With the events of the last chapter, the Red Dragons have taken well to the hidden city on the first night, but with the new day on the rise, how will it go? find out now.

Chapter 14

A new road (Part 2)

Storehouse, near Ur

The battle was raging on for hours. Niall's defenses were unbreakable, as Oboro's speed and agility made her untouchable.

"Very strong~!" she grinned, evading a strike to her neck, "And so deadly~!"

Niall frowned as he blocked her claws with the shaft of his weapon before downing on the woman that just sidestepped with a giggle.

Reynold had watched the battle between the two, the armor on Niall while not breaking had deep groves in it, making him worry while his opponent didn't even have some much as a scratch on her...it was truly a battle of endurance at this point.

'There's got to be a way to distract her enough for him to get an effective blow in...The problem is, how do I do it?' The young knight pondered, scanning the room, until he caught something of interest, widening his eyes...

Niall was about to cleave the vile woman in two, but she smirked before disappearing in a red light, she then appeared above Niall, falling on his shoulders and shoving her claws in his back.

"What a slow man~" she grinned before her eyes were wide when she saw Niall's hand on her leg.

"What a dumb brat!" Niall yelled as he slammed her on the ground.

Rey had to keep himself from getting to excited, 'A direct hit...! she couldn't dodge him once she stuck herself to him...well done commander, but,' hearing her lightly giggle, 'Something tells me this is going to get so much harder...so with that note...' Glancing back up at the hanging objects, easing his way towards the rope it was held up on.

"It's been a while since I was struck like this~" she got up as Niall fell on one knee, "Do you believe that a human can do something against me? How amusing."

"Hmph. The likes of you always look down on humans, believing that they're superior. However, they underestimate the power that humans can unleash!" Niall was on his feet and twirled his halberd once, creating a whirlwind of frost around him. He then dashed straight towards the woman and performed an uppercut with the halberd.

With her sight reduced by the whirlwind, Oboro narrowly avoided the blade before dashing forward striking with an her claws on a form of a cross, "So that's the power of the Commander that can bring the winter of death to his enemies. Interesting~"

Reynold had a hard time trying to see with all the cold wind and dust blowing around, but managed to reach the rope when he reached out to grab it, 'Gotcha...now then...' pulls out a steel dagger.

Oboro narrowed her eyes as she heard something, 'I need to keep my senses sharp from now on.' she then grinned at the commander in front of her, "I really want to see how much you can handle, but I need to find a way out~"

"Keep dreaming!" Niall began to throw attacks, forcing Oboro to defend herself.

Reynold waited until she was nearly under the large cages, quickly cutting the ropes, sending them crashing down behind her, causing a loud distracting "boom" when they landed.

"Ho, someone is trying to say something?" Oboro's voice sounded behind him, "Bad boy..."

Rey was quickly shoved as one of Niall's men took the claws right to the heart.

When he recovered from the shove, he looked back to find her pulling her claws out of his fellow knight, his face in a twist of shock and horror for a moment, "What...? No..." his face contorting to anger, drawing out his sword, "YOU!" he growled, about to charge, until a cold gust got between them.

Oboro found herself cornered as Niall charged her with an unimaginable speed.

"No one hurts one of my lads and leaves in one piece!" the commander yelled before grabbing her and throwing her in a wall.

"It's not like I asked him to die, right~?" she got up before being forced to block the halberd as Niall was already on her.

Rey ran over to check on the bleeding knight, sighing when the knight when the death was confirmed, 'I'm so sorry...you wouldn't have gotten hurt if I didn't...' gritting his teeth while holding the body, looking back at the battle between Oboro and Niall, 'By the goddess...this is starting to get bad...it's up to you now, sir...'

Oboro found herself unable to go to the offensive as the pressure was greater than she could manage, 'Shit! this is harder than before!'

Niall's combination of swift attacks and the cold that was around him made it harder for the woman to find a way to counterattack.

"Where's all that attitude of earlier!" Niall yelled, "Where is it now!"

Oboro waited before jumping back and leaving a pink smoke that froze everyone, "That bastard's going to pay for letting him come here..." she then ran away as the others could move again.

"Damn it!" Niall slammed his weapon on a wall.

Everyone looked at the dead knight.

"Good lad..." Niall walked toward him, "I heard that he wanted to propose to a lass that works in the tavern... it seems like it won't happen."

The young knight's eyes were shadowed over, still kneeling "I-...Commander I'm so sorry...he'd be alive if it wasn't for me...I just wanted to open her up to your attack...I didn't want this..." in a solemn voice, "I accept whatever punishment comes my way, sir..."

"Can't do anything, ya know?" Niall shook his head, "You tried to do something, and that's it. But, you won't return to Ken now."

Niall took a look around and noticed that everyone was looking at the young knight.

"Ya better make sure that you earn your forgiveness." Niall added with a sigh.

Reynold looked up and around, noticing the attention that was on him, before bowing his head, "Of course, sir, you can count on that,"

"That's more like it." Niall then took a deep breath, "We head back to Feoh! We have a comrade to honor!"

Later that evening...

10:30pm

Traysek opened the door to his house, stepping in, "Guys, I'm home! anyone here?"

"Yeah, we're in the kitchen, Lucy's cooking!" Recorder's voice called back.

An annoyed groaned soon followed...

"You know I hate being called Lucy!" Lucien's voice shrieked out, earning some laughs from everyone else.

The Redguard sighed in relief, noticing a crate on the table, going to it to find a large book and a strange stone, taking the book out first, "The complete guide to Yamakhroz...hmm..." going into thought, 'Greil did say he'd have these dropped off...' Glancing at the stone inside, 'guessing that's the teleporting stone in there too...and since this is what remained when I got here, I'm going to assume everyone else got theirs...' taking the stone out next and pocketing it, heading to the kitchen.

When he got there, he found most of them at the table with their bowls, taking a whiff of the smell.

"Ooooh is that...*Sniff* *sniff* creamy crab brisque? where did you get the crab meat?" The Redguard asked, taking his seat.

The imperial chuckled, "Well, I managed to take some from ship's ice box, didn't even know we still had any until I looked," going back to stirring the pot.

"I see, I'll have to check on that when we grab our things from it," Traysek nodded, "So, what all did we do? I was gone for awhile,"

Recorder grinned, "Well, we went to a bakery, the sweets there were worth it...wish we could've brought a doggie bag back for you and Inigo,"

"It's fine, that was for you guys anyway, I'll go when I get the chance," The Redguard waved off, "Going to have plenty of time to do it, so no worries there,"

Yuriana rose an eyebrow, "And what were you two doing?"

"Inigo and I hit up the town markets before I left with the General, he picked up the ingredient for his arrows, I brought home a scythe..." nodding his head towards it, leaning against the wall.

The blue khajiit grinned, "And I finished making more of those soul arrows, but I'm going to save those for when I need them, I wasted them the last time I had them,"

Erik glanced at it, nodding, "So that's where that came from, for some reason it burned my hand when I tried to lift it, what is that thing?"

"Oh right...apparently only a Dragonnewt can use this, but, by me having dragonblood already...well, you can see how it got home..." Traysek chuckled, "Speaking of that, I've got something else on the way here, a new armor along with the spear it came with, it'll be here early tomorrow, so if you hear any banging..."

Recorder sighed, "Got it, sleeping with Ear plugs tonight..."

Lucien finished the pot, smiling in satisfaction, "Alright guys, dinner's ready, I'll bring it over..."

Once he served everyone's bowl, he poured some for himself and left the rest on the middle of the table, taking a seat himself.

"So, did you see anything else while out here?" The imperial asked, "There's got to more than that,"

Traysek had a nervous expression, "Well, there is that other thing...but maybe after dinner, I don't want us losing our appetite over it,"

"Oh come on, is it really that bad?" Recorder frowned, "I've heard scary stories while eating strawberry ice cream,

"I'm serious Recorder, it's THAT bad...wait until we're done eating, trust me," The Redguard assured, "After I tell you, what's ever left in the pot, nobody's eating it for awhile..."

Inigo whistled, "Gods be damned...well, this is a nice dinner and all so..." taking a spoon full, "I'm down to wait...don't see what the rush is..."

Everyone else shared glances, until they shrugged, going for their spoons.

...

Minutes went by as the crew finished their meal, remaining at the table for what their captain had in store...

"Okay, everyone's eaten enough...good...where to begin..." Traysek started off, "Our holy friends, are dirtier than we had thought...much..."

Recorder shared a worried stare, as the rest of the crew did, "Wait...just HOW dirty are we talking here? Riften dirty or Markarth Dirty?"

"Around Markarth dirty, but a lot worse..." Traysek sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Go on..." Yuriana said, raising an eyebrow.

True to his word, he relayed everything he had seen in the memory, ranging from how peaceful the village was to...it's destruction, without sparing the details on what happened to the denizens there. the reactions were mixed, between shock, disgust and Anger...Recorder shook her head in with a horrfied expression.

"What...the fuck...?" she uttered in shock, "And they have the nerve to be as high and might as they are?"

"You can't be serious, they really did all of that to those people?" Erik said in horror, "By the nine, and I was a blade to that...we were all hired blades to that..."

Inigo swallowed some of the vomit that had tried to come up, burping, "Ugh...I think I'm going to be sick, I can see why you wanted to wait..."

"Dibella's Mercy, just when I thought they couldn't be any more twisted than they are, now this comes along..." Yuriana said, shaking her head.

Lucien took a deep breath, processing it, "Okay, despite how bad...all of that was...I have to be the skeptical one here, how do you know those were actual memories and not perception...? not denying her past, but you and I, as well as everyone in here, know how that can alter things..."

"I considered that possiblity, but that's not what that felt like...I would've sensed it otherwise, no...this...this was legit a vision of the past," Traysek confirmed, "And the worst part, is that was only ONE memory...I'm sure there's more if we get knowing people around here..."

Erik nodded, "Yeah, there's no telling...for that one memory you saw, I'm sure there's worse..."

