Scouting The Forgotten

    Wake and Shiruba go on an adventurer together, an adventurer of scouting and possible danger. Shiruba uses her map, and with the help of Wake, they get a general conceptual idea what direction to go. Though there was no castle in sight, Shiruba manages to spot some tracks.

Not just one tracks, but an army. A place where the undead would rise up from and even those of hooves from undead horses, paw prints, and just a ton of movement.

    As they followed these tracks, they would hear the rises of voices, the sound of 'chopping', and the 'clink' of picks. There they would come across a field where the fog was in the air, but it was thin. Enough to block out the sun, cast by swamp waters near by and perhaps a bit of magic as well.

The labor force looked mostly human, with a mix of others races as well. It was hard to tell if these were captured landers or now monsters, yet there they were working the field. Gathering lumber and stone; Or seeming to be trying too at least!

Walking amongst them were armored soldiers of boned warriors and binders. Perhaps even some vampires as well. All which seem to be patrolling the area and also making sure the workers stayed on task.

    Just what were they doing? What was the Forgotten's goal here?

It took rough starts, misjudgements, corrections, and a lot of compiling and collecting data. But once Shiruba started working by a plan instead of just gut feeling, things slowly started to flicker into place, and with some support from Wake finally mananged to find a trail they could actually follow.

It begged the question of what the undead were doing that they were actually physically walking, but that's an answer maybe they can find an answer to with the rest of this puzzling process.

The misty fog didn't help vision much, but it didn't do as much to deter sound. As soon as the sounds of chopping and picks and armor reached her sharp ears Shiruba stopped, motioning to Wake to keep close for a moment, and crouched down low to slink a bit and get a better look at what was going on.

Some... some kind of slave camp? Was this one of the reasons they took prisoners instead of killing them to try and make more monsters?

    Wake has leaned heavily on Shiruba's expertise thus far. The general interpretation of the map and following the tracks of the army have led them to the perfect spot to observe. For her, this is all about getting accurate counts of the enemy and not only observing what they do, but knowing its purpose.

    From the vantage point they have, she's not able to learn much of use besides what was already obvious: they have an army. She will hope to get closer and at least determine what these things are and what they are up to.

    If they are breaking rocks with picks, she'll make an effort to determine the shape they breaking them into. She's no stone working expert, herself, but hopefully someone else can make sense of these observations. While she doubts she'll learn much from watching the enemy cut down trees, getting close enough to verify that is happening is of equal interest.

    As the two observe from what seems to be safe cover, they will find an armored patrol of undead skeletons coming their way. Their armor is a lot thicker, with shields on their arms and swords at their side.

These undead are walking carefully, seeming to be watching the edge. As they come to a stop near the two, one of them looks slowly in the direction of where Wake and Shiruba are hiding. Thankfully the two stay hidden well enough that the patrolman doesn't see them.

They patrol moves on, with one of them rolling its armored shoulders as it does.

    In order to get any more details, the two will need to move in closer. The question is are they willing to risk it moving in, as the Baroness has found, being where she is, is not gaining her any more information beyond there is just a /ton/ of undead and possible captive souls. A proper inspection would need to be seen if they are captives or just workers.

Shiruba may not be an expert at sneaking, but she's seen how prey acts when it's trying to not be found, and mimics that in laying low and not moving. She even reachs back with one hand to grab her tail and keep it in place knowing how it can have a mind of it's own sometimes. It seems to work, this time at least.

Once the patrol moves out of hopefully visual range she creeps back up, watching the work going on below. Wood and stone, being loaded into carts. They had to be collecting it for.. building something? Building... or repairing. Oh! Could they possibly...

The wolfgirl glances in Wake's direction. She might be able to track the carts and movements, but not from this position. They'll probably have to risk moving in some manner. She tries to get the point across without saying anything because she doesn't want anyone to hear them.

    Nodding to Shiruba, Wake gets the point. At least roughly. This is close enough for now, and they need to withdraw to figure out the next phase of the plan. At least they were both able to spot the carts and horses. It's enough to go by for now.

