((Feel Free to back post, I'm trying to get this game moving along now, this is my first time so if i'm not pacing it well, just feel free to give me a shout to speed up/slow down))

The nights were cold and it was plain to see that travelling at this time would be difficult indeed without the proper clothes and precautions. A cold, harsh wind blew through the camp each night as the wind howled restlessly. The fire provided little light to see but it appeared that there were no dangers in the area.

Travelling by the day was dreadfully uncomfortable, the sweltering heat surrounded the group but despite this, they were adequately equipped with supplies and they could travel comfortably.

On the third day, after breaking camp and walking for approximately 3 hours against the wind, faint sounds of battle could be heard. Very faint. But the unmistakable sound of bowstrings being pulled.

((Imma skip forward a bit, gonna assume you guys are going to go closer to it and maybe sneak towards it, feel free to correct me and i'll change it.))

Staying close to the surface of the hot sand, the group witnesses a strange battle in where a group of adventurers, mostly made up of elves. They're recognizable from the square. The fight takes place about 70, 80 feet away. The group they fight with, they are.. Strange. their movements jerky and their armour cracked and incomplete. Arrows litter their bodies but still they move.

((Elves number 4, the "other group" is 8. If you want a map drawn, lemme know. My summer school is almost done so I'll be putting more consistent updates hopefully!)

Ochit heard the sounds of battle and moved with the others to investigate. Soon they saw a group of elves, the ones from the village, fighting some strange looking individuals. "Much sticks in. Not die. How keep fight?" Ochit pointed towards the group of eight. "Go fast. Follow no when fight. Find first."

Sun. Armour. Not a good combo. Especially with the desert heat. Reynard rubbed his forehead once again with a cloth. The bone armour did not vent well in the least, and he could practically feel the heat being absorbed. Rolling his shoulders in an attempt to remain somewhat comfortable, he trudged on. He wasn't going to be the next victim for the Templars.

He eyed his team as the progressed. He had yet to decide whether these people would remain constant travel companions for him. He had began to like Klik, which was weird. He never thought that he would ever enjoy the company of a Thri-Kreen. Or not be attacked and devoured by one while travelling. Additionally, he had never heard of a Thri-Kreen being as tactful as Klik either.

Projecting his mind to those gathered he spoke
"Rest easy, I will keep watch as a shepherd does their flock. I need not sleep as you do, and will take the time to prepare for the morrow, and perhaps annotate our travels."
Given their pre-adventure apt for conflict, Klik figured these early hours of the evening may be his only quiet time to reflect in the days ahead, and he had no qualms with dutifully putting the wasteful 'sleep' other creatures needed to more productive uses.
"I was going to offer my services to keep watch, but since you don't need to sleep that would be for the best. Reynard stared into the fire, contemplating times past. He knew that the future would be better. Better than the so called 'guard' occupation he once had.

Though the fire helped a bit, the night was frigid. Reynard curled up to the best of his ability in his bedroll, trying to keep his head warm. Suddenly, sweating in the day seemed much better than this.

They travelled 2 more days, and it was the same. Little conversation was made. This frustrated Reynard slightly. It was hard to gauge everyone as they didn't say or do anything. Except for Morrigu. Reynard filed a mental note to not annoy her. Perhaps make some attempt to get on her good side? Or, would that just be making himself a target? Reynard found himself moving closer to Doc Klik. "If I may inquire sir, you, ah, said you were trained by the Templars. How did you find yourself in their services?" Reynard asked him as the progressed on the second day.

(OOC: Will backpost more as needed)

They slowly moved up near the battle there were 8 armoured figures on one side, and 4 elven adventurers on another. Did they take casualties? Or were they simply confident that the 4 of them could handle this? The armoured figures moved in in awkward, jerky way.

