Jack POV
It was now close to midday, and the buyers were finally getting close, traveling a barely visible and overgrown road with their carts. In the front cart, he could see that black catkin woman Dhalia was accompanied by the pink-haired woman who was riding in the shade inside of the cart. She seemed to be chatting about some incomprehensible nonsense about pets that Jack didn't really understand, all the while doting on Mishi, the messenger bird. Behind them was another cart, this one being driven by some kind of olive-skinned man, though he looked more built than the average human, a half-orc of some sort, perhaps like Wrath; besides him was a dwarven man, tan-skinned with a fiery red beard, that was at least decently braided and neat, short cut of hair on his head. Finally, on the last cart, there was a teen ratkin girl dressed up in reasonably nice clothes, though there was an odd gold tattoo on her fur that seemed to glint from under a scarf. Besides her, the last of their entourage was some kind of birdkin woman, that had exposed humanoid skin on her face and pointed ears, she wore very light clothes that exposed a lot of skin, but she also sported an odd tattoo on her shoulder, a red circle that looked like fire in stark contrast to her yellow feathers. Jack had to really think about what possible combination of being she was, but that wasn't his job right now.
Jack could feel Vitmori's presence within him as his Boss peeked through his eyes, though after getting a good look, Vitmori's presence had vanished, and Jack could see one of the several plans starting to unfold.
Dhalia POV
The ride had been long and tedious, especially with the Madame chatting away at her and her bird. Her eyes scanned the treeline as she sniffed, not seeing anything out of the ordinary and only smelling nature. She did spy what looked like a spitter wolf watching them from the brush, but it scurried off, so she paid it no mind. Exhaling quietly through her nose, she allowed her mind to wander back to her room, her own private domicile where she could not be harassed. At least not often, as she considered the Madame, the young woman doting on her bird as she seemingly ignored the world around her until something interesting happened; she took a quiet breath after some time, deciding to focus on the moment as she spotted some more movement, this time it appeared to be a paladin in full plate. Though what a miserable-looking paladin it was, their armor beat to shit and not even shining as it seemed just coated in dirt and dust. He waved at her from the side of the road, not even considering her and her caravan to be a threat. So this must be who she is here to meet with. She raises a fist, signaling for the other carts to come to a stop. Dhalia flashed her teeth in a sneer as she looked over the pathetic paladin. "Hail friend, you look to be in poor sorts." She said as she poked at the man.
The paladin seemed to huff with exhaustion as he watched the caravan. "Hail, I take it you're the buyer? Follow me so we can get this business finally settled." He stated rather bluntly, apparently dropping all pretenses. "You're better off coming on foot. The woods aren't dense, but we broke our carts maneuvering through here when dealing with the bandits." He explained, gesturing a thumb over towards the forest.
Dhalia glanced in the direction the paladin gestured to before nodding intently as she dropped the reins to the chivostieds pulling the cart and hopping off and looking over at the other carts as she snapped her fingers. "Lanzak, Jaz, and Rita follow me. Mina, stay with Madame Diarosa." She ordered the half-orc, dwarf, and half-birdkin, the trio stiffening at the order before they also disembarked from the carts and made their way over beside Dhalia. Meanwhile, the ratkin girl made her way over to the Madame while looking rather wary, the pathetic girl looking distinctly miserable while Diarosa appeared more than pleased by the arrangement. She then looked over to paladin and rested a hand on her hip. "Lead on." She demanded more than she requested.
Stolen novel; please report.
The paladin nodded as he turned and began making his way through the woods, resting his hand on his blade, though after about fifteen minutes of near-silent walking, the paladin spoke up. "Keep an eye out while you're at it. They aren't too active during the day, but we've been combating massive spiders and mantises for the last few days." He explained as he seemingly watched the treeline.
Dhalia couldn't help but narrow her gaze before glancing back at her entourage. "Lanzak, go return and stand guard with the Madame." She ordered, the dwarf stiffening midstride before nodding as he returned the way they came.
The walk continued for a while longer, though something had been clawing at the back of Dhalia's mind. Something in her more primal senses ringing alarms as the fur along the back of her neck began to rise as she sniffed at the air. She soon began to notice all the birds around them, gliding between the trees and watching them as they went along, yet they weren't singing or calling out... They just... Watched. That's when she heard a twig snap in the distance, her ears perking as she barely caught a glimpse of the dappled coat of a spitter wolf stepping out of view. Again, something about all of this was sending her senses into overdrive as she could hear her heart drumming in her ears. When she approached the paladin to warn him, she caught a whiff of something else... Rot? Coming from the paladin of all people. Her tail lashed as her mind raced with the possibilities, but she couldn't keep track of her thoughts as she decided to act.
Without a word or any sort of warning, she casually closed the distance between herself and the paladin before grabbing his shoulder and plunging her blade right through his throat and twisting the blade. The paladin dropped surprisingly quickly as the dagger slipped her grasp. Though the moment she had done so, the air began to shift as the birds all cried out and began swarming the air. "Fuck! Jaz, Rita, cover my escape!" She ordered as she drew her whip and shortsword from her hip, swiping the air with the whip as she drove off the birds and began running back the way she came. Dhalia not bothering to stay and watch as she could hear the familiar crack of thunder from Rita's magic.
She broke into a hard sprint, tapping into her natural feline agility as she ducked and weaved through the trees, not daring to go in a straight line. As she ran, she spotted Lanzak in the grass, being dragged off by a massive spitter wolf with a sword of all things strapped to it. Dhalia considered for a brief moment grabbing him for backup but decided to leave him to the beasts; Madame Diarosa was the priority.
Though Dhalia fled from the wolves, her fur fluffed out, prickling as her senses overloaded with an unmistakable feeling of danger she couldn't quite place, her feet forcing her to skid to a stop. Though as she looked around, her stomach began to twist with unease when she caught a glance of a shadow with eyes staring her down.
As soon as the shadow was spotted, it began to take shape, growing into what she could recognize as a prowler. It kept growing, getting bigger and bigger, until it unfurled a pair of dripping, shadowy wings.
Dhalia felt a cold chill traveling down her spine and tail, though she couldn't back down, not with the Madame unguarded. She bared her fangs at the prowler, trying to trick herself into a sense of false bravado. She cracked her whip, slowly walking in a sidestep, still attempting to work out a retreat.
The mutant prowler looked unimpressed, starting to stalk forward toward Dhalia, not caring about her little display.
"F-fuck off!" She cried out as she cracked her whip towards the prowler before turning tail; she ran away rather frantically, her senses overwhelmed beyond reason as she ran back for the carts. Though even as she ran, she couldn't even hear the steps of the massive beasts, but she didn't dare risk looking back. She finally cleared the trees, though nowhere near the carts after all her running. Her chest heaved heavily, but she couldn't stop, forcing herself to keep putting one foot after the other, running up the road and following the fresh tracks of her cart, and within moments she finally came up to see the carts in the distance. But her heart sank as she watched an absolutely massive serpent wrap around Madame Diarosa and Mina. She ran even harder, though, after all her exertion, she lost her footing and was sent sprawling through the brush of the overgrown road. Though as she pushed herself up, she found herself face to face with the mutant prowler when everything went black.