came over her as soon as she thought of that, but she figured she can test that out later on, with no one looking.

Sliding her helm back on, she went back towards the bonfire.

"Oh, you're gutting the rat thing from last night? Is it edible? I'm starving and the stew from last night helped but to only allay my hunger." She considered her words before adding. "No offense to the cook, for it was not about taste, but volume."

---

@GreenGoat
After helping his comrades up from their snowy tomb, Oscar encountered their leader just as she arrived to the bonfire. She had asked about the meat he had butchered from the creature. Wondering if it were edible. "Morning, Ettamri." He greets the tall woman as he walks past her and to the cart and scrounge through his Backpack and retrieves a bag of rabbit jerky and returns to the knightess. "I'm not sure if it's meat is edible, considering its my first time seeing the thing and all, so ought not to eat it. I'm not keen to give someone food poisoning. So before I can confirm it being safe to eat, its off limits. Okay?" The ranger then offers the whole bag of food to her. "But I understand that you are hungry. So here, a bag of rabbit jerky." It was understandable. Ettamri was the largest among all of them and it is only logical to conclude that she needs more food to keep her body functioning.

Plus this would be a good opportunity to form a good relationship with the knightess. She, Argen, and Siwon were the only ones he had a non-positive relationship with in the party. And if they were going to be together for a week, he might as well make a few new friends along the way.

Who knows? Maybe he would be adventuring with them some time after this mission...if they actually finish and survive the thing.

---

As miserable of a wake-up call as one's own frigid shelter crumbling upon oneself is, Siwon was luckily prepared in some sense to a scenario of this magnitude. Having wrapped himself snugly in his own winter blanket as he was allowed almost an entire night's rest, the Fiend Knight was protected from the brunt of the cold. However, this did not protect Siwon from a face full of snow, and despite his own demon giving him a verrry sileent warning, Siwon was buried alive in his sleep along with the rest.

Siwon did not panic, merely welcoming death if it had chosen to come to him in such a matter. Indeed, the incessant flailing of his arms and legs surely weren't of him trying to bring himself out, but of a celebratory dance indicating the arrival of the Jaws of Death. And once the Fiend Knight was able to breathe once more, his festive sway stopped at once as he focused on pulling himself out of the mound of snow.

"... In the end, everything shall fall. Such is life." The Fiend Knight quipped to himself once his upper body was free.

Once the rest of his body was finally unbound, Siwon quickly made his way to his gear, quickly shuffling for the collapsible shovel he has bought at town. His winter blanket had turned into a makeshift cloak, wrapped around him once again after having most of the snow clinging to it wafted off. Once the spade was retrieved, Siwon looked towards the others who had already awoken, his withered gaze stopping at Oscar.

"Ah, good, you're awake. Did you manage to catch anything live last night? If not, then I better start heading out and finding one myself after I'm done cleaning up this mess."

Before giving the hunter a chance to reply, Siwon turned back to the ruined hovel, popping his spade out and getting to work while grumbling about buying a tent or skinning a deer,

"Puwagh!"

As Siwon began to dig over the ruined hovel, Katya practically exploded out of the mound, showering the Fiend Knight with flakes again. The little priest shook her body like a wet dog, both because everyone knew frenetic activity was the best way to get warmed up, as well as to brush off more loose snow from her body. Didn't do anyone any favors of course, but in the end, she was red-cheeked again, white breath escaping her lips as she looked around. Definitely not day yet, that was for sure. Pouting slightly at the rude awakening, she narrowed her eyes eastward. Dawn had only just turned the sky blue, and the warmth of the sun had yet to touch them yet. She let out another rattled breath, her teeth chattering now. Wrapping a tarp around herself, Katya shuffled onto a log by the fire and promptly plopped herself onto it. Holding her hands against the weak flames that Ettamri coaxed, she kept quiet and still, only occasionally flexing her fingers and readjusting her position.

It was too early in the morning for talk, prayer and food.

Oh god, this was the end wasn't it? Renauld had found himself woken up crushed. Was this death? It was kind of cold and moist. It was pretty unpleasant. Wait, no. It couldn't be death. No, it was too inconveniencing to be that. With all of the muscle he could mustre in the time in which one's body had trouble responding, he did a powerful sit up and emerged from the once dense snow. His beautiful, sweaty, humid shelter was ruined. What once was at a reasonable size and dome-like had been fractured into hunks of compacted snow.

