Ivy smiled as she reached out to take the bowl from the womans hand, and as she listened to Margaret talk she began to frown slightly. She didnt need anyone to look after her; she was the one to look after people. "I know its going to be dangerous, and although Gru may have left, I cant just stand by and let these orcs bother you and the rest of the people here." Ivy gave the woman a determined look. "Ill do my best to be careful, I promise."
::Margaret smiled at the girl who she thought as both brave and foolish at the same time and hoped that the gods would see her through the coming ordeal safely. However, she was pretty sure this would be the last time she saw her.
She took Ivy's free hand in both of hers and looked into her eyes.::
"Live or die. We will never forget your willingness to help. I can not keep you from the path you've chosen. I only hope it brings you back to us once once more."
::She lets you go, not unlike a mother unwillingly stepping back to watch her child take its first steps, or fall trying.::
((Unless you have something more to say you can assume you eat and hit the road without incident. Just let me know which direction you choose.))
Ivy nodded and gave the woman a warm and slightly watery smile. She really did hope she could make it back, with good news too. Margaret reminded her of her own mother and she had to take a deep breath to focus on going after the orcs. She ate the food quickly and waved to the woman and anyone else who was looking before turning and leaving the inn. She stood outside and looked back and forth, deciding on the direction to go. She frowned slightly before remembering Margaret had told them where the Orcs may have headed. North and then West? Ivys frown deepened and she shook her head at herself. No, she was pretty sure it was West and then North. Adjusting her bow on her back, the half mer began walking to the west, trying to think about when she should be turning North and deciding to just see where she ended up at.
::Ivy walked for what seemed like hours through open field with no sign of the passage of the raiders. It had been several weeks since the attack on the settlement and any damage they would have done to the grass or tracks they would have left in the dirt have been all but wiped away.
Ivy did notice, however, a dark shape in the tall grass ahead of her. It seemed to glisten in the sun as she got closer. And as she got closer still, it seemed to be moving. Not across the land, but undulating, writhing, in place.::
Ivys eyes trained on the movement and locked. She slid her bow off her back and nocked an arrow, just in case she needed to protect herself before she started creeping forward to see what the thing could be. She decided it might be a good idea to alert the thing of her presence, and although she wasnt sure if it could talk or if it was even alive, she decided she should start talking. "Excuse me? Are you alive? Can you understand me?" She kept her nocked arrow trained on it.
::There came no response from the dark mass. It didn't move from it's spot other than the constant waivering the covered its surface. At the closer distance, Ivy could make out bits of red and flashes of white amid the black as the surface moved.
She was also close enough to smell it now, and it was foul. The closest thing in her recent memories would be the smell of the fresher zombies that she had put down with the help of her friends not that long ago in one of the graveyards of Wistvale.
Ivy's thought went immediately to the creepy old man who had an unhealthy obsession for Sera, and to the dead people he controlled. The thing that reeked of death may not be related or part of the mans craziness, but Ivy instantly scowled and looked around, straining her ears to see if she could hear if anything or anyone was around. Nearly gagging at the smell, Ivy thought it would be best to rid the world of the writhing thing, and she stopped, aimed her arrow more steady, and let it fly, hoping it would kill the thing first shot. As soon as she felt the arrow leave the bow, Ivy reached behind her to grab another arrow and nock it.
::As you strain your ears to hear you pick up on a low buzzing sound. The source of this is quickly determined once your arrow hits its mark and the flies that covered the corpse in the grass take flight revealing the rotting body beneath.::
As good as Ivy was at the sight of blood and gore, the smell of the dead thing that apparently wasnt going to start crawling or walking towards anything made her retch. She had to back up to a spot where she couldnt smell it as much and emptied her stomach, wiping her mouth when she was done. Ivy looked towards the rotting thing and wondered if she should detour around it to avoid the smell, but after taking a few steps her curiosity got the better of her and she looked towards it again. Biting her lip, she made a quick decision and took a few deep breaths, holding at one large one and darting towards the thing so she could see what it was and hoping she could run away from it right away without needing to smell it again.
::Its hard to tell if it was once male or female, due to the decay, but it atleast appeared to be adult in size. And judging from the similarity in the bloody clothes that still clung to the remains, the person came from the villiage you had recently come from.
It looks like one of the legs had been bandaged, presumably when it was alive, but larger animals then the flies had been at it and took away any ways of determining if there was further injury.
If you look about, you see another black mass laying in the grass some yards ahead...::
Ivy glanced at the other thing in the grass ahead and figured it would hurt anything to check it out. She let her breath go and nearly gagged again at the smell, dashing away from the decomposing corpse and towards the other thing laying in the grass. She quickly made her way over to it, keeping her bow and arrow ready in case it decided to stand up. She wondered if the Orcs were around, and her eyes darted from the still figure to look around the trees to see if there was any around.
::It was a body, or at least part of one, like what she had just found. While the orcs were not around, it did seem they had left a trail of sorts for her to follow of those that could not keep up with the raiders, or perhaps tried to run.
Another dark mound could be see on the edge of her vision to the north and heading into the woods.::
Ivy looked at the body part in disgust and sorrow before turning a fairly angry look towards the north where the trail continued. It would appear the Orcs were quite messy, and Ivy was quick to dash towards the next one and into the woods, gasping for unscented air as she did. Thoughts whirling around in her head, wondering about the orcs and if the woman from the Inn was right to worry about her well being.
::Freash air comes as a relief to your lungs. Once inside the edge of the forrest, the trail of bodies tapers off. Perhaps the last of the wounded had finally perished. Or possibly the lesson not to run away had sunken in as minds and spirits were broken.
Thankfully for Ivy, the movement of a large group through foliage was alot harder to mask. The broken branches and other signs took much longer to repair themselves then simple trodden grass. So thus the path ahead of her was clear as it led further north towards the hills.::
Ivy grinned to herself at the path the orcs made through the trees, wondering if they cared or not that it would be so easy to follow them. She was also very grateful for the lack of death smells; she didn't think she would have been able to keep her food down if she had to keep smelling it. Walking fairly fast, Ivy made her way through the path, hopping over anything she thought looked noisy.