"Alright, good so far. Any other information to make my life easier or should I just wing it with what I have?" This person Ares was talking to seemed to be the scavenger trio expert to end all experts so if anyone knew anything extra about them it was going to be this guy!.. Although it's not like he knew by choice. He'd much rather never hear their names again as that would probably cut his workload in half on the spot.
The man nodded and started recounting every single piece of info he'd ever heard about them that might be relevant. "They don't often move around at night. This was true before but doubly so now that they have the camper caravan treasure to rest in without needing to find a safe place to stay. It's a portable home for them so they can be easy to catch up to if you manage to track them at all by just being patient and waiting for nightfall. Obviously if they know you're on their trail they won't stop but none of them are particularly good at reconnaissance or detection so as long as you find any clues about their whereabouts the rest should follow naturally. That being said, they do have a lookout stationed at night, and they rotate to make sure there's always someone keeping an eye out, so the chances of ambushing them are quite low. It'll be a fair fight so don't expect to get the drop on them just for finding them.
Given that they're treasure hunters at heart it would makes sense to expect a bevy of weapons at their disposal with varied effects. Apparently they all fight at different ranges with treasures that work synergistically with one another but, other than that, they aren't so threatening on their own. If you can isolate them, or if you can swap up the range dynamics to throw them off, they'll crumble apart. Ignore the frontline if you can and rush down the people hiding in the back for the best chance of winning. Also, you don't need to be too concerned about the caravan. It ISa treasure, and maybe it can run you over if you aren't paying enough attention, but it's not a combat oriented treasure as far as I know and it won't suddenly start launching attacks at you either. They haven't had it for long so retrofitting it with traditional weaponry is something they almost definitely haven't gotten around to doing as of yet. In other words, pay more attention to the trio than the caravan if you can help it.
As for their magic. One wields fire, another support magic, and the third is proficient in the weapons pillar. Nothing too out of the ordinary but their talents can be considered simple but effective. They're a well oiled machine in combat and cover each other's gaps splendidly. Perhaps having such simple magic and fighting strategies gives them ample room to focus on effort rather than complex combinations but, regardless, they make it work for them. When you fight them, expect to be tied down by the enhanced swordsman while fire magic rains down on you from above. I'm sure you can deal with it but it is worth mentioning that Ronnie, the fire pillar wielder, is unnaturally good at firing magic from people's blind spots. Some say he has a treasure on his person that enables him to spawn powerful fire magic from unusual angles, instead of directly from himself, but that's never been verified. It is in line with various stories about him but I won't say anything definitive on the matter and you'll have to figure it out for yourself.
And finally, regarding where they can usually be found... Typically they raid the smaller monster settlements but I'm guessing now that they have the caravan they'll be plotting heists of the larger ones while dumping the aftermath on everyone else. They don't care about repercussions so long as they aren't the ones experiencing them. Rather, they may see others as an opportunity. If I were to hazard a guess what their next target is going to be, I would suggest searching for any clans in the east and then locating the nearest settlement to them. If the scavengers can set off another army, but dump it on a passing, migrating clan, they'll get away Scot free in their un-chaseable vehicle. The scarabs might have been on the riskier side for them, as they could fly to keep up with their fleeing vehicle somewhat, so I would assume their next target will be less mobile. In other words, a settlement near this wall, near an eastern clan, and filled with monsters that can't fly, surf the sands, or sprint rapidly on all fours. That should narrow down your search quite a bit but I don't have many other suggestions from there, unfortunately. There is a chance they're somewhere close by, to check what happened with the scarabs, but that's not a guarantee so just do what you think will yield the best results in your search... That's all. You can ask me more but, unless your question jogs a deeply buried memory, I don't think I've anything more to offer you than what's already been said."