    She moves carefully, minding where the patrol was going and aiming to follow it just enough to stay out of range from both it and the almost inevitable path of the next patrol. All the while, she'll focus on covering their tracks behind them. Best to leave no hint of their passage.

    The two go to move to a new point, Wake does a fairly good job at covering their tracks as they stay in the coverage. More orders can be heard being barked out. Get to moving, get that tree down, and so on.

As they move to a new location, at their previous one a ghoul hound starts to growl as it picks up their scent. It growls, howls and carries on. Sniffing around the space, but having trouble finding which way they went.

This /does/ get the attention of a few of the patrol guards who go that way to investigate. It may be a blessing or perhaps a later curse. It is hard to tell right now.

    Their new vantage point gives them access to a rather similar view. They can see the wagons being loaded and the wagons leaving off to the distance. Mostly a bit more into the plains and slightly north. They would have to get out of their foliage hiding spot to get a better view of where it is going or risk a ride on a wagon; Both would could be deadly to their health.

As they stay low and examine the area, something comes into view. Perhaps alerted by the hounds. Perhaps just doing its own patrol... But there is The Harvester. The massive seven foot, binder with tower shield and halberd in hand. It's dark gaze looking over everything going on.

At least for now it's a blessing that they've moved away from the spot. Hopefully Wake covering their trail will keep the dogs off their tails for a little longer. Shirbua isn't sure how much being undead alters a canine's senses, and she'd rather not stick around too long to find out.

Going around the long way of the perimeter is slower, but they've seen enough down in the labor camp to know being cautious is their best bet, with only two of them here. At the new vantage point Shiruba hunches down, watching for a bit. Then pulls out her map, unrolling it very slowly to keep the parchment from making noise, and starts marking down information. The camp's location, the direction the wagons are taking. She can't tell where from this point, but the direction will have to do for now. They're going -somewhere- to do -something- and knowing the direction might help later calculations.

She glances up from the map just in time to see the hulking form entering the camp. Immeadiately her ears lay back, she recognizes that from the reports along. That's bad news, with a capital BN.

She shakes her head to Wake. They can't risk getting closer with THAT thing there.

    Knowing the enemy doesn't really matter, honestly. Sure, in her peak of former glory, Wake took down incredible odds and got into areas considered impossible. But there were no stakes back than. No risks. A mob that compares at this level now matters. The fact that it can do something utterly unprecedented is of course worse, but from Wake's point of view, worse doesn't matter when the only course of action is clear.

    She gives Shiruba a look and mouths, shall we say, 'we are leaving now'. There's nothing to be gained here, and she's not silly enough to think for a second that their trail hasn't been found. Who knows what that thing can do?

    The Baroness is not going to find out. She's heading out with as much haste as she can. This is no longer just stealth, it's more bout speed.

    The two book it out of there! This does get some attention, but it also gets the Knight Harvester's attention. The massive metal binder catches a glimpse of the two.

Its head slowly lowers down and it then---

Disappears into the ground.

        [ BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7wSDD_LIzg ]

    As the two run, they find themselves suddenly having to avoid the massive figure rising out from the ground nearly directly behind them.

They need to just keep running and whatever they do-- don't stop-- or trip!

Run run run. Shiruba doesn't need to look back. A Hunter's senses are finally turned to their environment, she can -feel- the foreboding nature coming to rise behind them without looking to see which terrible dark creature it is.

Much like the beast her variant of race is based on she's quick on her feet, barreling across the field as fast as she can muster herself to go. Running through the wilderness was nothing new. Running through the wilderness with a horrific evil in pursuit was a bit different. A lot more dangerous. But they've almost made it away from the perimeter of the labor camp. Just a little farther...

And that's when she gets tripped up, quite literally, by a gnarled old root that's been partially exposed by all the undead patrols stomping around in armor boots catching one of her feet and the huntress takes an embarassing tumble face first into the dirt.

To her credit Shiruba is quickly getting back onto her feet, even throwing some wind magic behind her for a boost to get going again, but she's lost precious seconds and distance to the imposing implaciable presencing looming down upon them...

