[color=lightgreen][center][h3][i][b]Day 1: 17:35:01
The World's End Pub
Village of Pristupin, Libor Province
Republic of Polavia
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[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Getting Wrecked[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

Rowan had headed towards her car. Her head swinging from one face to another as she ran past the drunks pouring out of the bar into the street. Her eyes searched for members of the team. She was disappointed as her car came into sight and none of them had yet appeared before her. She gritted her teeth. Her thoughts were flowing fast as she tried to decide what to do next. She knew that the special forces team had been after Borys but they had known who the rest of them were too. Granted they were not the brightest sparks in Reactor’s tool box. She refused to leave her car and all her gear behind. Maybe she could go back the other way and find them along the way. 

About that time Oksana ran up, tapping the bonnet, sliding across it from where it was parked in the street and began babbling quickly. 

[color=00aeef]Oksana: "My babushka....my grandmother, she can hide us, we're going to be hunted if we don't leave now! Let's grab the rest!" [/color]

Rowan frowned at Oksana and yelled at her out of habit. [color=#39FF14]“Oiy! Watch the paint!” [/color]

About that time the sound of sirens could be heard getting closer. Rowan unlocked the driver’s side door of her Mercedes and climbed into the driver’s seat. She hit the unlock button so Oksana could get in. 

Rowan rolled her eyes as Oksana literally yelled out [color=00aeef]“Shotgun!” [/color]

Rowan thought to herself. [color=#39FF14][i]Like she had any competition for the front seat. Rowan was sure as hell not going to trust her to drive her car at this point.[/i] [/color]

The engine kicked over with a familiar growl. She threw the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. Oksana found her Mossberg where she had hidden in between the front seats. She didn’t mind that. It would free her up to just drive. Rowan flipped a U-turn knowing the team was not in the direction she was heading. She turned the car to head back towards the bar. [color=#39FF14]“I am assuming the rest of them are this way.” [/color]She let Oksana give her directions back to where the others were. 

Rowan had floored the gas pedal and laid on the horn to move people out of her path. She smiled as drunks began jumping out of her way as she flew past the pub. You could still see the smoke from the special forces team bug out glyphs as she went by. Rowan laughed as she saw Felix turn into a lion and chase after a machete carrying Polavian drunk. She snickered at the men who would have to share a backseat with Felix. A better question was how they were going to coax him into the backseat. Her amusement faded at that question as Felix shifted back. She slid to a stop next to the men. [color=#39FF14]“Did someone call for a taxi? I charge extra if you get mud and fur on my seats!” [/color]

She took off just as fast after the men had clambered inside. She drove away from the pub area as quickly as possible following Oksana’s directions. 

[hr]

[color=lightgreen][center][h3][i][b]Day 1: 18:01:42...
Oksana's Babuskha's House (Oksana's Grandmother)
Somewhere outside the village of Pristupin, Libor Province
Republic of Polavia

Blood Alcohol Levels: Questionable
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[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Get Breaded[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

[b]Soundtrack: [url=https://pie.yt/?v=https://youtu.be/fHC05_9b0gw?si=pZWHhsaDcv0NmIeH&pieshare=1] Lilly Allen - F*ck You Very Very Much [/url]
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They eventually stopped at a small rural Polavian farm. Rowan slowly climbed out of the car. She could see why Oksana thought they could lie low here. Rowan closed her car door and leaned back against it. Rowan was already making plans to sleep in her car. She would not be sleeping in the animal scented barn. She tried hard and failed to have a grateful smile on her face. Her nose wrinkled at the scent of a working farm which was animals and all the things that came with them. Rowan was not ashamed to admit she was a city girl who liked modern conveniences. She looked around at the rural farm and couldn’t help thinking [color=#39FF14]“fuck my life.”[/color] This is not how she wanted to live her life. 

Rowan raised an eyebrow as she saw Felix come running out of the forest in his lion form laden with supplies and packs. The lion gave an odd sort of guttural sound that sounded more like a moan. Her attention was pulled to Oksana who was also looking at Felix when she said [color=00aeef]"Ah, crap. Not now." [/color]

Then the front door of the little hut opened and who she assumed was Oksana’s grandmother opened the door. The woman was waving and looked to be in her eighties. She called out, [color=6ecff6]"Sanka, you were out so late! And who are your new friends?" [/color]

Rowan was amused that the grandmother didn’t bat an eye at the gun toting laden Lion or the big burly men accompanying Oksana. Nor did she question why a car was sitting outside her house. Felix was huffing and drooling like a dog. 

Oksana whispered something to Felix and he transformed back into his human self. 