Well, hard come and easy go. He wouldn't dwell on it. Sucks that he wouldn't get that bonus two hours of sleep and instead had to stay stuck with a weird split of naps.

Walking up to the fire, the least he could try to do is regain heat. Maybe even store it for the future trip. He took a nice seat next to Katya on the log and stuck out his hands to warm them up. Almost instantly, his head dropped as his body tried to regain a few more Z's. Two sets of two hours sleeps took its toll.

---

---

A cold sensation fell over Argen, he knew you began to feel colder as you are dying as the warm blood leaves your body. He became scared as it seemed as if he was about to die in his sleep, but he wouldn't let himself silently go into the night as if he had a chance to live he would go for it. He musters what he can from his body and bursts out of the snow in a roar as he is still blurry eyed and a bit exhausted. There seems to be more energy in him than he thought as he is dying but that means he can take down what is there. As he looked it was fine and everyone seemed alright as he sighed a heavy breath and frustratingly dig out his large bear pelt and begins to clear it off and place it on a log near the fire as he sat down on it.

The cold soaked through to his bones now as he now begins to warm himself at the fire and sigh a large breath again not out of frustration, but out of anger as he didn't have a single idea of what happened but now he is awake. As Ettamri spoke of his stew he just waved his hand and said, "It's fine even if you told me it was bad I wouldn't care all too much, in the end it is food. But I do understand the pain as I too am a bit hungry myself". As he begins to dig through his bag to grab some jerky. Nothing too great but it fills the body enough to survive.

The cold is absolutely terrible. It comes with snow. Snow gets everywhere and makes life hard as hell when it melt and makes it hard to just live as now your groin is now freezing. God I hate snow. Argen looks off to his left towards the snow with a bit of anger in his eyes as he just eats his jerky and places a large pack of snow in his pot to begin to melt to make hot water. It is good to keep the body warm, and not to make Argen want to figure out a way to destroy the existence of snow itself.

It was an early start to their morning, a slow one. Without any sunlight rousing them to focus and awareness, and without even Ettamri feeling the need to push any of them to action, the adventurers meandered quietly as the sun began to rose. Renauld found it easy to doze off, the campfire warming his face enough that the mage could forget the rest of his body. Siwon’s rare efforts at actually being useful worked well too, the physical labor pushing the bleariness of lost sleep away while simultaneously warming his body. Soon enough, that yellow bastard was floating around as well, berating him for being a goody two shoes while others sat around, hugged themselves, watched the fire burn, and ate jerky. Why did he have to work, while others did nothing?

The question of the century, truly. Even industrious, affable Oscar hadn’t gotten a fresh kill in the morning yet. It was questionable whether or not the Fiend Knight would be able to perform his daybreak rituals on this day.

Two fleeting hours later, Argen’s pot of snow long boiled, drank, refilled, boiled, and then drank again, the sun rose properly, breaking out over the mountain ranges with dazzling brilliance. Yesterday, thick clouds had dampened the eternal blessings of Alri-Qua, but now, with a clear, crisp sky overhead, First Light shone like a diamond above the snow-capped peaks. The snow storm’s efforts had been laid bare now, a wonderful winterscape untouched by trespasses sparkling underneath the sunlight. It was breathtaking; it was blinding. After the novelty of the beautiful scenery wore off, it became painful to face the direction of the sun, and turning away from the sun didn’t help with the reflection of the snow either. No matter where one looked, one was forced to squint their eyes, unbearable brilliance becoming more detriment than marvel. But the world was warming up at least, very slightly. The night had passed, and danger with it. There was no more snowfall forecast in the horizon, and with such clear weather, they could assuredly make up for the lost ground.

As others rose to make preparations for travel, Katya kneeled, facing the sun with her eyes closed, her head bowed. Held between her tented hands was the hexagram sun that marked one as a Priest of Alri-Qua, and as she breathed, she prayed. Not all rituals required blood, not all rituals required meat. For the Keeper of the Sun, the one who watched the world from the highest pinnacle, twas simply faith and phrase that ought to be directed towards him. In the consecrated flames of the First Light, all else would simply burn away.

