Hel shifted over, the discomfort in her arm still there despite the lack of a physical injury due to Rafe's quick acting. The enemies were closing in from their left, forcing her to unleash another ice spell. Shaking, the young assistant made a massive ice shards sprout from the ground, blocking off the attackers.

"I-I think we can overcome them," shouted a weary Hel.

“Yes!” Rafe quickly agreed as he remained close to her screening her from attacks. With the enemies on one flank having to take longer to approach by going around the wall they could get slow them down a bit so that they could deal with half of the attackers.

Cassius could see that momentum was shifting. The three were more formidable than he had initially believed and the Eclipse wizard stepped back and faded from view. He must have gone invisible for it was too scary a thought that he had transported himself for such magic had been powerful indeed.

Rafe did his best to defend her allowing her those precious seconds to loose her arrows or cast additional spells as the cast may be.

On occasion when he had time himself he bolstered them with utility or defensive spells. Prayers to boost their morale and have the Divine fortunes guide their weapons, spells to beguile the morale of their enemies and throw off their own aim or others that allowed them to resist damage from certain attacks leveled against them, well that he had managed only once and it was to turn aside missile attacks upon Hel as he set a warm touch upon her.

The foes slowed and eventually stopped many breaking off and fleeing when it became evident that they were not going to win this one.

The tetsubo wielding enemy dropped to the ground, his hand wounded earlier by Hel's arrow gave Rebecca the opportunity to slash at him, drop him and let her focus on other foes. Some of which had been better skilled then the rabble that she had already cut down but her own spirits had been bolstered with prayers from Rafe and the offensive magic from her sister.

Her skill, already impressive, heightened by such magic made her an absolute terror as she held that flank by herself allowing Rafe and her sister to have some breathing room as additional spells were launched.

Her defenses were already formidable and Rafe throwing off the aim of the enemy made her defenses superb. When it was all over she dropped to a knee exhausted. Taking a deep breath she looked towards her two companions.

“Woah, that was fun. A bit exhausting though. I suggest we hasten this along. That wizard got away after all.”

"Y-yeah. Let's get out of here."

Hel retrieved her weapon and mounted the horse. A dull throbbing ached through her arm as she climbed up. The fight had drained too much of her strength; it was almost as if the whole skirmish was a distraction for something larger..

Her arm began to throb again. It was probably best to not over analyze this, she thought. The trio needed to focus on the mountain path ahead. The journey to the dragon's lair would be about a day and half according to the map.

Rebecca mounted up too. She gasped, drawing in a steady breath before sheathing her sword, mounting her horse and following the others. Like her sibling she considered that there may have been something else that the attack was suppose to do.

The bulk of their opponents had been typical thugs and not members of Eclipse as if they were expected to die or perhaps the men were expendable for another reason.

Rebecca pressed on as she considered this.

Indeed there were reasons why so many lives had meant little to Caius but that had been beside the point right now as the trio traveled Southward.

As indicated they were still a little distant from their destination though as dusk was setting they came across another village though this one was walled and not on the map.

Rafe seemed a bit puzzled as he glanced at the two girls. “I don't recall this.”

It had to be new, there was nothing else to explain it though with the sun going down they would either have to take refugee somewhere by striking a camp or seeing about staying at the walled city.

The walls were wood, not stone and even at this distance they could see there was at least one guard up on the wall near the gates.

“Should we go check it out or set camp somewhere, what do you think Hel? Rebecca?”

"Well... With Eclipse out here, I don't want to be exposed." Hel's expression grew more worried with her words. "There's no telling what they'll do to us."

She looked to Rebecca, waiting for her take on the city.

"Should we try it? Maybe we can get a room at an inn if they have one? What do you think, sis?"

The walled settlement could be entered by calling up to the guard on the wall who given the small tusks that he sported and the thicker yet shorter muscled frame was indicated that he was not human but rather a half-breed. A Half-Orc.

Calling up to him he yelled down o men on the opposite side of the door letting her and the others in.

Inside the settlement was full of half breeds common in fantasy settings. Half Orcs, Half Elves, Half Demons and even an Half Angel or two.

It seemed that this place had been full of half breeds that did no belong anywhere. They stuck out a little given that they were full bloodied humans but for the most part many of the half breeds appeared human enough so it was not so bad..

Save for a feature or two the half breeds have they appear human enough so they did no stick out too greatly here.

Hel grew slightly distracted by the exotic goods that the marketplace had when they passed through it. The sights and smells were enticing to the senses, and the girl bought some Orcish sweets for them to try.

The three casually walked around looking for a place to stay. Hel tried to lighten the mood. "This reminds me of those stories that mom used to tell us about from when she was still an adventurer."

After getting directions from a group of elven women, Hel led the party to the only inn the town had. The inn was rather small, and only offered one room. Even when she offered to give a bigger tip, the keeper refused to give the party another room.

“Yeah, ma was full of all sorts of stories.” Rebecca smiled at the pseudo memory implanted in her head by Aegir. She had been looking over the finery of weapons that a half-elf had but they were much too pricey for her to afford, enchanted blades and the like though she could still look.

She had been somewhat distracted by all the sights and smells, particularly with a half-angel that she found fascinating with his green skin, bald palate and golden eyes. Usually she did not find the male form too fascinating but her interest was probably due to the wings too, the nature that he was as far from human as possible.

Still she followed her two companions occasional casting glances at the angelic half breed while she could see him in the streets until they got to the inn room where she plops down on a bed.

“Dibs!”

The walled settlement had been diverse seeing that most everyone here had been a half breed of some sort. The majority of others had been travelers just passing through. Hel got some candy and directions to the only inn to be found in this place.

Getting one room she found that it was roomy enough though their were only two beds. A cot could be arranged for them if required of course though the place had all of a dozen rooms and all were taken curtsey of the treasure hunt that had attracted a few regional adventurer that were in search of a Leprechaun's treasure.

It was probably some sort of trick or wild goose chase attracting just a few adventurers though that could not turn down the opportunity to investigate the matter. They heard the gossip easily enough though the adventurers that took the offer for this task seemed to be the younger sort.

Hel did the same as her sister, claiming the second bed in the room. She laid there for a minute, wondering how the bed could possibly be as soft as this one. She manages to kick off her boots and tosses them on the ground beside the bed.

"I don't wanna get up," she whined. The girl then turned to Rafe and patted the spot next to her. "You seriously need to feel this! It's unbelievable!"

Judging from the size of the bed, which seemed just large enough to fit two, Rafe and Hel could share.

“Yeah, no fair!” Of course the beds were all claimed before he could make a bid on either himself though Rafe moved to the window, peered out then chanted a spell that would mentally alert him if either the door or window were opened and a creature larger than a rat entered. It would even mentally awaken him from his sleep.

He did not have to be told twice though as he moved over to the bed taking a place on it, sitting first then removing his boots as well before laying back.

“Ohh, this is comfy.” He grinned, laying on his side so he could look at Hel better. “As good as sleeping in sounds, this being probably the last bit of civilization we can expect we really shouldn't delay with the wizard out there.”

Rebecca was happy for her sister though it felt a little lonely in the large bed she didn't need anyone distracting her either. Given that they had been sharing the same room she had wondered if Hel and Rafe would do anything.

They'd probably wait until she was asleep or they believed she was. She was a little sleeper but she doubted the pair would wake her deliberately.

“That sucks, this place is the last we can bed down in. And we have to get up early too. Well with that being the case I'm going to grab some sleep, goodnight.”