Steal's toothy smile sprang from a pained, worried grimace as his own grin met with the practically blinding white one that shone from the face of a certain blonde magician.

Kelvin dropped his club and bent down, undoing the belt that held a long, curved blade at the elves side; pulling the blade from its scabbard he took a few short steps forward and roughly began to saw the vines that bound Steal's arms.

SNAP

The goblin dropped, knees buckling as his rump hit the cold stone. He let out a slight yelp, but more surprised, not his previous pained shrieks and cries.

Kor'Ak's voice seemed to roar out after Steal yelped again. "Little green one, are you alright?!"

Steal yelped out excitedly as Kelvin finished with freeing him "Yaka gra ya ya!"

The blonde rose up as Steal clambered upright, this time he was the one to call out "He's fine Kor'Ak, just bleeding a bit and looks like he could do with a good rest..." His eyes wandered along the dark blue and black splotches, and the many thin red lines that crossed his green skin like crimson rivers. "A very good rest."

Kelvin turned around and parted the hide tarp that covered the stone entrance, holding it up for Steal to pass under; the goblin promptly moved past him and took in the area around him.

A great stone plaza, ill-kept grey cobblestone went on in a hundred foot wide circle, with small, square stone buildings encircling it; they really were small, more like hovels than homes; no more than fifteen feet in either dimension; at least that was the size of the room that Steal had been strung up in, and they all looked rather uniform.

Atop of the first row of stone hovels there was another, the roof of the first floor of buildings being a stone pavement for the second floor, and past that, the trees rose high around it.

Finally, Steal's eyes glanced across the two great carved stone pillars that rose above him.

He squinted, his neck craned backwards to take in the full-size of the great columns of rock.

The columns joined together into one, a smaller, sculpted ball of rock, Steal could make out the sight of stone ears, empty, cold eyes, a robust nose and a plain, uncaring frown.

He paused.

What stood before him was a gargantuan stone man, a human; features impeccable and body chiselled to what some might consider perfection; though there were noticeable imperfections, chips in the stone, worn and weathered features, now dull when they were once sharp; with perhaps the most noticeable of the differences between the statue and a normal human being the loss of an arm; the colossal statue's left shoulder ended abruptly, jagged and broken.

The missing feature could be seen lying a little ways away from the statues boulder-like feet; a disembodied arm had left great cracks in the stone it must have fallen on; and in that arm's stony fist, it gripped a great blade, maybe thirty feet along, carved with faded ruins and unintelligible marks.

The blade would be impressive, if it's tilted sword hadn't been used as a roof. Thick leathers, hides and grassed had been nailed into the blade, dangling over the side; with a number of bedrolls, and even a fire beneath its shadow.

Yet Steal was in awe.

And Kelvin was something else entirely.

His mouth was not agape, his eyes weren't wide, he simply murmured lightly to himself in the language that all the human's he'd seen had spoken in.

"An Engine of Jaggart... Damaged, but it's here... Young William would love to hear of this" He shook his head. Resigned himself to take note later and spun around. "Kor'Ak! Gimme a yell fella!"

That ever familiar, stalwart voice boomed out. "Over here! Now get me down, you moustache-twirling magician!"

Steal yipped excitedly as he sprang towards the sound of Kor'Ak's voice, Kelvin just behind, spurs clicking against the stones at his feet.

The blonde parted another hide cover over a different stone doorway; and as the light seeped into the room, Steal saw him. He looked a little frailer without his armour; a little less robust without his massive shield, and a little less dangerous without a sword in his hand.

Yet there was a fierceness in his eyes that Steal could see, a fire that seemed like it might burn away the grime and blood that painted his flesh. The lines of lifeblood that flowed in great falls from his body made Steal's injuries look trivial, deep lines that carved through his muscle; and just like with Steal, these rivers flowed and dripped from his body onto the mossy, filthy tiles below him. But unlike the goblin's few drops and splatters of blood; the tiles below him were covered in a thick, deep red pool; and still he dripped, bloody teardrops falling from his stomach.

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The man's dark skin was a few shades paler, and now so was Kelvin's as he looked at the Djaal's scarred and mutilated body.

The blonde brought the curved blade up again, sharp edge sawing its way through the vines that bound him.

Heavy feet stained themselves red as they splashed down into a crimson puddle, and the bloodied Djaal spoke.

"Well. Let's get moving." He took a weighty step, his legs shook, then his knees buckled and he fell to them, a trickle of scarlet flowing across his lips as he coughed and sputtered; Kor'Ak grimaced, placing his hand on the tiles and he struggled to bring himself back onto his feet; legs shook as they straightened, his chest rose and fell with every ragged breath. He stood tall, coughed another spray of blood and fell once more.

Steal darted to him, but Kelvin was the one to speak. "You can't go on like this, you need to rest."