"Oh definitely, if that blackmarket that Inigo and I saw was an indication, yeah, I'm sure there's way worse...however, I'm not going to go delving into people's heads to find that out, I think I'm done with that for awhile," Traysek finished with a sigh, getting agreeing nods at the table from the rest of the crew.

As things went quiet, no one having much left to say on it, Inigo broke the silence by clearing his throat.

"So...what now? do we treat them like the thalmor? or like bandits?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Traysek nodded, "A bit of both, but the dogs will be getting it much worse...and when it comes holy knight's skills and weaponry, it's not as Dangerous as the thalmor, but deadly enough, watch yourselves..." He warned sternly, "especially you two ladies, to a man with Repressed urges, you're practically an oasis to a very thirsty traveler, if you get my meaning"

Both Yuriana and Recorder were horrified upon thinking about it, the latter shivering.

"Oh yikes..." Was Record's only response.

The Redhead gulped, "I...uh...I get what you meant there...just...wow...no wonder they were oogling me..."

"Yeah, so don't get caught...if you have to, warp out with those stones, but do NOT let them get ahold of you...any side..." Traysek concluded, getting nods from them.

"Not to worry sir, if we NEED to...we will, but I think I'll be having more fun slicing them open hm hm hm~" Recorder slighly chuckled.

The Redguard chuckled as well, "I have no doubt you'll barely have those problems, but incase..."

"Yeah, we'll keep the stones ready...can't be too careful..." Yuriana added.

Traysek nodded, "That's right...but once again, I doubt they'll be able to get that chance," standing up afterward, yawning, "And with that, I'm going to bed, there's a lot to do tomorrow, so get some rest while you can," heading to his bedroom.

"Goodnight sir," Lucien waved, before he too stood as the others did...

Greil stood in a dark room as he looked around.

"What's the report on our guests?" he asked as Udemi walked forward.

"According to what the Dark Blades could gather, they don't seem like they're a threat to us." Udemi replied.

"Are you sure?"

Udemi nodded.

"Good," Greil nodded before exiting the room.

The next day...

Morndas, 8:30 am...

Morning light shone through out the city, the sun stone out in it's glory, as monster and human citizens roamed about...for a certain house in the fifith district, two people in delivery uniforms, were bringing a large crate with them up to the door.

"I can't believe that we got rid of that creepy armor." one of them said before gently knocking on the door, "I just hope that we won't be bothering them."

There was no response at first, or seemgly so, until they heard the lock of the doors click, opening soon after to woman with messy redhair and a nightrobe, most of her cleavage hanging out, made worse when she gave a yawn.

"Can I help you Gentlemen...?" She asked tiredly, rubbing her eyes.

Both of them were frozen before that the one in the front began to talk, "W-We're supposed to deliver this armor set here."

She gave them a narrow frown until it dawned on her, "Oh that's right, the boss's order...he did say something was coming here, guess this is it..." walking up to the large crate, "I'll take this in for him, he still hasn't gotten up yet," grabbing the sides of it.

"No need to worry." they both entered, put the crate inside and left with, "Sorry for bothering you, young miss."

Yuri waved at them with tired grin, "It was no problem at all," closing the door, "Now to let him know about his order," looking back at the runed up box.

...

In the master bedroom, Traysek still slept, despite the light shining in on him. The door to it opens, followed by a loud thump that stirred him...

"Mmmh...? what's going on...?" He asked, rubbing his eyes to find Yuriana standing next to a runed up crate, making him frown.

"I picked up your order, just started getting up when they were knocking," She said, "Getting it up here wasn't that hard though,"

Traysek sat up to the side of the bed, clearing his eyes again, before standing up, "Wow...they work fast, figured I'd be answering the door by the time they got here with this, thanks," going over to it, lenghtening his fingernail, cutting away the runed tape surrounding it, opening the crate...

Yuriana whistled loudly, nodding in approval, "That's some wicked armor, sir...down to the weapon even, you're taking this against the dogs and holy army?"

"Absolutely...I intend to embedd the feeling of fear into them, why not look the look the part?" He smirked, putting his hand on it, "Especially when I'm done giving it it's proper tune up,"

Yuriana gave him a knowing smirk, "And by "Tune up" you mean reinforce it until it's legendary, right?"

"You know too well, and I may give it few enchantments, if it doesn't have any already," He nodded, "The weapon however is going to be quick to sharpen,"

She put a finger to her chin, "Think about that now, I should probably get a new set, the wolf armor I have is nice, but it's time for something new,"

"If we pop up by there later, trust me, I'll help you pick one out," Traysek chuckled, "But for now, could get everyone up? I'll start on breakfast," yawning as he left the room.

"Will do, it's around that time anyway..." She commented, leaving the room next.

Olga opened her eyes and sat on the edge of her current bed.

"My queen." a Dark Elf main entered with a hot soup and a loaf of bread.

"Is Greil up?" Olga asked.

"The general woke at the dawn to prepare himself." the maid replied, "He said that he would head toward the public baths by the sun submit."

"What about the Dark Blades?" Olga asked this time with a colder tone.

"According to their report, they seem to be on our side... for now." the maid answered.

Olga sighed before taking a bite of the bread, which had a juicy steak and some vegetables in it, before taking a spoon as she began to eat the soup.

Greil walked in the streets of Yamakhroz before entering a shop.

"Aklyn! Are you up?!" Greil called as a Dark Elf with brown hair, hard green eyes and wearing smiths' clothing.

"What can I do for you, general?" he asked.

"I'm going to need a new armor." Greil pointed.

the Dark Elf just nodded.

Back at the house of wings...

The sounds of banging were echoing from the basement, coming from Traysek who was on the last piece of his armor, the torso, giving it a final hit with the hammer, satisfied.

"Okay, looks like that's all the pieces to the armor," Traysek mused, "Now to move on to the weapon," grabbing the spear, taking it to the grinder.

While he did this, the rest of the crew were studying the gems from the book, with Yuri's Gems on the table. He picked one up, comparing it to the book.

"So this is a spinel," he said, looking it through the light, "Very pretty and smooth, seems up there compared to the other gems here,"

Yuriana nodded, "Yeah, felt like I could stretch this even...but it's one of the higher ones on the list, the highest being the diamond,"

"And we've got more than a couple on the ship, so there's that solution, now we just need to know HOW they do amount pays," Inigo added in, flipping through the book.

Recorder was flipping through her manual, finding a few stores, "Looks like they advertise too, one of these places is called: the wrath of sin nightclub, and from I seeing, seems like a killer spot to check out,"

Erik was sipping coffee from his mug, "I wonder if they have anything they need help on, we could find out that way...especially if they've got an adventurers guild here,"

"True, but that's up to the Captain," Inigo said, turning his head towards the basement, "From the sounds of the banging that just stopped, we're about to find out soon..."

Back in the basement, Traysek had finished sharpening both the Spear and scythe, shouldering the scythe, 'That should be it for now, until I get something else anyway...' Turning towards the basement door, making his way to it.

Once he got upstairs, he found the crew sitting at the table with Gems all over it, Lucien picking up each one.

"What's going on here?" He asked.

Lucien held up a jasper, "We're studying the gems Yuri got yesterday, finding out how much each is worth...so far, Diamond seems to be the highest here, along with most of the gems we already had back home,"

"Interesting, and we usually turn those into weapons, never though using them as currency before, until now that is..." The Redguard nodded.

Yuriana picked up a citrine, "Ten of any gem, equals another higher than it...so if we had all diamonds and paid for something less, like I did,"

"You'd get a large amount back, getting it now..."

Inigo nodded, "Seems to be the case for most of them, except this other one, the sunset stone, nothing's higher than it...and the only stone we don't have here," sighing, "That said, Erik did mention that we could do a job or something to figure out how they pay, but we waited on you,"

"Huh, I'm glad he mentioned it, I was thinking about checking out a job board if they've got one, seeing what we could get into before the war starts, I'm sure they've got plenty they'll need help on," Traysek said, putting the scythe on his new back sheeth, "If we're all done getting ready, I'd like to see more of this city..."

Swain's home

Swain looked at the bodies of the three knights as they were healed.

"Now, to implement the souls." Swain took a red sphere and looked at it, "Now, time to see if you can really be useful."

Three spheres, the one that was in Swain's hand included, got on top of the torso and got inside the body.

"Three new men to add to your little army." Del smiled.

Swain said nothing as all three of them opened their eyes.

Market district, job board...

The Redguard stared intently at the board with Lucien, both frowning at the two contracts on the board, the former nodding at the amount paid on each.

"So one's a Caravan job and the other has something to do with the hunter's outpost," Traysek read out, the imperial nodding in agreement.

"The rewards they're paying are pretty high too, from the hunter's job it's 100 gems for completion," Lucien whistled, "Considering that amount, we should be set for awhile,"

Traysek read over his contract, "Mine says 150 to escort them around and..." narrowing his eyes on something, "Is that saying...'by day?' hold on..."

"Wait, if they're paying by day...then the amount we're looking at now..." the imperial put together, eyes going wide.

"Triples or goes even more after the job...yeah, I think we're taking these," Traysek chuckled, snatching down the caravan job.

Lucien nodded, grabbing the hunter's outpost contract, "Good idea, not like anyone else were taking these,"

"They're already taken! what a bummer..." a black haired boy with wolf ears and a wolf tail looked at them, he had a bow that was emitting a fiery aura and was wearing a partially plated armor, "I really wanted to get enough gems to get that kite from the Hunters' Outpost."

"There, there." a silver haired Dark Elf patted his back, she had a dark purple kimono top with a red obi, as well as some red plated armor accessories on her limbs, "You'll get another 'shot' at it."

"Very funny..." the wolf boy mumbled as his ears were pointing downside.

Traysek and Lucien shared glances for a second, going back to the duo, the former rolling his contract up.

"Yeah, we're sorry, we didn't see anyone around, figured these would be good first contracts here," The Redguard apologized, with a chuckle.

