Kuran and the rest of the group trudged through the forest, Amelia the flame haired sorcerer lead the way. Kuran was rather curious how she was tracking the group; on occasion she would pull something out and glance at it before putting it back. With her back facing Kuran he’s unable to discern what the item is.

“So, how close are we?” Blake asked Amelia.

“Close.” Was all she said.

Suddenly a small buzzing noise could be heard emitted from Aron. Giving a look of surprise he dug into his cloak’s pocket and pulled out an egg-shaped device.

“What’s that?” Blake asked.

“That wonderful captain lent me this lovely device. It that allows messages to be sent and received.” Aron explained. Upon activating a voice came through.

This is corporal Lucy; we have discovered the location of chaos chief. He is accompanied by a large group of chaos worshippers, including the warlock. We have also encountered a group that had been attack by the chaos warriors, they were apart of the back of the trail. We are sending our coordinates to you; we are waiting for new instructions.

The voice then spewed out a set of coordinates and more details on the survivors and the worshippers.

Charron looked at Oskar in excitement, “Did you hear that?”

“That sounds like our people.” Oskar said in agreement.

Kuran asked Aron. “Where are they?”

“According to this device, roughly fifteen minutes away.”

“And my device says that the chaos group is an additional ten minutes away and moving towards those coordinates.” Amelia said.

“Then we need to move quickly.” Kuran said.

They all nodded in agreement and began to hurry their pace.

Shawn helped navigate the entire group over to the two waiting soldiers. Who both looked at the group in amazement.

“I know you said twenty-three. But it’s still impressive seeing so many people gathered together.” The man said.

“Why’s that?” Rose asked.

“No group of citizens that have been reported found has been this big.” He explained.

“Well, I have to admit, these people have been impressive.” The injured caravan guard, Lukas spoke out.”

“Lukas! You’re alright!” The woman said in surprise.

“Well, more or less.” Lukas said. “Good to see some friendly faces.”

“Well unfortunately we don’t have time to celebrate.” The woman soldier, Lucy, interrupted. “The chaos warriors are approaching us.”

“What right now?” Lawrence said alarmed.

“Somehow they’ve been able to track us the whole time. Likely the warlock is responsible.” The woman explained. “We’ve been given instructions to take you guys and get out. Other groups are converging in. But…” Her voice trailed a bit.

“It’s very likely that they’ll catch us?” Shawn asked plainly.

“Yes.” The woman said.

“We’ll need to slow them down somehow.” Rose said. “I’m going to help deal with them.”

“That’s way too dangerous.” The Lukas said.

“You mentioned a commission?” She asked the man.

“Uh, yeah. The guild posted a commission for adventurers to deal with the chaos worshippers.” He explained.

“Well, I’m a registered adventurer.” She said as she pulled out a tag. “And I am going to accept that commission.”

“But…” The man voice trailed.

“Don’t worry, I how to take care of myself.” She assured him. “Besides, others should be joining us soon so I will be alright. Getting the others out of here is more important.”

The soldiers shared a glance with one another before finally relenting.

“Alright stay safe then. Everyone else follow me!” The man said.

The group, save for Rose, began to follow the soldiers as they lead the way to salvation. Lawrence walked next to Shawn.

“Nice of her to do that.” Lawrence commented.

“I guess.” Shawn said half paying attention.

“We’ll finally be able to meet the others soon.” Lawrence said, a hint of excitement in his voice.

“Yeah…”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Lawrence asked getting concerned. “We’ll getting out of here. No more fighting today.”

“I know. It’s just that she still has my map.” Shawn replied.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“My map, she still has it.”

“Uh, yeah so?” Lawrence asked brow furrowing with confusion.

“I want my map back. I’m going to go get it.” Shawn said.

“Wait, hold on-” Before Lawrence could say anything else Shawn had already disappeared. “Damn it, Shawn. Always hate owing debts.” He muttered as he watched Shawn run off.

Aron received another message on his egg-shaped device.

“It seems that the chaos worshippers have ran into some opponents and split its forces now.” He reported.

“Do you know where the leader still is?” Kuran asked Amelia.

“Yes. He’s moving towards our direction.” She said quickly.

“How far?” Kuran asked again.

“A few minutes and-” She suddenly stopped as they heard something approaching.

Then a group of chaos worshippers burst out weapons drawn and charged them. Kuran gave a small click of his tongue as he noticed that none of them seemed to be the chaos leader.

Before the chaos worshippers could reach them two arrows came raining down on them. Cutting half of them down, the other half stopped in place trying to process what just transpired.

Kuran launched himself forward and cut down the closest chaos worshipper. Upon pulling back his blade he saw in his peripheral that the armored blonde woman and Aron cut down the other remaining two.

“Thank you for the assistance.” Oskar said to apparently the source of the arrows.

Kuran turned to see the half a dozen Esterwood soldiers along with the human and dwarf duo from earlier, Darin and Helm respectively.

Darin moved over towards them, “Hey, nice to see you again. Looks like we arrived just on time.”

“I wouldn’t day that help was absolutely necessary, but it is appreciated.” Kuran replied.

One of the soldiers joined in on their conversation, “According to reports the main chaos faction has been sending these small forces to harass us. Weakening us so that the main group can wipe us out. I’ve sent a message to the other groups to converge on us, they’ll be here soon.”

“Sticking together would be smart.” Aron commented.

“So how large exactly is this main group?” Oskar asked.

“A couple adventurers volunteered to go on ahead and scout out the numbers. They should be returning soon.” The soldier replied.

“No point. We’re going to find out.” Amelia said suddenly staring intently at a direction holding a device in one hand while the other glowed red.

“What does that mean?” Blake asked.

All of a sudden, a terrible scream was heard, and few seconds later a body was flung through the trees. It hurtled through the air and landed with a messy crunch before Kuran’s feet.

Kuran stared at it and noticed a small object glinting from the shine of the sun. An adventurer’s tag.

“It means that they’re here.” Amelia said bleakly.

From the trees emerged a massive figure. Followed by chaos worshippers behind him.

This man towered over the others, muscles bulging from his massive frame. On his arms were various symbols of the chaos gods tattooed. Metal straps adorned his outfit, all engraved with similar patterns. On his shoulder rested massive battle axe. On his face was a deadly grin.

“So, these are the ones that are trying stop me.” A deep rumbling came from the chaos chief. “I was expecting more.”

The air was thick with tension. All the adventurers and soldiers stared at the chaos worshippers, unblinking. Waiting for the inevitable fight to begin.

“You know.” Kuran began.

Everyone’s focus was directed onto him. He gave a quick look around, checking over the chaos worshippers, more then he had ever seen before. All armed with various weapons, some had bows. In the group he could discern another unique member with a strange staff, the warlock he presumed.

He then focused his sights back onto the chief, giving him a once over. As he did so he noticed on his peripheral that another group of Esterwood troops and adventurers had just arrived.

“When I heard that there was a chaos worshipper chief, I was excited. Looking at you, I’m just disappointed.” Kuran said with a shrug.

The chaos chief gave a terrible laugh before his smile disappeared into a snarl. “Kill them.”

With that the chaos worshippers charged.