His angry, furious, terrified howls bellowed and screeched through the bathhouse.

Kor'Ak had dropped him into a large wooden tub filled with oddly warm water and started to scrub his skin.

Steal very much did not appreciate this feeling. He couldn't touch the floor beneath him, and the feeling of the sponge dragging across his skin was just as discomforting as his feeling of almost weightlessness.

"GYAKA RA NA NA NI REEEEEEEEE!!!" He kicked and howled as Kor'Ak and Kelvin struggled to hold him in place as they finished rubbing his body up and down with the wet sponge, scrubbing the filth, blood and dirt that caked him off and into the water, which had went from a clean, almost-blue appearance to the murky, rusty-brown it now was.

The two human's lifted him out of the tub, flows of water falling across his body and dripping onto the stone floor, though it was as muddy as the water from the tub, they had managed to scrub most of the gore that caked Steal off.

The bits of flesh and splashes of blood that stained Steal's skin earlier were something he was proud of, similar to trophies, proof that he had killed.

Now they were gone.

He did not appreciate this.

Atleast the dirty water that flowed across his body might leave some lasting mark.

Kor'Ak lifted a wooden bucket over Steal's head.

His arms wavered a little, and the clean water sloshed from the bucket and hit the floor in front of Steal.

Steal tried to run.

Not fast enough; Kor'Ak dumped the water ontop of Steal, the miniature waterfall removed the last of the filth and muddy water that clung to him as it scattered across the stone floor at their feet.

He did not appreciate this. He struggled again as Kor'Ak wrapped a square of linen around the goblin's body, it seemed to absorb the water off his body.

It was warm, cosy in fact.

He appreciated this.

The goblin looked around to see the eyes of the paladin's on him, only three though. All sat, languishing in the tubs of warm water, thin vapours of steam rising to the wooden ceiling above. Two of them were blonde humans, like Kelvin, with the other being a brown-haired dwarf; though all of them had very short-cut hair and lacked the extravegant facial features of the wizard. There faces were also very different too.

Whilst Kelvin was relatively fresh and smooth-faced, the paladin's bore the scars that lined their cheeks and bodies with something akin to pride; one of the humans and the dwarf were pointing to the various lines that cross across their torsos and arms, telling wild tales of battling devils and werewolves. Naturally, Steal didn't understand what they were talking about, but the constant gesturing to their long-healed wounds atleast told him they were likely talking about those.

Kor'Ak and Kelvin finished washing themselves, wrapping larger versions of the towel hat Steal had around him on themselves as they took a seat on a wooden bench off to one side of the steaming tubs.

Steal had already resigned himself to never enter such a bath again. A terrifying experience that he didn't want to relive again.

Thinking on reliving terrifying experiences, the thought of going back to that forest drove itself into his mind like a dagger. Maybe he wouldn't bother...

He'd reconsidered his decision, and opted for a peaceful night's sleep, and would have followed through on such things if the too-jolly voice of his patron didn't start tearing though his mind.

YOU WILL TRY AGAIN

... Steal offered a resigned nod, he'd talk to Maal later. The goblin's finger traced gently along the red mark across his stomach. It felt like a brand. Like he was owned.

For now atleast, he knew he couldn't deny the demon's wishes. Though Maal didn't say he had to try again tonight.

Steal struggled again a little as Kor'Ak moved towards him, rubbing the goblin's towel across his green skin before fighting against Steal to get him into the tiny green clothing Kor'Ak had picked out for him. Yet again, Steal very much didn't appreciate this, but had learned from previous experiences that he couldn't overpower or even escape the grasp of the darker human. He let the man clothe him, still yipping angrily at him as he did so; though Kor'Ak showed little worry, instead chuckling happily to himself, seemingly finding Steal's act of distaste to be cute.

He did not appreciate this.

The humans clothed themselves as well and led the goblin out of the bathhouse, something he was extremely glad about.

Hard was stood waiting for them outside, chunky, calloused fingers twirling his long, scraggy red beard between his fingers idly. Although this dwarf wasn't as armoured than the other paladins, opting for a blue robe and jewelled silver bracelets around his arms instead of his companion's jangling chainmail and helmets, he still had a broad, short blade hanging in it's scabbard from his belt. If the dwarf wasn't continously gripping the sword's handle and releasing it, Steal wouldn't have ever paid much attention to the fact Hard had a weapon.

"Had a nice bath lads? Aye, well follow on, we'll get you some gear, then get some food in ya!" The dwarf chortled at them and started plodding off along the streets again, waving for the group to follow behind.

They did.

After a number of sharp turns and shuffling around processions of helmeted crusaders, the dwarf led them to another dusty storefront. And much like the clothiers before, the shop was full to the brim with various arms and armour, of which Kor'Ak took great interest in.

Steal though it strange then, that the first thing that Kor'Ak did was grab a hammer, not a blade. Every minute or so, the man would pick a blade or piece of armor from a shelf or rack, then strike it roughly with the hammer, he'd wait a few moments, and most of the time, he'd quickly discard the gear; though with the few pieces that he approved of, he laid them out on a cleared wooden desk.

By the time he was finished digging through the equipment, he'd picked out a padded gambeson that hung around him a little loosely, as well as a chainmail hauberk and coif; along with a pair of iron gauntlets and a sallet helm that he managed to fit to his head with a little extra padding.

Whilst Kor'Ak was bundling all the gear into a bag he'd dug out from a pile of other containers, Kelvin had picked out a few more daggers, securing six of them around his belt.

Steal was wiping the dust off a shining breastplate when he felt a rough hand tap his shoulder from behind, a little startled, Steal whirled around with a snarl, only too see Kor'Ak with a small, flanged mace in one hand, and a dagger in the other. He pushed the two weapons towards Steal "Take these little one"

Steal accepted the weapons, along with the belt that Kor'Ak passed to him, though the goblin quickly realised that the mace was too large for him to have at his belt, so he simply slung it over his shoulder, keeping the dagger sheathed at his side.

"Aye fellas, looks like ya done, now let's get a hearty meal and get ya some rest!"