Exile immediately jumped backwards, drawing his axe and shield in the process. His eyes narrowed on the woman before him with suspicion as he prepared himself for a fight.

"I could ask you the same thing..." Exile growled as he stared her dead in the eyes. "Beans..."

Beans frowned at the hostility in Exile's voice as she looked at him. They had not seen each other since Donna and she had fled from Kaleidoscope, leaving Exile behind to buy themselves time. She let out a sigh as she realised that he was angry about it. She could understand that he felt betrayed by their actions.

"Listen... About leaving you behind... I felt terrible doing it. But Donna was my friend. And I didn't want to die. Not after everything we worked for...." Beans sighed as she hung her head in shame. "Not that it mattered. Kaleidoscope caught us and killed me anyway."

"Yeah, right." Exile scoffed. "And what's your excuse for you guys joining Kaleidoscope to hunt me down! Donna almost got me killed!"

Beans's expression became one of shock as she looked up at Exile. Even a blind man could see that this was news to her! When Exile thought about it, he realised that he had not seen Beans with Donna during that scenario. Exile frowned at her reaction as he waited for her to say something about it.

"I had nothing to do with that! I didn't know she joined them! When I revived in the Temple she had left the party. I haven't been able to find her and she didn't answer my message offline!" Beans looked distressed as she tried to explain what had happened on her end after they had split up. "I've been stuck playing the game on my own since then while avoiding Kaleidoscope."

Exile stared at her as he digested what she was saying. After what had happened, he was reluctant to let the past go. But Beans had been far easier to deal with than Donna, and so far the grievance he had with her was abandoning him. 'Not that I can really blame her for that. She wasn't the one who suggested it and merely chose her friend over someone she barely knew...'

Exile let out a long sigh as he sheathed his weapon and shield. "Ok, let's put that aside for now. What are you doing here?"

Beans appeared more relaxed after the threat of a fight breaking out seemed to disappear. A low sigh escaped from her lips as she met his gaze. "One of the soldiers made a prayer to catch fish. He's from my Oracle's village so it got directed to me, but..."

"But what?" Exile frowned as he remembered that she was the Goddess of Fishing.

"Something wasn't right as I tried to use Miracle. Sometimes it failed depending on what I chose." Beans replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Exile rubbed his chin as he thought about it. 'The influence of another God maybe?' He felt that this was probably right. But it probably meant the other party had a higher Authority score than Beans. 'So, we'll have to deal with other players...' Exile frowned as the situation became clearer.

"Wait... If you were with them, then why are you here alone now?" Exile cocked an eyebrow at her as he glanced at the camp once again.

"They're away to raid a city nearby. This river curves up ahead and leads straight into it. But they have defences built along the shore further up. They decided this was the best place to land and cut across the desert. I'm waiting in case they need my help on the way back." Beans shrugged her shoulders as she glanced at the sea of sand.

"Hm, I'm guessing you also want to avoid getting into any conflicts right now..." Exile hummed as he thought about the stats she would have lost after dying from Kaleidoscope's attack. "Makes sense. If you're struggling to beat their power in Miracles, you won't have much of a chance on the battlefield."

"You can already tell there are players on the other side?" Beans frowned before making a helpless expression.

"How many are there? And what about our side?" Exile asked casually when he realised that she was of little threat and less use right now.

"I don't know about their side. It's not like they showed themselves. But, for us, there are three other players apart from myself." Beans lightly tapped her chin as she thought about it.

"Three? That's a little low..." Exile grimaced as he heard this number.

'It wouldn't be hard to outnumber us then... No wonder the Quest is called The Doomed Raid. We should be focusing on damage control then, there's no point fighting this battle...' Exile let out a sigh as he wondered how far it was to the city.

"Yeah, but there are no Oracles here. So nobody could tell these guys to give up. We're stuck babysitting them as much as possible. I'm not even sure if anyone will make it back to the ships..." Beans shook her head slowly as she stared at him. "So, what will you do?"

"I'm going to take a look. I have my own Quest to save some people." Exile rolled his eyes at the difficulty of it. "Try to keep this place clear of any enemies. They'll probably have to make a quick escape. If I was on the other side, I'd want to cut off their path of retreat."

Beans frowned as Exile took off towards the desert after those words. 'Since when do I take orders from you?' Naturally, she was annoyed. But she had to admit that it seemed like a sound judgement. 'Guess I'm a guard dog for now...'

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