Arrival in the North

Astur, together with the three players, Blaze, Nero, and Woden, crossed into the frontier northern province, the March of Septentrio. According to the previous new report that Astur saw, the Warden and the Warband are currently located here. Being a border with the Kalthros Empire, much of the land is infertile and is sparsely populated, this is especially true the closer one gets to the edge of the province.

It took several hours after they arrived in Septentrio, but Astur and the others eventually found a small town. Their journey actually would have been longer if not for Astur's lazy side winning out. It didn't take long before they arrived in Septentrio that Astur had begun thinking of doing a carjacking on some poor unsuspecting car passing by, but she initially withheld from doing so since there were players around. But being who she is, Astur didn't want to keep walking after having done so for a couple of days already. On the first car that drove by, Astur tried to use an age old tactic, pretending to get hit for an insurance scam, although the main purpose was to get the vehicle owner out of the car. Of course, this didn't work, but not because the driver knew they were going to try and scam them. The reason for this not working was because the driver did actually hit Astur with their car and went for a hit and run. But with her ridiculous health points, Astur picked herself up as if nothing happened and urged the others to sit and wait until they see another car.

One of the benefits of the players is that they can see the amount of damage that their nearby allies and enemies deal and take, so when Blaze and the other two saw that Astur took nearly 8,000 damage from getting hit by a speeding car they were astonished to see her getting up as if it was nothing. Not being a high enough level to determine Astur's total HP, the three players and the member of Blaze's stream thought that Astur has a massive amount of HP. And while Astur certainly does have higher than normal HP, that car actually would have killed her if not for her passive 15% damage reduction. In actuality, despite successfully convince the players that she is far more tanky than she appears, in her head, she was crying in pain while cursing the hit and run driver, despite the whole ordeal being her own fault. But it didn't take long before her passive health regen brought her back to full HP. As another car passed, Astur learned from her previous attempt and just straight out attacked that car, forcing the driver and their family out before she drove the car away.

As for what the players thought of her after witnessing her crimes, Astur didn't care anymore since she really didn't want to walk any walk anymore. She knew she had slowly been revealing more and more of her true personality to the players so she had begun to stop caring about appearances. But in reality, the players had already long been aware of what Astur was really like, mostly thanks to the loose-lipped Elizabeth who complained about her to Blaze while she was streaming.

Arriving in the small town of Stobi, Astur's group almost instantly sees how empty the town is, unsure if people are being careful of the reported movements of the Warband or if it's because of the low population in the frontier. Driving down the streets, many shops have their shutters closed, most houses have their curtains closed, and hardly anyone can be seen on the streets.

After a bit of driving around the town, they pull over to ask one of the few people walking around about why the town seems dead.

Rolling down the car window, Astur asks "Hey, we travellers from the south, was wondering why this place is so empty?"

"Oh from the south, praise the Lord of Light," the man says, wiping some cold sweat from his forehead, "I thought I was about to get mugged."

"Why'd you think we were gonna mug you?" Astur asks.

"Well, everyone is on edge with the reports of those terrorist being around. But even without their pressure, Stobi's population is small even for a town in Septentrio. Take it as some goodwill from me, but I suggest you pick a different place to go sightseeing, Septentrio isn't safe with the Warband currently being here. The Provincial Army said they'd do something about them, but the Provincial Army is clearly too scared to do anything. Anyways, I need to go or I'll be late for work… why'd I have to become a civil servant…" the man grumbles before walking off.

Rolling the window back up, Astur turns to the three players and asks, "So what do you lot think about the situation here?"

"The residents here certainly don't hold a good impression of the Warband, that's for sure," Blaze says.

"Considering the media labels them as criminals and international terrorists, that shouldn't come as a surprise," Nero says.

"In the eyes of the majority, the Warden and his followers are certainly criminals. But that's only one perspective. On the other side of the fence, the Warden is a saviour and a hero to the Demons, though I suppose the humans in this world call us Mystics," Astur says, "So anyway, anyone know where to go from here?"

"I think there was a map in the glove compartment, we might be able to use that to get a better lay of the land... yep, here it is," Blaze says as she passes the map to Astur.

On the map, they see only a small handful of towns, the largest being the Provincial Capital, but it only appears to be the size of Dawn. Much of the topography in Septentrio is mountainous, leaving little in the way of large areas for a settlement. This coupled with the generally poor conditions of the land, it's that the number of settlements in Septentrio can be counted on a single hand despite the actual size of the province being somewhat large.

"Considering that most of the area seems to be dead flatlands, I'd say the most obvious place to hide is in the mountains," Woden says.

"But wouldn't the army know this as well, why haven't they been dispatched to take care of them?" Nero asks.

"Idiot, remember what the man from before said, the Provincial Army claimed they would deal with the Warband, but there hasn't been any movement from them, at least as far as the common folk know. This means they're either too incompetent to know the only suitable place to hide or they really are scared like the man said," Blaze says.

"I would place my bets are on that they're too scared. Logically, that would be the conclusion. Despite the size of the March of Septentrio, it only has two villages and four towns with no cities, and this is including the Capital here. The population isn't large enough to support a large army and it's clear that the Kingdom of Virpal pays little attention to the province, the many potholes in the roads are evidence of this. But anyway, as to where we should go next, I think that village called Pago is a good start. It's not too far from here and it's near the mountains so it can serve as a temporary base while we are here," Woden explains.

Without a second thought, Astur slams on the pedal, going far past the speed limit as she shouts, "To Pago we go!"