Fall of Kingdoms [IC]

The sun shone brightly through the window of the inn, illuminating the room with light, and revealing the large clump underneath bedsheets in one of the upstairs rooms in the Hawks Tail inn in Corrbit. The sound of chirping birds forced one eye open underneath the clump of blankets. It was morning, and it was time to go.

The mountain of blankets exploded like mount Helena, revealing a groggy, half awake dragon blood, Keltain. His mind wandered to last night, when he was eating his beef stew, asking around about the Fighters Guild Headquarters. By the grace of god he happened to be sitting right beside a member, who kindly gave him exact directions to just ware he needed to be. Remembering this event, Keltain knew what he had to do, and so he got out of bed, and proceeded to get himself ready, dressing himself properly, re-arming himself, and gathering all of stuff.

With everything he needed ready to go, other than his aching desire for food, he set off for the downstairs of the inn, proceeded to the barkeep, and hastily ordered a weeks supply of beef jerky, his favorite travelling food, as well as a morsel for himself to eat now. As quickly as he could he packed away the beef jerky and paid the 4 coppers for the extra food, scarfed down the morsel of jerky, and just as hastily, he took off.

Before Keltain retrieved his horse, he took a deep breath of the clear, fresh morning air, and found an empty lot of grass to do his morning routine. Leons didn't become the top hand to hand combat military for nothing. He set down his bags and weapons, and began his excersise routine, after which he practiced some spear and swordplay. All of this only lasted an hour, for Keltain was in a rush, otherwise he was liable to practice for up to a full three hours, but the moment at hand would not allow that.

After his hour of practice, he retrieved his horse Lamina from the stables, thanked the stable boy, and mounted Lamina, heading toward the fighter's guild HQ. Keltain felt a rush of enthusiasm and relief wash over him at the thought of completing his mission and earning his freedom. He just hoped he would be able to get back to Leons alive with the good news, for several times during his long journey he was attacked by Calafite warriors who had learned somehow of the plan, and most of the time he was only narrowly able to escape, leaving himself to wonder if he would be so lucky next time.

Lamina turned around the last corner he was directed to, and Keltain found himself holding his breath in anticipation, hoping he had not been pranked and misled. There were three large buildings with courtyards, just as the man said, and on one of the buildings a sign read "Fighters Guild". Keltain released his held breath in relief, and walked his horse into the courtyard. As he walked through the open main gate, a member of the guild, dressed in ragged clothing stopped Keltan, asking his business. Oy stranger, what business 'av ye with the fighters guild?" "I am Keltain Raesath, and I come from Leons, seeking to enter the guild, with a contingent of other prestigious warriors. I also seek to talk to the leader and founder of the guild, may you direct me to him?" The man seemed taken aback that a contingent of warriors from the military nation of Leons would want to join the guild, but he answered quickly, suppressing his surprise. "Walk to the main entrance, and ask fer Grothus, e'll take ye to the current commander, tell em Azernus sent ye." With this Keltain nodded and offered his thanks, and followed Azernus' instructions.

As Keltain trodded through the grounds on Lamina towards the main building, he observed all of the training fighters, most sparring with wooden swords, spears, axes and the like, others shooting at makeshift targets with bows, crossbows and slings, and others merely focusing on excersise routines. There were even contests and games of strength and acrobatic feats, such as tossing a large, clearly heavy rock, and wrestling matches. They all seemed like very skilled warriors, despite being rustic and rugged. They seemed like the sort of self taught fighters you could find, but they seemed skilled enough none the less. They looked poor, which would be a good thing for Keltain, as they might be bribable. The useful kind of people Leons needed for reinforcements.

When Keltain arrived at the main entrance, he requested for Grothus, and told the servant that Azernus had sent him. Quickly Grothus came forth, a large, tall, broad shouldered man with a long blond beard and long blond hair. He had several skills adorned on his belt of fallen enemies, and several warriors rings forged from the garments of felled opponents symbolizing men he has killed. "An what can I do ye for?" Grothus asked. His voice was strong, but pleasant and welcoming. "I need to see your commander, I'm on a diplomatic mission from Leons" Keltain replied. "So I've heard... Allright. Follow me."

Grothus summoned two fellow guildsmen to escort him and Keltain as they made their way through a few halls and corridors, most of the halls were dormitories for guildsmen. Eventually they made it to a large door inside one of the halls, and Grothus quickly openeded it. The troop of four walked inside, and upon entering saw a hall, full of tables and chairs and people eating food. Grothus then led Keltain to one of the tables where they saw a human male with a scar on his right cheek, white kin, blue eyes, greyish brown hair, scowering over maps of various sorts.

