Yukari was excited for the next lesson. A big brawl with other students! In their hero costume even! Yukari was excited for it certainly. Sure it could be painful, but hero work wasn't for the faint of heart. Unlike some Yukari had no disillusion that she might get hurt. Some people might have a bit of a hard time holding back, but Yukari could take it. She wasn't a soft little girl. She wished she knew who her teammates were, but she was certain they would find her soon enough. She headed to the gym to change into her uniform. It was actually just her costume from her days back at the circus. She had a designer give it a more unique design, as well as utilizing a special fabric that stretches with her limbs. They were designed to be highly resistant against friction, as well as slashing and piercing. Yukari tied up her hair into two long ponytails too. While this might seem like a hazard for people to grab, Yukari's hair was as rubbery as the rest of her body. Anyone who'd grab them would be in for a surprise when her hair stretches and wraps around their hands.
After changing into her costume Yukari went to the armory. She grabbed some armored gauntlets as well as some of the circlets and capturing cloth from yesterday. She thinks that she could master these tools to become a better hero. Sure, yesterday was a bit embarrassing, but she could only get better with practice. Soon she went looking around for her teammates, who from what she's heard, was Dulga, Mamoru, and Kaida. She knew them from Villain Studies class so she could recognize them by their voices. Yukari honed her ears for their voices and when she heard Mamoru loudly introducing herself to Dulga, Yukari came over. "Hello! Yozakura Yukari. I hope we work well together!"
"Aye aye boss.... C'mon guys, let's go grab some grub." Parum and the others would soon leave the tent. She continued to maintain the facade of a confident leader, but she was practically pissing in her panties right now. They were inches, inches, away from what was likely going to be an immediate execution. Cyanwrath was there, Morndath interrogated them, and chances are they were going to grab Brannor and torture him too. This plan was falling apart fast and Parum knew that they couldn't stick around long. Not only that but she was almost certain that now all eyes were on them. Even if she could've convinced them now that Parum and the others were just mercs looking for a job, all it'll take is one slip from her or anyone else on the team before they're filled with arrows and tossed to the dragons. Parum needed to figure out a way to free Brannor fast, and then grab Leosin.
Parum arrived to the mess hall with the others, loudly declaring her desire for some drinks. "Argh, after all that hard work and we still ain't getting nothing for it! Cripes, no wonder why I was never cut out for the army. I need two mugs of whatever strongest!" Parum ordered loudly as she was thinking of a plan. First thing first: find a way to get Brannor out. If he was with them, Parum could use him to help them escape. Perhaps, assuming Brannor wasn't going to be kept prisoner or chained up to a wall, she could have Brannor follow her around as Parum's personal servant. Next was to get Leosin. She knew where he was at. All she needed was to get him out. Perhaps find some way to replace his body too, like using one of the cultists or perhaps they could make a scarecrow. But Parum couldn't do it in broad daylight like this. She needed to wait until night but.... But there might be more cultists by then. And more watchful eyes on their group.
That left one other option. Parum could try to work her charm here among the cult. Perhaps these men and women could use a witty halfling bard who could spin tales and compliment their fragile egos. She also knew a little bit of the cult's dogma of Tiamat that perhaps she could influence a cultist into following her, if only for a little while. She looked around the mess hall for the most impressionable cultist or bandit to see if maybe she could charm them into doing her a favor.
Sorry I've just been busy as hell. Every time I want to make a post it's just a few sentences and I feel shitty if I posted it up while all of you are posting four, five paragraphs at once.
"Like I'd know. I've only known him for about two, three days maybe? Met him when we spotted the dragon. Figured we could use a man like him, what with his magic and all of that. Besides the old man is senile. I don't pay attention to half the things he says unless it has to do with me directly." Parum said gruffly, but also with an uncomfortable amount of truth. She had no idea what Torus says half the time if she wasn't specifically trying to listen to him, and even then she had to guess what he's saying and logic it out. Still, it made it easier for her to dismiss him as an old man rambling. "But let's be honest. If I had the choice between joining some regular army and a company with a dragon, I'll go dragon. I'm all for bleeding for a good cause but I'm no fool. There isn't enough gold in the world to make me fight a dragon, at least not without a massive army willing to die first. So I'd rather make due fighting for a dragon."
Parum also tried to use this chance to speak for Orchid. He at least was smart enough to know that he wasn't good at lying, so he kept his words short. Parum would have to speak for him. "As for the orc, he's here because I told him to be here. I needed the muscle, and this guy has it. I don't know why he's traveling either, and frankly I don't care. As long as he follows me and fights who I tell him to fight, he try to manifest Grummush into the world for all I care. Anyways, he's only going to be a danger to you if I need him to be." Parum then smiled at Morndath. "And of course I wouldn't do that to my new boss."
