wolf hunting down retreating prey. Though he can't reach the bandit leader, but he sees the lone bandit, looking forward at Malkala and ignoring the ysoki.

He charges forward, reaching behind the bandit and flanking the foe between both Zrak and Malkala. With a cruel focus, Zrak leaps and swipes twice with both arms: at the bandit's arm and leg tendons to send this foe to the ground.

With ruthless efficiency Zrak sends another bandit minion to the ground, his bloody claws cutting furrows into their armor and skin with equal power. The bandit falls without a word, only choking gasps escaping his corpse. Zrak can feel a tiny bit of the acid that was still eating away at the bandit's armor sting his hands, but it is easy to ignore as both Malkala and he turn to face the leader.

The leader, for his part, does not back down at the sight of both bandits being easily taken down. Instead, he drops his bow, draws his dagger, and lunges at Zrak around the corner of the building. Like a duelist, the leader thrusts the blade faster than Zrak can see and pierces the ratfolk's chest. Thankfully the building gave cover, or else the blade would have landed fatally. That is little to Zrak, though, as the leader then twists the dagger and pulls it out, leaving a larger wound and making a river of blood run down the ratfolk's armor.

Malkala sees this and Zrak can see the frantic calculations practically run over her eyes. Then, a strange calm washes over her body, similar to Lady Aldori's fighting movements. There is no room for overthinking as she steps forward and thrusts with her blade. Zrak is confused at first, as the thrust she makes, even he can tell, is a sloppy one that is easy to parry away. Which the leader starts to do. But the plan becomes clear as her wrist suddenly twists, allowing her dueling sword to catch upon the hilt of the dagger. Her strength is not enough to completely disarm the leader, but it was enough to loosen his grip, causing his future attacks to become clumsy.

The overwhelming pain and pouring of blood makes it hard for Zrak to focus. Heaving, hefty breaths seem to give way to an old fury, previously contained within him. A deathly groan escapes from his mouth, tail flimsily still behind him.

He has a mind to tear the remaining bandit limb from limb, relieving his own stress. Though this wouldn't serve any use for finding this... Stag Lord, was it? Now there is a being Zrak wants to meet.

The ysoki flashes a wicked smile at the thought before dashing forward, damning his own injuries, leaping up on the wall and then off it with his own hand and foot as a spring! Just like that, the ratfolk flanks the remaining foe, and Zrak's wolfen stance is ready to hunt the prey.

"Now we'll give you one warning," he says, pulling his middle finger down. The TING of his bracer echoes as a potion vial jolts out into his hand and then, its contents into his mouth. "Tell us all you know about the Stag Lord, and we'll let you live. If he ain't worth all this, what do you got to lose 'sides your life?"

This was the bandit's only chance, for should he refuse, an acidic breath and blade awaited from behind.

The bandit leader lets out a loud snort, "You don't understand bandits, do ya? You aren't going to have us turn coat that easily!"

With the last word, he thrusts the dagger forward, fast as the wind. Zrak's exhaustion, despite the healing of the vial, prevents him from dodging in time, and the metal blade sinks deep into his chest, right into his heart. The leader pulls the blade out and prepares to strike again. However, he looks behind him to see that Malkala is about to close the gap, trapping him. A growl escapes his throat as he steps backward, carefully avoiding any attacks that may come from him moving away. He takes a few more steps away, keeping the adventurers from immediately flanking him easily.

Malkala's eyes flash in annoyance. Her mind races but cannot seem to understand the man's tactics at all. But that does not stop her from rushing forward and slashing out with her dueling sword. The leader parries the attack away easily, grinning away as he does.

The bone-thin feet wobble and shake in pain as Zrak leans on the building wall. Damn it, that hurt. A heavy, violent thump pounds in abject refusal where the wound is. Damn it, that bandit dug deep. The constant pain makes him wonder whether the training was all worth it.