Lucien gave them a sympathetic smile, "I'm sure they'll have something posted up much later, these kinds of boards get jobs often, excuse us,"

"Why don't we go to the Hunters' Outpost by our own ways?" the elf suggested, "That may be a chance for you to finally get a battle companion."

"Maybe you're right..." they left without a word to the two.

Lucien rubbed his chin at the last thing he heard from them, "Battle companion huh? I could use one, especially when summons can't do it, something to think about,"

"Indeed, might make a stop there myself one of these days," Traysek nodded.

House of wings, kitchen

The conrtracts were on the table, as everyone sat around them.

"So, we're between a Caravan and the hunter's oupost," Traysek started off with, "And before you ask, these were the only two there, and we were even lucky to get these,"

Inigo nodded, "Okay, well I'm getting the caravan job being a bodyguard, but what's up with the hunter's outpost?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out, from what those other adventurers back there were saying, it sounded like they'll be beasts to deal with," Lucien laid out, "I'm interesting to see what's considered wildlife here, barely saw anything in the wilderness on the surface,"

Erik frowned at the contracts, "How much are they paying?"

"Lets see, the hunter's outpost pays 100 gems, the caravan is paying 150 and that's per day with that job," Traysek added in, "So with that said, who's all going to what?"

Inigo hummed at that, "Well, I am the master of the bow, so the hunter's job sounds easy enough for me, I'll take that one,"

"Okay one for the hunter's job, anyone else?" Traysek asked.

"I could take the Caravan job, sounds like they need the extra muscle," Erik said, getting a nod from the former.

"Okay, one for the Caravan, nice," The Redguard smiled, "You guys?"

Recorder frowned, "As much as I love animals, I don't feel like getting mauled today, I'll take the Caravan too,"

"Like I said, I'm interested in the wildlife here, so I'm taking the outpost job," Lucien said, as Traysek jotted it down.

Yuri once again went into thought, "Well, the Caravan does need help, but I do enjoy a good hunt every now and then, consider me at the outpost,"

Traysek nodded, with a satisfyed grin, "Okay, that settles it, and since three of you are already going to the outpost, I'll take Caravan job too, keep the numbering fair," standing up, "For those come with me to the Caravan, we need to see Gronik or Kurenai, luckliy I know where they are, but...for those looking for the outpost, I suggest asking for the guards, or check your books," he finished with, "Any questions?"

"No, I think we got the gist of what we're doing today," Lucien answered, getting agreeing nods from the rest.

"Okay then, meeting adjourned~" Traysek smirked, as they all stood up.

Greil headed to the stables as his beast was taking a nap.

"How's my girl doing?" Greil knelt next to her and began to pet her.

"Sir..." a stable boy approached him, "The joints in her arms are bad, she's going to need months before recovering."

"It's alright, she deserved to rest after flying all that time." Greil pointed before adding, "If there's anything new, contact me."

"Yes!" the boy nodded.

Troop logistic's building...

Traysek, Recorder and Erik had arrived at the building, finding two guards near the entrance.

"Okay, this is the place, let me do the talking," The Redguard told them, walking up to the guards, "Hello there, it's me again, I'm looking for Gronik, is he in?" he asked them.

The Guards looked uncomfortable as they glanced at each other as one of them said, "He's here... but..."

"He's not... alone." the second one continued.

The Redguard thought on that, "Ah, his wife must be in, okay well we're here for this contract, so hopefully they aren't too busy," chuckling.

One of the guard knocked on the door and yelled, "Sir! You have visitors!"

After a second, a voice replied, "Enter!"

The door to his office opens with the Trio walking in, the captain frowning at their disheveled clothing.

"By the gods, they weren't joking..." Traysek dryly commented, "Sorry to interrupt your... happy fun time, but we came for the caravan contract you had placed out there," holding it up.

"Right, that." Gronik took a paper and began to write in it, "I'm surprised that a Dragonborn would work on such a job. But that means that Tamriel has indeed changed." he then looked at them, "Do you have mounts or no?"

"No, atleast not here," Traysek shook his head, "Then again I can summon a couple, but I'm not sure how the caravan would feel about a daedric wolf or a soul flame horse following them,"

Recorder sighed, "I really wish Epony was around, I miss her,"

"You named her, 'epony?' really...?" Erik asked, giving her hard frown.

She glared at him, "Do you dare mock my naming abilites?"

"I'm not mocking it, Record," The nord waved down, "I'm denying its existance..."

"Guys, enough..." The Redguard cut in, "But yeah, our rides aren't here, the ship's what we were using,"

"That means that you're going to get a lower amount of the reward to compensate for the usage of temporal mounts that will be given by the city. You'll have to wait around one hour before a mount would be presented." Gronik then finished with, "The payment will be ten Diamonds. Any problem that I should know of?"

Traysek shook his head, "No problem at all, when are they leaving?"

"To give you time to get you temporary mounts... one hour and half." Gronik answered.

"Okay, that's plenty of time to pack for it too," Traysek nodded, "Where all are we going? around down here or the surface?"

"The caravan will go help the villages that are in difficulties by buying and trading food and clothing." Gronik replied, "Unfortunately, this caravan won't get to all the villages of Eostia. But at least, we will help those that we can help."

Traysek nodded, "Given how dangerous the roads are on the surface, I can imagine...given that, we'll get started with the packing, know where the meeting point is?"

"Just go to any teleporter and ask them to get you to the gate of the city." Gronik stated.

The Redguard grinned, "Splendid, I'll check around for one, other than that, no further questions," offering a handshake, "Consider us on the job,"

"Well, it's a good thing if a Dragonborn would help us." Gronik shook his hand.

Meanwhile...

The other trio, which consisted of Inigo, Yuriana and Lucien, was looking for a guard for their assignment. The khajiit finally spotted one, making his way toward him.

"Excuse us, but we're looking for the Hunters' Outpost, mind telling us where that is?"

"The Hunter's Outpost? Well, you have to exit through the west gate and then head west while following the road for about one day on a mount." the guard replied.

They cringed upon hearing that, giving each other pained glances at the idea of all that walking.

Lucien nervously chuckled, "Um...we don't have any mounts, at least not here, is there another way perhaps?"

"Well, you can ask if anyone is heading there." the guard stated, "Unless you want to get a temporary mount that will only get you there and return to this city, which means that once there, you'd have to find a way back."

They thought on that for a second, the imperial frowning at a thought...

"I read somewhere that they have mages that can teleport around in the guides we just got, maybe we can check with them," he suggested.

Inigo nodded at that, "Would save us time, not to mention we have a way back incase it gets too dark out there,"

"Where can we find a teleporter mage?" Yuriana asked the guard.

"There's one just next to the house there." the guard pointed a Dark Elf taking a nap.

She glanced over at him, nodding, "I see, you've been a big help, thank you," turning to the other two, "Lets go,"

They made their way over to the sleeping mage, the Redhead clearing her throat, "Um...excuse me? are you the teleporter sir?"

The Dark Elf opened an eye and looked at them while saying lazily, "Where do you want to go..."

"To the Hunters' Outpost, we got a from contract there," Lucien told him, showing it to him.

"Don't care." the Dark Elf replied, not paying attention to the contract, "Since it's outside the city you'll have to pay 9 Sapphires."

Yuriana nodded, reaching into her Gem bag and coming out with that amount needed, "What a coincidence, I happen to have just that,"

"You sure you wanna pay that on your own? I had a couple on me," Lucien said, frowning.

"It's fine, just pay me back later, I'm serious," She said, cutting her eye back, as the teleporter took the gems.

Inigo sighed, "Well, depending on what we get paid here and what's on our ship, we'll be able to,"

The Dark Elf began casting before the group found themselves in a village surrounded by bamboo and the majority of the citizens are panda people.

The trio looked around, taking everything in, from the fortified walls to the panda citizens carrying on with their day.

"So this is the hunter's outpost," Inigo breathed, "To be honest, not at all what I expected,"

Yuriana frowned at him, "Well, what were you expecting?"

"Well, something like the companions or the dawnguard, however, it's missing the doggy smell, so there goes that,"

Lucien chuckled, "You and your jokes, Inigo...anyway, let's see who knows what, there's got to be someone here that can point us in the right direction," looking around as the other two did.

Back with Team 1 (Traysek's group)

On a couple of benches, Recorder and Erik were waiting for time to pass, donning their cloaks and backpacks, their weapons were well hidden under them. The nord furrowed his eyebrow at the time passed.

"I wonder what's taking so long, where'd he go?" He asked.

Recorder pondered on that, "I think he said something about grabbing a few things off our ship, but he didn't say what..."

"I wish he did, it's getting closer to the time to grab these mounts," Erik sighed, "I hope it's worth it..."

The soon heard rushing steps behind them, turning to find said person, in a cloak and backpack as well, shouldering the spear.

"Sorry, that took a while, had quite a bit to grab," Traysek said, tossing them each a small sack.

Recorder frowned at it, "what's in here?"

"I got us a bit of gem money, figured those temp mounts aren't going to be cheap, and I know you guys barely had anything," he told them, "Don't worry about paying it back either,"

Erik whistled at the amount in the bag, "No wonder you took the time, thank you sir,"

"Yeah, seriously, thank you, now maybe I can pay the cafe another visit," She grinned sheepishly.

Traysek and Erik shot her annoyed glares.

"Record, No. I got that for you, for the trip, NOT for your sweets addiction," The Redguard deadpanned, "Maybe on the road or after, you can do that, for now, please refrain from spending ALL of that,"

"Aheheh...I'll try," She giggle nervously.

Traysek rolled his eyes, "You better, because that's the last your getting until we're actually paid," sighing after, "let's just find the Caravan, Gronik did say they sold mounts to use by them,"

North gate, Caravan

They were at the northern gate, finding them there, along with the very mounts they would need. Traysek marched up to the salesman with a smile,

"Hello there, we're going with you today, wanted to know if you had any temp mounts in stock," he asked him.

