Just as Nicky seems to be at Wendelin's mercy, appearing out of nowhere, a sickly looking boy, Cole, socks Wendelin square in the jaw, shattering it while also sending her straight into Nezarec, knocking Jack of his back. The rest of the party finally reacts to what just happened and proceed to take separate actions, with most of the group checking in on Nicky to check if she's okay, Cole & Artorias discuss what just happened and Nezarec proceeds to restrain Wendelin as she struggles to no appeal in the golem's hold.

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~The Real World~

Everyone, "............."

Guest friend voicing Nicky, "WHAT THE F***!"

Wendelin's player, "Hahahahahahahahaha!"

Dungeon Master(DM), ".....well okay then, moving on."

Guest friend playing Nicky, "THE F***!!!"

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Wendelin seemingly both hurt and confused at what just happened begins to scream out in protest, "Lwfet fe wo you thunk of lock! I'm flily trying to till her, what's te thea!?" (Translation: Let me go you hunk of rock! I'm only trying to kill her, what's the idea!?)

"You tried to kill me! What the f***!"

At this point, Nicky had regained her bearings, choosing to lash out at the one almost responsible for her death. Taking this time to speak, the dark elf, Damaia, asks a question, "Why would you do that?"

Nicky, "Thank you!"

"We're still in sight of the city gates!"

"........."

Wendelin refused to give anything in the form of an answer, continuing to try and free herself from Nezarec's solid embrace. Deciding it'll look weird if he kept "hugging" her, Nezarec decides to carry Wendelin like a potato sack, effortlessly flinging her over his shoulder. It is at this point that the party realized that Artemis had already continued walking along and had gotten a good 20 yds away from them. Deciding to leave things as they were, the party picked up the pace to catch-up with her, eventually returning to how they were at the start of their journey....minus the extra distance between Nicky and Wendelin and the fact that Nezarec was carrying a "sack".

After only 30 mins, the party arrives at, what they can only assume to be, the convoy. However, after a quick investigation, all they can gather was the amount of damage that had been dealt. the scene is a mess, what little remains is charred black, with bodies burnt beyond recognition, piles of ash and chunks of ruined steel are the only way to make out where someone died. The burnt wreckage of the carriages especially saddens Nezarec, who was padding around the remaining wood, hoping to find something to make a new set of shields with. After a few minutes, Artemis was able to find a body that wasn't completely burnt, it wasn't any prettier however, savages cuts ran deep across the man's body, his steel armor becoming a coffin that melted onto his flesh.

Just as the party is about to give up, the owl, Ozwald, manages to find a small, nearly invisible trail leading into the woods. Excited at the lead, Damaia, Artemis, Ozwald and the Human-Dragonborn Hybrid, Esmery decide to follow it right away, however Artorias, Cole, Nezarecand Nicky wanted to check the convoy for more details, Wendelin and Jack being stuck with Nezarec, also stayed behind.  Thus, the party split up....

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~The Real World~

Inside the DM's head....

Voice 1, "......Did they just split up?"

Voice 2, "Yep."

Voice 3, "Kill them all!"

Voice 1, "Why would they split up!? They're all lvl.1!"

Voice 2, "There are 9 of them though."

Voice 3, "Rain fire on top of their heads!"

Voice 1, "But still! That's like, rule 'numero uno', DO NOT SPLIT THE PARTY!"

Voice 2, "Doesn't change the fact that they did."

Voice 3, "....are you guys ignoring me...."

Voice 1, "We can't just let them get away with this! We need to show them the error of their foolish ways!"

Voice 3, "...Hey..."

Voice 2, "How."

Voice 3, "....."

Voice 1,"Dang, they're only lvl.1, and all the diffucult guys are either way ahead of the story or doing their own thing."

Voice 3, "....."

Voice 2, "Booby-trap?"

Voice 1, "Nah."

"Wolves?"

"Doesn't connect to the story."

"welp I'm done."

"Goddamn it, why can't their be any good ways of punishing lvl.1s without ruining the game!"

"....."

Voice 3, ".....goblins...."

Voice 1 & 2, "!?!?"

Voice 3, "Have goblins ambush the group that went of into the woods all alone."

Voice 1, "...But goblins would get decimated...right?"

Voice 3, "Not if you give them bows and hide them up in the trees."

Voice 1, "......"

Voice 2, "It is a good idea, especially since they'll all lightly armored and even left their only healer unguarded."

Voice 1, "......"

Voice 3, "And if you time it right, it'll take a while for the fighters back at the convoy to realize what is happening, much less catch up."

Voice 1, "......"

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As Damaia was focousing on following the trail placed in front of her, out of no where, a small volley of arrows rain down from the trees. Thanks to her good reflexes, Damaia is able to avoid the 2 arrows directed at her, and is Esmery, though more out of luck in her case it seems, however, neither Artemis nor Ozwald were so lucky. Artemis was hit straight in her shoulder, tearing deep into her flesh, Ozwald, who was still in bird form, was hit clean out of the sky as an arrow tore cleanly through him and he fell onto the forest floor. Reacting as fast as they could, both Esemery & Artemis dove for cover behind their own tree, Damaia grabbing the barely conscious Ozwald before sliding into cover herself, just in time as another volley hit into each of their previous positions.

Damaia attempts to lightly treat her feathery companion before moving on to crafting something on the side. Artemis, groaning in pain, tugged at the arrow logged inside her, but had little results, only increasing her own screams. Esmery, panicked as see was, uses her spell, Message, to contact the other half of their party, informing them of their situation, as soon as the message is sent, she dashes over to Artemis's tree, barely avoiding another arrow.

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Going back to the group, still with the convoy, a short while ago, Artorias had discovered another clue using his knowledge of warfare and the arcane. Traces of magic in the damage, and the damage on the carts and soldies, suggested that it wasn't a dragon that did this, and that each of the victims here, minus the one "survivor" had all combusted from the inside. According to what he knew, this could only be done by someone of immense magic power or a demon. Partly through informing his fellow party members what he discovered, a series of words form in the air.

 ATTACKED. INJURED. HELP. 

Quickly realizing something was wrong, Artorias steps towards the direction their party had gone in, when Nezarec places a heavy hand on his shoulder. Looking over, Artorias sees the looming rock pass of the drunk Jack to Nicky, before then pointing at him to get on.

"ahfgabwfwabwhbsfe"

Taking the hint, Artorias saddles on Nezarec, drawing his sword. Cole, seeing that they had a plan, rushes on ahead, waving them off before disappearing into the shadows. Mounted and ready, Artorias tucks in behind the golem's massive frame as Nezarec prepares to hoof it.

Taking only a few steps back, the rock with legs explodes off the ground, blasting into the trees.

"Wayt! I'm stwill here!"

Surprised by the voice, Artorias looks to his side, only to see Wendelin, still being carried on Nezarec's shoulder. It seemed that her jaw had healed a little, but her eyes were filled with fear rather than relief as Nezarec seemed to ignore her existence and uncaringly charged through the woods. She stared at Artorias almost pleadingly, begging him for help.

Artorias, "....."

Unable to come up with a response, Artorias just focused on the path ahead, ignoring the cries of the crazy witch.

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And so, the moral of the story is....

NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY!

This is a thing most GMs(that I know off) love to take advantage of, espicallly when you do it like this. If you were a smart person, you'd be able to think, "Should we go walking towards the trail that moves the story forward, WITHOUT any of our heavy-armored.heavy-hitters?", and respond with the appropriate answer.

-_-

Any how, I'm probably gonna finish writing up the 1st session in the next 1-2 chapters, so hope you guys look forward to it      ^w^

PEACE!          \(ˆ▽ˆ)/