@TuskatheDaemonKilla @Shadhunter @Valonox @Colapse
Asta gave one firm nod to Shaila for letting her keep the sword, for now. Everyone watched Shaila as she walked over to the man with the broken nose and healed it.
"What is this? Who are you people? How can you do that?"
He asked puzzled and slightly afraid while feeling his nose.

"It's the crusade! It is blessed by Elusine Herself, miracles are Her work she works through them, it must be!"
One man declared and pointed at Shaila's pendant of Elusine. Everyone's mood grew in hope all of a sudden.
Asta placed a hand on Shaila's shoulder and stared into her eyes.
"Is it true? Elusine is with us, in you? Who was that woman before with shining eyes?"
Victor seemed intent on letting these people believe in the blessed crusade. The knight fixed a hard look toward all the party members, to discourage them from dispelling the thought.
"She is Saint Gwyneth, I ask all of you not to disturb her. Her presence is an inspiration to us all and a blessing on our quest."
Victor said, with people bowing in respect in acknowledgment.

As for how the training went after whatever happened, it could have gone better. Ollie had arrived with the first set of spears and hurried on back to help the blacksmith.
Usually a simple spear stab missed the dummy several times, grips were all wrong and the concept of keeping up one's guard was all but alien to them.
Asta took part in the spear training as well, the only one to do it all properly.
With the help of Shaila, Noburo and Victor it actually amounted to something, eventually. Still not professional but it seemed like they could actually stand some kind of chance in an actual fight. They were far from done training to a warriors eye. Ollie came by with two bows and some arrows. He also took some crossbows and bolts from the carriage and laid them next to the bows, after which he quickly hurried back to work.


"How long are we going to keep doing this? My wife is going to kill me if I don't come home for another night."
One man said frustrated, leaving his spear impaled in the dummy.
"And why are we taking orders from foreigners anyway?! I know how to stab with a damn stick!"
Frustration seemed to grow in the ranks as fatigue and repetition started to take its toll.
"Back off, Dain! This is for our own good!"
Asta confronted the man.
"Look at that, our supposed leader barking at us now!"
Said the one Asta had called Dain. Neither of them were backing down and Dain seemed to gather some support from the would-be militia.

One of the peasants came a bit closer to Red and spoke in a hushed voice to him.
"Is it true? Do the Elusine's kidnap children for the crusade? You were one, don't you know?"

As for how their digging progressed it went well. They had several holes done already and working on the spikes went off without much difficulty. Even some of that pot and pan perimeter was established.
One of the recently sound line traps that a peasant had put up jingled, giving off a clear noise in the night. The sound came from behind a house they couldn't see to, they did not spot any movement in that direction either, could have been a cat or a rabbit.

Around the same time, Arthur came to the scene. He was back from escorting a magical ferret (he still had a hard time believing it). After inquiring what all of them were doing, he picked up a shovel and started digging as well.

Hearing both the ferret run away and Cyntheria call out, Elisa was appalled to hear the screaming end so soon, given what it likely meant for whoever had screamed. So she replied to Cyntheria ( @BloodySoulStealer ) "I'm fine, but guessing Benjamin isn't, so mind keeping him calm wherever he's scuttled off to? I'll provide some light around here, then I'll head deeper into the mines if there's nothing going on."

With that said the Mage then brought out one of her more esoteric pieces of equipment: A fist-sized metal box with an alchemically created prism held in the centre of the device, and primed it to start emitting light, drawing forth a bit of magic and pushing it into the device to start it up and hopefully illuminate her surroundings.

@Vlayden
Running past the invisible duo that Cyntheria and Elisa, Benjamin ended up shouting at nothing by the torchlit entrance.
When he had calmed down a bit he could hear someone coming up the hill and talking. In fact they were right there, just coming into view. It was three men, carrying backpacks and pushing a handcart. An armor piece was showing from under the cloth as some of the cart's cargo, looked like a greave. They were dressed in usual traveler gear and their expression seemed tired.

"Did you say something, what girl?"
The one who came last to view said, pushing the handcart. Apparently hearing some of Benjamin's shouting.
"Girl? I didn't say anything." Second one answered.
At this point one of them saw Benjamin in torchlight and quickly hushed the others.
"Shut up, shut up! Look! Always wanted one of those, don't scare it away maybe I can catch it!"
The third one slowly put down his backpack and took a piece of bread from his pocket. He knelt down and slowly approached Benjamin, holding the piece of bread in front of him as a treat for the ferret.
"Look what I have here for you, my friend."
The man said in a low voice with a faint smile. The other two rolled their eyes and sighed, apparently willing to wait this out.