"No, that's fine. More than enough actually. I can take it from here so thank you for your time and tell the lead guard I appreciate her sending you here. You've all got your work cut out for you so I'll be on my way and leave you to it. Take care." Ares waved and took off with Voidwalk without wasting any more time. The information was worth waiting around for but it did also meant the culprits had an extra thirty minutes to flee wherever they felt like going, making Ares life a little more difficult. Still, his Voidwalk would inevitably be quicker than any vehicle down in these lower domains, no matter how good a treasure they were, and he wasn't convinced he couldn't stumble across the caravan's tracks somewhere in this desert if he was diligent in his search. It's not like there were any wheeled creatures in Xasca so if he found anything that resembled vehicle tracks he would almost definitely be right on the money and his search would end there and then. With his incredibly far reaching divine sense he could speed through the desert and scan everything without missing a single spot so he was predicting a rather easy time searching for these lot. He'd changed his plans and now Ares wanted to spend the rest of the day doing this before he headed back to the palace. After all, not only was the caravan perfect for Bellona, it was just generally perfect for the family. Caravans were plenty great for family outings! Ares could load up everyone and take them on a road trip of sorts! The more he thought about what the caravan could do for him, the more Ares wanted it! The best part was these lot were criminals so he could freely steal from them with no feelings of guilt whatsoever!
Ares Voidwalked for about an hour before he finally found something worth stopping for. He hadn't found tracks, regrettably, but he did find a group of about a hundred people marching through the desert with concerned looks on their face. This was a mid scale clan of eastern Xasca dwellers and they had no reason to be this glum unless something happened recently to them. If they were in the middle of migration then their previous safe spot was likely raided by monsters brought forth by the scavenger trio causing a panic so this was a golden chance to verify that possibility and maybe get some directions as to where the trio fled to. Ares descended from above and the leader of the clan looked at him warily. On the one hand, Ares was only at sensory enhancement; on the other hand, he was flying. The latter was an ability typically reserved for the elite of cultivation society and even flight treasures were just as rare as the ability to fly anyway so there was no way of excusing this as a fluke. Ares was either extraordinarily talented or he was packing a status that afforded him a flying treasure... But still, he was jsut a kid! Though the leader wanted to underestimate him he decided to err on the side of caution lest he drag his entire group into chaos he wasn't prepared to solve against an expert cultivator. Showing respect to a kid was embarrassing, and his clan wouldn't be too pleased with his simpering self, but he wasn't the leader for nothing and he was willing to take a small hit ot his reputation and face if it meant keeping his people safe. Ares wouldn't have murdered them if they were assholes or anything but they couldn't possibly know that. Plus what mattered here was that Ares had the strength to so regardless of his intentions the leader's decision and analysis of the situation was objectively correct.
Ares asked if they'd seen the scavenger trio and the leader seemed reluctant to answer. Telling him Ares was going to capture them didn't spark much confidence either because, again, his cultivation base was really hampering the rate at which this discussion progressed... He mentioned that the explosions they would have seen on the horizon as of late were his doing but there was still disbelief in this person's eyes! There was no point saying his name either because Ares was only really well known to those who weren't living underneath a rock, like these guys, so the conversation was really starting to drag. Ares wasn't putting up with this ridiculousness anymore so he summoned a Perish Wheel and tossed it off into the horizon towards a small monster settlement of giant scorpions. It wasn't an Armillary he threw but this was still an art that left one hell of an impact both on the terrain and the minds of anyone who saw it. Ares was used to Perish Wheels now but people seeing it for the first time would still be awe-struck without fail and it seemed his little display worked wonders as eradicating an entire settlement in a few seconds flat was impressive no matter the size of it.