Grothus quickly approached the man, and announced his presense. Keltain, slightly nervous by the introduction, and ultimately the final fate of his endavours, knew the procedures lower status were supposed to grant the higher, and so he knelt on one knee and bowed his head to the standing leader, and humbly awaited his reply to whatever Grothus had told him, and began planning the words he would present to the leader to convince him that sending reinforcements to Leons was indeed the wisest decision he could offer.

. Peggy ran along the path rapidly, almost falling as she hit a few of the sharper curves in the road, making her grateful that it had not rained recently.
. “Damn bandits! Just because I’m carrying taxes for the Empire they are showing up everywhere!” She though furiously, as she ran around another curve as two more arrows flew past her. “I mean one or two groups would be reasonable but this is the sixth group I have run into in the past four days. Don’t these bandits have other paths they could be raiding?” she continued as she hit a straightaway and started to pull ahead of bandits. “At least none of the groups have had horses this time, I hate trying to run through the woods around here, too many cliffs.”
. She continued at her dead sprint for another two miles before finally stopping and resting, with her back against a tree. “Damn them, I swear they can smell the gold coming two miles away. I have never heard of this many bandits on a single stretch of road before. Then again, I suppose not many would live to report it when there are this many of them… Oh shit…” She said in between her gasps for air. She had broken rule number two of a military scout… again. She looked at the road and followed a recent set of wagon track off into the woods from the path, and that could mean only one thing … bandits with horses. She heard a crunching sound behind her and would have turned in a crumpled ball of tears if she had not been through worse in the military on a regular basis.
. “Well, well, well, what do we have here, a runner carrying imperial taxes? No, a Female runner carrying imperial taxes, I think we hit the jackpot, eh boys!” Said a man on a horse, he was wearing a HRE uniform. “Marvelous, not just bandits but ex-military bandits with a grudge against the empire…” She thought angrily, “Dammit, Murphy I am not your toy!” She yelled as best she could while gasping for breath, as she noted the positions of the bandits, “seven on foot and four on horses, looks like they only managed to grab on carriage, but it still means I need to dodge four horses while running at top speed through a forest, nothing I have not done before, but last time the finishing line was the camouflaged line of friendly troops. Oh this will not be fun. I hope there are no cliffs nearby…” she thought before she slipped around the tree she was leaning against putting it in between her and most of the bandit archers.
. Murphy continued his spree as a piercing and familiar pain spouted up in her right arm just short of her shoulder, she darted rapidly through the woods, barely dodging several trees and knocking the arrow lodged in her arm into several of them, then she found what she had hoped she would not, a cliff. With no time to stop or turn she kept going and dropped down the twenty foot tall cliff. “Oh thank you Ruhe for the wonderful legs!” She thought happily as her legs took most of the impact allowing her to tumble without breaking her arms. Bruised and battered and a broken arrow blatantly reminding her that she was still alive, she quickly crawl towards the nearest tree and tried to obscure herself from viewers on the cliff.
. “Damn! She must have jumped off the cliff, look at her sprawled out like that, it is a wonder she could run like that and not know how to fall… oh well come on boys we need to find a way down this cliff so we can collect our prize!”
. “Sprawled out? But I’m behind the tree is there someone else out there?” She thought trying to get back onto her feet. After several attempts she finally managed to pick herself up and walk tiredly around the tree and started to look around the cliff base. The person sprawled there was not hard to miss, though how they had mistaken the figure for her was a mystery, the clothes were nowhere near the color of the ones she was wearing. And the figure was shorter but that could be attributed to looking down on the figure. Peggy moved over to the figure put her hand on the figures back to pray for her and felt a slow shallow breath. “Crap she is alive,” Peggy whispered harshly “ now I’ll be stuck here longer… oh who am I kidding I’m glad the kid is okay.” And with that she gently rolled the person over and started the military drill for injured people. “Hey, are you okay?...”

Finally catching herself, Anya could not help but blush. To stare like she had been, her mother would be mortified! Had Kohanna noticed the staring at all? There was little chance that she had not, considering their vicinity to one another.

"Please, I ask that you forgive my staring. This is the first time I have seen one of the Katze race, though, if I may say, your ears and hair are very lovely." Dipping her head apologetically, Anya looked into her mug. She had many questions she wanted to ask the woman, but bit her tongue. Only moments ago, she had been almost panicking herself with Atellus' comments and questions.