"I've received word about you. Those three goats are yours to use for now." he replied, "The payment will be taken from your reward. Also, they will follow the caravan, in case you were thinking about running away with them."

Traysek nodded, putting away the gem bag, "Good to know, means we won't lose them out there,"

"So I guess we're waiting until we leave to get them?" Erik asked, getting a nod.

Recorder grinned, "At least I have another use for what you gave me now,"

"Still, don't spend it all on one place..." Traysek sighed, rolling his eyes, "Seriously, you have got to learn how budget better, this is not like skyrim..." looking around, "Sorta..."

Not too soon after, a Female Centaur arrived with some sort of map

Traysek and the others watched her walk by, the former taking a glance at it, raising an eyebrow.

"That must be our pathfinder, if she's here then that means it won't be long now," Traysek said, rubbing his chin.

Erik nodded with a wide-eyed stare, "I can see that, second time I've seen a centaur though, the last one wasn't as busty though...impressive..."

"Oh god, not today Erik, please..." Recorder groaned, facepalming.

Not too soon after, two Dark Elves arrived with three centaurs.

"Lady Dynede." one of the Dark Elves greeted with a surprised look, "You shouldn't be here."

The centaur waved her hand and said, "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine."

"But if the Khan hears that something happened to you-" the Dark Elf didn't have time to continue as he was cut by Dynede.

"I'm sure that nothing bad's going to happen," she assured before looking at another group approaching.

That group consisted of three Dark Elves armed with bows, two armed with close-range combat, three Harpies, two Minotaurs, and three Salamander mages.

All of them had some sort of bird-like creatures as mount.

The trio glanced up at the large gathering, taking note of how many are there...

Traysek whistled at the numbers, "Well with these numbers I'm sure there won't be,"

"This looks more like a small army, doesn't feel like a caravan trip at all," Erik said, glancing around.

Recorder nodded, "Only thing missing now, is the goods we're supposed to be lugging around, and our mounts," checking out some of theirs, "But if they look as good as those, I might have to check it out myself,"

"Alright! Time to check if everyone's here!" Dydene said in a cheerful manner before taking a list and calling by names.

Meanwhile, orcs approached with crates filled with vegetables, fruits, cloths, and gold. not too soon after, the two Dark Elves traders began to charge on the back of other centaurs. Two great wolves approached the two Dark Elves traders after that they were done putting the crates on top of the centaurs.

"Good! It seems that everyone's here!" Dydene stated before adding, "We move in five minutes!"

Traysek then spotted one of the dark elves walking towards them with three goat mounts, nodding his head towards them, "And right on cue..."

"Sorry, but I've been asked to bring you these."

The Redguard waved him down, "No need to apologize, thank you for bringing them," grabbing the lead before stroking the goat's maine.

Recorder took her mount, "Thank you," petting hers as well, "Aren't we cute? yes you are~"

"Are they aggressive at all?" Erik asked, taking his as well, which got in his face.

"I doubt that they will do something if they're unprovoked." the elf replied.

Erik nodded, giving it pet to it's mane, as it lowered its head, "Good to know, alright then,"

The gates started to open up, prompting the trio to climb on their mounts.

Once settled in, Traysek made sure nothing sharp was poking it, adjusting himself, "It's time, get comfortable, something tells me, we won't be off of these for awhile," he told them.

"Roger that, learned my lesson with Epony," Recorder winced, making sure we was in good position, "Besides, these rides feel different, not as rough as horse,"

Erik nodded, "Thanks for the warning in advance, it's a good thing I used the bathroom before this," he chuckled, "Either way, I'm ready to go!"

"Since everyone is here, and everything's ready, let's head out!" Dydene began the march, followed by the rest of the caravan.

Hunter's outpost

(Team 2)

Inigo's group approached a panderan blacksmith who had his back turned to them, hammering away at something,

"Excuse me, sir?" Lucien called out, causing the blacksmith to stop and look at him, "I don't mean to intrude, but we're looking for someone called..."Lin Swiftblade" she put out this contract and we're here for it,"

the Panderan smiled and replied, "Of course, you must be brave adventurers that decide to help us." he then pointed to a large building, "the blademaster Lin is there."

They glanced at the large building, Lucien putting the contract away.

"That one there? okay much appreciated, excuse us," with a smile, before they left the blacksmith.

On their way, they noticed a goat that was staring at them as they were heading toward the building.

She then began following them.

Inigo's ears twitched, frowning and cutting his eye back, "Guys, that goat from before is following us..."

"What?" Lucien exclaimed, glancing behind him, "Oh...she is...aww, is she lost?"

Yuriana looked behind her to see it herself, "Well, as long as she isn't glowing red eyes and isn't trying to kill us or something, it's fine, probably curious,"

"I hope so, would hate for this cute goat to turn out to be spy," The imperial sighed, as they continued to the building...

Once they made it there, they found it guarded by two panderan guards, who were staring at them.

"I'm sure they're friendly," Inigo said, noticing a scar going down one of their eyes, "Hopefully..."

Lucien gulped, "Here's hoping they let us in," before walking towards the guards, who gave him a cautious stare, "Hello there, we're here to see Blademaster Lin, we're the adventurers she sent for," holding out the contract to them.

They looked at each other before letting them pass.

Inside they were greeted by a giant moth on the wall as well a few other exotic animals that hung around, the moth looking up at them with it's bug eyes as they walked in.

"Lots of animals we've never seen before, not even in the wilderness out there," Lucien said, mouth agape.

Inigo nodded, "Most of them are kinda cute, like that moth over there," nodding his head towards it.

"Indeed, but try not to wake the tigers, I'm not sure if they'd like that too much..." Yuriana said, in a low tone.

As they pressed on further, they found a panderan with ponytails facing away from them, tending to a crane.

The trio glanced at each other, before Inigo took a step forward...

"Hello there, we're looking for blademaster Lin, are you her?" the khajiit asked, with a rose eyebrow.

She turned to them and said, "How can I help you?"

They sighed in relief, Lucien pulling out the contract.

"Actually ma'am we wondering how we could help you, we're the adventurers that answered the contract you put out, this one," the imperial said, handing it to her.

"Oh, I completely forgot about that!" she put the paper away before asking them, "Are you sure that you want to do it?"

"Well, that depends, what are the details?" Yuriana asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, there's something in the woods that's chasing the beasts away. In fact, it has been months since we asked for help, but each time we received help, whatever is out there stops whatever it's doing. I went out there myself to conduct an investigation with a search party, but there was no result. I'm worried that whatever's out there, might be the destruction of this outpost." Lin explained.

They thought on that, the imperial going into deep thought with a hum, nodding when he thought of something.

"And you said, they only stop when you all come around, right?" he started with, "That's too intelligent for another beast to pull off, not saying there aren't any, but you would've seen something by now, this...seems like it's doing it's best not to be seen by you and your men, almost like a someone instead of a "Something" from it sounds,"

Inigo nodded, "Any strange marking you haven't before the area? that's usually a telltale sign,"

"The only strange thing is what's left of their kill." Lin stated as the goat walked to her, "When it kills a beast in the forest, the eyes are taken and all the internal organs, and the horn if it had any."

"So you're finding beasts hallowed out with their eyes gouged out, along with their horns?" Inigo frowned, "Yeah...no beast I've ever heard of does something like that..." going into thought, remembering the blacksmith, narrowing his eyes, "The only thing I've heard doing that...are poachers, they're the only ones who are known for leaving animals desecrated in that manner,"

"I don't know if it's human, animal, or even a monster. But, I do know that one day, it will target people. That's why I asked for help." Lin replied.

The adventuring trio nodded at that, glancing towards each other, before giving agreeing nods, turning to her.

"We'll definitely look into this, whatever is doing this WILL someday turn its gaze here, if it hasn't already..." Yuriana said with a thinking frown.

"Have there been any Recent attacks like that? we could start from there," Lucien added in.

"One of the farms lost three animals last night" Lin informed, "The owners aren't feeling safe, and it's understandable. They couldn't touch the rest... it was too much for them."

He nodded at that, "Right, I imagine this has affected farming as well...Alright, we'll start there, if anything someone had to see something, maybe a vague description, but it's a start..."

"You'll find it outside of the walls of the outpost." Lin informed them, "The old man Pao must be dead worried by now."

With the Caravan...

(Team 1)

On the long roads, the large caravan moved on without trouble, guards on each end of it, few even belonging to the Kletzkreig was even amongst them...one, in particular, was one-eyed dark elf, traveling alongside the hooded adventurers.

Speaking of them, they remained silent through most of it, either not wanting to draw attention to themselves or to avoid someone outside of it from spotting them... Traysek took a gulp of water, slipping it back into his backpack, before feeding his mount an apple to keep it moving.

Recorder wiped the sweat off her brow, pulling up close to him...

"You know, for a group this big, I figured someone out there would've gotten balsy and tried us," She started with, furrowing a brow, "This is starting to look like an easy job..."

Hooded Traysek frowned at her, "We haven't been out here that "long" Record, give it a minute, we'll see something for sure," glancing at the armed help around them, "Then again, with these numbers, I doubt anything actually be a problem..."

"Yeah, some of them are from that Kletzkreig group too, one of them is even next to you sir..." Erik added in.

Traysek gave the eye-patched elf a quick glance, "I noticed that, the armor's a giveaway...guess hired hands come from all places,"

They soon spotted a village nearby, following the Caravan to it...

"We've reached our first village!" Dydene called to the rest, "Remember to stay friendly with the villagers!"

The trio scoped out the village, finding a mix of human and orc inhabitants inside, the Redguard giving an approving nod, dismounting the goat.

"Well, a unity between orcs and humans here...interesting...considering their usual relationship," Traysek commented.

Recorder got off her goat, "ahh...Finally, I can stretch my legs..."

