Ghoulish Occurrences

- -Border Forest Near Jocelynn's Inn,
Early Morning, 1 DSTR- -

"Rise and shine ladies! We have to be back behind Valen's borders by the evening!"

There was something about Wren's voice that Ponce found absolutely grating, and the fact that it was his voice that was awaking him from his already uncomfortable slumber made it doubly, no, triply annoying.

Last night, the four of them had decided to rest for what was left of the sunless part of the day. The brunette, who's name was mentioned and Ponce made it a point to try and remember (because frankly "the brunette" is just far to rude), who was called Kel, and who was also holding the map, had wanted to continue, but the group voted and the choice to eat and rest sounded like a much better idea.

Ponce emerged from the tent they had slept in, to find Wren with a smile on his face as he marched around the campfire like a small child.

"Good day, is it?" Ponce asked him. The child-like grin on his face only expanded.

"It will be in an hour!"

Ponce's eyebrows raised. "Only an hour left? How time flies...

Wren then got to work rousing the other two from their sleep. Toldir, a heavyset redhead whom was practically a pack mule for the others and nothing more, took especially long to wake, but Wren's vast knowledge and skill in the irritation of others apparently knew no bounds. A draugr couldn't sleep through his racket. After waking, the redhead packed things up, the brunette looked over the map, and the blonde kept the two entertained with jokes, most of which were about the greenish tint of Ponce's hair.

Ponce stared off into the distance. Hours were becoming minutes as the estimated time it would take them to reach thier destination shortened. Ponce could hardly stand any part of this trip, and it was a trip to a goal which he did not desire to reach. He was here simply as the watchman, other than that, to his knowlege he had no other purpose here. And it was that mere thought that sparked curiosity within him.

"Wren." He said simply, his brows furrowed and eyes distant, showing his state of deep thought.

"No need to start whining, I'll stop telling jokes about..,"

"No, it's not that." Ponce interjected, not willing to dance around the question he wanted to ask.

"Why did you want me to come with you here?"

Wren's wide smile faded. The near sullen expression that was now painted across his face appeared to be contagious, as both Toldir and Kel now had the expression. Upon seeing this, Ponce felt an intense tightness in his throat. Why would they respond in such a way?

"What are you hiding from me?"

Wren looked down at his boots, as if they were suddenly the most interesting things in the world. He opened his mouth, fixing to speak, but was only able to do so much as exhale before he was interupted.

An ear-piercing SSCCCRRRREEEEEEEEE!!! filled the air around them. Ponce turned toward where the sound was the strongest, before turning back towards Wren.

"Ggrrr! You, I will handle this later. No Olvidaré!"

Giving the man one final glare, he turned to adress the sound, which was begining to fade but had not yet completely dissipated. His left hand went for his sword as he and his so called squadmates began to move.

It wasn't long before the source of the soumd was found. A person, long hair obscuring thier facial features, and they were currently straddling a pig, and gods knew what they were doing with it. The four took cover in a bush paces away so that they would not be discovered by whomever might not be so happy to see them.

"What're they doin'?" Toldier asked. Ponce agreed with his puzzlement, from this angle it was hard to see what exactly was going on.

"Okay, Kel, go over there and see if you can figure out what's going on. We're right behind, if we see anything out of the ordinary, we'll spring out."

Kel looked at the three, and then at the person and the pig. His face did not mask his annoyance at all.

"Fine. Just looks like someone putting down thier old livestock anyway. What's the worst that could happen?"

Ponce clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"No bueno, Kel. With a dismissive attitude like that, the worst things have a chance to spring out at you."

"Pffft, that sounds like superstition." Wren said, rather dismissively. "What are you, his mother? You'll be fine Kel, now go." Wren practically shooed his squadmate away as he stood, hand on his sword, and began to approach the mysterious person.

"Hey, you there," The brunette started, uncertainty present in his voice.

"We heard a loud noise coming from around here. Was that you or...what in the gods names?"

The sudden change of tone surpised even Ponce, Wren and Toldir. But not as much as what they saw next. The person turned thier face, revealing boyish features, covered with pale skin and drenched in blood. He was eating this pig alive, or something to the same effect. Without thinking, Kel charged foward, drawing his sword. Ponce reached his hand out as if to grab Kel, but it was far too late now.

"NO, WAIT KEL!" He shouted, effectively alerting any living thing in the vicinity to thier location. But he felt this outburst was necessary, because he had seen something no one else had. A second person, one who, as Ponce had expected before, did not appear to be all that glad of thier presence. Or, if he was, he sure didn't show it.

Tag- Ceriden N' Gareth