Ares really drove home the fact that he had a bigger attack and would not hesitate to use it on this group if they kept acting coy with him and skirting around the subject which got the leader talking like his life depended on it. It really didn't, Ares was lying and had no interest in murdering these people as it would complicate his relationship with Xasca, but again they didn't know that so the threat sped up the talks and dissuaded the leader form trying to give Ares the runaround. Apparently, these lot were minding their own business when the scarab army from before rushed through their encampment like an insect storm, ravaging everything and even claiming a few lives here and there. All of their possessions were gone and they had quite literally nothing other than the clothes on their bodies and a handful of supplies to try and make it to the wall and beg for aid. That explained their caution regarding Ares somewhat but he wasn't in the mood to coddle these people. If they hadn't given him such a hard time he might have given them some food he had lying around in the Blade but Ares was an eye for an eye kind of person and if they were making his life more difficult then he'd return the favour. Besides, he'd already gotten the answers he was looking for and now had a direction with which to chase down the scavengers. They'd been leading the scarab army's frenzied charge up until they threw the monsters off their trail by dumping the scarabs onto this group. One of the clan members managed to just about catch sight of where they were heading and Ares, if nothing else, promised the clan that the trio would get what was coming to them eventually. It was little consolation given they'd jsut had their entire lives and homes upended and ruined but they chose to live this life and understood the risks so feeling pity for them was silly. Whether they were here for tradition or treasure their greed was evident. Sure such a situation shouldn't've happened to begin with but it's not like the possibility never existed that troublemakers could come and stir things up jsut to mess with people for their own selfish amusement. It really was risky out here and anyone who chose to live here had no right to complain. If anything, Ares was surprised the Torchbearer's plans didn't involve setting off monsters in the east en-masse as that would be quite problematic to deal with... Maybe the wall being built changed that, though, as it was really a massive hassle for the monsters over here to cross it. The C.O had unintentionally done a very good job of defending Xasca with that wall even if it wasn't their main goal!
Anyway, Ares took off once more but, this time, he found results that actually brought a small smile to his face. He was now one step closer to family outings in a caravan if those tracks through the sand were any indication he was getting closer to his target! The wind must have caused some of those tracks to be covered but with his divine sense Ares could skip over the gaps and follow the trail without getting lost. It was a winding path the trio had taken but it was likely they were trying to shake off any scarabs that might have been insistent on chasing them. They probably made a getaway in the end as the tracks stopped swerving about all over the place after what would have been about an hour of reckless driving. It was starting to get dark out too so Ares was pretty certain he would stumble across his targets in the next ten or so minutes at the pace he was currently racing along at. It had been an interesting flight, as he got a chance to peer over at large settlements from afar earlier and see what all the hubbub was about, but right now he was all in on the trio and so he ignored his surroundings and booked it through the air in one final Voidwalk sprint. Sure enough, a short while later, he spotted a vehicle idling in the desert. It was hidden behind some dunes and the top of the roof had been covered crudely in sand to try and make it blend in. Omniscience cared not for such laughable trickery, though, and the caravan might as well have been a blazing sun on a black canvas for all the difference it made in terms of visibility.
Now came the hardest part of all this, approaching the trio without setting them off. Yes Ares could chase them down but he really didn't want to be spending all night on this endeavour so if he could pop the tyres of the caravan before they attempted to make their daring getaway it would make his life a lot easer. The caravan was a treasure so any damage it sustained would regenerate automatically eventually and Ares could afford to be a little rough here. Breaking it was out of the question, as he'd have to painstakingly rebuild it with materials he didn't have right now, but some scratches and dents were no problemo. So the question now was how to go about this? Ares could see a crow's nest sort of attachment fitted to the top of the caravan and perched on it was a young man who Ares assumed to be Ronnie. It was hard to make out details about him from here but what Ares could tell was that he was in possession of a telescope of sorts and was practically glued to it twenty-four seven. He was taking his role as lookout very seriously and Ares had given the Prowler to Aejaz earlier so this was actually gong to be a real tricky endeavour here!
