Lost and Bewildered

[Usha]

Usha had managed to get lost.
She stood on a hill top, scratching her head. As near as she could tel, she was somewhere south of where she's started. She'd managed to figure out the direction to travel, and headed in the right way.

She'd heard rumors of some great mercenary that was looking for members to join his band, and it sounded like a good plan to Usha. Great mercenaries were always fighting something.

She looked around, trying to figure out which way to go. She fingered her axe, which gave her a brillant idea.

She pulled it out, and tossed it in the air.
"Heads," she called.
It landed head down into the dirt.
"Hmm.... tails..." she mused, yanking it out of the ground. "That means I go..."
She realized she'd forgotten to figure a direction.
"It means I go that way," she decided, heading down the hill, further south.

[Usha]

It didn't help.
Usha continued to wander in the woods, a little confused as to why there weren't any roads this far out. Who wouldn't put roads where travelers wanted to travel? It didn't make much sense to her. She's put roads where people would be walking.
Maybe she missed the road....

She figured that was probably it. Oh well, as long as she kept going in one direction, she'd eventually find a road, and a road would lead to a town, which would have people.
She continued marching.

[Usha]

There were people in Usha's way. She frowned. There weren't supposed to be people in the woods. And they didn't look like normal people. They had weapons, for one thing, and looked like the sort of people who knew how to fight.
And they were sitting around a fire and laughing.
Usha felt a little jealous.
She approached the fire.
"Hey!" she called. The men gathered around looked at her. One startled man grabbed his spear, and pointed it at Usha. The fighter frowned, knocking the weapon away with her axe.
And so the fight began.

[Usha]

Usha flung her hand axe at one man, catching him on his helmet. Another stabbed her with his spear, which hurt. She grabbed the man by the head, and punched him hard.
By then her axe had returned to her, a little bloody.
The men all took a few steps back from the crazed woman. After all, she was just a little big, and had just taken a spear thrust without flinching. Bleeding, yes; flinching, no.
"What's the matter? Don't wanna fight?"
"We're just a patrol of new recrui..." one started, but Usha cut him off by hitting him with her axe handle.

The others started to panic, gathering their things and scattering. Usha, laughing the entire time, began picking off stragglers.

She's somehow managed to run into a patrol of new recruits, out on their first mission. Since Ostia had been devastated, they needed to train new troops. Unfortunately for this batch, they met Usha before they met any bandits...

Usha sat by the fire, spinning the meat that was there. She sat on a few bodies she'd piled up. As far as she knew, she hadn't killed anybody... but then again, they weren't the strongest fighters. She winced, pressing on her wound.

[Usha]

Usha finished off the last of the food, and fell asleep next to the fire. The recruits returned in the night, looking at the massive woman.
None of them wanted to go near her, in case she woke up. They liked being healthy. They moved around the massive, sleeping woman, and gathered up their supplies. They made certain to leave enough for her to eat, just in case.

Then the recruits ran off into the night.

[Usha]

Usha woke up as the sun shone in her eyes. It disturbed her enough that she was soon fully awake. She counted the packs and noticed that something was missing. She figured that either an animal had stolen it, or the cowards had come while she slept.
What cowards.
Usha gathered up what remained, after digging out a piece of jerky. She did the axe-toss again, and ended up heading in a mostly south direction.

[Usha]

Days went by and Usha didn't run into anyone. She managed to get a squirrel with her axe, and cooked it over a fire she started with a kit she'd found in the bottom of the sack. She also found a handful of coins, and figured that was Elimine watching over her. Obviously she was on the right track.

She noticed a strange looking thing up ahead. It looked like several armored men and women milled about a tent city.

"A training camp," she said. She marched down, determined to find out what they were doing.

[Usha]

The camp happened to be the home of the recruits Usha had "encountered" earlier. They were all edgy on seeing such a combatant stroll into their midst. One man dared to taunt her, and she smacked him with her axe.
The healers thought he'd be okay in a few days.

Eventually Usha reached the leader of the camp, a hardened hero who had been through the major assaults so far.
"You're the one who knocked out an entire squad of recruits," he said, his voice gravely.
Usha shrugged.
"Thought they were bandits," she replied.
The hero fumed.
"You what?"
"They were in the woods at night. And they looked shifty," Usha clarified. She shrugged. "Besides, one of them pointed a spear at me."
The hero stared at her for some time.
"So, you looking for mercs?" she asked.
The hero blinked.
"No," he said, too quickly. "But Santaruz is. Why don't you head that way?"

Usha nodded. She brushed past the hero. Then, she realized she didn't know where Santaruz was. She grabbed a recruit, dragging her close.
"Which way to Santaruz?" she demanded.
The nervous recruit pointed.
Usha nodded, then headed in that direction.
She took several steps before realizing she still held the woman. She tossed her to the side.