Within seconds of the gnoll falling and all the healing that Logan could give being given, human and kenku carried Ren back up the stairs towards the entrance of the Cockatrice, such as it was. Logan's arms were slung under Ren's narrow shoulders, heaving him up the steps, while Stalk held the elf wizard by his ankles, his feathered limbs no longer running with blood. As they reached the top, they saw Technus standing outdoors, red-lensed eye scanning the surrounding area, ranged weapon and shield still at the ready.

The sky was a pale, dim violet as the sun continued to set, but the carnage of the mercenaries who came out earlier and had been butchered by the gnolls was still visible - the grass was drowning in a mass of fresh blood and clusters of black flies were forming on their remains, the droning of their wings forming a dirge for the slain. The sight was horrifying, as was the stench, but Technus didn't even seem to register this vast loss of life at all.

Instead, as Logan and Stalk appeared, all he did was glance in their direction, enough to register their presence before he immediately started gazing into the middle distance.

The very sight of him made anger flare up inside Logan, his chest burning as he ground his teeth inside his jaw, but his attention was soon redirected as Stalk and him went back inside the Cockatrice through the massive hole the cyborg had blown through the stonework – looking indoors, he saw the remaining crowd of civilians barging past each other to get further inside the inn, to find a room and get away from the sight and stench of so much violence. Meanwhile, as Logan and Stalk came indoors, the corpses of the gnolls that remained intact were being dragged out through the breach by a large spotted mastiff dog, the monster's flesh gripped in the canine's mouth as it struggled to heft the dead out of the room.

Where this dog came from, Logan didn't know... until he saw that Finnan was nowhere to be seen. Not as a halfling, anyways.

Thankfully, it was only gnoll corpses that Finnan was dealing with. Looking around, Logan couldn't see any dead people inside the building itself, which took a huge weight from his shoulders. However, that weight soon returned when he saw that the normally jovial Elsa was slumped in a chair, staring into her own lap with a pale, distant expression and rivers running down her cheeks. Arabella knelt by her side, clutching the tavern keeper's hand in hers, though she turned and stood up when she saw Logan and Stalk approach.

"Thank the gods!" she blurted in relief, clutching her golden heart pendant with her free hand. "You're both okay..."

"Just about." Stalk quipped in response. He and Logan then met gazes, concentrating on each other's movements as they lowered Ren down onto the floor. As he came to rest on the floorboards, Arabella hurried to the wizard's side, immediately checking his pulse.

"Is he...?" Logan asked, chest tightening as he feared the worst.

Arabella looked up at him. "His pulse is weak, but it's there," she replied. "He'll wake in a while – for now, he just needs to rest." As she spoke, a small sound of breath escaped Ren's lips.

The taut feeling in his torso released as Logan heard that. "Thank you, Arabella," he said with a smile.

The high elf returned his expression with a smile of her own, but her smile faded when Elsa began to murmur through her tears, her trembling voice audible as the clientele managed to thin out, everyone hiding away somewhere indoors, either in a room or clustering in the kitchen.

"Gone..." Elsa was murmuring tearfully. "It's all gone..."

Sorrow panged in Logan's heart, and after leaving Ren on the floor with Arabella, he approached the kindly innkeep, dropped to one knee and placed his right hand on hers. "You can rebuild, Elsa..." he said in a low voice, giving her fingers a squeeze.

Elsa didn't meet his gaze, only her. "Not while those things are still out there..." she said, trembling. "We've never had gnolls here before. What if there are more packs?"

Logan thought for a moment. He didn't know much about the behaviour of gnolls – his duty was to kill them, not study them. Twisting about, he looked to Arabella and Stalk, wondering if they might have anything to say.

Ren might've, being a wizard and all, but he was out cold.

The searching look in Arabella's eyes as he turned to her made it clear she knew no more than he did himself. However, it was the look on Stalk's avian face that Logan liked the least - the kenku's orange eyes were directed at the floor, and at his side, his clawed fingers were fidgeting.

"Stalk?" Logan asked.

The kenku looked up, shifting where he stood as he spoke. "Gnolls are opportunists," he said. "If this was the whole pack, another'll move in to take its place. If it wasn't... they'll come here with a vengeance."

Arabella gasped softly. "How many more of them could there be?" she asked Stalk.

"Might be just a few..." Stalk said, blinking slowly. "Might be dozens. Might be hundreds."

Logan felt Elsa's hand tremble in his grip, sobbing as her breath caught in her throat while more tears flowed from her eyes. "Oh gods..." she said aloud, staggering back into her chair, only barely managing to not fall into the seat on her shaking legs.

"Hey, hey..." Logan told her, keeping his voice low and soothing as he knelt and placed his left hand on Elsa's shoulder. "It'll be alright, Elsa. I know what we can do. Tell me - who's the ruler of Milisevre?" He had remembered the name of the nation that Elsa belonged to, at least.

