A string of consecutive bounties had led her deep into the Drakwald Forest. In the heart of it resided Untergard---a town recently ravaged by the Children of Chaos in their pillage of taking over the lands. Cornered by both the Great Forest and the Forest of Shadows, the untamed wilderness stretched far and her travels had been long. Sh'd been in need of a place to stop and rest for a bit, and made shelter within one of the ruined town homes, having ensured it was truly abandoned before invading the space. It was the rain that kept her there now, stalling her journey a day longer than she'd planned.<br/><br/>On Natalia's second morning in Untergard, the clouds finally broke, and a crowd gathered near the town square. Like most days, she rose in time with the sun, and had been donning her armor when the sounds outside caught the elf's attention. With her sword on her back and her pack hanging low on her shoulders over the sheath, she slipped out of the half-crumbled building, narrowing her sensitive emerald eyes as they quickly adjusted to the morning light. She turned her head, gazing down the street towards the center of town where people were crowding around, talking amongst themselves. It appeared that every survivor within Drakwald was there, and Natalia became intrigued.<br/><br/>She was just beginning to walk in that direction when a man stepped up, rising higher than the others that surrounded him. She instantly recognized him to be Captain Schiller, and came to a stop to linger in the back of the crowd as he gestured for them to quiet down. His announcement was quite brief, earning interjections of applause and cheers and eventually cries of victory. Natalia felt an odd sense of joy that these people had gained some small satisfaction from the battle that had raged here. Having seen firsthand what war could do, it was heartening to see them celebrate the little things---like a bit of bread and wine.<br/><br/>She remembered a time when bread and wine had been plentiful to her. When everything she ever wanted had been right at her fingertips, and when external threats had been naught a worry in the world to her. Everything was different now. She'd learned to fend for herself, to get what she needed only when she needed it and to face the things that challenged her. The life of a bounty hunter was nothing like that of a princess, though she had learned and gained many things from both lifestyles. She was pulled from her thoughts and tethered back to reality when the crowd began to chant and shout victoriously.<br/><br/>But it was short-lived. A gunshot sounded, and the glass bottle exploded over Captain Schiller's head, drenching him in red wine. People screamed and instantly scattered, fleeing away from Captain Schiller and where they believed the danger to be. Natalia's response, however, was to whip her head in the direction of where the gunshot emitted from, attempting and failing to pinpoint the exact location of the origin. And then her attention slid over, noticing the horde of animalistic mutants that was charging over the bridge and heading right towards the town center where she stood.<br/><br/>The mere sight of them was what caused Natalia's first moment of stand-still. They were far more mutilated than that of the Beastmen, carrying death in their eyes and vicious-looking tools in their tentacles that would be sure to do damage if wielded correctly. Her second moment of hesitation to jump into battle was a sense of self-preservation. This wasn't her land, these weren't her people, and she wasn't a soldier. It wasn't her job to defend this town---she'd merely made a pit stop to rest up and gather her strength. But when she took a step back to retreat from the advancing enemy horde, something stopped her. Something in her core seized, and told her she could not leave this place defenseless. Not without doing what she could, first.<br/><br/>From her hips she unsheathed two short blades, both eight inches long and dancing at her sides as she twirled them within her fingers. She weighed her options, her green orbs darting around the town center to choose the best advantage point from which to take on the horde. It seemed futile---the horde was huge, and seemingly almost every civilian had scattered at the first sign of trouble. Finally she gripped each knife in her hands, praying that she'd be able to make a dent in their forces and still make it out of here relatively unscathed. It was not something she could do alone.