Trying to catch his own breath before catching the bandit, Zrak stays by the thin corridor he stands in, popping out two more vials from his bracer and bringing its liquid contents into his mouth. The bitter taste nearly sends his body into convulsion before providing much-needed relief.

With his body somewhat healing, feeling a stitching inside his bleeding body, the ratfolk waits, letting Malkala briefly duel with the bandit after she had been let alone for most of the battle. Zrak needs to catch his breath, but also make the bandit regret trying to come back after the ratfolk.

The bandit leader glances toward Zrak and smirks. But his attention turns back to Malkala immediately as she moves to strike. His eyes glide head to toe, analyzing Malkala's movements and stance. He then lunges forward with two quick dagger thrusts. Both land true into Malkala's chest, leaving two messy holes.

The dragonborne coughs out a mix of acid and blood which splatter harmlessly into the leader's face. But she is not deterred as she goes for another strike to the leader's hand. Her dueling sword connects with the hilt of the dagger, loosening the leader's grip upon it again. Quickly, as he is recovering from that attack, she continues with a flourish of two other strikes, leaving lines of blood across one arm and his side. Zrak can see the sudden rush of energy Malkala feels after having two attacks successfully hit when her luck the past couple of weeks was otherwise horrible.

As the moments pass, Zrak feels some of his inner wounds closing, tightening up as if stitched by ethereal means. Like the many vials he'd taken before, the process is bitter and painful in every concievable way; yet the liquid did its work, and he'd not complain about stemming the blood loss over letting it flow down.

With this brief clarity, he watches Malkala dance and sway with her blades. She moves with a skill and light step that he lacks, even with his adjusted style. His own bone-thin feet quiver as he sees his companion move.

And just as she leaves an opening, Zrak charges back in. His skittering movement has a manic pace matching his fierce, vile-looking grin as he weaves around Malkala, around the bandit, only for the ratfolk to leap with a great spin kick against the flanked foe!

Zrak is able to rush around the fighting pair to reach behind the leader. Yet, the movements are too slow and the leader is able to dodge the kick easily.

A tiny growl escapes the leader as he sees that, while the fight has been fierce, he is only a few seconds away from possible death. He is not going to back down, however, as he moves around to get behind Malkala and out of flanking. But Malkala has been working on her perception and battlefield analysis, and she is able to quickly swipe out at the briefly exposed man as he runs.

And that strike ends the battle as her blade sinks into the man's neck, hitting an artery. The man falls to the ground, his death quick and painful.

There is a moment of pause as everyone processes what happened. Then, Oleg and Svetlana slowly appear from the main building, looking around at the corpses and mess left from the battle. Their eyes move to the wall of fire, which is already dying down harmlessly.

"Is it over?" Svetlana asks.

With his body aching and slight disappointment on his face, Zrak bends down over the last defeated bandit. "Sure is," he responds to Svetlana. Pain draws on every corner of Zrak's snout; his own blood covers much of his armor. Surely he could've dealt with these bandits less... painfully. Clearly he underestimated them.

With his best knowledge of first aid, the ysoki patches up his injuries, speaking little besides grunts and grumbling pain. As Malkala was better off than him, he'd let her first investigate the corpses.

Once ready, Zrak looks over the leader's body. "He said something about a Stag Lord, right? That's probably their leader. Like any good adventurer, Zrak begins rummaging through the body to find any items and weapons of note. "Malkala, see if any of them's got something we can work with."

When Zrak turns to start looting the bodies, he can see that Malkala is already on the job. She is searching one of the bandit minions for everything he had. However, after a few moments, she sighs, "Nothing. Just a bit of money, rations, and their equipment. The only other thing they seem to have is a silver amulet."

She holds it up for Zrak to see. It is a shockingly beautiful silver amulet of a stag's skull tied in the back by sturdy twine, "It doesn't look magical. Most likely just a sign that they are members of this 'Stag Lord's' gang."

Her eyes dart to the entrance of the trading post in a sudden thought. She quickly walks over to the gate and looks down, "Zrak!"