Elsa tilted her head up, eyes and cheeks both red and glistening. "K-King Charles..." she managed to say.

Logan nodded. "Alright." He then stood up, and as Arabella took his place at the innkeepers' side, he declared "I'll go and inform your king of this. In the morning I'll travel north as fast as I can and bring word to him."

Stalk and Arabella both looked up at him, with the kenku asking "You think he'll even bother?"

Logan replied. "You tell me. You said earlier that your flock live in Milisevre – what kind of king is Charles?"

That was something Logan had also remembered from earlier.

Stalk's reply was more comforting than his earlier statements about the gnolls, but not by much. "I don't know. I haven't been there myself yet," he admitted. "I've been out here scouting the hinterlands since before they arrived. As I told you earlier, I'm on my way back to them now."

"Either way, I'm willing to try." Logan told him. "If there's a risk of a gnoll invasion, he'll listen if he has good sense. Besides, it's the duty of a king to defend his realm and his people."

One of Stalk's eyes narrowed, an air of scepticism surrounding him. "Doesn't mean he'll do that duty. People can be lazy, or just outright apathetic. Politicians especially."

"True enough..." Logan replied. He knew that more than most. "But that doesn't justify inaction on our part. Least of all on mine," he said. "I took an oath, and I'll do my duty even if this king won't."

Heavy, thudding footsteps then sounded behind him, which made Logan's heart so heavy it sank down in his chest. Turning around, he saw Technus looming over himself and the others. As ever, what could be seen of his face was expressionless, unmoved and uncaring by the plight of others... just as Logan expected. And just as he loathed.

"The paladin's statement on the duty of kings is correct," the towering figure replied. "However, kings and monarchs have greater responsibilities too. Their civilization's needs will come first in their eyes."

Logan ground his teeth again as the enormity appeared again, rage building inside him. "No-one asked for your opinion."

Technus' head slowly angled around to face him. "I am giving wise counsel," his voice droned. "You would do well to heed it, lest you repeat the-".

"The counsel of a man who shoots his own erstwhile allies isn't wise and has no value," Logan retorted. "Don't deny it – I saw you pull the trigger. And I saw the look of contempt you had when you did so."

Technus tilted his chin up, his face-grill gleaming brazenly in the candlelight. "I have nothing to deny. Nor anything to regret."

That was what got to Logan more than anything and made his blood boil like dragonfire. Ever since he had arrived, Technus had shown nothing but disdain for everyone except himself and his god. And that 'holier-than-though' attitude was something he could never stand.

"What do you mean, Technus?" Arabella asked. When the cybernetic cleric approached, she was kneeling at Elsa's side and gently rubbing her back, though her movements gradually slowed as she listened to what was being said.

Logan glanced at her. "I mean that he was willing to launch some kind of explosive at the gnolls knowing Finnan would be hit by the blast," he explained.

"I saw that too." Stalk piped up. Folding his arms, the kenku looked up at Technus. He said nothing more on the matter, but the way Stalk's orange eyes weighed the Tech-Cleric was thick with disapproval – something that made Logan's level of respect for the kenku rise considerably.

Technus, however, paid no more mind to any of this than he would have paid the chirping of a cricket. "What you saw makes no matter. And I am not an ally of any of you. Our foes aligned temporarily, but that does not make us comrades," he stated, cold and harsh as ice. "You are flesh, and flesh is weak. It would have been a worthwhile sacrifice."

That did it.

Logan's hand flew to his sword, and steel flashed through the air as he pulled the blade from its scabbard and brandished it at Technus.

"What do you know of sacrifice?!" Logan bellowed, his grip on the handle white-knuckled and tight as a noose. "This sword is called Sacrifice – perhaps if I open your throat with it, you'll understand the concept!"

Technus reached to draw his axe, which spurred Logan to advance, the point of his blade homing in on Technus' neck. Arabella gasped and Stalk opened his mouth as if to speak. But then...

"Stop!"

Finnan planted himself between the two of them, hands extended both ways and palms raised. Logan froze, looking down at the halfling, who met his gaze with an expression that Logan didn't expect at all.

So far, Finnan had seemed completely off his rocker, but in a way that wasn't malicious and was even slightly endearing, like some sort of crazy grandfather. Now, however, his face was cast in a look of deathly seriousness – so much so that it stopped even Logan in his tracks.

In the tail of his eye, Logan saw Arabella take a tentative pace forward. "Finnan..." she said softly.

Finnan turned her way, and as Arabella saw the look on her companion's face, she also backed off. The little druid then lowered his arms and looked up at Technus, seeming to stand tall even when the cyborg was over double his height.

"Brother Technus... I forgive you."

