After explaining to Lyrika what she planned to do in hushed tones, who was very much against the idea, she managed to convince her to stay in the church. This understanding was conditional that she did not try to be a hero and take everyone on though. She said that she should return in the evening and that Lyrika should keep pretending that she knew nothing about a person on the inside.
Exiting the church, she headed off to follow the footprints the bandits made, all the while leaving Lyrika to be bombarded by questions about herself and the monster.
There was a chance that the bandits would be contacted again, but with the sun setting it wasn't likely they would make another trek through the forest. They may be on guard though if they were told that the Orc had left the church, but she doubted they would think she was heading to them.
Moving towards the edge of the village, there were a good number of footprints left by the bandits, and it was still light enough to see them. So she set off.
As she did, she told herself that this was just to scout them out, taking Lyrika's words to heart. It also warmed her heart how worried she had been over her, given that she told her this.
She hoped that she could find something in their base or near them that could help deal with them. That or she could get enough information about them to pass along so that one of the nearby villages could help, as right now all they knew were that bandits are in the forest. There was also the fact that from what they had said when they walked passed them, they probably had some slaves with them, something that would be useful to confirm along with the numbers they had.
Entering a denser area of trees, she continued following the prints, all the while keeping a low profile. With these bandits treading the same path each day and having done so twice today, she had plenty to work with in terms of tracking. Even being inexperienced in tracking didn't matter with this number of shoe prints in the dirt.
She continued on and on, where eventually the sun ended up descending enough that she had to struggle to see the tracks. But even with that problem, she eventually found the bandits.
What she found though, differed from what she expected.
With what the chief had said, telling her of the large number of bandits that attacked them, she was surprised to find only a group of seven or so. As far as she could tell, the group that had ventured to and from the town had returned to the camp, and from what she saw when she and Lyrika followed them, they made up most of this group currently in the camp. This was not what Olivia would consider a large number, especially for attacking a village which had guards. Either the chief and the villagers had exaggerated the numbers, not noticed how many there were because of the darkness and the fighting, or something had happened to the original group.
Even though the numbers were less than she expected, it was still way more than she could handle with her lack of combat experience. Even if she was a professional with her spear, one verse seven was not a good fight to be in, unless you were a part of the seven.
As she moved closer to the camp, she watched carefully as she moved low to the floor of the forest for traps or trip wires, expecting there to be something from all the films she had seen. But she ended up somewhat disappointed but also relieved as she found nothing to keep the base secure. All she could see from her position was all of these bandits gathered around a campfire.
Singing
And drinking.
'Why aren't they worried about being attacked? If not by a person, but by a wild animal at least.'
It just didn't make sense. She figured that there may actually be people on watch and that she couldn't see them because of the tents in the way. Either that or were they so sure of their abilities that they didn't need anything like that.
She had to get closer to figure out what the deal was with these guys. Who knows in their drunken stupor they may just blurt out everything.
Yeah right.
As she kept low and moved among the brush, she was practically invisible. While she already had a somewhat natural camouflage given her skin tone, the darkness just made it impossible to see her. So, she was able to reach the edge of the camp and listen to what they were saying with ease.
…
'Urrg, when will they stop singing. None of them have a good singing voice. This is just torture.'
So far they had sung for five minutes and Olivia was starting to get fed up.
'It's just all noise, interspersed with burps.'
But as she started to smash her head against a tree, they finally started making sense.
"Hey, h-*hick* hey boss. When are we gonna sell these last ones and leave? Who cares about the ones in the *burp* in the church."
As she looked around, she found one man who had not been joining in the festivities as much as the rest. He had been drinking, but he was very much watching his intake. This was the man that replied, showing he was the boss of the group.
"It's the village that matters, not the slaves. We'll try one more time to get them out without killing them and add to what we have, but after that, all bets are off. We'll get them out in pieces if we have to."
After that quick discussion, the first man just shrugged and carried n singing and drinking.
'Well, it might not be their whole plan but it's enough to know they need to go now. There's no way I could get to another village in time to ask for help. Help which they might not give anyway.'
As she thought this, she realised the man had also spoken about slaves they already had, confirming what she suspected. Now she just had to locate them.
So far, she had only been able to see the group of men from her vantage point. With all the tents present she couldn't see much else, so she took off and circled the camp to get a clear view of it all.
…
Heading in a circle under the cover of darkness, she found what she was looking for.
The slaves.
Ten in total.
Moving around she found what she realised must be the reason the men had no fear of being attacked by animals. On the perimeter of the camp, she found very small tents, basic in construction, dotting the edge at equal intervals. Getting closer she saw what could only be described as a horrible perimeter alarm.
In each of the tents, a male slave sat. The light from the campfire illuminated things enough that she could see he had a metal collar around his neck, which was attached by a chain to a stake in the ground. The man also had his arms and feet chained together, stopping him from being able to move completely. As far as she could tell, they were basically sacrificial lambs to be attacked by a wild animal or monster first, bleating as it was when they were, which would inform the bandits there was a problem. It was horrific.
Continuing on her circle, passing the men and maintaining her distance as they were sure to make a noise if they saw her, she found even more slaves. At one end of the camp, she found four women gathered around a tent. She could see that one was a cat-kin, two were dog-kin, and the last was a bunny-kin as far as she could see. The tent they were in front of housed what was clearly the bandit's supply of alcohol, given the smell of it all. Like the men, they were wearing metal collars as well. These were also tied, this time by rope, to a stake in the ground. The rope of which was quite long, compared to the short chains the men had, and she couldn't figure out why.
That is until she heard one of the bandits shout out for the bear. As she watched them the girls hear the call from the bandit, it was up to them to bring them a drink. They stood there for a good several seconds where they decided amongst themselves which one of them would bring the alcohol.
The chosen one walked over to them, and it was clear to see the fear in their eyes. She was tense and scared as she reached the group and started pouring. Going around the drunken group, the men grabbed and groped the unlucky lady as she did her job. A couple of times the bandits ended up exposing their private areas to the rest, yet until they finished pouring they could do nothing. Once done, they headed back in tears, where the other women helped comfort her.
As she circled she saw this happen a few times, each with the same result. It even seemed like the bandits were only letting the girls pour small amounts of alcohol so that they could call on them again quickly.
It was vile.
What they were doing to the women, along with just having these innocent people as slaves only cemented the fact that they had to go.
But how could she take these guys on, when it was seven verses one?