“Brightest Keeper, Creator of Flame, Watcher of Light, our blood runs the red of fire, our bodies burn the warmth of light…”

The mantra continued. The sun rose further. The day has broken.

Time to work.

---

As the others of the party did their own things and tasks to do in the morning, Oscar went ahead and began walking to the traps and alarms he had laid out the previous night. Checking weather or not his more lethal traps caught or killed anything that was unfortunate enough to set off the aforementioned traps. None the less it was time to contemplate on how he was going to check if the creature's meat was edible in some way. There was currently no issue regarding food and supplies, as they were abundant as of now. But it never hurt to have emergency alternatives just in case something happens. One sure fire way to discern if it was safe to eat or not was just to eat it and see if there would be any adverse side effects, but the issue is that he was unsure if he was willing to let a member of his party get food poisoning just to see if the meat was edible or not. Though he did do the routine procedure of cleaning and skinning the creature before harvesting the meat.

Maybe he should let one of them eat it?

---

Siwon groaned as he dusted the snow from himself once more before it melted and made his clothes damp. As the sun rose, he looked up to the sky with an expression of worry. The Fiend Knight needed to complete his own daily rites before the party got ready to venture off. The demon chuckled to itself, perhaps amused at Siwon's conundrum.

And the Fiend Knight himself was worried that yesterday's paltry offerings would add up to future misfortunes if he failed to supply a sacrifice today. And so he turned to his fellow party members, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

"It seems I must go hunting for a small animal, preferably something that doesn't eat meat. If anyone would like to join me, be my guest. But be warned... I cannot ensure your survival...

"I'm just joking. Someone please come with me so I don't get lost."

Ettamri Belarence

"Really? Thank you!"

Without hesitation, she accepted the ranger's gift, though she didn't actually eat from it yet. Not with her helm in the way. It was a lazy morning, thus Ettamri sat somewhere to scarf the the entire content of the bag, before she finally returned. Remembering the little thing last night, she looked over its remains and took the small knife it carried. Odd, but the creature might had had some semblance of intelligence. Not wise to plunder from them however. A small knife huh.... who among them could really use a small knife?

"Hey, turnip." Ettamri placed the small knife in her hands. "Here, maybe you can get some use out of this."

Soon, after a bit of sitting around, she deemed it was time to move, and barked orders at everyone to start packing up. First was their belongings, then the drier wood from what was left of the campfire, then some more deadwood to be tied at the side of the wagon. Pulling aside the ranger alone when he came back, she would detail their route, towards a mountain pass where there would be a hot spring to stop by. His mission would be twofold, scout, and get some food. Considering they were now on a fixed path, it would be easier for him to find them, or simply wait at the rendezvous area if he wanted.

Thankfully, Muu hadn't quite yet entered the snow globe as their shift ended, having instead made sure to take one last round and check her own gear one more time as nearly everybody did the freezing. And, just for a moment, she really did wonder if the silver-eyed shield bearer simply carried a lot of misfortune. Maybe he was cursed by some vile magics?

Not that Muu could know, of course, but if there was truly more behind it than just incompetence of his party, they had to be careful. Nonetheless, with the night cut short, her supposed-to-be sleep now turned into more preparation. Collecting wood, cooking and sharing some food, loading the wagon, checking her weapons and doing some simple morning practice. After all, if worst came to worst, she had to get used to the snowy ground below.

With all that done, there wasn't really much for Muu to say in the first place. She had quite some social interactions just early morning hours before.

---

---

The hot water sat in his stomach like a warm stone radiating heat. That felt nice as he set up his tarp and cloak to cover the ground he was on as he began drying off the clothing he had gotten wet. It would make him feel cold right now as he wasn't wearing all of his layers, but he knew this was the best idea for the long term. As he began to check his gear he sat with as minimal clothing as he could get away with that was dry enough to not need to be near the fire as he boiled some more water to begin some hygiene procedures, first thing is to apply a warm wet cloth to his feet so they can warm up as he dries out his boots and socks that seem to have began to be soaked by the snow. As he now does some basic cleaning with the water to get mud and other gunk out of his gear.

