Odin looks at Pookie, then off into the distance, his eyes growing somber.

"My father ran the hostel, as his father did, and his father before him. I hope one day to have a son of my own to carry on after me. This land means more to me and my family than anyone can ever understand, and I intend to protect it with all I have. What about you, anything back home?"

Following the suggestion of one of the party members, Odin grabs the ropes of the oxen and begins leading them forward on the path.

Doran silently looked at the stick for a moment, took it, then dropped it back on the ground.

"I was thinking more along the lines of replacing the destroyed cart when we get back to town, and oh I don't know, maybe an apology?" Doran complained, shooting a glance at the somber Odin.

Sakura kicked the ground with a sigh and walked up to Odin, bowing her head.

"I'm really sorry I burnt your wagon down. I didn't mean to, and I'll replace it as soon as I can."

She then turned to Pookie, bent down to his eye level, and said, "I'm sorry about your priceless possessions burned in the fire. I don't think I can replace them, but please let me now if I can do something - anything - to make up for it."

Sakura now addressed the group at large. "Please forgive me, everyone..."

Folevarr was unsure how to react. This elf was quite the problem! Not only was the elf being miserably pitiful, but she was also not making any sense.

Folevarr frowned. Doran's, as well as Odin's, hearts were too soft, in his opinion. Turning to the elf, Folevarr gently bowed back in an awkward fashion while grumbling quietly how the elf was a knave. He then turned his attention towards Odin and began to move to him, stepping on the path.

As Adonis reaches for the main path, he approaches the group while holding a couple of severed limbs and some miscellaneous organs. His face, while smiling gleefully, is smeared with a red fluid, and his mouth appears to be the most red.

Raising a limb, he calls out "I got food! Who's hungry!?"

"SOMEONE SAY FOOD?" Worf, neck deep in foliage, suddenly propped up and chased the rest of the party who was a sizeable, but not unmanagable distance away from himself.

Upon reaching the "food," however, Worf was just incredibly sad.

"YOU MAKE WORF SAD," he said to Adonis with a sniffle.

Visibly shaken, Jal walks through the trees, back towards the carriages, and follows shortly behind Adonis as he shakes and smothers the assorted cadaverous bits.

"Yeah, uh... please don't do that. Please don't."

Keeping a good twenty-foot pole's distance from Adonis all along, he walks towards the charred cart, looking around for a (no doubt equally charred) backpack. Witnessing Sakura's apology, he turned to her: "Mm-hm. Would be pretty nice if you didn't do that either though."

Doran turns in response to Adonis's offer of food, then frowns as much as his face will allow, then a little more anyways. After a moment of intense frowning, Doran tones down the frown to normal levels and musters up the courage to address Adonis.

"I'll... uh... take some of your rations in exchange for my portion of the... uh... uh... food?"

Sakura was not entirely pleased by this turn of events, nor could she overlook cannibalism without probably violating some sort of moral code that would piss off her god.

"I can understand the necessity behind Doran and WORF killing their attackers, but...um.....I uh.....Well, this cannot go unpunished I think you should pay for your crime after our mission is done," Sakura recited hastily as she quietly sheltered herself behind Doran upon finishing her speech.

"Fine, more for me" said Adonis as he withdraws the dismembered arm.

"I know all of youse still have your dignity and would rather eat food that isn't from a human, but remember this: in the wilderness, its a dog eat dog world, baby. So in order to live, we should make the most of everything. " he complains.

After pacing around for a bit, he turns to Sakura and gives her a rather dirty look at her. "And what if SOME people would rather die than live off of what we have left? Fine by me; at least we'll have more." Adonis smacks his lips.

So as he turns away from the frightened Sakura, he makes a cheery complexion and says "So let's skedaddle my lovely chums."

Pookie, who was utterly confused, disgusted and annoyed managed only to sputter a long string of "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". Before getting back on topic with Odin.

"Indeed, your life sounds honorable. Personally, my home lies with the other gnomes in the fae lands. However, it has been years since I've been back. I don't particularly get along with other gnomes well... I've spent most of my time traveling from inn to inn, gnoming about and meeting new people while honing my craft. A life not nearly so noble as your own."

Drying his tears over seeing human flesh consumed in such a manner, Worf continued up to Doran and Pookie and walked alongside them both, taking interest in their conversations.

"Who knows what we'll need to get into when all the food's gone, what with the rations burnt. But for now, at least, I've lost my appetite." Odin says, averting his eyes from Adonis's arms.


_________



The group walks for half a day, and the farther they go, the thicker the fog gets. They've managed to see well enough to stay on the path at this point, but may lose it if they continue any farther. Crows caw at the adventurers constantly, waiting expectantly. The party hasn't found any additional things to eat.

It would be the middle of the evening if they were outside the forest, but it is black as night. The smell of rotting leaves fills the air.

Tired of the quiet and somber mood of the party, and beginning to get a bit weary of the fog as it continued to roll in, Worf announced, "PERHAPS IT WOULD BE BEST TO SET CAMP SOMEWHWERE NEAR HERE, AND HOPEFULLY WAIT OUT THIS WEATHER"