The questioning of their captive actually goes smoothly. Apparently paying what is this worlds equivalent of minimum wage doesn’t engender loyalty. They didn’t actually even threaten him. The fact they could capture him so easily was enough to get him talking and talk he did.

“So like, the guy sort of just opened up a free-for-all bounty. Now if he had been willing to pay you all be caught before ya know it. Like for three times what up for offer and the Cooperative all us types got going would have really let us go ham. As is only a few of us can get in on it at any time. With your knock and leave strategy there hasn’t been any need to up the amount nor skill of those coming in. Been knocking a few groups down a peg or two and honestly they could use it. Though I must admit being on this side of it isn’t too fun. All that aside with such little reward on the line the ones leading us are only using a special method every hour or so to assure your still in the forest and get your general direction. Not that it is helping much. Your moving around so much and all. Expected but once again if the guy wanted results the fool should actually put up some cash.”

He would have probably gone on a while longer however James just knocked him out as he took a breath. Rosha and Jason both sigh in relief as they toss him out of the bush and high tail it out of there. “The punk was likely trying to delay them so we got caught on the next sweep by whatever magic item was divining our location. If he is willing to try that the sweep must be soon. The moment we hear another group we need to change directions.”

Rosha waves her hand around, “Yeah, yeah, we knew that already. How else would they have been tracking us so well? Though now we do know they only get a general direction about once an hour. If they’re smart, then it isn’t exactly that. Actually scratch that if they can control this many people they are smart enough so let's go with motivated. If they are Motivated enough to bother not doing more than firing it off when the cool down is up we can bracket that hour with plus or minus about 10 minutes. Thinking about it, I for some reason doubt the pay is enough to bother. Instead let's say an hour plus a few minutes or so to represent them not paying attention to the cooldown and the brat having to remind them. Also I will bet that guy was a player like us so he can leave on a whim so won't be too hurt by spilling the beans. That means he has access to the system time.”

James raises his eyebrow, “A lot of assumptions there. Though I see where you are going with that. He would have played the silent act a bit if the sweep time was far off. In fact it probably happened before he woke up and he was hoping to someone was nearby to receive the directions. Though I will note that it wouldn’t matter if he was a player or native. While we get a nice visual time display, the npcs that live in an area with an accurate method of time keeping all get a time sense skill from the System to keep things fair.”

Jason chips in at this point, “Okay so while we can’t have an accurate guess of when the sweep will happen it is safe to guess it just happened. With that in mind it will happen again between 40 and 60 minutes from now. Right now it is only two in the afternoon so we have another ten hours to go with this cat-and-mouse game. We do know that the shelter last night protected up but it not like we can just hole up for another 10 hours and wait this out.”

The conversation stops and becomes a stunned silence broken only by their rapid footsteps. Finally Rosha speaks up, “So I think the protection only lasts about 8 hours. My teacher warned not to use them too much. However that was more about not depending on outside help for hunting. We shouldn’t use one for the remaining two hours of time. If only so the Church of Truth can find us. Also I am willing to bet they have a better method of scrying us.”

Jason shrugs, “I think we should stick around for the next sweep before heading towards the closest shelter. That way we are out and about during the last hour for the church to find us but after the scrying sweep. These mooks aren’t bad at tracking people but the forest isn’t their strong point.” The others have nothing to add to the new plan so things once again go quiet as they listen for pursuers.

They almost make it to the shelter before they are found again. At first it seems like another scout type. However moments after knocking him out a series of shouts from nearby disabuses them of this assumption. Feeling the first real danger the group takes off at a run. The wisdom of their retreat is clear after running past the third trio of enemies. As none of the mooks had kept up with them it appears someone decided to try quantity instead of quality. With so many nearby enemies it doesn’t provide them with a good chance to escape.

As they are running Rosha motions to the others, “We are close but if someone sees us enter, it doesn’t matter how much the place hides us if they carpet the area in enemies. Either of you have a way to ditch these fools?”

James shakes his head but Jason seems to have an idea, “Well all these guys are low level and not exactly forest experts. We planned already to hide from the more competent enemies with the shelter. However that isn’t really needed for these guys is it? Just choose a bush big enough to hide and let our pursuers pass by. After that backtrack a bit and then we head off towards the shelter.”

James then brings up one important point, “How am I supposed to hide? While I am not exactly a paladin in shining armor, my full plate doesn’t make hiding easy.”

Rosha counters this though, “You don’t need to hide well. We just need you out of sight as they run by. While there isn’t an official penalty to any of the skills for spotting stuff it is generally accepted that moving degrades you ability at them. I might not have been in the area before but I do know that close to the shelter there is a big rock. My teacher actually suggested it as a landmark to find the place by. There should be underbrush around it or something. We just have you behind that with some brush over you. Our pursuers might not even look back after passing it with how low level they seem to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people in charge of the hunt are using this for training new recruits as we aren’t killing anyone.”

James shrugs, “Fair enough. If you think it will work, we can try it.”

With a plan in place they change their heading by a bit so they run into the rock. Not long after it comes into view and seems perfect for what they want. While it doesn’t stick above the trees, the surrounding area is clear of trees, being covered in slightly glazed pebbles and shrubs. With the rocks size Jason and Rosha both decide that the best hiding place for them is on top. After covering James in some of the brush they both ascended it like monkeys and lie down on the top. Soon after a ragged group of people charge past and it shows Rosha to be half right. Most of the gaggle didn’t look back however some of them did. they still fail as none of them even make note of the oddly large and mismatched ‘bush’. However after the last of them pass and the two on top are peaking over, they see something that makes their hearts stop.

A man seems to step out of empty air and look straight at them. They freeze in place but the man only does a short solute to them and with a wink steps back into nothing, disappearing once again. It takes a moment but after they get their breath back Jason smacks his face, “Definitely training. That was ‘John’ the guy who trained me in my movement skill. I think we are safe to head towards the shelter now.” and so they did managing to not be spotted again. Bunkering down they only have to wait and hope no one ponies up enough gold to actually pull in someone who can find them.

Akhier

Things I wanted to mention but didn’t:

The rock they hid on is actually special. Most spells that seem to pull material out of nowhere don’t leave it behind. For instance the simple rock bullet is popular for catching people because the basic spell leaves a very clean wound. The rock doesn’t shatter and after the spell if over the rock goes away. Another example of this is fireball. Normally a giant ball of fire would potentially cause all kinds of fires in the area. However after the spell finishes any of the conjured fire disappears so only things that catch fire right away will be burning afterwards. The rock is the remains of what is normally a spell that does that, Meteor. However not long before the players showed up in the world someone tweaked the spell for themselves. Instead of just conjuring a meteor the fool decided to pull an actual chunk of rock down from the sky and learned the hard way why conjured materials are so popular. See, a conjured material will try and not hurt the conjurer. Some random rock you pulled down from space? Yeah, not so much. Thus another self trained wizard learned the hard way what the difference between a manipulation and a conjuration spell is and why people put up with the higher difficulty and cost.