Priscille groaned and rolled over. Her whole body ached in pain and felt bruised. As she laid still on her face, the pain subsided. She tried hard not to move her body, in fear of the pain flaring back up. Her face rested in something hard and crunchy and uncomfortable. She opened her eyes to a slight squint, and could make out only leaves. Leaves? Where the hell was she? All she could remember was her father... Yes. Her father. She was going to visit him. Then what? Highwaymen... Bandits. She ran into the woods. She struggled to remember what else had happened but she couldn't quite recall... In suddening realization though, she knew she was not alone.

Pushing herself up on her elbows, she saw a young girl, probably a few years younger than herself, though she looked older. Quickly scrambling to her feet, Priscille stumbled backwards. Her rapier. Where wa sher rapier. She looked over towards her backpack. Her rapier was laying beside it. The girl was still where she had left her. Priscille quickly rushed to her rapier and recalled her lessons. Getting in stance, she held her hand out in front of her, her weapon drawn back. She watched the girl intently. There was something strange about her. Priscille couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about this girl was completely off. Priscille slowly put her rapier down. This girl didn't seem to mean any harm. Priscille had felt a flicker of panic and fear, and usually her gut instincts were right about people, but now that she looked the girl in the eyes she didn't feel any intent to harm her.

"Who are you! What are you doing here!", Priscille demanded. "Just so you know, should you have any wrong intentions, they will be among one of the last mistakes you make!", she remarked smartly.

She didn't know who this girl was, but she didn't trust easily. And after taking the girls full ensemble in, there was a reason why. She was wearing some sort of strangely designed glasses, with plain clothing, at least plain compared to her clothes. This girl was nothing more than a commoner or traveller perhaps. No where near to the station she held back home. Holding her head high, and even though the girl was much taller than her, she looked her nose down at her, tilting her head back considerably.

"Do you know your way around here? If so, it would be best if you lead me to the town Corrbit, and quickly too. I was headed there before my carriage, a luxurious one that you would no doubt have been impressed by, was attacked by theives. Either way, I will reward pay you pending your service."

Priscille waved her hand arrogantly at the girl and bent down to pick up her pack. She hoped Corrbit wasn't too far away. She would really enjoy staying at a nice inn. She ofcourse still had to find where her father was, so perhaps she would ask around the town if they knew where the Fighter's Guild headquarters would be. The young driver had mentioend that Corrbit wuld just be a stop before continuing her journey towards her father. Ofcourse, with the carriage gone, and her escort gone, Priscille wasn't ure how she would get there. There was no way anyone could expect her to walk all that way. Sighing indignantly, Priscille looked condescendingly at the girl before. She supposed certain pleasentries were needed.

"My name is Priscille Eleniak, pleased to introduce myself to you. I hope you didn't go through my things whilst I was sleeping?"

Priscilel still couldn't recall why she was laying on the ground or why her body felt sore, but judging from her surroundings, she figured she must of fell. Ignoring her pain, she approached the girl with dignity and daintily held out a small portion of her hand to shake.

. “The rude and spoiled don’t deserve to be this lucky” Peggy Thought as she sighed. Well Priscille, You are in luck today, and not only since I don’t want too stain you clothes with the blood on my hand, but because I was just on my way to Corrbit myself when some Bandits caught me while I was out of breath. Speaking of bandits they are trying to find a way down that cliff so they can come loot your body, which they thought was mine. I am going to strongly encourage you to follow me away from this cliff since they will likely follow it to try and find you. All we need to do is find the Berlin River and follow it to town. Oh and I’m sorry I frightened you, could you be any chance put the sword away now?

. Peggy attempted to stand back up using her left hand to lift so that she could get her feet under her. After the third failed attempt she finally managed to get close enough to the cliff face that she could pull herself into a standing position. She reached into her left pocket and pulled out a compass. “The river should be to the north which is…” she pauses looking at her compass for a few moments before pointing with her out stretched arm, the compass held tightly in three fingers and he thumb, “That way! Shall we be going then Milady?’ she finished with as much of a mock bow as she dared attempt.

The dazed eastener woke up, his eyes opened half way and something wet was against his mouth. Water? Blood? He managed to open his eyes just a little further, it was saliva. His head rested against the neck of the horse he was on, saliva dripping out of his mouth and down the creatures neck. He clenched his eyes together and opened them again, blurr. He couldn't see much at all with just waking up. What the hell was going on? Why was he on a horse?

