"The forest is large. Almost as large as Sighisoara itself. We've got a long trek in front of us."

Edmondo kept stride with Rick, moving alongside him. However, he had already drawn something quite.. different.
A pistol. Already readied in his hands with the grip that let Rick know two things almost immediately.
One, Edmondo must've had prior experience with firearms in a professional capacity.
Two, Edmondo was on guard.

"We may not find cultists or the like just yet, however there are plenty of creatures that roam the forest at night. Bears, wolves, deer. The usual, but there are a few things you may not see elsewhere. However, I recently found tracks of an unnaturally large beast. I'm thinking it may be a bear that the cult has corrupted for use as a border guard of their territory. It seems to stick to a very rigid path every night and head back during the day." He cast a glance over at Rick. His gait was odd, too, somewhat crouched down and almost as if he were expecting an attack at any moment. "We follow the bear's tracks, then get off of the path if we see or hear anything coming along it, understood?"

The trek was long, though, and uphill in some parts. An annoying venture that took them deeper and deeper into the woods by the second. Even if it wasn't approaching nighttime, the darkness of the woods would've made it just as difficult to navigate.

[hr]

As predicted, the sun had vanished below the horizon and drenched the world they made their way through in shadows. Edmondo had quickly pulled a pair of flashlights out of his pack and offered one to Rick, using them to pierce the overwhelming darkness of the forest. The air, for a long time, was full of the sounds of insects and birds going to bed, but soon enough it had fallen silent.

After that, however, the silence was broken by a crackling in Rick's earpiece before a familiar voice came through to him.
"Hallo, Rick? Can you hear me? We have established a connection, however it is a little.. iffy, so we may drop out. However, we are here to provide assistance. We cannot help with cartographic means, unfortunately, as the forest prevents our satellites from seeing past the foliage. This is likely how the kidnappers have been avoiding immediate repercussions. Where they are.. not even Lady Illusion could reach them easily. Please keep this in mind and be careful, Rick."

Though she'd stopped speaking, Eine was indeed there. If Rick needed anything, she'd be happy to assist him.

Eine herself was sitting upright in a chair in a nice, air-conditioned room, staring at a monitor that was tracking their estimated progress.
However, this was only due to the fact that the earpiece also doubled as a tracking device. Rick was currently deep in the forest to Sighisoara's east, heading further southeast by the second. She crossed her arms and leaned back, listening to the hustle and bustle of the people in the room around her. Rick and Edmondo's operation was far from the only one active at the time, but Eine's presence had drawn a large commotion amongst the other staff in the room, and they'd even been kind enough to allow her to use the satellite to track her charge's movements.

The only problem she could foresee is that, despite her monitoring, the distance between them was growing.
That meant more wasted time to get to Rick if an emergency broke out.

[hr]

It was three hours into their trek when Edmondo suddenly dropped to the ground and waved for Rick to join him. Up ahead there was a faint glimmer of torchlight, and there seemed to be two figures up ahead of them. Edmondo's pistol was at the ready, and he slid behind a tree with the practised ease of a veteran. The darkness made it nearly impossible to see Rick from his position, but the figures ahead were practically bathed in torchlight, allowing the two to focus on them and only them.
They were talking, too, quite loudly, in Romanian. Edmondo's eyes narrowed, but their words were somehow hard to distinguish.

"Rick, can you hear me?" The older man's voice came through Rick's earpiece, breaking the silence. Still, the other men would likely be unable to hear it since they were still far away enough that they weren't actively visible in proper detail.

Edmondo was leaning hard against the tree he'd taken cover behind, listening in to the conversation between the people- deep voices, men. In one hand, his pistol was ready. The other was pressed against the earpiece in his ear to allow him to talk.
"They're talking about their latest captive. Nothing of much importance, but they're definitely our people. We're on the right track."
Flashlight off, they were almost impossible to see in the pitch blackness.

"Alright, Rick. Now's your chance. What do we do with them?"