The trek up the slope of the mountain was by far the most exhausting of this entire ordeal if Vance was to claim any fatigue. Having walked from the Hills of Kendirewen to the town of Julianius and now up the slopes of the Tavarian Spine, it was already turning into quite the trip. If Vance were still an average human, he'd have had to stop and rest, but his stats, if Vance was to give a name to them, had levelled up to a whole new category making such long trips on foot feel as though he were taking a walk to the corner store. Upon his climb up the slope via the paved stone road, he was still feeling fresh.

Yet, as he climbed up the slope and entered the thin thicket of pine trees, he was starting to feel uneasy. It was as though he were being watched if he had to put a name to the sensation.

Stopping for a moment, he looked over his left, then his right, peering into the thin treelines separated from the road via a wood fence. "Hmm... odd," Vance whispered under his breath.

Pausing a moment longer to examine his immediate surroundings, he started to feel it was time to arm himself. Without a second thought, he unslung his musket. Opening the pan, he pulled a paper cartridge from his ammo bag before ripping the cartridge open with his teeth. After opening the small cartridge, he went through the motions. Pouring some into the pan and then closing it so he could bring the musket to rest on the butt, pouring the rest of the powder and ball into the barrel. Pulling the ramrod free from its slide, he began to pound the paper and ball back. Once loaded, Vance brought his musket up and brought it to half cock. Cocked and loaded, he felt a little safer about his current situation.

Continuing on his way with tentative caution, Vance kept his guard up, his eyes sweeping the tree lines every few five or so meters he travelled.

Turning around a corner, he found himself now in visual range of the Emperor's tomb. A white stone domed structure that stood proudly on the mountainside with a perfect view overlooking the countryside. It appeared almost like the Roman Pantheon, with white fluted columns carved with corinthian style tops that showed the majesty and grandeur of the building in question. Vance himself looked up in awe at the structure and made a mental note to visit the tomb itself once he was done finding whatever it was that Julia wanted him to find within the dwarven cave.

Yet, as much as he'd love to stare and gawk at the wonder, his attention was promptly returned to the fore as he heard a snap of branches. Eyes levelled with the path, his eyes found and focused on a broken fence that looked as though it had been smashed by something heavy and cumbersome. Unsurprisingly, he saw the telltale signs of battle, with blood and scaring on the road and trees. Bringing his musket up, he stepped forward, hands gently clutching the musket.

*Snap*

Twisting around, Vance fell to his right knee, bringing musket to bear as he aimed the barrel towards the sound. Coming face to face with an Orc male, whose brown exterior and tusked teeth were spread into a grin as he brought his musket to bear, aimed at Vance. Unlike the Orc, though, Vance didn't waste time in snapping off the first round, a pall of smoke rising between the fighters. The pained scream of the Orc came crying out, breaking the tentative silence.

As the smoke cleared, the Orc fell forward, clutching his chest wound, falling dead within a matter of seconds. As much as Vance wanted to reload then and there, he knew there was no time as the silhouettes of four others emerged from the treeline, wearing the same leather doublets as their slain comrade.

Four more muskets were aimed at Vance, leaving him little room to do anything else beyond darting for the closest tree as the first crack of muskets rang out, the ball smacking into the stone road. Twisting around to see where the others were, a shot sailed past his ear, nearly knicking the side of his ear, forcing the blonde against the tree. Musket empty, the enemy within thirty meters. It wasn't looking good. However, the speed of a High Human would hopefully make for a faster time of reloading. Cartilage pulled free, torn open, pour, stuff, pound into the ground once, twice, thrice, ram once...

'Loaded!' Sweeping around cover, musket at the fire ready, his eyes locked onto the closest of his attackers.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three...

*Crack!*

Billowing smoke filled the air above as Vance's musket shot true, the ball smacking through one Orc's forehead, killing him instantly. Wasting no more time on reloading, the other three rushed forward, letting out a fearsome warcry as they charged, cruel serrated edged short swords in hand. Casting aside his musket, Vance drew his blade from its protective sheath and took a defensive position as the first of the three came lunging at him at great speed.

Recalling the old medieval manuals of swordsmanship, Vance called up the forms from memory, perfectly emulating the stances from each. Still, the French and Spanish styles were the ones that suited the situation, and he'd use them for now. Pulling the blade up, he sidestepped in time to avoid what indeed would've been a killing stroke before he countered with a quick Flèche thrust to the Orc's exposed rear. The tip dug deep, separating the spine in two, before being pulled free to be brought up and pointed to the next of his two remaining attackers.

Both hesitated, unsure where to strike or how after witnessing the quick and clean efficiency of Vance's counter. Suddenly the first tried a feint swing while the other lunged forward into a cleaving sweep. Vance stood calm, bringing the point to the cleaving Orc's face before parrying the cleave away, using the attackers own momentum to break his defence as Vance countered with a swift Riposte. Slumping forward, Vance pulled back, bringing the blade to a ready stance in time to parry and deflect a surprise follow up from his final attacker. This time, unlike before, Vance was now clearly able to call upon his awakened abilities as he showed the skill and speed of one chosen by Julia, lunging forward in an aggressive counter, stabbing the blade through the Orc's heart, killing the fourth and last of his attackers.

As the dust settled, Vance could finally get a good look at his attackers and look for any clues as to why they attacked him. A glance at the uniforms of each told him they were likely from the Emir, though why someone from Askal would come this far North was a mystery to him. He didn't know much about the Emirates of Askal other than it being in a region of Tavaria that was like Egypt in appearance. Ignoring the typography of the area, for now at least, Vance dug through the pockets and bags of each of the slain Orcs, only finding more ammo (which he took) and a single map that led to their camp. Why they'd go out of their way to make a map? He wasn't sure, but he wasn't about to turn away a chance like this; more so if it meant answering why they attacked him.

So, grabbing his musket and doing a quick reload, he made for the camp marked on the hastily drawn map. Hiding behind a thicket of brushes as he came up to the site, he began to scan the immediate area, looking for any signs of life. Ten minutes passed, and no signs of life. The sound of birds chirping began to return as well.

"Well, that's a good sign." Vance thought to himself.

Surveying the area around the camp, he found there were no other footsteps than the ones belonging to the four Orc's, and so, with that, he emerged and moved towards the camp.

Drawing in close, Vance saw a pile of naked corpses, likely stripped of their clothes and belongings for selling. Upon arriving at the camp itself, a search proved rather valuable as he found the belongings of the dead, and among them, guild cards.

"Well, that answers why there were no other travellers," Vance observed.

Grabbing a bag, Vance made sure to load the guild card's in to give to the Guildhall upon returning. Vance took nothing of the other looted items but instead packed them into a separate bag and buried it nearby where the bodies were likely going to buried as indicated by a freshly dug pit. The reason for burying the items was so the relatives of the deceased could collect them, something which Julia would surely agree with.

Finally, after going through the rest of the camp, Vance found an answer to why he was attacked - or well, partly. He had managed to find a signed order among the belongings in one of the tents.

Unfolding the letter, he began to read:

"Your orders are as follows:

-Secure the road leading up to the Emperor's Tomb,

-Kill any travellers that take the road,

-Search their belongings for any letters, notes, or orb recorders,

-And finally, if you find nothing, you are to recon the town.

signed,

-E."

"Who's this E?" Vance thought as he folded the letter and stuffed it into his vest pocket alongside his maps. "Another question for another time, I suppose..."

With no other reason for being here, Vance returned to the road. Now, now he was curious about what waited for him at the mouth of the cave. New questions began to fill his head as he continued on with his quest.

"Let's hope the cave proves easier than the Orcs."