As quickly as they heard the camp, a rustle came from behind the two. They whipped around, a short, scrawny orc emerged from the brush behind them.

  “Shit.” Le’Hennessy muttered.

  Within minutes, the orc had captured the two and brought them to the camp. There seemed to be less people than they had originally thought. Stevie looked around and counted three members: the scrawny orc from earlier, a humpback whalefolk man, and the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her pink hair flowed with the breeze and the sunset made her glow.

  “Boss!” The whale-man called out to a tent, “We got some spies out here!”

  “Oi, we ain’t no spies.” Le’Hennessy protested.

  “That’s not what it looks like.” A voice came from the tent, a handsome, almost royal looking man stepped out.

  “Who even are you people?” Stevie asked.

  “You know who we are. That’s why you were spying on us. Now do us all a favor and tell me who you’re working for.” The handsome man interrogated.

  “Our boss is a tough guy!” Le’Hennessy shouted, “And when he finds out that you lot took us, you’re in big trouble!”

  Meanwhile, the rest of the party found themselves setting up their own camp. Barb and Sun Walker cleared the area of debris, Wilhelm set up a fire pit, Aden built a few bushcrafted beds, and Talon organized their gear, which wasn’t much.

  After placing the last rock around his fire pit, Wilhelm looked around. “Has anyone seen Stevie or Le’Hennessy in a while?”

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  Aden replied, “Not since they left to get firewood.”

  “Yeah I haven’t seen them in a while.” Talon chimed in.

  Aden sighed, “They probably just got lost. Let’s go find them, Wilhelm.”

  “Okay!” Wilhelm agreed. “See you guys in a minute!” He waved to the rest of the group.

  Within a few minutes, the duo found themselves searching the trails.

  “Stevie!” Wilhelm called out. “Le’Hennessy!”

  “Enough games!” Aden shouted.

  A quiet rustle came from the brush behind them. The snapper around, Aden unsheathed his blade while Wilhelm readied a spell. In an instant, the scrawny orc from earlier charged at them.

  Aden immediately leapt into action, slashing his blade towards the orc. No success, the orc was quick and ducked the attack at the very last second. The orc punched Aden in the stomach, causing him to stumble backward.

  “You wanna play like that then?” Aden rhetorically chuckled. “Have this!”

  He lunged toward the scrawny green man, readying his blade.

  In an instant, the orc collapsed. Wilhelm had cast a sleep spell on him right before Aden could finish the job.

  “We can’t just go around killing everybody.” He lectured the fighter.

  Aden rolled his eyes and knelt down to the orc, hoisting him over his soldier. “You might be right. Hopefully we can use him as collateral.”

  Within a few minutes the two could see a campsite, not their rustic last minute camp. But one that took time, effort, and more resources than their party could handle. With Stevie and Le’Hennessy tied up in the middle.

  Aden motioned for Wilhelm to stop. The two stood there silently for what felt like hours but in reality was just a few minutes. What had they gotten themselves into. A camp with who knows how many people.

  “Go back and get the others.” Aden commanded, “I will stay back and keep an eye out here.”