This Reeks Of Bandits

[Anadwen]

Everywhere one looked was just grass. Fields upon fields of tall grass all around, and there seemed to be no end to it. It had a heavy, earthy stench, dry and unpleasant, and it was rustling in the wind that shook its weather-worn stalks. The sky was dark under tumbling grey clouds, but it didn't seem like it was going to rain. Just more strong wind like before.

Seiki's sharp eyes searched the plains, from horizon to horizon, for any sign of the group of nomads that were said to hold a group of merchants hostage together with all their goods, and for the swamps those were rumored to be mostly found around. However, there was nothing than those darned grasslands anywhere!

He narrowed his eyes, glancing at a darker shape on the south-east, but it appeared to be nothing but more clouds. He cursed this task. Even though it was important to get it done, he still cursed it. This wasn't work for him... Truth be told, Seiki Adachi wasn't exactly the best person to chose when it came to fighting people - though he was very, very far from being the worst, though. However, a part of him that disliked killing the living was still somewhere there, even though he convinced himself that these people were evil. Nothing but criminals.

He took a deep breath and stopped, gazing in the direction they were walking in. The wind blew into his black robe and the lighter, high-collared coat worn over it, picking up its edges, lined with white. He slowly crossed his arms on his chest.

Something seemed to be odd, at least to him. The plains were too calm - usually, there was at least one tribe that would encircle travelers like them and ask for their money and belongings, but he and Akibi, who he traveled with, have encountered no signs of life all through this time.
"I don't like this, Akibi." he confessed. "This calm is unusual. There's nothing but wailing wind. And that is for five days straight already."

[Knifehug]

(Hope you don't mind if I join you.)

It had been a strange couple of weeks for Peregrine, truth be told. Once the joy of being outside again had calmed enough that he could think straight he decided that he needed to travel somewhere that he could find something to do with himself. So he'd traveled South, enjoying the wind and the sun and just letting himself experience the freedom of life.

Then he'd hit a desert.

The answer to that question was most definitely no. Deserts were big places, with little food or water. Chances are he'd meet a new friend just in time for them to get lost and then his friend would starve and he just could not deal with that kind of slow decay a second time. So the golem had turned himself around and headed North in the hope for more lively climates.

This had led him into a long walk onto plains and plains of grass and back into enjoying life. This was much better. Where there was plants there was water and thing that ate the plants and surely that would be enough to eat for a potential new friend. It was a pity that the only people he'd seen on the road were those too terrified of his ragged appearance to approach and and bandits. So many bandits.

Which hadn't been a problem until a group noticed that he was injured across one shoulder from his escape into daylight, and the the wound had bled what appeared to be solid gold. At that point there had been no dissuading them and he'd had to fight them. They'd ran after the first few had collapsed like broken dolls after a swing of the sword, and they'd kept running for several days, long enough for Peregrine to relax and think that he'd lot them.

Which should have been the first warning sign that they were going to ambush him. The following fight had been swift but unpleasant, the golem's cheek shining with a long streak of bled gold, his chest covered in similar wounds. Still, with this little group of bandits dead he had at least a little breathing room. Although they'd seemed to be travelling somewhere before deciding to make a target out of him. Maybe he should take note and avoid wherever they were going to? Could be another trap or something after all.

Still, he was ragged and sore, and the man he was currently staring at seemed to be of similar size to Peregrine. So the golem took his boots and trousers and dust stained shirt, figuring that it must be better than rags or nudity. Even if he did look like a bandit with too tight clothes and stolen boots. He stood and examined himself critically, coming out from where he'd accidentally been hidden by the grass. He was so concerned on this issue that he didn't even notice anyone else that may be nearby.