"Enjoy it while you can, we've got more to go to," Erik said,

"Don't remind me..." She groaned, "Anyway, what is this place, seems peaceful...like Erdora almost,"

Traysek frowned, "Not sure yet, just remain frosty until the transaction goes through, these things usually go by quickly,"

The two Dark Elves began to trade goods with other goods, as well as buy using gold.

"That's one down..." Dydene looked at the map before mumbling, "Next, is the Arachide village... we are in need of silk..." she then turned to the Dark Elves traders, "Don't spend everything. We need to have something to trade for spider silk."

"You can count on us, Lady Dydene." one of the traders replied.

"See? didn't even have enough to explore, let's go," Traysek said, getting back up on his mount.

"Aww man...I thought we could for a second, they have good steel here," Erik groaned.

"We'll be back, for now though, we've more places to go," The Redguard assured.

Recorder sighed, getting on her ride, "It was good while it lasted, and..." her face began to pale, "Did she say, "Arachide" village?"

"Yeah, why? are you scared of spiders, Record?" Traysek asked, smirking.

"As many frostbite spiders we've killed, I doubt that, Just had a scary thought..." She winced, "I'm just glad Inigo took the hunter's job, knowing his obsession with killing them..."

The other two winced at that, recalling instances of his insanity when it comes to them...

"Yeah...that would be bad...I'd have to tie down on something to keep that under control, we do NOT need another "Dancing spider" incident..." Traysek grimaced, shaking his head.

"He's got an unhealthy obsession with that, should we be concerned?" Erik asked, slightly sweating.

"Nah, long as it isn't spider "people" he's doing that to, it's fine..." The Redguard waved off, "I hope anyway..."

In Yamakhroz

Greil was in a room looking at a map and having a crystal near him.

"There needs to be more than that." Greil stated, "The number of troops are lower than what it should be in Rad."

"Well, that's that." a rough voice replied, "How much until you get here?"

"Rad isn't in the frontlines, and the forest is filled with danger." Greil said before adding, "Besides, you still need to get the information on your end."

"It takes time."

Greil was about to say something when the door was busted in with a red energy blast.

"Sir! I need an explanation!" it was a red-eyed Dark Elf in dark armor and an eyepatch on her left eye, "Why in the name of the Earthmother is that fucking bastard here!"

Greil sighed before saying, "Maki, this is not the time."

"No! I need to know why an enemy is here!" even if there was rage, it quickly left when she felt Greil's power growing.

"Should I remind you of your place?" Greil asked with a dangerous tone.

"But, he killed my sister! The only family I had!" the Dark Elf, Maki, said.

"And you think that killing him would bring her back? I thought that I taught you better." Greil's eyes were enough to make her take a step back, "You are to stay away from him, or your rank and blessing as a Kletzkrieg will be removed and you'll be banished from this city"

Maki greeted her teeth before exiting Greil's office.

Back with the Caravan...

After some hours of traveling, they got to a village in the edge of a forest. The caravan was greeted with a woman who had the bust of a human but the legs of a spider

Both Erik and Traysek were glued on her, mostly the good bits, the nord giving an approving smile.

"Damn sir, check out the spider women here..." Erik whistled, eyeing her breasts, "Not too shabby top wise...yes..." with a cultured look.

The Redguard had a roguish smirk of his own, hand under the chin, "Impressive...Most impressive...I wonder if they give hugs for free..."

"What the fuck is wrong with you two...? You do see the legs right?" Recorder asked, giving them both judging frowns, "I can't be the only one here..."

Traysek nodded, his expression unchanging, "We do see them Recorder, we're not blind...but at the same time, they look rather... comfy to be in..."

"What?!"

"Hold on, he does have point now...compared to the other spiders we've seen..." Erik began with, cringing at a memory, "And dealt with...that is the cuddliest spider woman I've ever seen...despite that weapon she's holding...I could fall asleep in those..."

"Oh my god...I can't believe what I'm even hearing right now..." Recorder said in disbelief.

The Redguard gave an approving nod, "I see you've learned well in the ways of "Culture" my apprentice...well done..."

"Indeed sir, one must take the time to appreciate all of nature's beauty..." The nord concurred, glancing at her again, "And everything it brings..."

Both of them guffawed in "Culture", unfortunately, Recorder wasn't having it, looming behind them now...

Recorder blinked at them, regretting her choices in that moment, "Good lord, I'm going to hit you two..."

"Alright, time to see if the Queen Mother is in need of something that we have." Dydene as she walked to the largest one of them.

She had long dark blue hair, and purple eyes, and had another spider head in the intersection of the bust and the rest of the body.

"Greetings, Queen Mother," the centaur leading the caravan with a bow of the head, "I hope that you're doing well."

The trio was focused on the transaction, the Redguard raising an eyebrow, "So that's the leader of this village, unlike the others here, there's another head there...odd but intriguing..." he whispered.

"But she hasn't said anything yet, can she not talk or...?" Erik asked in a low tone.

"I'm hoping it's the top half that talks, could you imagine the bottom head talking instead...?" Recorder whispered, making them cringe.

The spider woman just nodded as the other began to trade goods and gold for silk made of spider webs.

"Damn, these transactions do go quick, how many more do we have to do?" Recorder asked, rubbing her hooded head.

Traysek thought on that, "Not sure, have yet to ask the trail master, but that'll have to wait until we're back on the road..."

"Right, unprofessional to do that now for sure," She concurred, "In that case, I'm going to start on my files while we're out there, that cool?"

"Knock yourself out, just keep an ear out..." Traysek nodded.

"Not gonna lie sir, it is kinda a let down we haven't come across any highwaymen, it's almost too easy..." Erik added in.

The Redguard thought about that, "Now that you mention it, nothing ever is, but this seems to be moving smoothly, I'd remain on standby though, we've got a long road ahead..."

"After being done... we'll have to head toward the human village that was saved by a unit of Dark Elf soldiers... After that two more villages and we would be done..." the centaur mumbled before that one of the traders called to her.

"My lady, we'll have to camp mid path." he stated, "Night is going to fall soon."

Dydene nodded with a smile and said, "With some luck, we can catch something on the road for dinner."

Traysek and others heard that while overseeing the delivery.

"Sounds like we're going to be camping soon," Recorder said, glancing up, "Sun's starting go down, hope we packed enough food..."

"I'm sure we did, and for a cheap price too..." Erik confirmed, feeling the weight of his bag.

The Redguard sighed, "If only I brought my fishing rod here, could've caught us something huge,"

"Oh right...that argonian fishing rod of yours...I remember you catching an angler with that thing," Recorder said, grinning, "Best fried tail I've had, but yeah, that would've helped...damn..."

Meanwhile, near the farmlands

(Team 2)

Inigo's team was searching from farm to farm trying to locate old man Pao...unfortunately, it had taken less than two hours to finally find the right farm, due to them looking too identical...

At the last house, Lucien sighed...

"I hope this is the right one this time, we keep getting them wrong," The imperial groaned.

Yuriana took a gulp of her waterskin, "Yeah, the sun's starting to go down, this has to be the right farm, if not we're calling it..."

"Only one way to find out," Inigo started with, walking up to the house and knocking, "Hello? is anyone home?"

The door opened and a young woman Panderan greeted them.

"Yes?" her voice was a bit concerned as she had a worried look on her face "How can I help you?"

Yuriana gave her a friendly smile, "Hello there, we're looking for old man Pao, we're the adventurers investigating what's been attacking the farms here,"

"A moment of his or your time is all we ask," Inigo added in.

The young Panderan looked at them for a moment before opening the door to let them in. Inside, there were a couple of older Panderan and a child reading some books.

"What do you want?" the old man asked.

The trio looked unsure for a second until Lucien cleared his throat.

"Pardon us for the sudden arrival, I'm sure you were busy," he apologized, "The name's Lucien Flavius it's a pleasure to meet you, you must be old man Pao, correct?" Getting a nod from panderan,"Splendid! we're the adventurers investigating what's been happening to the animals. We were directed here by the blademaster Lin, she believes you may or may not have caught a glimpse of who or what's been doing this,"

"If you can remember anything crucial about what you've seen, we would appreciate it..." Inigo added, "The name's Inigo by the way,"

"I did see something." the old Pao said, "Dark yellow fur with black dots. And they were fast... very fast."

The adventureres went into thought upon hearing this, the possibilities going through their heads...

"So it had yellow fur and black dots, okay, there goes the possibility of that being people," Yuriana nodded, "Did it look Feline? or a different kind of creature...?"

"I do not know." the old man sighed before adding, "All that I could hear was crackling and giggling."

Upon hearing that, they frowned...the khajiit even more so, "'Crackling and Giggling?' those are indeed strange sounds...was this creature on fours or standing on two legs?" Inigo asked.

"They were on running on two legs," Pao answered.

The trio of adventurers' eyes lit up at that, nodding to themselves and each other.

"Okay, it was on two legs and fast?" Inigo started off with, "Was it humanoid? like you or me? I know we've been asking a lot of questions, and I'm sure you have a million better things to do, I know I wouldn't want to be questioned, but with all you can give us on our mysterious attacker, we can solve what's been happening on your farms way sooner than another attack can happen,"

"It was too fast for me to get anything else" the old man Pao replied.

"It's already late." the woman pointed, "Ming, go prepare them a room. I'll go prepare dinner."

The young Panderan who greeted them nodded and headed to prepare the room.

"You're...letting us stay here? Are you sure...?" Yuriana frowned, "We didn't mind camping out if we had to,"

Inigo nodded with that, "Honestly we didn't, the outdoors doesn't really scare me much, especially at night,"

"Stop saying such nonsense," the older woman said, "If you were going to harm us, we would have known."

Lucien gave a bow, "What my friends meant to say, is that they weren't expecting this...Thank you for your hospitality," cutting a narrow eye at them.

"Indeed, thank you," The Redhead also bowed, "Since we're going to be under the same roof, My name's Yuriana, it's been a pleasure meeting you,"

"You may call me Fei" the older Panderan replied, "I do hope that you like noodles."

