Follow the man.

He swiftly leads you and your party off into the hills. The land is dark. You hope Eva, Amara, and Alice can at least see better than you and Niki, because to you, it's nothing but black under a sea of stars. You nearly trip over some branches as you make your way up towards some taller hills that end with sharp rocky cliff faces. The man stops and peers around distressed.

"It was around here. Something came from the sky," he says and gazes upwards.

"Perhaps we should climb higher," Amara suggests.

Alice steps up to the wall of stone. It's too tall to see over, though she stares up and speaks quietly. "Hold on. Allow me to see what is ahead before we advance, just in case something awaits us." She grabs her head, gives it a twist, and pops it right off her neck.

The man opens his mouth to scream in terror but Niki grabs him from behind and silences him with a hand over his mouth.

He pushes her away. "What the hell are you guys?"

Alice lifts her head high into the air and peers over the top of the cliff edge. She can certainly see better than anyone here in the darkness. She's effectively a robot after all. She turns her head left and right, though she doesn't seem to be spotting anything yet. Just then, a sudden gust of wind causes the party to stumble back, and multiple figures masked in shadow soar straight overhead. Alice fumbles, and her head falls backwards from her hands, but you lunge forwards and grab it before it hits the ground.

"Th-Thank you!" She turns her headless body around.

Before she can retrieve it, another figure clutches her torso and lifts her into the air with another gust of wind. The shadows move through the sky and disappear back above the cliff. All the while, Alice shouts for help, but her voice doesn't fade into the distance. In fact, it's coming from your arms.

"Alice!" you shout back. But then you look down. "Oh right. Sorry."

"Something is taking my body. Please. We need to retrieve it as well as the merchant girl!"

Meanwhile, the man stares down at the disembodied head in your arms. "This is fucked up..." he mutters.

"Onwards then!" Niki leaps forwards and digs her fingers into the side of the hill. She climbs to the top with absolute ease, vaulting her way to disappear from view. "Come on, already. I don't see them, so we gotta hurry! Here, hand me the head."

"Please do not just call me the head," Alice replies.

You lift her up for Niki to grab, and then you're the next to climb up behind her. Next comes Amara and Eva, and then finally the man who seems to struggle the most. Though with your hand, he heaves himself up, and Niki hands the head back to you.

At first, you want to ask why she won't carry it around, but then you look to Alice's eyes staring up at yours. You can't say something like that now. She'll think you don't want her. So, you take her head back into your arms and start marching ahead with the others.

"What can you see, Alice?" you ask.

She peers her magical eyes around. "The hills go higher ahead. I see a cave. It is not far, but it's difficult to see. My body has been placed down against cold rock. I felt... feathers, I believe." Suddenly, she goes silent.

"Anything else?" you ask.

There's no reply at first. Then she makes a soft whimper. "N-No... Ah!"

"What's the matter?" Niki turns and inspects her closely.

"I have a feeling that they find my body rather mysterious, as they are inspecting it right now. Their grip is... f-firm."

You face the head up to you and there's cyan glowing from her cheeks.

"Aah~!" She quickly purses her lips. "Please. Face me forwards. This is embarrassing."

"Just hang in there." You point her ahead once again. Seems like someone's getting frisky with her body. We better hurry up.