When he approaches, she points down. He can see footprints, hoofprints, and wheeltracks from the bandits clearly. They keep going into the Greenbelt, providing a good trail.

"If we can follow this, we can head right for the camp they came from. At least for a bit. It will get harder and harder to follow the longer we take. But at least we know the general direction to work with."

The small monetary gains earns a disappointed sigh from Zrak. He was hoping bandits under this Stag Lord might've been better compensated. At least there's something at all he can use, as he snatches the rations, silver pieces and the composite shortbow and its arrows. He's never been good at using one, but he can't ignore that he or Malkala might need to hit something at a distance.

"I ain't in any condition to find and take down their base," he begrudgingly accepts, walking over with his bandaged wounds and taking one of those silver amulets. "Maybe we can find their place before we do anything else.

The rough ysoki checks over his wounds one more time, finding the scent of blood slightly easier on his nose than oil. "But this Lord's going to ask questions once his pay comes late. We probably don't want to take too long dealing with him." Once more, Zrak thinks about the predicament; this place might be the only 'safe' spot he and Malkala have for now. It'd do no one good if the Stag Lord comes and burns it down.

Or perhaps the Stag Lord will think his underlings took the money and ran.

Zrak looks out at the trail before addressing Oleg and Svetlana. "We'll be tracking for a bit. If you see Amiri and Linzi, let them know we'll be back soon."

He waits for Malkala to prepare. If she needs time, he'd give her it. Otherwise, the sooner they follow the trail, the better.

"Before you leave," Oleg calls.

He approaches Zrak and hands him a few items, including vials of liquid and some money, "As thanks for taking care of those bandits." Svetlana approaches from behind her husband, "Not only that, but you will always have free room and food here."

She steadfastly ignores her husband's look, "Also, feel free to take the horses with you." She points behind her to the horse-drawn cart, which its horses are still uninterested in anything happening around them, "It'll be better than traveling on foot, and you can store items on it. Maybe by the time you get back we will have some items for the cart to sell you."

Malkala nods at that, "Makes sense to me."

She then turns to Zrak, "Let's go."

The pair follows the trail for a full day. It is nearly completely straight and direct as it leads them to the Greenbelt's forest. Once they cross the treeline, though, the trail almost immediately becomes a lot harder to follow. The hard soil combined with the tree roots and uneven ground hides the trail effectively.

Yet, they were able to follow it for a while, despite some backtracking and difficulties with the environment. However, a couple of hours after noon the day after the bandit ambush, they lose the trail. Malkala sighs, "I guess we should have known that it would not be that easy. But, we know the general direction, so we can keep going that way."

They only walked another half an hour before they found a strange sight: a clearing in the shape of an arrowhead, nearly covered with some kind of vegetable.

Shining in the light of the sun, they look like dozens and dozens of miniature moons. With a bit of study, Malkala smiles, "Radishes of some kind."

She seems like she is about to take a step forward before both she and Zrak catch sight of two kobolds laying on their backs in the middle of the radish patch. Their hands hold their bellies hard, as if they overstuffed themselves, and two baskets full of radishes sit next to them.

Malkala glances to Zrak, "You want to do anything?"

Zrak is busy drawing on the map of the Greenbelt, loosely drawing the trail the two had followed until it ran out. Doing this on a horse was notably tougher than he thought, lacking a solid surface to draw on and wobbling on his saddle. He doesn't have as much experience as he should on a horse... But he can't help but admit this beats walking.

He pokes his snout out from the earthly-smelling map, seeing the field of radishes out in the distance, then draws the location down as if it's only a landmark. "Well it's real good for food," he responds to Malkala, looking back down at the map. "We lacking for that right now?"

His eyes glance over at the two overstuffed kobolds. How 'nice' that they get to feast for free.

At the same time, there's only two of them. They could be a threat, but at the same time it looks like it's just them.

"We can take a closer look," he responds, lowering the map and staring