The trio rose an eyebrow, unsure of what those are...

"Sounds lovely...but what are "Noodles?' " Lucien asked, confused.

Inigo nodded with that, "Never heard of food like that where we come from, sounds good though,"

"Don't worry, I'll use my family's secret recipe. You'll love it!" the old Panderan said as she headed to a kitchen.

"Can't wait to give it a try then, looking forward to it," Yuriana said, sitting her backpack down, stretching her back, "Much better..."

Soon after, Ming returned with a friendly smile...

"The guests' room is ready." she stated.

"Alright then," Lucien began with, "We'll go unwind and get ready for dinner, once again, thank you," giving them another bow, turning to the other two, "Lets go guys,"

They soon followed the young woman to where their room was, Inigo yawning on the way there...

With the caravan

Having finished the exchanges, the caravan was ready to take the road once again.

"Let's get on the road." Dydene said, "We'll find a suitable spot to set up on the road."

The first team was once again back on the mounts, traveling along the roads to a place to set camp. However, something felt off as they continued their path...The formation of the travel was even off, which put frowns on the hooded trio.

Traysek scanned around with a hard frown, "Is it me, or has the formation changed?"

"What do you mean, boss?" Erik asked, confused, "Formation seems fine, I didn't feel a shift..."

Recorder looked around, noticing someone out of place, "No, I see it...we are off, someone used to be back there, I think we're missing a guy..."

The lead Centaur began to look around until she found an open space.

"Let's start to make a camp here!" she yelled as most of the caravan members began to set up tents.

Once they found a spot themselves, Traysek got off of his mount, tossing the camping bag at Erik who caught it, "Go ahead and get camp set up, I'll talk to the caravan lead, and see if she noticed anything strange,"

"Roger that, we'll be set up by the time you get back," Erik said, getting off his, and starting on his tent.

Recorder nodded, being the last off her mount, "We should be anyway, again...something feels wrong here...maybe we should have a weapon ready while we sleep?"

"I'm thinking so, but I don't think there's any black dogs or holy knights over here, if there had been, we'd known...we'd known for sure," Traysek said, rubbing his chin, "Anyway, I'll be right back, call me if anything comes up," heading towards the Centaur woman.

At that moment, the missing Dark Elf appeared with two dead wild boars, two rabbits, and a bag of fish.

"Dinner..." he said with a barely audible voice.

"How great!" Dydene beamed at the boars.

The Dark Elf then walked to Traysek, handing him the bag of fish.

"She wanted fish..." after giving him the bag he went to the two wolves and gave them the rabbits to feast on them.

Confused, Traysek furrowed his brow, "Uh...thanks I guess?" watching him feed the wolves, 'That was strange...Only person I could think of who wanted fish was Record...did he overhear us?' He mused, shouldering the fish while continuing towards the lead Centaur, who turned to him when he approached, "Pardon me, you're the lead of this Caravan, Dydene right?"

"And you are?" she looked at him with confusion.

"Oh right, forgot this was still up," The Redguard let down his hood, exposing his face, "I'm Traysek, one of your hired guards for today..." he began with, "There's no issue, I just want to know how much ground we've got left to cover,"

"We still have to go to three other villages," Dydene replied, "Why?"

Traysek casually waved her down, "No real specifics, just making sure we stay updated this time," with a smile, turning the hooded duo who looked up at him, flashing them three fingers which both nodded to, going back to setting up camp, turning back to Dydene "Thanks for the heads up,"

"You're welcome!" she replied with a cheerful tone.

The Redguard made it back to their camp, finding his tent half finished...

"So three more days or...?" Recorder began with, catching a bag of fish he tossed to her, "What's this?"

"That's from the elf we thought went missing earlier, guessing he heard your craving for fish," Traysek chuckled, "That and we have three more villages to go,"

"I figured that's what you meant," Erik added in, "Well at least we know where the finish line is, now all we gotta do is ride it out,"

"Exactly, and with how easy this trip has been so far, it'll go by pretty quickly," The Redguard nodded, setting up the rest of his tent, "You can get the fire started, I'll cook those up once you're done,"

Recorder gave a mock salute, "Aye aye, capitan!" pulling out her skinning knife, and starting on a fish.

The Dark Elf began to speak with the archers and sorcerers, giving them worried faces.

...

After setting up their camp, Erik and Traysek noticed a crowd gathering, putting confused looks on their faces.

"What's up with them? they look scared of something," The nord noted, "Should we investigate?"

"I'm not entirely sure, then again something does feel off right now, even with our missing guy back, remain on guard"

Recorder went through the bag, until she noticed a small note, taking it out...

"Uh guys? I found a note in here, not sure who it's addressed to..." She called out, as both guys walked up to her.

Traysek took the held-out note, "Let's see what this is, with any luck, it's just a love letter~" coyly blinking his eyes at her, as Erik snickered.

"Oh my god, just read the damn note already...!" Recorder growled blushing.

The Redguard chuckled, "Alright alright, just don't pass out from all that blushing you're doing," opening the letter...

[A fracture is between the Spiritual Plane and our Plane. No one can tell what creatures might appear here.]

Traysek read the note intently, shaking his head at it, "A Fracture here...? how...?"

"What's it say...?" Recorder asked with a worried expression.

"You know that action you wanted...? You just might get it tonight..." The Redguard sighed, "There's a fracture between this plane and the spirit one here...meaning..."

Erik nodded, getting his ax and shield ready, "We're about to see something tonight aren't we...?"

"If that letter meant what I think it did, then yeah," Traysek said, standing up, unsheathing his spear, "I hope you all sharpened your weapons before we left, because we're going to need them soon..."

Recorder nodded, drawing out both of her ebony swords, "Good to know, I'll just have these, in case..."

With Team 2

Everyone sat around the table as it had seven bowls of noodles, a plate full of grilled ribs, some small plates of shrimp dumplings, and sliced caramelized peaches.

Lucien had to stop himself from drooling, Inigo was having a hard time, but somehow managing...even if it a bit did leak here and there...Yuriana on the other hand was in shock, she expected dinner...not a feast.

"I don't even know where to start..." The khajiit gulped.

Lucien slowly nodded, "Me neither Inigo...me neither..."

"This is a lovely dinner, I can why you took your time..." The Redhead complimented.

"Please, enjoy yourself." the old woman said with a smile.

"Don't mind if I do," Inigo smiled, starting with the noodles first, eyes going wide when he tried them, "Okay, I think I found my new favorite food,"

Lucien grabbed a rib and a plate of the dumplings, trying the dumplings, "You can say that again...mmm..." taking another bite.

Yuriana got her noodles along with a few caramel peaches, "Try not to talk with your mouth full guys..." chuckling before trying the peaches, humming afterward.

"Please, enjoy yourself more. Having such nice guests is always a good thing." the old Panderan said as he began to eat.

20 Minutes later...

Most of the dishes were nearly empty as everyone was slouched in their chairs with satisfied looks...

"Oh gods, I don't think I've ever been that full..." Lucien groaned, "Might need some help getting upstairs now..."

Inigo lazily chuckled, "This kitty has eaten plenty tonight I think...I don't think I could eat any more, even the next day over..." burping after, "Excuse me..."

"Dinner was amazing...I've never eaten so much," Yuriana sighed, "Thank you for the feast, seriously..."

"I'm glad that you enjoyed it." Fei stated as she began to clear the table with the help of her daughter.

"Now, let me ask you something." the old man Pao looked at each one of them, "If you're truly from the east, that means that you know a lot about the territories there. Is it possible to move there safely?"

the three of them thought on this for a second, unsure of how to tell him about it until Lucien cleared his throat...

"Well, it depends on how far "east" you want to go...honestly, I'd stay away from any of the capital cities, from what I've...heard...they're not known for being too accepting if you get my meaning," The imperial explained, having flashbacks on their escape.

The old panda took a deep breath before saying, "So the rumors are true... it is a place ruled over by darkness."

"The emissaries of the city did warn you," Ming said as she passed to take what was left of the plates.

Inigo sighed, "It's actually much safer where you live now, despite the attacks that happen here...over there, there would most likely be mobs of people willing to hurt you...kind as you good folks are,"

Yuriana nodded solemnly, "Indeed...which says more about them than you think..."

"I did hear something about a goddess there." the old Pao began, "But not many good things... like how she favors people that can pay over those that really need her help."

The Redhead sighed with a nod, "Sadly, she's actually nice...TOO nice and that's why things are the way they are..."

As the conversation continued, Inigo's ears went up and twitched, making him frown and turn in a direction, his frown hardening when he could hear strange sounds.

Lucien spotted this, and rose an eyebrow, "You hear something Inigo?"

"Yeah I do...it sounds like rough claws approaching, along with sloshy footprints and a-" The khajiit went wide-eyed, freezing mid-sentence, standing up moments after, withdrawing his bow, "-That thing you mentioned, had a giggle right? I hear it, outside!" making a dash to the door.

Both Yuriana and Lucien stood up as well, drawing out the small weapons they had on them, following Inigo, the former giving the family a former bow before making a beeline towards the other two.

Their first sight was on a hyena-like creature with yellow eyes that froze when it was about to shove a dagger into an ox of the family.

other bright yellow dots appeared in the shadows.

Wasting no time at all, Inigo dipped an arrow in a vial, aimed, and fired, piercing straight through it's shoulder, causing it to cry out and drop one of it's daggers. The creature turned around to find the khajiit hissing at him, with another arrow already notched.

"I thought I smelt a dog around, I don't know what you were about to do to that poor animal, but we are not finding out! " firing another one at him, which it deflected, snarling at him.

With a roar, a lot more approached them with various weapons.

Battle theme- Those who fight - Final fantasy 7 remake

Lucien activated his beam sword, "Looks like we found our suspect...or should say..." looking around them, surrounded by the hyena men, "Suspects..."

"It takes this many to do that to one animal?" Yuriana said, winding up her mace with magic, "They shouldn't be that tough then," smashing into one of them who tried to pounce her.