Currently, Ares' best option was probably summing the stupid eagle in its nothingness variant and having it dive bomb the caravan so Ares could swap places with it. There was also other measures he could take alongside the eagle to improve his odds of success so it looked like this was going to have to be the plan unless he wanted to mess around with the Deep Blue... He could try a Pelagic Prison but if they drove out of it before it finished forming then he would have wasted a valuable tool for nothing. He could try turning himself into water with Aqua Anatomy and then dropping a rain storm on the area but it would look extremely out of place and the chances of the trio not reacting to it were low. The only other real option was to use the anti-friendly fire mutation from Enyo and bury them in explosions. They wouldn't be able to see where they were going amidst the golden haze and Ares could bomb them into a pit without them being in the know. By the time the golden explosions cleared up they would realise they were driving 'round in circles in a bowl but it would all be too late as Ares would already be upon them... Alas, the treasure might take too much of a beating doing things that way so Ares kept winding up back at his first strategy... If anything, the main reason he didn't wanna do this was because of the damn bird! It had been behaving itself recently but it was going to act all smug now that Ares was calling upon it for aid... It was going to demand food if nothing else... Whatever! It was a small price to pay if it meant getting his hands on a vehicle so Ares pulled out the Biome Eagle and fired it right beside him. If he shot it up into the air, or somewhere in the distance, the lookout would almost definitely see it and raise the alarm so Ares didn't summon the eagle in a flashy way... Which annoyed it right out the gate! It hovered in place, squawked at its master, and tried pecking Ares for not displaying his greatness in full! This stupid thing! Ares was done playing nice so he wrestled with the dumb bird and shoved its head underneath the sand like a damn ostrich! he harumphed in victory as he dusted the sand off his clothes while the eagle yanked its head out of the ground and glared at Ares, the implication of which was essentially 'you win this round, stupid human'.
Ares explained the plan, and fed the eagle some burger meat he was saving for Blo Blo's inevitable request down the line, and it seemed like cooperation had been established. Ares slunk off into the desert while the eagle swooped around a dune and prepared itself for takeoff. It's job was to blitz through the desert in a straight line right at the caravan and Ares would take it from there. Either the eagle caught up to the caravan or Ares plan B was successful so all that was left was to set things in motion. While the bird waited for the signal, a remote tap through the void from Ares on its wing, it was actually contemplating its own name. It had a bunch of ideas, and really wanted one, but it knew its master would be opposed to anything along the lines of 'greatest bird ever' and so it was trying to come up with something more subtle... Like 'bird God'... It was an arrogant eagle and would refuse anything less than a name that praised it! Still, maybe it kinda deserved it? The Biome Eagle wasn't a treasure, and so the magical output of it should have been limited in scope and already started to become quite weak against anyone with a cultivation base higher than sensory enhancement, and yet that wasn't the case at all. The eagle had become fully sentient, regrettably for Ares, but that meant it itself was evolving even if the weapon did not.
Ares could still upgrade the Biome Eagle to improve the quality of the magic but the bird was working on its own to improve and stay relevant if for no other reason than to satisfy its own ego. Ares could technically never improve the Biome Eagle and the Adaptive Shot art would forever remain usable anyway which was a substantial positive... So long as he ignored the particularly wilful bird the art was attached to... Anyway, naming the bird might actually improve is growth potential, as it would further contribute to its actualisation process, so there was plenty of discussion to be had between bird and master about this guy's name... Although there were plenty of arguments in store regarding the direction it took. Just like the bird, Ares was going to be stubborn too and try and call it something silly to mess with it which was the exact opposite approach the eagle was taking. Ares had already floated around the idea 'Eagle Knievel' because, quote, 'you dive around like a stupid stunt bird and don't actually do anything useful anyway other than make people laugh at you'. This had earned Ares a rabid pecking at the time but the point was that coming up with a name both parties were accepting of was not going to be a simple task... That aside, the eagle had just received the signal and it was go time. It might have had its differences with Ares, and they were certainly plentiful, but he was a tolerable master if for no other reason than that the eagle recognised his strength. If the eagle was truly the 'bird God' then it needed an equally fitting master and Ares was definitely a qualified candidate to receive his most generous aid!.. Also he made good food... There was that too... The eagle was more than happy to work for Ares in situations like this if the result was a tasty warm meal!