With no tracks or any discernible trail, the group was left without a heading or a means to find it. Per Neil's suggestion, they at least followed what path through the trees they could where they were spaced far enough apart for a coach to travel through. Though eventually, even that plan went sour. The forest grew too thick and laden with stones and fallen boughs. As twilight fell on the forest, it was clear to everyone, even half-crazed Johann, that not only could they not find the coach, but they would have a next to impossible task finding their way back to the road. Neil had fine eyes, but even he was stumbling every now and then, doing his best to keep Emmaline from hurting herself. 

Up ahead, Johann and Kurt's figures had returned, cursing. Johann waved his saber about like a child with a rattler, albeit out of frustration rather than enthusiasm. 

"We have to make camp, boss. There's nothing left to do here." The crossbowman said reluctantly. 

"They couldn't have just up and disappeared!" Johann screamed into his face, daring him to say another word. When Kurt didn't, he waved him off, acquiescing without voicing it aloud. "Go get some firewood!" 

Kurt nodded, and Johann pointed at Neil and Emmaline accusingly. "And you two, make the camp!" 

Neil gave a nod, followed by a facetious imperial salute while Emmaline stuck her tongue out at him. The darkness, coupled with Johann's blind anger, covered it well. Kurt walked to the east by a dozen paces, holding his crossbow at the ready, until he began to glance at the ground and idly rummaging around on the forest floor. Neil began to clear a space between the trees. Emmaline started to fish through the packs, finding what food they had and nibbling on a bit herself. Up above, Morrslieb loomed bright and green, casting a sickly pall over the forest floor where the shadows did not hold dominion. Neil glanced up at the sky, realizing he was in Reikland, the heartland of the Empire. And still, Chaos and monsters were around every corner. It seemed nowhere was truly safe. 

Neil was similar to Emmaline, he was a city boy. But admittedly traveling from Marienburg to Altdorf and Altdorf to Nuln had taught him a few things. He knew how to make a camp without causing too much of a sound. In fact, the silence was so palpable, it caused the next few moments to stand our starkly.

Suddenly there was a rustling, and some inhuman moan that proceeded a cry from a voice. Kurt's voice. The scream rose up sharply, and then was abruptly silence. Emmaline was still chewing on a piece of jerky when Neil tackled her, her 'hrmmm?' barely audible before he planted a hand on her mouth, pulling her into the brush. The leaves cloaked them, but by the green light of the cursed moon, they could still see their immediate surroundings through the diminutive branches and foliage. Emmaline clung to Neil as they watched Johann run into the clearing, yelling for Kurt. He unsheathed his pistol and fired into the gloom, the smoke vomiting from the barrel in a white cloud. 

"Thief! Woman!" He screamed next, but Neil did not feel like being a hero with his lover there, and on tonight of all nights. The shadows began to move around the clearing, and soon they separated into black cloaked figures that moved with the grace of hunting cats and the fluidity of serpents. Johann managed to cut into one of them, causing a giggling groan of pain and a splattering of blood, before he was overwhelmed and grabbed, and before Neil and Emmaline's eyes, he was taken, still screaming, into the darkness. Neil held his breath, and Emmaline did as well. They did not move, did not make a sound. The next handful of minutes, they waited there, until they were sure the figures were gone. 

"We can't stay here," Emmaline breathed. 

"You were always the smart one." He agreed.