Ochit heard the sounds of battle and moved with the others to investigate. Soon they saw a group of elves, the ones from the village, fighting some strange looking individuals. "Much sticks in. Not die. How keep fight?" Ochit pointed towards the group of eight. "Go fast. Follow no when fight. Find first."
Reynard turned to the party. "Leave them? I suggest we engage whomever they are fighting. Those elven adventurers may be our competition yes, but who knows if they are trying to help another. Perhaps they have families? I am in favour of an attack. We could stand to learn about one another's capabilities anyways."

Reynard waited for the response of the other's.

Morrígu hissed at the sight of the surface elves. She hated the nasty creatures. If the enemy overwhelmed them then so be it, not like they would accept her help anyway.

"The sunlight faeries can fight their own war. Let's move on and get out of the nasty nasty sun!"

Morrígu punctuated her point by spitting on the ground and heading onward.

At the start of their third day of sweltering heat and sand getting everywhere Crowe was starting to think it was better that he just pick up and relocate, as he frequently did. than to complete this quest for the Templars. Three hours into trying to decide how best to sneak away he heard the unmistakable twing of bowstrings, and before he knew it they were heading in the direction of the sound, TOWARD DANGER.

The sight they found was as is to be expected when the sounds of comabt fill the air. A group of Elves, which he recognized as having been in the square when they were all conscripted by the templars, were desperately firing away at foes that their arrows did not seem to be dropping. Hadn't there been 6 Elves when they left though, before them now fought 4, and they were fighting a losing battle it appeared. Would any assistance they could offer turn the tide, would it be wise to assist their competition? The problem of course was, if they did let the Elves fall in this hopeless battle what was to stop their foes from finding and turning on them?

Morigu expressed her disgust at the Elves, which stung a bit to one such as himself as he too was of Elven descent, sharing blood with these "sunlight faeries" as she had called them. He did not speak up intentionally to contradict her sentiment, but out of his own observations and opinions, "As eager as I am to get this job completed and get paid, I have to agree with Reynard on this. We should help the Elves, if nothing else then for the simple fact that if they fall to their undying foes then those foes could very well be coming for us next. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd prefer to take them on with the advantage of numbers, us with the archers below, than to be outnumbered later."

Three days the small group of would be adventurers traveled through the sweltering heat of the day and dreadfully cold nights. Hours upon hours were spent marching in near silence; a feat Klik thought highly unnatural for such races prone to gossip and storytelling. The silence of the sand was only rarely disturbed by the outspoken irritation of Morrigu and the heavy footfalls of feet through sand and shale.

Only Reynard broke the dreadful monotony of the trek as he neared and inquired as to Klik's training.

Turning to the heavily armored man Klik focused his thoughts and transmitted them telepathically.

When the Sorcerer King's minions came upon my clutch, the warriors of my tribe thought little of the forces which sought our lands for the Boneyard we nested by. The ancient graveyard is a host to centuries of marvelous creature and tale alike, where grand beast, and Kreen warrior alike are laid to rest to forever be remembered as the sun bleaches bone and immortalizes the body as the spirit flies free. What we deemed as sacrament, the Templar's deigned valuable resources for furthering their military campaigns. Needless to say diplomatic resolutions are not a Kreen's strong point when dealing with other races, and combat quickly ensued. Much blood was shed, and much valor gained for warrior's on both sides, but what Kreen's have in abundance in size or vigor, The Sorcerer King matched with waves upon waves of sacrificial pawns. For every Kreen that fell, five humans or their kind met an end, but endlessly they came, well into the night, and into the next morning still until eventually the clutch was reduced to but a few survivors clinging to life, ideal, and perhaps... foolish pride.
Klik absentmindedly fingered the long blood hued ribbon wrapped around his secondary right appendage. He paused for a moment as though reflecting upon that memory, and then continued.