@BloodySoulStealer @Maleth
As for what happened inside the mine, Elisa's light illuminated the dark space finally. What struck out immediately was the shallowly breathing little girl by a nearby mine cart, possessing bite marks on her neck.
On the other side of the room were what looked like corpses, men and women. They looked like commoners. In worse condition than the girl, it was hard to tell if they were even alive. They looked..."dry"...for some reason.

Several tunnels that led into the room were collapsed with no way of getting through without a construction crew. Two tunnels were still open. Normal footprints led into the left one, others not so normal prints led into the right one. Left one seemed to be hastily barricaded with crates and unused carts. It was a bit obviously trapped by rudimentary spike traps with tripwires and shards of glass scattered about the length of the tunnel.

Seeing the townsfolk starting to become agitated and getting behind a rather loud man. Ferdinand rose from his seated position and walked over to the crowd. He figured simply punching a man wouldn't work this time so he would have to use his words. "Aldenvater Preserve me." He said under his breath as he came closer to the group. "If you're so confident in your skills with, stabbing with a stick." He grabbed the spear out of the training dummy. "Then attempt to harm me with it." He tossed the spear to the man. He had left his axe on the ground where he was sitting so he was unarmed save for his armored fists.

"Oi! I can talk, you crazy shits! There's a girl in th' caves, and some-- Fuckin, doomspider or somethin'!" The ferret snapped out at them.
Here was Benjamin; a talking ferret, with a napkin for a cape wrapped around him, even waving his tiny front paws around to emphasize his speech. If that wasn't a sign when a talking ferret speaks to you about danger, who knows what.

Cyntheria looked around the cave and turned to Elisa.
"I will not leave you alone. I gave my word to Noburo. I am going to follow the tracks of the right to see what this is. I ask if you want to follow or leave though?"
Cyntheria would not look directly at her and tried her best to hide her eyes but her hands gripped her blades tightly as she took a step toward the right cave and seemed to be in a slight trance staring at the cave waiting for a reply before checking it out.

Noburo stood by, not saying anything as Ferdinand stepped forward towards the peasant. His hand was placed on his nodachi's grip for he also was of a similar mind and would've probably sliced the man apart if not for the Northerner's intervention.

So before he does anything, he would wait to see how the villagers react to this. They were indeed foolish to think that they would survive if the enemy comes back, but what also crossed Noburo's mind is a possibility of a spy sent here to cause chaos. If that ended up being the case, the Kensei shall make a proper example out of him before the day ends.

The three men froze in surprise, staring at Benjamin slack jawed. Moment of awkward silence passed.
"Did...did that ferret just talk?"
"I...think it did..."
They looked at each other puzzled.
"Ask if it grants wishes." Asked the one pushing the cart.
"Waitwaitwait, what girl and doomspider?"
Said the one who had tried to catch Benjamin, he spread his arms as to halt everyone's thought process and draw attention to this little detail what the ferret spoke about.
"It's trying to trick us, it's a talking ferret! It will steal your money then your soul!"
said the second one, he pulled out a knife from his belt.
"Let's just kill it and get this stuff to the Acrans already!"

"I have doubts that Elusline would kidnap kids for crusades, They would be less useful for a crusade due to there age and them still being growing, on as who kidnapped them that is unknown to me, Besides it would be easier to hire more hands then take and raise new ones. On who kidnapped them it is possible they could come back, and if they do, We may be here to meet them, and find out there motives, along with what happend to the children, and possibly punishing them for what they have done." red said to the villagers as he continued his work.

Shaila approached slowly, seeing Ferdinand was trying to get the situation under control. She placed her arm between Ferdinand and the one who seemed to be named Dain, though she was sure not to step entirely between them this time. "I say if he wants to go then let him. Women and children are being abducted. Entire villages butchered with corpses left out to dry. Who are we to stop them if they are satisfied with allowing the same fate to befall their parents, brothers, sisters, children, and any other loved ones?"

She glanced back at the villagers. "If these imposters come again then that one night you desire may very well be the last before your loved ones are subjected to whatever malevolent torture or rituals these criminals desire to put them through. And if this village burns over that... Then the culprits will not have been these imposters..." She shook her head. "You'll have done it to yourselves." She pointed at Dain. "If the line isn't drawn now it won't be drawn at all."