Despite Muu’s worries, the Bladedancer’s concerns were largely ignored in favor of Ash’s direction. Her voice was too soft for anyone else to really pick up, after all, and regardless of her new clothes and weapon, her interior didn’t change enough to go against the flow of the rest of the people. Without much further ado, it was decided that they would head out for the western gate, intending on scouting out the so called fort. Passing through many of the taverns that had once mesmerized them a week ago, some of them may recall still that the crypt they had emerged from was in that same direction. But no matter where they looked, the trainee monster hunters couldn’t spot any building that looked quite like the one they awoken in.

That was a small oddity though, quickly wiped away when the guards at the western gate side-eyed their sorry state of affairs and checked out their necklaces, before the more portly of the two smacked Matteo on the back and wished him good luck. When the two guards thought they were out of earshot, the bets began being made about whether or not these freshies would be coming back that night.

But that wasn’t any concern for the small party.

[hr]

Though the road towards the western forests started off as well paved, dirt packed down tight from years, decades of others marching down the same path, eventually the road turned into a mess of branches, stones, and mud. Flies darted in and out of their ears, while clouds of gnats spun into condensed swarms when the adventurers neared. The foliage thickened up soon enough as well, and with only directions as vague as ‘west’, it wasn’t all too certain if they were actually on the right path to Rugome Fort, if they had overshot it or missed a turn amongst the game trails that they followed. This sudden introduction to the woods and discomfort was especially taxing on Muu, who, despite how harsh her own acrobatics training was, hadn’t acclimated at all to the wild, untamed landscape. More than once had her feet gotten caught on a root, and her scarlet scarf, despite being so dramatic and stylish out in the open, had snagged countless times on the small branches and brambles that they pushed themselves through. With Ash in the lead, however, the going wasn’t nearly as rough as it could have been, the fledgling ranger at ease with the unruly paths of the woods, all as her trained eyes kept an eye out for tracks, either monstrous or animal.

After a two hour jaunt through the woods, the group caught their first lucky break. Passing over a fallen pine, Ash spotted the small, bounding tracks of a rabbit, easy enough to follow through the narrow dirt trail that sliced through verdant grass. Continuing further along, their fortune seemed to only increase at the sight of that same, tracked rabbit now hanging from the noose of someone else’s trap. It was certainly dead, and it also looked fresh enough that maggots had not settled into the corpse yet. Hanging from twined loop over a thick branch that was nailed to a tree, the handiwork, from Ash’s judgment at least, looked to be crude and effective.
Whatever the case of this was, with both Ash and Matteo’s expertise, they could doubtlessly remove the rabbit, reset the trap, and leave with their spoils before the setter noticed it. But…was that right?

No, fuck that. Righteousness may make them feel like saints, but feelings didn’t sate stomachs.