Off Again

As we prepared to continue on to wherever the hell we were going, the skin of my back itched as I covered the intricate sign of the hydra I now wore, but I knew better than to walk out of this town with such a mark on display. We would be traveling a great distance, either across the lake or around the lake, and somewhere I knew it the back of my mind that a fight awaited us no matter which way we chose. The others took their time after exiting the dungeon to make preparations and fill their bags, while I spent the evening conversing with Sakura and sharping my blades.
 
We sat at the table in the inn, discussing our plans, working on our various things, and I laughed through most of it. When it came to travel, they lost their wits, worried about finding an abandoned wagon or catching the giant koi of the lake. I was beginning to understand what Reinys had told me when we left Kestel and what she had repeated once they arrived in Barkest and I retold what had happened in the hydra den. There had been much celebration between the four of us, with smiles finally coming to the faces of Reinys and Syndra for the first time in awhile, but that couldn't last as we discussed our next move and the path we would take.
 
With much convincing, the others chose to follow the shore of the lake to the south, utilizing the mounts we already had instead of attempting some other crazy form of travel. We left early in the morning, once again leaving our friends and continuing on.
 
The first night out was quiet. They took extreme precautions setting up camp as I continued to sharpen my blade. My own eyes were more useful to me on watch than their crazy and outlandish traps. It seemed to waste time when we wanted to move on the next day, but they insisted, and I continued to ignore it.
 
As we continued on, the stench of blood and death reached me, causing me to hold my weapons tighter. The town left before burned and its people on pikes reeked of orcs, a smell that was hard to forget. We searched the town for survivors, but nothing remained, even the shrine was left in ruins. Something told me that this was more than just orcs, something more was going on, but there was no time to think as the sound of drums echoed on the air. Orcs were known to come back to the crimes, but it seemed our party didn't know and our time here had been too long.