Abruptly awaken.

"Psst, guys! Wake up!" Niki says under her breath.

You slowly open your eyes with a groan and peek out from your bedroll to be greeted with a dark-skinned girl in distress. Quickly, you pull yourself up and start to glance around--eyes much more adjusted to the darkness of midnight than before. Though, it's still difficult to make out details through only the light of the moon and stars, and the dimming flame behind you.

There are figures. Specifically, there's three. Two are male, and one is feminine, but all of them have ghostly white skin and piercing red eyes. They have you surrounded, yet have no weapons drawn, which only makes you even more uneasy.

"How did you not see them coming?" you whisper back.

"They came out of nowhere, I swear!"

"Stand up," comes a voice from one of the men. "You are in the presence of Mistress Catherine."

As you slowly rise up to your feet, you reach for your scabbard beside you and grasp it. Niki stands as well, along with her mace, and out of the corner of your eye, you spot Amara obey.

Your eyes dart around quickly, and you wonder if you should draw your blade. There's three of them, and they have you surrounded, yet they do so with such confidence. Clearly, these are not just human bandits. They're something more. For now, you decide to observe the situation, especially while your party awakens. It seems like Eva still hasn't noticed.

At least, that's what you assume. She isn't getting out of her bed.

"Hey! I said stand," the other man says as he starts straight down at the laying bunnyfolk.

Upon closer inspection, her eyes are open, but she's resisting. What are you doing, you idiot? You're going to get us killed!

"Uhm. I c-can't," she replies.

"What do you mean?" the man snaps back.

She tenses up within the bedroll and timidly tucks the bottom of her face beneath. "Everyone will see."

He squints. "Excuse me?"

"I'm not wearing any..." she mutters.

You put a hand on your head. "Are you serious, Eva? Are you sleeping naked even though we're all outside?!" you abruptly yell.

"Don't say that so loud!" she yells back.

Now getting frustrated, the pale man reaches down and starts yanking on her bed. "I said rise, you mongrel!"

Eva pulls back as hard as she can, and starts to panic. The more he tugs, the more it starts to slip off her body. When it reaches her breasts, she squeezes her hands as tightly as they can go, and begins screaming. "No, no, no! You creep!"

Before the naked bunny can be popped free from her covering, the man lets go and stares forwards. You follow his gaze, and a fourth figure stands before you. It's a woman, and the others look to her with something beyond respect. She's gorgeous, but it's her confidence, and her piercing crimson gaze, that cause you to freeze up. There's something otherworldly about her appearance, despite her physically looking human. Her skin is as pale as the rest, and as she smiles, you can make out two lengthy fangs inside her mouth. Her hair is near black, but there's a sheen of red seen from the sky's dim light reflecting off her form.

Her wardrobe consists of a high collar behind her head, leading down to an intricately detailed dress that cuts down and around her cleavage--the perky breasts even more distracting from her bright white skin contrasting the darkness of the night. It continues down all the way to her feet on the back, though ends around her waist at the front. There, you see a pair of black underwear beneath dark leggings that extend down to boots that cover her up to her knees. Her matching gloves extend from the tips of her fingers to above her elbows.

Two silver rings pierce through both of her ears--four in total. Around her supple neck is a choker inlaid with a shiny ruby.

"Mistress Catherine. I apologize," says the man.

She chuckles. Her voice is sultry and elegant, like a seductive noblelady. "Quite an interesting band of travellers to stumble across. How very unfortunate for you, to be so unlucky. We had no intention of attacking anybody, yet when our paths crossed, I couldn't help but take a closer look at what kind of heroes the empire has been pumping out lately."