"Why are we following this man?" Kor'Ak's voice rasped through an irritated snarl; they hadn't stopped walking for just under eight hours, and somehow, the jangling, metal-plated clown was yet to tire, still chortling along to himself and chatting away in his borderline unintelligible prattle.

Angus and the goblin didn't make for particularly good conversation, so of course, it was the grimy, sweat-drenched wizard that replied, heaving heavily as he spoke "I... He said... Outpost... Weird... Didn't think that... Church... There..." Kelvin staggered forwards, hitting the ground as his legs buckled below him "Fuck... Ow..." His hand shout out towards the sky with an exaggerated, ragged whine following it "My... Luuuuuuuungs..." A rough cough erupted from his throat "Helppppp"

Kor'Ak watched him reach his arm out as if to call him over to carry the wizard. "Drink some water. We're not resting, and there's not a chance I'm gonna carry you."

"But... there was a body in the water!"

"Drink from the river then? The water this far up won't be contaminated."

Kelvin's face practically dove under the water as he gulped furiously and thirstily.

"Well it probably isn't contaminated, could always be a bigger, more bloated and rotten body further up."

The wizard started retching again.

If they hadn't been so far off course and so wounded, Kor'Ak thought he might not take so much pleasure in torturing his employer. And if he hadn't suffered through four sleepless nights, he'd be putting more effort into it.

The goblin wasn't having the same issues as Kelvin and was just now refilling his canteen for the fourth time.

"Kelvin, I saw your magic basically fizzle away when you shot at him, care to explain?"

"I-" the blonde spat some more on the floor, trying to clear his throat still, at least he'd stopped wretching. "I think if he's telling the truth, and he's from the Solarian Church-"

That tinny voice rang out again. "HOLY Solarian Church"

"-then he's probably a paladin with magical armour; I didn't get a good look at what he was wearing beneath the cloth, but the rest of his armour and even his sword look like their silvered"

"So these Solarian's are mage hunters?"

"Sort of, they follow the goddess of the sun-"

"-Diana?"

"No, the Bruman goddess, Solaria... sorta in the name, well basically their supposed to be a bunch of goody-two-shoes types that hunt down monsters and" Kelvin seemed to have gained the breath back to throw his arms out in an imitation of Angus' exaggerated, pompous movements, he even put some effort into copying the jolly, irritable tone of his voice "Daaaaaastardly villains"

Kor'Ak looked at the man ahead of him a little mournfully; the warrior had always wanted the armour he wore to be silvered, the djaalic military never saw the point, and scraping the money to get the work done for a set of full-plate armour and a tower shield was a difficult task, even for an adventurer.

It annoyed the Djaal to no end that this strange, queer man was prancing about through the mud in such a valuable suit of armour.

The party finally rounded a bend in the river, and he saw it, previously blocked by the thick clusters of trees.

A wooden palisade that rose twenty feet into the air. Kor'Ak could see the glint of metal helmets in the sunlight, bobbing along the top of the palisade as they patrolled along it. The wooden stake wall was in a man-made clearing, with the source of the building materials used for the wall being clear from the field of tree stumps that surrounded it.

The wooden wall made a semi-circle, the two ends stopping as they connected to the sheer cliff face on the other side of the palisade from Kor'Ak.

Civilisation.

A bed.

A good night's rest.

Maybe even a meal that tasted of something other than charcoal. He could only hope.

Kelvin yelled out excitedly, the goblin tried to copy him, jumping into the air with an excited "Yip!"

It took the group a moment to notice the massive blue banners that dangled from the wooden walls, emblazoned with the icon of a giant, golden sun, with yellow beams of light erupting from it in every direction.

"Kor'Ak, I don't remember that, this place was just a mining settlement no more than maybe a month or two ago..."

"What do you suppose changed?"

"I... I don't know, if more than a few Solarian Paladin's are here, it means bad news."

"For us?"

"Probably not"

Kor'Ak responded with no more than a grunt as they closed in on the wooden gate that towered over them, flanked on both sides at the top of the palisade by two men in the same garb as Angus, crossbows in hand.

The one on the left spoke first, letting his crossbow fall down to his side, the other one still pointed his at the goblin's big green head. "Stand ho, broth'r Angus, is't thee?"

"Aye t is, ope this gate, these weary travell'rs needeth rest!" The poncy paladin called out to his brothers from below.

Now it was the one on the right that spoke. "Yeah yeah, just give me a minute" his helmet turned to the brother across from him on the other side of the gate "Ryan, stop indulging Larp, it get's annoying."

Now it was the one on the left that spoke, letting out an exhausted, metallic sigh. "I know, I know, it's just so funny, it's been a long watch, gotta brighten up my day a little y'know."

The sound of metal scraping against metal as the two watchmen's heads sank out of view. Then the violent groan as the gate pulled open, ill-kept hinges screeching as it opened up before them.

A mix of blues and silvers as the two dozen paladins beyond tyhe gate marched through the streets, talking amongst each other, holding their flat-top helmets under their arms; though every single one was armoured, every single one was armed.

"Looks like more than a few, Kelvin"

"... Crusade?" The wizard looked quizzically at Kor'Ak now.

Then every paladin around them roared in unison.

"CRUSADE!!!"