The halfling spoke those words softly, and the slight raising of his eyebrows that Logan glimpsed on the Tech-Cleric's face showed him that even he was surprised.

However, as expected, Technus showed no gratitude of his own, just standing motionless until his biological eye blinked once.

Pausing for a moment, Logan sheathed Sacrifice at his side before standing with his left hand resting protectively over the weapon. He then looked over those who surrounded him and repeated what he said before.

"I'm going north to Milisevre. If any of you wish to join me, you're welcome to."

He would make sure Ren would survive, of course, and that Elsa would be fine for the time being. But after that, his goal was clear and his mind was made up.

A silence hung over the room before Finnan's bare feet took a step forward. "I'm coming," the halfling said as he looked at Elsa, who was still sat by Arabella's feet. "I don't want the nice lady to lose her home."

Logan smiled. "Thank you, Finnan," he replied.

Another voice soon followed – Arabella's. "I'm coming too. I can't bear the thought that this might happen again..." she said, her voice gentle but her words full of passion. "If I can help prevent it, I will."

Logan smiled, then turned to Stalk, the two of them meeting gazes as Logan gave him a look that silently asked 'You coming?'

Stalk clacked his beak and shrugged. "Eh, let's make it four for four. My flock should hear of this anyways, and besides... I'm not so much of an arse that I'd let this slip me by." His humour was poorly timed, but he made up for it as he said with a gleam in his eye "Count me in."

Logan nodded to him, still smiling, then twisted about as he felt something trembling grip his hand – it was Elsa, looking up at him with red, puffy eyes that gleamed with both sorrow and gratitude.

"Thank you, Sir Logan..." she said in a voice that quavered as much as her hands. "You are a true knight indeed..."

Logan met her gaze with his golden eyes and simply nodded. "I try," he said in response.

At that moment, though, he then heard Arabella's soft voice ask a question.

"And what about you, Brother Technus? Will you be joining us?"

Immediately, Logan's smile fell. Across the room, he saw that Technus was still standing motionless, watching the events before him with a black, vacant expression. Arabella had taken two paces towards him, standing just behind Finnan as the both of them seemed to await the Tech-Cleric's response.

Technus blinked, and after a pause that seemed to go on forever and make Logan grind his teeth in his jaw, all he said was "It is on my way," before he turned and walked off, his legs whirring and clunking with every step he took.

His words, however, made Arabella smile, and she turned back to the others to announce "Well, that makes all of us save for Ren." She then moved to where Logan had laid Ren down, dipping down gracefully and resting a gentle hand upon his forehead as he gazed with pity at his unconscious form. "Do you think he'll come with us?" she asked at length.

Logan also looked at the wood elf, who seemed to be sleeping more than anything at the moment. "That's his choice to make, not ours," he said, also looking down with sorrow at the wizard he had met just this morning. "But we need to make sure he recovers first, more than anything."

Lifting his gaze to the other elf in the room and asked Arabella "My lady, I'm afraid I have no healing left. Could you maybe...?"

His words trailed off as Arabella turned to him, her smile making it clear that she knew what he meant. "Leave him and Elsa with me. I'll look after them," she told him. She then bent down to try and Ren gently from the floor, and when she struggled a bit to lift him, Finnan and Elsa hurried to aid the high elf, taking some of the weight for her.

Ren weighed no more than a bag of leaves, in truth, and the two ladies and the halfling managed him just fine.

As this happened, Logan quickly called out "Wait, Elsa! One last thing! Do you have any shovels or spades?"

By this point, Elsa had crossed the inn's common room and was about to head upstairs, but she heard him and replied with "Oui, Sir Logan. There should be some downstairs, in the..."

She quickly fell into another pale-faced silence when she was about to speak, but Logan quickly figured out why.

She was speaking of the cellar downstairs. Where Edwyn had been slain.

Lifting a hand, Logan indicated she need say no more before turning and heading for the hole Technus had blown in the wall, passing by Stalk just as the kenku raised a question in a confused voice.

"Shovels?" the bird-man asked aloud. "What do we need shovels for?"

"To bury the dead." Logan replied, stopping in his tracks. "Even mercenaries deserve their last rites. As for the gnolls – they don't need a burial, but we can't leave the rotting corpses here – they'd attract gods-know-what. So I say we burn them." After giving his explanation, the young knight looked to his companion and asked "Would you be kind enough to help me, Stalk?"

He saw the kenku's fingers clenching and fidgeting, the sharpened talons scraping faintly past each other as a gleam of discomfort flashed in his large, orange eyes. Logan thought about asking what was up, but before he could, Stalk said:

"I prefer not to linger about the dead, in truth... but I'll help you in this." As he told Logan that, he then chuckled in his throat. "Consider it repayment for your improved manners... and for helping me out in the fight."

Logan also couldn't help but chuckle at that, and with that, both man and birb set to work.