The worse had come to pass. Parum had just arrived to where Torus was located when some cultist announced that they were looking for Parum and her party. The only way this could've been worse is if Cyanwrath himself had came looking for them. Parum hoped her meek and meager presence would have gone unnoticed in his mind. But there was a very real possibility that he may vaguely remember the halfling as well. She could at least use a minor illusion to change her hair a tad bit; a darker shade of blow and shorter, which would at least help get rid of some of the more obvious features she had. But for now, if she wanted to ensure she didn't end up summarily executed, she needed to play it cool. "Morndath huh? Good. I was wondering when I'll get my pay."
As Parum approached the big tent she could see that Orchid, Torus, and Kyra were also being escorted to the big tent. This made her even more frighten; while Parum could lie through her teeth, Orchid was too brash, Torus too crypic, and she was all too well aware of Kyra's hatred for these people. Parum would have to hope that as the self-claimed leader of this group, she'd be allowed to do all the talking. Parum made sure that she kept up her tough facade, and if things go down badly she could at least fight to the bitter end with some dignity. But she was still scared out of her wits. Of course there was a crack in this facade when Parum entered the tent and saw Cyanwrath himself. "Oh... Big guy." She tried to play off her surprise as a mere curiosity, but the fact Cyanwrath was here made Parum lose hope. At least if it was just Morndath she could potentially lie long enough to make a plan for everyone to break Brannor and Leosin out of here. But with Cyanwrath, those chances were going down the drain very quickly.
Morndath started off politely enough, though stern as expected for a cult leader. But Parum didn't need to look to know that when she heard some footsteps behind her, it was her cronies making sure that none of them tried to do anything funny. Even with Cyanwrath's presence here, the extra guards pretty much ensured that no one in the group could get away easily. At least Morndath asked Parum directly, allower the halfling to work her magic.
"Well, color me surprised. Honestly I figured an outfit this large wouldn't notice a few sellswords swinging blades for them. You guys are more organized then most bandit crews I've been in. Anyways, my name is Parum, and I was looking to join this army of yours." Parum didn't want to deviate from the idea that Parum was on their side. If she acts negotiable, maybe selfish even, Morndath may write her off as simply a greedy soul looking to make easy money. The types they ran across in the forest certainly seemed to fit that bill. "I suppose you'll be wanting to know some other basic things too. How we found you, how we captured that champ, who the rest of my men are. I'll give that to you for free: We saw the fire and the dragon and figured something interesting was afoot. We saw the fight between your champion and Greenest's, and after that it was just a matter of following your army." Not entirely a lie, though of course Parum left out the details. Parum started explaining how they "captured" Brannor as well. "The guy we captured got into a fight with some of your soldiers it seemed, they had kobolds with them so I assumed they were with your army. We let him fight himself out against your men, and before he could finish them off I had the orc and the old man take him out. We questioned your soldier, who seemed to desert by the way might want to look into that, and figured out where your camp was." This was entirely a lie, but Parum made sure to speak with confidence and not a single moment to stutter. Sure, Morndath could believe that Parum had been rehersing this speech, except that Parum made it up on the spot.
"Seeing that you just lost a few soldiers to the prisoner we captured, I figured that me and my crew here could just replace the dead ones, and hopefully get a reward for the champ while we're at it."
"A spy huh? Aren't spies suppose to be more stealthy?" Parum quipped, but in her mind she was both relieved and panicked. Relieved that she found Leosin. Panicking because he had been captured. Still, Parum could work with this. The camp is obviously still careless and fatten on the spoils of their victory. The fact they managed to infiltrate so easily was a testament of that. All they needed was to make a plan and perhaps they could escape from this encampment with Leosin in tow. Parum was thinking that perhaps under the cover of darkness would be best. Most of the bandits here appear to be human and again, she doubts that they expect any prisoner to try to escape. And they certainly wouldn't if they didn't have someone on the inside helping them out.
But Parum's plans were dashed when she noticed some cultists stirring about. Worse still, she saw Cyanwrath make brief appearance. She was too far to hear what had gone on but she could tell from where he had glanced that their ruse was being investigated. "Shit! No! I need more time, dammit!" Parum didn't expect Cyanwrath to have taken a personal notice of what was going on. Sure, she had expected him to be here, but to have seen Brannor himself? Parum feared that alone would unravel this entire charade. Parum needed to act fast. First she needed to find the others. Torus went to look for food so finding him would be easy enough. Orchid would be somewhat more difficult, but he didn't seem the type to try to hide away either. Parum was pretty certain she heard him yelling too. Finally she'd need to find Brannor and get him out of his cuffs somehow. So first Parum sought out Torus at wherever the field kitchen was at.
Master Crim