Inigo ducked from a pounce behind, retaliating by putting two arrows into its chest, "Yeah, but watch it, he did say they were fast..." intercepting a lunge with his bow, breaking the clash by bashing it in the face, and jumping back, putting an arrow through its eye.

The imperial blasted sparks on a crowd of them, frying a couple as the others got out of the voltage, going for his sides, "Not kidding there, Inigo! whoa!" barely dodging the stab aimed at his throat, returning a deadly slash to its abdomen, cutting it in half.

Some began to charge fire and ice spells before firing at the three adventurers.

They dodged the barrage of magic, the fire spell exploding when they hit, as well as the ice spells, which froze a rock until it crumbled. Inigo quickly returned fire with ebony arrows, nailing one of the casters through the head, before evading another fireball. Lucien fired chain lightning at them from behind cover, the bolt cutting through five targets, leaving burning holes in their chests.

Yuriana fired a shot at an ice caster, forcing him to misfire and freeze-blast his own kin, Inigo finishing them with headshots.

"By the gods, this is going to be harder than we thought...!" The khajiit shouted, tossing a poison spider at it, which exploded acid, coating a couple of them in it.

A roar took their attention as a larger one began to point out at some of his kin, causing some to retreat while users of runic shields created a fort to hide the casters and himself.

The trio noticed the shield wall, Yuriana narrowing her eyes on it.

"Looks like they've gone into defense mode, dammit!" The redhead swore.

Lucien spotted a few of them fleeing, "But why are some of them fleeing?"

"We won't know until we get past this, and speaking off..." Inigo began with, notching a soulfire arrow, "Let's see how powerful that wall is..."

Giggles could be heard as some newcomers with armor charged in from all the ways, surrounding the trio.

Yuriana gritted her teeth, giving a shout, covering them all in magic armor, "Well that explains where fleeing enemies went..."

"And they've got heavier armor too," Lucien added in, drawing his dwarven blade next, "Try to get through that wall Inigo, we'll keep you covered while you do,"

The khajiit nodded, releasing the arrow, causing an explosion when it connected, blowing a part of the shield wall off, a few of the hyena men in pieces from it, he notched another, staring them down, "Don't get yourselves killed trying," discharging another...

Back with Team 1

At the camp, most of the guards as merchants were asleep in their tents, along with the trio of adventurers who slept on the anchor of them. it seemed that it was going to pass as a normal night...unfortunately, fickle fate had different plans...

"Shadowhounds! Shadowhounds are here!" one of the sentinels yelled as she took an arrow before imbuing it with light magic, "Get ready to fight!"

All the soldiers were on their feet and armed.

Battle theme - Caravaneeing into danger- Final Fantasy XV

Traysek woke up to the sounds of shouting, Erik rushing to his tent as he rubbed his eyes.

"I heard all that, what's going on?" He asked him.

"We've got these strange monsters outside, they just started warping in from somewhere," The nord explained, "Recorder is dealing with a couple of them now,"

The Redguard hurriedly grabbed his spear and stepped outside to find Recorder impaling one of the strange creatures with both of her blades, ripping them out.

"What the fuck are these things?" She cursed, shaking her blades of blood.

The canine-like creature got up as if nothing happened and was about to jump until a blade coated in a yellow liquid pierced it, destroying the creature.

Recorder doubled back, slightly shocked, "The hell...? I thought that thing was down..." turning to the elf, "Thanks, but what's that stuff on your sword? is that what killed it?"

"Enchantment... holy..." he muttered before giving her three bottles and drawing his sword, killing a few with slashes that were faster than what the eye could see.

Record whistled at the amount killed, 'Damn...he's pretty good, so many in one...' shaking the thought out of her head, turning to Erik, "Erik, catch!"

After fending off the attack of one of the dark hounds, he caught a bottle with gold-yellow liquid, "What in oblivion is this?"

"It's some kind of holy resin, it's how that elf was able to kill them, coat your weapons with it," She replied, dumping the bottle on her swords, "There's one more if you want it, DB,"

"No thanks, keep that bottle!" Traysek shouted, ducking from under an attempted bite, charging his hand up in sun magic, grabbing it's hind legs and squeezing, causing the creature to explode in light and black smoke, "I've got more than enough for them," activating another spell, this time putting a large sun cloak on himself, lighting up the camp.

"We need to do a Combo Attack!" one of the archers shouted, evading an attack before shooting three of the monsters dead.

the second Kletzkrieg member that had a close-range combat, which was a spear, nodded before saying, "Stun them first!"

The archer nodded before shooting an arrow that left wind in the way that caused some monsters to stop moving. The sword wielder dashed two times, and numerous cuts appeared in the air. The spear wielder struck the earth and a whirlwind gathered all of the present monsters, throwing them in the air. And the archer shot multiple volleys of holy-imbued arrows.

A giant explosion of light lit up the sky, as well as a wild gust of wind that followed, the only remnants of them being a medium-sized smoke cloud.

"Now that...that was impressive," Erik complemented, bashing one of the canines, bringing down his imbued ax into it's head, killing it, swinging his ax out wide to catch another by the neck, throwing it into a tree, dissipating it, "At least they die easy..."

Recorder with her blades fully coated, charged at a group of them, slashing into three with a cross swing, glancing up to see another leaping at her with its jaws extended. She quickly countered it, by lounging both her blades into its mouth, turning it to dust, "That's what that light was? I missed it, damn!" giving a double slash to another one coming at her right.

With the Corona spell active, Traysek easily repelled those that had tried to get the flank on him, while managing the shadow beasts in front of him with long-range thrusts, impaling one of the shadow creatures through its head with a downward lunge...He took a deep breath after, "WULD, NA!" busting forward, skewering a few beasts as he did...when he came to stop, he had a few beasts impaled on his spear, giving a hard swing, catching those in range and ripping the creatures on it apart...He then turned around to find a few slowly backing away, whining...

"Really...? it's TOO late to be scared now..." The Redguard said coldly, charging a blue light in his hand, a couple already noping out, "Way too late..." slamming down on the ground, causing an explosion of blue light...once it died down, there was only black smoke left.

Music ends

The first light of the day began to appear as the creatures began to flee the camp.

Recorder and Erik were panting as the remaining beasts scattered away...Traysek put his spear back on it's holster as the magic died down.

"That was pretty fun, even if it was short-lived..." The nord chuckled, putting away his ax and shield, "Why'd they run though?"

The assassin sheathed her swords, "No idea, and I was starting to get into this, what gives?"

"The sun's starting to peek, I think this is something that happens every night here," The Redguard sighed, "That said, hold on to that last bottle of resin, no telling if you'll both need that again,"

"Yeah, no kidding," Recorder grimaced rubbing her neck, "One of them even played dead after stabbing it," turning to the kletzkrieg that was cleaning off his sword, "Thanks for the assist, wouldn't have known how to kill them without it," she thanked.

He simply stared at her for a second before nodding, "Happy to help..."

Erik walked up to him, "Seriously, thanks for the bottles, wish we knew how to make it ourselves,"

The Redguard looked around, "Doesn't seem like anyone here got killed, that's a first, and a very good sign," making his way to the kletzkreig, "How'd you know they'd show up?"

After some seconds, he said, "We keep enchanted water on us... there's no telling what could come in the way..."

"Excuse him." the archer walked forward, "He isn't the most sociable. Especially when he's in front of a charming lady like your friend." he sighed before continuing, "Those are Shadowhounds, monsters that reside in the Spiritual Plane. Only light and holy magic can do something against them. However, we keep all kinds of enchanted water in case our element isn't the one that we can control."

Traysek rubbed his chin with a slight smirk, glancing at him, "uh-huh~ I see," going back to the archer, "So that's what those things were...interesting, no wonder they died so easily to sun magic, I'll keep that mind," he grinned, "That said, is there a way to make that enchanted water or who sells recipes? I know several people that could use those,"

Recorder slightly blushed at that, "Ahaha...um, thanks I guess?" turning to the other elf who looked away with a blush, 'Oh he's definitely shy...it's kinda cute, but does he think I'm going to eat him or something?'

Erik gave a small chuckle, seeing her reddened face "Sounds like he's not the only one with a crush~"

"Shut up Erik!" She squeaked at him, "It's not like that, I just met him!"

The nord nodded, "Suuuure...that's how it always starts..." wriggling his eyebrows at her, making her groan.

"Do you want me to hit you...? because that's how we get hit..." Recorder growled with a twitching eyebrow.

Dydene took a crystal and said, "Sir, we have a huge problem!"

After a long moment of silence, Greil's voice was heard "What is it?" and he sounded very tired.

"There's a breach between the Spiritual Plane and our plane," Dydene replied.

"What?"

"We were attacked by Shadowhounds," Dydene added.

After a deep breath, Greil said, "Draw a rune in the place where you are. I'll get some priestesses and a Deathbringer to see that the breach is sealed later in the morning."

"Right!" Dydene nodded before looking at one of the mages who began to draw the rune.

Traysek yawned, looking back at the sky, "If nothing else is showing up, I'm going back to sleep, I'll see you guys in a few hours," making his way towards the tent.

Erik gave the elves a slight bow, "I should probably get so more hours in too if I can, it was nice meeting you guys," heading back into his.

With Recorder only left, she gave them a smile, "I'll probably stay up for a bit until I get tired, if need me, I'll be over there, take care!" going to her camp soon after.

As the Salamanders mages finished the runes, they looked around before that one of them muttered, "I hope that no Banshee appears, even if they rarely appear."

"We should move now, or something worst might appear." the second one said.

"We should wait until the sun rises." the first one stated, "Creatures from the Spiritual Plane can't stand the sun."

"You're probably right..." the second Salamander sighed before adding, "If an Apathy or a Banshee appears, we would be in a delicate situation."

Meanwhile, with team 2...