When the Templar's came upon me, I was busy tending to the wounded, both Kreen, and invader alike, staunching the flow of death wherever I could. Honor in battle deserved a clean end, not at the hands of infection and lingering pain. My hands worked tirelessly with scalpel and bandage, ointment and salve to spare the dying, and for some reason the commander of that expeditionary force saw value in Kreen medicine and gave me a choice. To serve under the God-King and learn the 'superior spirit of man' or die in the sand like the rest of the 'roaches'. I can tell you now that then and there I realized that pride alone would not save those dying around me, and if being a Templar would give me the tools with which to save more lives, and perhaps learn the ways of you foreigners enough to prevent future needless bloodshed, then my choice was clear. It was soon after I began training as a Medic in the order. It took years before I was forgotten as a drafted casualty of war, and was simply another man behind the God-King. Fortunately, your kinds memories are short, and paperwork long, and so while one station believes I'm part of one detachment, and another believes I should be delivering supplies with convoys, I am free to travel and put to use the skills I've been taught, both Kreen and man.
Klik fingered the ribbon some more before tightly securing it around his arm once more.

There is another, more spiritual reason I wander the path I do, but these strangers, these, Godless souls led astray by this Sorcerer-King, are not yet trusted enough to know the truth.. but then again is anyone on this rock capable of comprehending they are sheep to a false shepherd? Klik thought to himself as he continued on their way.

~*~*~*~*~

Eventually, the group cleared a dune of sand and their vision of the landscape under the sun soaked sky was met with what their ears had gleaned of shortly before; combat. It looked as though a small group of elves were squaring off against a superior number of shambling rickety beings. It was discussed by various members of the group what course of action should be taken, and opinions varied from assistance, to avoidance, and each had it's own merit.

Klik 'voiced' his opinion to the group.
It would be folly to expend too many resources at the behest of rivals; but on the other hand knowledge is power as they say, and the more we know about potential adversaries the better prepared we can be in the future. -There was something in the way he expressed his statement that felt as though he was broadly covering both the unknown entities AND the elven company themselves.-

If we are to render them assistance, let it be done with minimal danger to ourselves, and if they accept our aid, let it be known that it comes with a cost, as does everything in life.
Turning to Morrigu he spoke softly, though openly. I understand hatred; a frail, humanoid emotion used to shelter weakness behind a veil of anger. I am led to believe you Ilythiri are above such base emotional crutches. That as superior Elven bloodlines, it is more in your nature to evoke awe at your beauty and wrath than be driven away by mere words. Would it not be a grand mockery to those elves to be forced to owe you - their better- their very lives? How better to humiliate them than to send them scurrying knowing that each breath they take was granted by your whim? Hrmm.. perhaps my books are mistaken.. I may have to question their authors accuracy

"Find us will trouble later. Not now look for get hurt. Do with friends what say do."

Trossach looked down at the battle before him and frowned. 4 elves? There should be 6. And now two of them appeared to have joined their enemies. Enemies that didn't seem to mind being pierced by arrows and that walked oddly.

Zombies. They appeared to be zombies. Oh, joy. He was inclined to help. He didn't like seeing good people (Assumption, the elves had actually been pricks, but one shouldn't judge a person on one small action.)fall to evil creatures.

As the others talked of joining the fight or leaving, Trossach added his words to the mix. "Patience. Let us watch for but a moment. We may learn something about these foes and also see if the elves truly do need our help. I doubt any of us truly want to see those other creature win, competition or not."

Collectively, you all decided to wait, watching the elves fight these monsters off.

You saw that the elves used many arrows and eventually, a zombie with cracked, broken armour fell to the ground, lifeless. Suddenly as it fell, it's body seemed to burst, pouring out a spray of putrid green liquid in all directions, to a distance of about 5 feet. 7 zombies left. The five others clambered on relentless, moving very slowly but the other one, the ones with relatively cleaner armour appeared to run very quickly, sprinting clumsily after the elves. All but one managed to retreat, still using their arrows against the zombies. This elvish man dropped his bow and drew his blade.

The elf fought furiously, slashing at the zombies bodies and nimbly dodging their attacks. Despite the zombie's speed, they did not seem adept at using their hands and teeth to fight.

