(PG-13) Dragons at war (Holeypaladin and P.K.)

Liveth thought over his words. Extend their travel a day but rest in an actual bed... a bed they would likely share, intimately. Liveth blushed at the thought before Terrick started speaking about something else. She looked up before straightening a little more in her set to get a better look. "Pilgrims?" she asked. She studied them as they approached a frown on her face. it was in her nature to be suspicious, even more so after that incident at the inn. "What if they arn't?" she asked her eyes narrowing on the hooded figures.

The knight looked over the pilgrims, attempting to get a gauge of them, though the robes they wore made it hard to make out anything other than the fact that they were mostly men... which wasn't all that terribly unusual, he supposed, as the chaos of these lands made it difficult for women to travel. Listening to the words of the sorceress, he nodded, stroking her hair softly. "You're right to be suspicious..." he said.

"It's not unusual for bandits to disguise themselves as merchants, or as pilgrims. Those robes in particular make it quite easy to conceal weapons, yet still appear unarmed. But there's a shrine to the Holy Virgin further up the road... so they might really be pilgrims.... in which case they could use an escort. Keep some combat spells on the tip of your tongue, however, in case these travelers are of the nasty sort." With that, he began to ride in the direction of the pilgrims, with no weapons drawn, but several in mind to conjure with his Foundry circuit as needed.

Liveth frowned but she nodded. picking several easy spells quick spells she could cast in her head that would at least knock an attacker off balance long enough for them to take advantage of it before reaching into one of her bags to seek out a wand while her other hand noted where her knife was. Her eyes didn't leave the pilgrims though even as she tried to seem relaxed in case they didn't mean them any harm... she didn't want to be hostile to nice people...

As he rode in the direction of the pilgrims, they all seemed to notice the knight, turning their attentions towards him. Spreading out a bit and surrounding the two, one of them approached the knight and removed his hood to reveal... the face of an old man, worn and weathered, missing most of his teeth. "Virgin's Blessing, Sir Knight," he said in a kindly voice. "Are you one of Fitzklein's men? We met some a couple days back... I'm afraid they took all we had, little though it was, and we've nothing left to give."

"You needn't worry about Fitzklein," the knight said. "Ended him last night, along with many of his men. No guaranteed they won't continue their banditry, however. Where are you headed?"

"To the Shrine of the Holy Virgin, in the city of Kalinberg," the pilgrim replied. "Our village was burned to the ground by a red-scaled dragon, so we've nowhere to return, and can only hope the Holy Knights will provide us shelter as refugees."

"I see..." the knight said, squeezing Liveth in his arms. "They're headed the same direction as us, but what should we do? We've still got two hags after us, but these refugees don't seem capable of defending themselves." he pointed out, unsure if it would be safer for the pilgrims if he escorted them to Kalinberg, or if it would be better to draw the hags away from them instead.

Liveth looked up at the knight with a frown. "why ask me?" she whispered back. "I have little experience with people." She said back. before looking down at the pilgrims. They might be friendly enough but they still made her uncomfortable. There was a lot of them. Though she supposed that merchant and guards they traveled with had been okay. "I suppose it be like when we traveled with the merchant." she said after a moment. But he was right.. the hags might be more of a problem then the ghouls had been.

"I don't know Terrick..." She said finely before looking back up to him. "I... I don't suppose we can leave them... there is always the possibility the hags will find them with or with out us... and then what?"

The knight considered the dilemma for a time, glancing between Liveth and the refugee pilgrims. "I expect they travel quite a bit slower than the merchant did..." he pointed out, noting how many of them were old or weak, rather than healthy and fit for travel like the merchant and his guards had been. "The hags will find us sooner or later regardless... they have magical means of tracking us. However, two renegade hags aren't the only threat on these roads..."

Frowning a bit, he nodded slightly at the girl's final words. "I suppose you have a point." Turning his attention back to the old man who seemed to be the spokesman for the pilgrims, Terrick spoke up. "We're headed in the same direction. Though it might delay us a bit, it would probably best for us to accompany you... in order to keep you safe from the threats along the road."

The pilgrim's face immediately lit up. "Bless you, kind Sir Knight! Truth be told, Fitzklein's men weren't the first ruffians we encountered... We've lost one out of five of the pilgrims that were initially among us, whether to famine, disease, banditry, dragons, or those foul hags said to plague these woods..."

"Yeahhhhh about that... we should probably set up some kind of trap for those hags. They'll be coming for me..."

"You've been busy, I see," the pilgrim noted, a look of concern on his face at the thought of vengeful hags. "Best not to tell the others. Most of them won't understand that we're still safer with such a brave and noble knight and his beautiful elven sorceress, hags or no hags."

Liveth flushed a little as the old man mentioned her. Beautiful elven sorceress. She thought Terrick would be the only one to refer to her in such a way. "We should be wry." she agreed. "But not panicked." She looked to Terrick. "Should we walk with them?" she asked more quickly. on his stead they would easily out pace them, though perhaps it be good for scouting ahead. "Perhaps you should scout the road ahead, with the speed of your mount that be easy for you. I could stay here and guard them." Though a part of her hated the idea of him being to far out of which which a part of her also resented for a strange reason. She was independent, she could take care of herself. Still...

The knight noticed the blush on the face of the pretty sorceress at the flattering words of the old man. Gazing at the girl, he thought over her words, trying to decide what to do. "Might be better to ride... this steed is easily capable of a walking pace," he remarked. True, they would definitely cover less ground at a walking pace escorting such weary pilgrims, many of whom were sickly and malnourished... but he didn't like the idea of leaving them at the mercy of the hags, especially after seeing the abomination one of them had made out of the remains of living people.

"Scouting..." he said, briefly thinking over possible scouting options. His eyes settled on Liveth, and he began to smile ever so slightly. "Speaking of scouting... I haven't seen you in the company of an animal familiar. Could it be that you don't have one? There are spells that allow you to see through the eyes of your familiar... very useful for scouting, provided you have a flying familiar, such as a hawk or falcon for daytime scouting, or an owl for nighttime scouting..."

The spell to summon a familiar was a simple level one conjuration, but that didn't necessarily mean that the sorceress was familiar with it. He didn't want to assume she didn't know, however, and waited to hear how the girl would respond.