Felix began grumbling. [color=fff200]"Dammit, that hurts. You have no idea how much it's shitty when I'm starved in that form. And this one." [/color]

Oksana led the way to the steps of the hut where she brushed off her feet as she spoke to her grandmother. Oksana: [color=00aeef]"Some other mercenaries. They're all friendly. Borys is Polavian, so you can..."[/color]

Oksana’s grandmother replied in Polavian. [i][color=6ecff6]"Ah, he is so hungry that he is becoming a lion, he needs more food! And the short one too! All of you do!"[/color][/i] 

Rowan chuckled as she understood what the grandmother had said. She had purchased a spell scroll that would teach her Polavian before she left the DSR. She knew she would need to understand the language while on the run in the country or if she ended up staying in the country. 

The grandmother invited them in for a meal. [color=6ecff6]"Come on in! I have food already, it's been there for ages! You need to tell me when you bring friends, I would have prepared even more!" [/color]

Rowan reluctantly followed the group inside. She could use a good meal but felt like she was taking advantage of Oksana’s grandmother. She studied the elderly lady. She was tiny, with glasses that looked like headlight bulbs, a wooden cane, and hair that had been grey since her 40s. It was clear she was delighted to see her granddaughter. 

Rowan made sure to clean her muddy boots on the brush mat at the door for that purpose. She didn’t want to cause the grandmother any additional work. The elderly lady immediately led them into a tiny kitchen and began to hand them food and drinks. She seemed to ignore any protest and just thrust bowls and cups into hands with a smile. 


[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Later....[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

[color=lightgreen][center][h3][i][b]Day 1: 21:21:42
Babuskha's House (Oksana's Grandmother)
Somewhere outside the village of Pristupin, Libor Province
Republic of Polavia

Bellies: Full
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Rowan groaned as her stomach warned her that expelling food would happen if she tried to eat or  drink anything else. She had tried to stop multiple times and somehow found herself taking another bite after a pointed look from the grandmother. 

Felix was the first to comment after they had left the hut on their way to the barn.[color=fff200]"How the hell did she make that much food? There's like, not enough pantry?" [/color]

Oksana replied [color=6ecff6]"Ey! I told you we would get a feed." [/color]

Rowan giggled as she patted her stomach.[color=#39FF14] “If I fall down, just roll me. I don’t think I would be able to get back up. Nice to meet you over dinner Silas.” [/color]

Rowan had been convinced to give the barn a try. It would be very cold tonight and they had some gas heaters for the barn. Rowan had sighed as she turned over her choices. She had finally sighed and decided she might as well go all in. She would work off some of this food as she emptied most of the back up supplies that were in her trunk. She had carried it in and put it on one of the tables. There were duffle bags, plastic storage tubs, and cardboard boxes. Her cauldron and other assorted craft items made it onto a table. 

They walked the rest of the way in silence to the barn. Rowan looked around as the halogen light came on. The old aluminium-roofed barn had been an old, small cowshed, hay scattered where the old dairy cows had once sat, and a couple of tables for gunsmithing and iterating on their gear dragged all over the place. A place for the team to set up shop, with whatever they'd been carrying, whatever they'd scavenged, gotten from nearby. Space was limited inside the farmhouse, so Oksana and her grandmother had pulled out whatever quilts, hay, and gas heating that they could to keep them warm inside this makeshift FOB. She was currently carrying a massive stainless steel looking tank, with a tap at the bottom of it, and a pile of ceramic mugs.

Oksana began to talk as they settled onto stools and chairs around the various tables. [color=00aeef]"So, as I translated, our antics made it on local news. Fifteen injured, and rumours that at the centre of it, they're hunting not just one, but four foreign crafters. Police are already closing the gap. We can't go back in that way. And every road out is blocked with checkpoints, looking for foreigners now. So it's not great. And before anyone even asks, I do not trust the police. I have my reasons." [/color]

Oksana turned her attention to Felix and asked the question they all wanted answered. [color=00aeef]"Why are they are they after you, Felix? I can't read your mind. But I will tell whichever version of you decides to lie." 
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Felix answered her query, [color=fff200]"Of course I don't have any chance of telling fibs. They want me because I'm an officer, and they want higher ups in the company arrested. And, you'll never believe this, they never took me to account on what I did to that horse in the DSR. Why they went that full force, who knows. They seemed like they wanted something else too. Any of you lot up to no good?" 
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Felix sounded defensive as he poked Oksana verbally.  [color=fff200]"And why the hell did you throw a bottle at a local as our best chance? See that one through, because now that went from a raid, to an entire village getting into a fistfight?" [/color]

Oksana fired back at Felix. Rowan felt as if she was watching a verbal tennis match as they argued like siblings tossing verbal barbs back and forth. Oksana began by pushing the team towards a plan. 