After he finishes up he starts reclaiming his gear and now starts putting on his gear now warmer than he was before and drier too he feels well enough to go on with the day, even if he got less than an ideal amount of sleep, it was better than nothing and being up this early did allow him to at least do some quality of life maintenance for himself so he can be slightly more comfortable in this cold environment.

The bit of food he did eat was alright to say the least, it definitely wasn't as filling as the stew last night, but it was better than starving half to death. Still if something bigger was to be on the menu it would be a happy day for Argen. As Siwon is talking about hunting Argen seems to like the idea as he says "I'll go with you Siwon it would also be nice to see if we could catch anything more for food". Argen wasn't the greatest of hunters but he knew if he saw a larger animal he could throw his spear with enough force to take it down. Besides nothing of real danger should show up...right?

Few mammals were active in the dead of night, and the morning brought no ready-to-skin prey at the hands of Oscar as the Ranger checked and dismantled his traps. Wintertime was a sparse, lean season for all, and what animals still roamed freely would certainly have bunkered down during that snowstorm last night. It’d have taken a miracle for his traps to have come up with something that hadn’t planned on attacking them, and a miracle certainly was not forthcoming this morning.

Argen and Siwon’s little hunting trip proved futile as well. Though fresh snow left fresh tracks, what critters the bumbling warriors chanced upon were quick to dive into the snow again, disappearing the moment any sort of predatorial intent could be sensed. It didn’t help, of course, that the spear bros were spraying snow with every step; the night before had added another extra foot of loose, powdered snow for them to stomp through. Argen got the feeling pretty soon that the shoes and socks he had dried over the fire wouldn’t be dry for too much longer. After chiding and mockery from Siwon’s yellow little goblin freak, the two returned to camp, right as everyone looked to be ready to depart.

Katya had finished her prayers by then, rising up in the afterglow of her supplications. There was a flush to her skin, a glimmer to her eyes. Was it her youth that allowed her to believe so easily in the righteousness of the Sun God? Or had she, in the week she had been trained as a Priest, truly become devout? Regardless, the young girl brushed the snow that had packed against her knees, turning to Ettamri. Her eyes flickered to the knife offered, then to the face beneath the iron mask. A smile, and then…

"Aw, you made this for me?" Katya said, cradling the chipped stone knife like a cute puppy or a surprise gift. It was rare to find such weapons in Andeave, after all. They may have been poor, but life on the frontier necessitated adequate arms, and stone weaponry...well, it certainly wasn't adequate. Heck, it wasn't even good if compared to the staves brandished by the priesthood. But for a priest, who vowed not to take a blade of tempered steel in hand? The gesture was nice, as was the hours that must have gone into chipping that stone into something sharp enough to cut fabric. "Thanks so much, 'tamri! But, uh, I still think you should like, have a big heart-to-heart with Muu some time...like, channel your niceness into being nice to her? You know?"

With those words, she beamed and gave the monolith of muscle a quick hug before skipping off to kick Renauld until the dozing mage woke up, his face dry and stiff from being slow-cooked against the flames. In another few minutes, they were off, half-stumbling, half-pushing through the loose snow.

---

Ettamri, Argen, Muu, Renauld, Siwon, and Katya

Travelling northward, the sparse woodlands they rested themselves in soon broke off into hills, first soft and lenient, before steadily rising in incline and height. Loose snow became misery then, and travel had turned into a battle against boots that never seemed to have enough purchase. The horses, fatigued as they were, stumbled with their heavy burdens, paving the way for others, the snow crunch beneath hooves and wheels. Katya commandeered the top of the wagon again, some vague notion of being a lookout seizing her as she sat atop the sacks, her eyes slits as she watched over undulating waves of white.

Oscar had gone before them, the ranger blazing a trail and searching for game, but as a result, the party’s mood took a turn for the darker. Siwon was a edgelord Fiend Knight, Argen had his demons, Renauld didn’t care, and if Muu and Ettamri did even as breath in each other’s vicinity, one of them would bleed soon enough. Or at least bitch. They trudged in silence, occasionally heaving and pushing the wagon from behind in order to get it out of the snowy rut it found itself in. Constant inclines and declines in terrain sapped at their energy, more than once causing someone to stumble or slip, but no one had rolled an ankle yet.