"Not enough time"

"Those elves are all out looking for me, I lost the ones that caught me."

"How long ago did you lose them?"

"I umm... Maybe five... ten minutes ago?"

"They are Kitt, if they're anything like the Nakitt of Djaal, they'll have found your trail by now. You have to get moving."

Kelvin's wiped a long streak of sweat from his brow "Well... They gotta have some healing potions or something..."

Kor'Ak took a ragged breath, stifling another cough "G-Get-" He dropped to the tiles again, choking and striking his red-fist into his chest "-Some healing and mana potions, I can keep myself together with that for a little, then we gotta arm up and move out."

Kelvin gave a curt nod and dashed off out of the tent, Steal looked at Kor'Ak intently for a moment, large, coals-for-eyes trying to take in all of the wounded man. Kor'Ak nodded, and a shaky hand pointed out the doorway and into the plaza. "Go help."

Steal nodded, sighed, and spun around, hurrying after Kelvin. He pushed the leather out of his way and let it swing back behind him; Kor'Ak let out a much more violent cough this time as he was left in darkness again.

He could see Kelvin already picking through the wooden crates and decrepit, warped barrel that were strewn about the plaza.

Steal wasn't sure what he was supposed to be looking for, all he knew was that Kor'Ak was hurt badly.

The goblin's eyes rose above the stone plaza and focused on the woods that encircled it. It was only then that he noticed the tents, dozens upon dozens of them in various sizes lined the woodland above them, some hiding between the trees, others in plain view.

Naturally, Steal found the largest to be the most interesting, and thus he scurried forwards, there was a stairway to his left, worn stone steps slick with moss and a little blood. The stairs were small, slightly too large to feel natural to Steal, but they were much smaller than the steps he had seen in the town Kor'Ak had brought him to. Another staircase led to the top of the second floor, he strode up that as well.

He stumbled his way forwards, feeling the softness of wet grass on the soles of his feet as stone rooves turned to a grassy, natural floor. He brushed past the hide covering of the largest tent, green grass gave way to dead earth below the tent; three bedrolls lay on the left of the tent, and a heavy, iron-bound chest lay haphazardly open on the right side of the room; there was a firepit in the centre, still smouldering.

Steal passed by the burnt out fire and peered into the chest; blades, thick, thin, short and long were piled along the bottom of the chest; with an array of glass vials, full of a variety of odd-looking liquids sat on top; there were other things, jewellery, clothes, red stains long-seeped into them that Steal ignored.

His mind went back to the first time he had met Kor'Ak, when he had collapsed, and the man had poured something sickeningly sweet down his throat. Thick and vile. But it had made him feel better, a lot better.

The goblin brought his hand down into the chest and pulled out a dagger, it wasn't a dainty thing like what Kor'Ak had gotten him, it was crude, unclean, covered in something brown. Blood or rust, Steal didn't know.

He placed the blade in his mouth, teeth tightening around it and holding it as he dove into the chest again, filling his arms with the glass vials; he spun on his heels and sprang off hurriedly again.

By the time Steal had gotten back to Kor'Ak, Kelvin was still digging through barrels and boxes; he smiled when he caught sight of the goblin, overloaded with a number of tinctures. Kelvin seemingly gave up on his search then, instead, starting towards the racks of weapons and other gear that were strewn around outside the second-floor hovels.

Kor'Ak smiled a little as Steal bent low, the glass vials gently clinking against the stone floor as he rolled them along to Kor'Ak, who was picking through them all and talking to himself as he analysed them.

"Cure for Diarrhoea, a bunch of generic antidotes" He grimaced a little, reading out the label on one of the vials to himself "Levi's Vigor Brew - For when you need to rise to the occasion in the bedroom"

Eventually, he settled on fourteen vials, the liquid inside them was a dirty brown colour, like sewage. He poured the first down his throat. His open wounds slowly began to seal themselves shut.

Another, he looked like he might wretch, but he gulped it down to the last drop, then he rose to his feet, just in time to see Kelvin dart back into the stone hovel, A small bag on his back and a bundle of blades in his arms, a blade hung from a belt by his side, not the curved one from them elf, it looked a little cleaner. A little.

Kor'Ak gestured for Kelvin to spin around, he opened his bag and let Kor'Ak drop the remaining vials into it, they clinked together as they dropped.

Kelvin dropped the blades to the floor, letting Kor'Ak choose between them all; he settled on a longsword, thick as Steal's arm; he hefted it over his shoulder. "Let's get moving"

The trio marched back out into the plaza; to be met by a pale elf, wide green eyes narrowing on them, focusing intently on Kelvin's jugular, she bore her fangs and roared out "Killer!"

Steal saw her long ears twitch for a moment.

Kor'Ak's grip tightened around his hefty blade before speaking to Kelvin "She's calling, we have to go. Now!"