However as soon as the group of zombies approached the elvish fighter, he appeared to retch and he had to cover his nose. These zombies were able to grasp at the man quickly, having better motor control over their bodies and soon, he was overpowered.

The elves shot their arrows and managed to take down another one but they had lost another companion.

((Alright guys, I rolled a nat 20 for your perception roll so you guys got a ton of information. If you want to wait for a minute or so to see if the fallen elf gets back up, I can quickly post that. You can decide whether you want to fight, press on and evade or do something else that I haven't thought of.))

"Not like slow things. Bad for stay alive. Run away better than sometimes fight. Not be next."

A strange thing happened as the thri-kreen's words echoed through her mind. A stillness settled around Morrígu smoothing away her mercurial fits. She did not respond with screams and tantrums. Even the light of insanity seemed to fade from her eyes.

Wrapped in the dark majesty of the drow she spoke, "Do you think me a spider?" She laughed and stepped toward Klik. "Spider's spin their webs with vanity, but I am no spider. I am a raven. Yet spider or raven, a blood war is a blood war."

The clash of battle and screams pulled the serenity from her mind and just as quickly, mercurial Morrígu returned. Her face twisted in disgust and she pointed to the pile of zombies and the fallen elf.

"Look, the nasty elves die before the ugly dead things. Why should we give our blood for them? They'd leave us to die if roles were different..."

Doc wondered what Morrigu meant by being a Raven over a Spider; he would have to observe the subject further to see any possible mutations or anthropomorphic magics which may adapt her to the avian species.
Klik projected his thoughts aloud: "Spider or Raven, you are our companion, and while I may not detest the surface elves as your blood war calls for, I cannot discount that aiding them is dangerous and in my case, beyond me without great personal risk as I lack sufficient means to combat them from a safe distance."

He turned to survey the elves and their struggle, before speaking once more.

"I know some of your hearts call to aid others, and I applaud the moral aspirations which beat within your chests; but those elves today, are just one of many reminders that this life is a fragile thing we cling to. If you can aid them do so, but do not trade the threat to one group to another on a whim of grandeur. There will be many dangers before our trek is over, and if we are unprepared, we could find ourselves in a similar situation as those elves below."

(if asked etc, Doc will provide medical aid to any who are brought to him should that be the brazen task someone undertakes, but would from a rational standpoint agree with leaving the elves is a wiser course. From a Alignment standpoint, his deity is the god of endurance, martyrdom, perseverance, and suffering. So in this case he'll pray for their endurance and perseverance but he's not in a position where martyrdom and taking their place is an option lol.)

Frustrated with the inaction on the part of his "companions" Crowe speaks up once again, "I'll not sit idly by as these creatures are allowed to slaughter another group before becoming our problem. If you lot want to sit here and watch with your thumbs up your arses, be my guest, you can watch me too!"

With that said he vaulted from the dune they were posted upon and drew his rapier, rushing headlong like a fool into a fight he likely couldn't win.

"If I have to die, at least I'll die in bloody battle..."

Ochit watched Crowe charge towards the battle. "Die soon or maybe not really die."

Reynard voiced his opinion. Watching the one elf go down infuriated him. Instead of aiding those who could be of benefit to then, they instead sat back and did nothing. These zombies had to be dealt with. Even if they themselves did avoid them, that didn't mean this group wouldn't attack others, possibly even civilians someplace.

Crowe suddenly charged in. At the moment, it seemed like just him. Watching his companion move in, Reynard drew his hammer and followed him. As he closed the distance (since he can't get there in one round) Reynard gave a quick blow on his horn and bellowed, "REINFORCEMENTS ARE HERE!" Reynard assumed that the other elves would not engage in melee, so he followed Crowe, and engages the same target as him. With his shield, Reynard was confident he would be some aid to his less protected companion.

(OOC: Reynard attacks the same target as Crowe, and uses his bonus action to impose disadvantage on a attack on Crowe.)