Small blessings, when the brilliant sun blinded them with the white expanses, until it was pain to look anywhere but below. It was an unpleasant trek soon enough. No one had the talent to rouse spirits, even though some may have tried. Monotony, rising up, rising down, hoping that the horses didn’t fall, hoping that the wheels didn’t break.
Hoping, hoping, hoping.

Ettamri smelled the blood, but her senses pulling her into razor-sharp awareness, her pupils shrinking to mere dots to compensate for the overpowering whiteness all around.

Argen straightened his back, his own deathly instincts causing his heart to beat just a little bit faster, a thick weight pressed against his throat. The same went for Muu, fresh alertness found as she gripped her sword.

The demon on Siwon’s shoulder shuddered, not from wind, but from fear. Fear that the ugly turd quickly turned into bravado, as it slapped the unsacrificing bastard on the head for no reason, before going on a tirade about the dark gods and the black lambs.

Renauld was not so exceptional, but could see the shift in the mood of the others, at least.

The air quieted, the cold calm before carnage.

They could not see it, but something was there, watching them.

Do they continue? Or do they prepare?

Oscar

The ranger travelled alone, falling into a familiar cadence. He was unburdened by the duties of the wagon, by the slowest of the group, and though he was a woodsman, more accustomed to forest than plains, his steps were sure, the path he took not having to consider the burdens of the horses, the wheels that had to stay level with each other. There was even a bit of fun to be had, scampering up snowy hills on all fours before sliding down the steep descent. He made good time, set a good rhythm, and the warmth in his blood helped him ignore the dampness of his boots. If their path was safe, Oscar would be able to make it to the hot spring first, and perhaps then, they’d finally be able to chase away the chill that had seeped into their very bones.

It was a beautiful day, blinding as it was. The ranger didn’t notice the non-shapes within the snow, as white as anything else. He passed them by, didn’t look back.

The trek continued through the hilly landscape, the waves of earth that had been bathed in pearly sky-essence. It was breaking upon a tall hill, too steep for a wagon to easily rise up on, that had allowed Oscar to witness what laid below.

The snow last night had covered some of it, but the bones still jutted out, the carcass of horses and wagon, empty sacks half submerged in snow, shattered casks split open. Pink stains, blood or wine, coated some patches of snow, while the bodies of fellow Silver Moon recruits were scattered haphazardly down below, their conditions impossible to tell at a distance. It was a big discovery, tremendous, even.

But could more be learned?

If he wanted to investigate, he’d have to head down and start digging. How much information was a scout supposed to get anyways, to appease an angry knight?

---

The ranger hummed to himself contentedly as he maneuvered around the snow covered land. He had opted to scout ahead of the party and be the one to relay any significant information he came across. It was rather lonely to be honest, but that didn't mean that Oscar was not enjoying himself as he moved across the hills. It was just him and nature. Things were pretty alright.

That is until he stumbled upon something that caused a chill to run down his spine like no cold wind could ever hope to.

As he reached the peak of the tall hill, he discovered what remained of a caravan on the opposite foot of the hill. The broken remains of both man, animal, and cart were summat obscured by the snow. Likely from the snowstorm from last night. Stains from what he could only assume to be blood, had stained the pristine white of the snow with a number of recruits's unmoving bodies scattered about. At this distance, even he couldn't identify if any of them were still breathing or severely injured. Oscar took a step forward but stopped himself from moving any further. He wanted to help them; so much so that it almost physically hurt to turn back. But he was alone, and whatever caused this was still out there.

He couldn't risk it.

"Fuck..." He harshly whispered to himself, crouching down and holding the brim of his big hat to the point that his hands shook. The ranger had his duties to his party, and their safety and the success of the quest was paramount. Compared to the altruistic desire that begged him to do something to help, his responsibility to his party and quest was greater. Grimacing, Oscar stands from his crouching position and begins to run back to the group, not even daring to give a secondary look back to the tall hill. The feeling of frustration and shame grew each passing second and from every step he took.

He did the right thing...right?