    Well, it's been a while since Wake saw that kind of trick. But it does make the whole stealth concern pointless. She isn't going to shout an order to Shiruba to run, because, well, kind of obvious that it is the thing to do. The question is, are they faster than that thing or not. Since it apparently has some kind of teleportation ability, she's not certain they are.

    Regardless of that, she moves through the forest more like a ghost than a normal person, touching the ground with only the tips of her toes as she jets forward and the ground blurs past. She notices out of the corner of her eye that Shiruba is keeping up, but loses sight of her a moment later. She looks back, glad to see that Shiruba is back on her feet. Not knowing exactly how the enemy will attack leaves it unclear just what manner of danger they are in, though. Other than, of course, a lot. She prepares herself to turn back, knowing just how hopeless a fight may be. She's not going to just let an ally fall.

    They run and run as fast as they can. The Knight Harvester continues to walk after them. The further they run, the more that hulking binder looms further behind.

It looks like they may be in the clear, that is until Shiruba trips. When she does, even as she hastily gets back up, the binder does what it can do at that distance...

It swings back the halberd, the edge glowing with dark energy, before swinging the blade across its body. The energy escapes out, soaring across the distance. It lops down trees in its path and then slams /hard/ into Shiruba just as she gets back up on her feet and running again.

It would hit with enough force that it nearly takes out her whole health in one hit, but not enough to kill her. When Wake does go to check on her, they will both find that the Knight Harvester is no longer chasing.

    It is nowhere to be seen, as the binder has sunken back into the earth. No rumble. No popping up in front of them. The wildlife was a quiet for a bit, but soon, the creatures of the wilds would start their normal melody of nature showing the cost was clear.

They have escaped the worst of it.

Shiruba doesn't look back, she just starts running again. It's not quite enough, as the blast of corrupt energy slams into her back and sends the wolfgirl sprawling to the ground once more. Fortunately when the trees fall they fall in the other direction, as even just one bumping near her might of been enough to actually crush her at this point.

She exhales hard... but fortunately Wake didn't just abandon her. And fortunately the Harvester has decided that warning was enough and sunk back off to the camp.

It's slow and with a wince, but Shiruba gets back onto her feet. "Worry about the damage later" Despite the numberous red 'wound' lines across her back. "AFTER we're out of here before something else comes to finish the job." She just sucks it up and gets moving again. Stubborn and determined.

    "I can't say that went at all according to any plan I had hoped to achieve," admits Wake. "If this is any indication of the strength this enemy has, I'm not sure all the intel in the world will matter in the least. Hopefully the others are finding something that makes does make a difference."

    It's something of a sign that she's considering standard intel a complete bust. Other than planning a retreat, knowing where a nearly invincible force is and what it intends doesn't add much. Unfortunately they didn't really manage that.

    "Let's get a move on. And I can use a bit of healing magic along the way." Fairy Healing isn't a powerful thing, but repeated uses ought to get Shiruba into a much better state. "I wonder why he stopped following, though. That's odd. I doubt it's so easy, but perhaps there's a range limitation of some kind?"

"Protecting their resource point is probably more important," Shiruba replies. She appreciates the small healing, it will at least keep her safe from any minor pricks along the way to somewhere safer. "We're... going to need more than just sneaking around and spying to get intel, I'm afraid."

They got something she can at least use maybe, but it's not much to the greater objective of finding out more about what the enemy is actually planning.

    "That could be. It's always a bit tricky to guess at intentions with enemies. Their complexity varies so much," replies Wake. She mulls that over in silence for a time, finally concluding, "In the end, we can only predict that stone and lumber are for building or repairing a strong hold. Which I find to be an unusual priority for an army on the march. But the same items could also make engines of war, like catapults and the like."

    In the end, the presence of the one enemy that can do far more than just inconvenience you for 24 hours made it impossible to stay. "I wonder why that thing was there, though. Of all the enemies to run into, we had to just stumble upon that thing. Regardless, we can only go back for now, and perhaps try something else in the future."