Yuriana bashed one of the hyena's men's head into a wall with a mace, before getting tackled by another, sending them both tumbling. Once they stopped the redhead quickly grabbed both of its arms before it bring its knives down on her, struggling.

"Get...the hell off!" she roared, throwing it off of her, and standing back up, "How's that wall coming Inigo?" ducking from a claw attack.

The khajiit fired another soul arrow, blasting a large hole in its defense, more magic repairing the damage, "I was doing alright at first, and then the walls started repairing, I'll keep at it!" firing another at the repairing wall, exposing the large one, "You can't hide in there forever, you gotta come out eventually!"

Lucien evaded a blow from an attacking beastman, parrying the second blow with his dwarven sword and finishing it off with a decapitating swing, "You're going to have to do something quickly, they're starting to get antsy!" dodge rolling an attempted smash from behind, retaliating by blasting it with sparks, forcing to stop and convulse, before it got smashed into the ground by the Redhead.

"I'm trying!" Inigo said, with an arrow notched, until a thought occurred, 'hold on...this isn't getting me anywhere, if I want to end this, I have to try another angle...' Unnotching the arrow, switching it for a strange one, 'if their senses are anything like mine, then this should hurt...a lot...!' discharging the arrow.

Instead of breaking a piece of the wall, the arrow exploded into dense black smoke, causing many of the hyena men to cough and hack...

The largest of them generated some wind magic that dissipated it as some of the magic users casted some sort of magic that healed them and cured them from their aliment. After pointing somewhere and after some signs, the rest of the hyena creatures began to attack in a more coordinated way.

Even after the cloud of smoke was cleared, Only Yuriana and Lucien were seen trying to fight off the coordinated enemies, eventually, they were back to back with their weapons out.

"By the gods, it's like their strategy changed..." Lucien panted, charging up a fireball, blasting it at a crowd of them.

Yuriana swung the mace low, taking one of their legs with a sickening crack, "If we could get to that big one, we'd discourage the other ones, if Inigo would hurry up with the-" looking around, unable to find him, "Where is Inigo? I thought he was getting the walls, did he run?!"

"I don't think so, he's probably hiding around somewhere, waiting on his chance!" The imperial said, swinging out, slicing an oncoming beastman in the abdomin, sending it crashing to the ground, bleeding out...

As the loses increases, the larger one roared taking a red vial and throwing it forward. When it broke on the ground, it gave a strong smell of death and decay while bringing the fallen back to life as undead. The living ones and the larger one ran away.

"Wait, where's he going?" Yuriana shouted, trying to make a beeline for him, only to get cut off by a horde of the undead monsters, "Dammit, move out of the way!"

Lucien smirked upon a realization, firing another chain-lightning spell, "It's ok Yuri, he's not getting too far away," cutting down another that tried flank from the left, "This is our fight, if anything, our fuzzy friend went after him,"

"Gods I hope, otherwise we'll end up just like those other animals..." She replied, giving a shout which healed them both.

With the fleeing beastman

The large hyena creature stopped and looked at one of his kinsmen.

"Cursed landstealers." he growled as le looked at the wounds, "The Packleader must know of that."

*Fwip!* *Fwip!* Fwip!*

And just how quickly those sounds came, is how quickly three of them dropped with arrows in their heads, a small chuckle following soon after that.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that...!" a voice called out, another arrow flying at him from above, which got deflected..., "My friends are already dealing with enough of your guys!"

On a branch, crouched with an arrow notched, Inigo smirked down at him, "So the doggy can talk, good, now why have you been butchering the animals?"

"We have nothing to say to those that aid Landstealers!" the large one looked at one who disappeared alongside others, "Thieves are bad like you."

Inigo frowned at that, "What are you talking about? the bear beastkin? You're the ones killing off their livestock and harvesting their organs, what does that have to do with stealing land?"

"Razzfang won't let the Landstealers stay there! Even if it means the death of Razzfang!" strange runes appeared on the hyena creature, "Razzfang doesn't care if he dies."

The khajiit scoffed, "Going to be like that about it...? fine," dropping down, putting the bow away, and drawing his sword, he then coated it in a pink liquid, before tossing the bottle, "Let's do this...!" taking a stance.

Boss theme- Exo- Brandon yates (Deathbattle)

The hyena creature took a couple of axes and charged with incredibly well-coordinated strikes.

Inigo ducked from the first swing, staying on the defense, by backing away and deflecting Razz's attacks...He manages to parry the last blow and stagger him, returning a small slash to the side of his abdomen, backstepping from Razz's retaliation, "Close one there, at least I got one in..." charging at him this time, clashing blades, "You let me know when your ready to call the quits!" breaking the clash, by bashing the hilt into his face, jumping back while slashing his arm.

"Razzfang never surrenders!" a red aura empowered him as he moved faster.

The khajiit barely had enough time to dodge the attack, getting barrelled into, and sent flying back...sliding on his feet when he landed, just to intercept the oncoming blow, ending up in another clash.

"What has gotten into you?!" Inigo questioned, getting pressure put on him, 'Dammit, not good...gotta break this or I'm next victim...!" going down on a knee, once the hyena man rose his axes, Inigo rolled past him, dodging the smash, slicing him in the back this time, 'is this not hurting him...? he should be getting slower now...'

or at least...that's what he thought...

"Razzfang isn't finished with you!" he charged him while still enraged and began to barrage him with fast attacks.

Inigo did his best to parry and evade the attacks, but as fast as those were coming in, he took a few blows to the arm, rib and face, which made him back away, spitting blood, "ugh..." barely having enough time to parry the blow, once again sending him forward, but this time, he whipped out a wine bottle and splashed the beastman in his eyes, blinding him as he went into a wild swing.

Using this chance, the khajiit smashed the bottle into his head, shattering the bottle.

Razzfang fell unconscious as the red aura faded from him.

Song ends

Inigo huffed, out of breath, sheathing his sword, "Thank the gods he's finally out..." looking around, to find the other hyena men backing away, 'I just took down one of their bigger guys, I can understand why they're scared...' glancing back down at the unconscious 'And since he can talk, he's coming back with me...' grabbing his legs and dragging him back.

Back at the farm...

There was a large number of undead corpses littering the field, both Yuriana and Lucien still fighting off the remnants, a small group of undead mages, an undead rogue, and a battleax user...

Lucien dodged a fireball, before returning one of his own, cooking the undead when it exploded, "By the gods, are they ever going to let up...? seems like the more we put down, the tougher they get!" sidestepping a thrown knife.

The redhead deflected the ax blow, bringing the mace down hard in its shoulder with a loud crunch, sending it to its knees before slamming her's into its face, "They are, but they aren't coming back either, so that's a plus," finishing the undead with a curb stomp.

The rest of them charged toward the two as a disgusting smell began to emanate from them.

Yuri took a sniff, scrunching her face up, "What in oblivion...I think these guys are starting to rot," watching an arm fall off one of them.

"Yeah, I can see that, ugh...it's getting worse too..." The imperial grimaced, holding his nose.

As they closed the distance, the undead slowed down and started melting down into grey slime which had the entire farm reeking of it...Eventually, the remaining undead became nothing more than puddles of rotten flesh and gore...

The two adventurers looked around to see if there were more, before glancing at each other...

"I think Inigo took down the big guy, either by knocking him out or killing him..." Lucien panted, sheathing his sword, "I don't happen to see anymore either, looks like we're clear for now..."

Yuriana nodded, holstering her mace, worriedly looking around "but I'm not seeing him either...you don't think-?"

"No! No way, I don't think he bit it back there, he's too tough for that, he'll show," Lucien inclined, remaining hopeful...

Just then, there was a rattling sound coming from the nearby bushes, putting them on alert.

"I thought we took care of them all, how is one left?" Lucien gasped, reaching for his beam sword.

Yuriana glared in the direction, "It could be anything, just in case, get ready..." with her mace already back out.

As the rustling continued, it stopped when a silhouette began to emerge, seemingly carrying something and straining as he got closer...But before they could attack, their eyes widened when they saw who came through them.

"Hey my friends, could you give me a hand with this...?" Inigo said with a weak smile while holding Razz's legs.

"Inigo! You made it," Lucien greeted, rushing over to him, "What happened to you? you look like you've been to oblivion and back!"

The blue khajiit coyly nodded, "Well, considering how that went back there, I might as well have been..." letting the legs go, stretching his back, "But I manage to get our culprit," looking down at the knocked-out beastman.

Both Yuriana and Lucien glanced down to find that was indeed the same beastman that fled from them.

"By the gods, he's much bigger up close... I'm glad I wasn't the one fighting him," Lucien said shocked, "You actually dragged him all the way back here?"

"Had to, he's the only one of them that cam speak," Inigo said, "And oddly, it's in third-person like the other khajiit..."

"That's...surprising, given that you're a khajiit that doesn't have that dialect, and now we got a canine race here that does..." The imperial inquired, "So what's his name?"

"Razzfang, don't ask, I'm not the one who named him...but he seemed determined to take me down back there," The khajiit sighed, "That said, we need to get him inside and tied up, got a lot to ask him,"

Yuriana gave a slow nod, narrowing her eyes down on him, "Alright, we'll get him the farmhouse and "cozy"," walking to his legs, "I'll get the legs, you two will grab the head and torso,"

The other two adventurers moved to where there were supposed to lift him and carried him over to the barnhouse...

Unfortunately for them though, there was indeed another shadow lurking nearby, watching them carrying the large beast-man to the building.

In an unknown camp, the surviving ones entered the largest tent and looked fearful while looking at the throne.

"P-Packleader, Razzfang has fallen..." one of them muttered with fear.

Only a growl was heard in response.

To be continued...

And so ends yet another chapter, so given that they've gone another path...pairings ARE still open, just as the suggestions are...with that said, this can come from any of the series we've got this crossed over...not just from the kuroinu cast themselves, so keep that in mind, but until then...stay tuned, the conclusion of this mini-arc comes to a head next chapter :) stay safe and may the gods watch over your battles!