Rowan agreed with Oksana[color=#39FF14]  “I agree we need a plan. We can’t just hide here. They will eventually come here and it is not fair to Oksana’s grandmother. She should not pay for our issues.” [/color]

Rowan frowned as Oksana said they couldn’t use the roads. [color=#39FF14]“I don’t agree with that. Why can’t we take the roads? They will be watching the train stations as well. It would be easier to have our own transportation and I have a car. It blends in well here. We have ways of changing our appearance. Why not use the roads?” [/color]

She waited for a good counter argument as Felix asked for a map and Oksana produced a tourist map of the area. Rowan growled, not happy as they were still planning to ditch her car. She would have to leave most of what she brought with her behind. The whole reason she brought her car was to be able to carry more of her things. She still didn’t agree with the plan. No one had given her a good reason to do it their way. She kind of got where Felix was going. She relented a little but was still not happy. She had not shared everything in her car with them yet. 

Rowan gave Felix a dirty look. [color=#39FF14]“Oh you want a big batch of spell ink. You know what I use that big cauldron for… you know the one you want me to leave behind! If I have to leave all my gear here, I won’t be able to set up a still to provide Borys with alcohol either. Fuck you Felix!”[/color] 

She left cursing their stupidity as she wandered out into the forest to gather some local supplies. She didn’t want to eat into her stores and there was a whole forest just outside the door to gather in. She left as he was rambling on about glyphs. The idiot forgot the part that glyphs were most commonly inked onto paper. Sure she could make the ink. Did anyone have a supply of paper other than her. Probably not. Rowan’s mind kept up her mental rant as she began to gather bark from trees, roots, herbs, mushrooms, and a variety of other things from the forest around the farm. 

Rowan came back inside the barn and set up her large cauldron. She organized all the supplies she had brought in from the car. She began to brew up a cauldron full of spell ink. She began chopping items, grinding them in her mortal pestle. She used her wand to add water to the large cast iron pot. With her wand she heated the mixture carefully so as not to set the table on fire. She was careful with the temperature as she applied her will to the contents of the pot. The ink for the travel glyphs to bring them back to the farm would be more powerful and accurate for using natural items found around the area to help the glyph target the area more easily. It would simplify the glyph needed and allow them to make plenty of them. She left the batch of glyph ink to condense as she turned her thoughts to other concerns.

She began organizing other gear from the car as she thought through her options. If they were going to use the grandmother’s farm as a home base for their activity, they needed to lay some wards around to protect it. Oksana’s grandmother deserved to be compensated and warned about what she was being pulled into. Rowan was reluctant to part with her stash of supplies and money. She had no idea how long it would be before she would be able to replace some of it. Her little green hoard monster reared its ugly head. She fought it back with the thought that sometimes money was a tool. She had to let go of the comforts she enjoyed and embrace the reality of a life on the run. She damn well better get the opportunity to enjoy a bubble bath when they make it to a bigger city or they would be hell to pay! She opened one of the heavy duty duffle bags from her car. Stacked inside it was cash and some gold bars. She then organized the ammo for her guns. She looked around at the rest of the team going about their tasks. She sighed it was time to come clean. 

Rowan sighed as she started the conversation. If they were going to work together they needed to have all the facts. Secrets like these could cause trouble down the road. [color=#39FF14] “Have any of you seen the news about what is happening in Kalan?” She paused a minute looking at each of them before continuing. “My team was sent into Kalan to neutralize a mind control nerve agent. We accomplished the mission but were caught on camera as we were leaving. Reactor disavowed us and only a few of our members made it out of the country. I have a whole damn country baying for my head. Reactor left us high and dry. The DSR issued an arrest warrant wanting to know more information about what happened. Kalan was accusing us of being DSR agents even though it was Reactor who sent us. Although I believe it is more to tie off loose ends as I believe Reactor was the stalking horse for the DSR on this issue. That is why I am here in Polavia on the run. I thought they were there for me, not Felix until the dweeb started monologuing. I think the DSR is trying to hunt down anyone of leadership from Reactor that they can get their hands on. The question is why? They are hunting for information about something. If we are going to use the grandmother’s farm as a base of operations, then she should be warned and given as much protection as we can give her before we take off. If I am leaving my stuff here, I want to be reasonably sure it will be here when I get back. Understood!? I have some cash and gold I kept at my apartment before I ran. I also have a variety of ammo for the Mossberg and my pistol. Felix, I also have some snacks if you would like some of them. If you can give me some time, I can whip up some potions for everyone. I can make potions that make people want to look away, change our appearance, illusions, heal, and more. I just need to know what kind of potions you think we might need. If I have the ingredients and time, I can do it before we leave. I am a city girl. I like my comforts and I am not going to apologize for that. So get used to me being grumpy. I don’t like the dirt, mud, great outdoors, and creepy crawlies.” [/color]