He yawned loudly and tried to push himself into a sitting position. It was only then he realised he couldn't freely move his arms. He shook his head with disbeleif and pushed himself right back into a sitting position with a swing of his torso. He could hear nothing, only his beating heart as he looked around at was going on. Things were mostly still blurry but every few seconds his sight healed slightly. He looked around dazed, his hands were bound at the wrist by a tight rope and his body swung with the horses movements as it walked. He was starting to see figures all around him with strenghened his his curiosity.

Then, in a rush of wonder, he felt a sharp poke against his back, a spear, held by a man who was shouting something he could not understand. Then his sight returned almost instantly, his ears could hear everything near him and his eyes opened in horror at what he saw. He was bound by his hands and sat at the top of a horse. All around him were guards and a few other men on horses, carts rolled with a racket against the path and he suddenly wondered what had happened. The last thing he remembered was being asleep; it had to be impossible all this could have happened without him remembering anything that led up to that point. Panick and fear began to spread through his body, he tencened up as he looked around carefully. The carts were filled with all sorts of things, gold, goods and weaponry.

Just who were these people who had tied and gagged him and brought him along with them? Slavers? Bandits? Traders? It honestly didn't matter to him, he couldn't escape with the small battalion of people nearby. He calmed down almost instantly. He would just act normally and escape as soon as he could. He calmed down and took in his surroundings, there were mostly gaurds stood at the flanks, 20 on each side he would have thought. And from what he could see there were conciderably less at the front and rear of the movement.

Alot of eyes rested on him and he asked in his own language "What the hell have you done to me? Release me at once or your blood will ruin my blade!". The men around him laughed not understanding a word he was saying. Then it came to him. Where was his belongings? His sword? His armor? he looked around frantically. He was nothing without them! Luckily though he quickly sighed as he saw his backpack, full of armor and his small bag of nuts and money sat against a cart about 3 metres to his right, aswell as his sword sat neatly next to it.

He tried to desperately think of an escape plan, he was not leaving his armor and soul here with the bandits if he escaped. Maybe they were going on to a nearby city? Or town. He sighed at that thought, the guards would check the stock when they entered surely. When they found him he would be released. Unless they were authorised to what they were doing.

He decided against himself and tried to stop thinking about it, and looked around as a man pulled the horse he was on. Waiting to see how things turned out.

Saxious walked through the wood, his traps had caught a hare, which he ate for breakfast (not as tasty as the meat the meat that he can get in the inns), and he had kept the fur, which he was planning to sell for some copper, or if lucky, some tin.

He suddenly smelt meat, and his mouth again was filled with water. he hurried through the forest and came to a little camp, where a fire was burning, and tree trunks were set for chairs, but no one was around. Saxious took a step toward the bond, where there was some meat over a fire, but then he stopped and began to examine the ground. There had been someone here before, but had left again, but Saxious couldn't make out which way they had gone, or why they had left such a tasty meal behind them.

It's probably some amateur adventures that are looking for something to fight before they eat. Well, too bad for them!, Saxious thought and then he walked over to the tasty-looking and reached out to take some of the meat.

What was that?, Saxious thought, and then the turned around as fast as a snake struck for it's enemy, bringing his shield up in a defense mode as he did it, and then an arrow flew through the air, and another buried itself in Saxious' shield.

'Let's get him!' Someone yelled, and Saxious looked, there was three men who had buried themselves in leaves about 13 meters away from where the camp was, and they were now pulling forth their weapons.

The leader had a two-handed, double-bladed axe and he had fur clothes and mask covering his face, the one to his right had a wooden shield and a longsword, fur clothes as well, but he had a piece of cloth that covered half of the face, and the last one had a longsword and a roman short sword, cur clothes and a woolen mask.

Saxious stood up, ripped off a piece off the meat, ate it greedily, drew his sword and charged toward the three men, screaming maniacally.

Saxious first shield bashed the leader, then he spun around, going down while he did so, and swayed away the legs of the third attacker, Saxious came up and parried an attack from the second attacker. There was a quick skirmish between Saxious and the second attacker, till Saxious added all his weight against his attacker, forcing him down on the ground. Out of pure instinct, Saxious bent over as quickly as he could, and he felt that something was touching the very tip of his head as he quickly lowered himself.

Saxious punched the third attacker in his stomach, making him bend over and then he punched him in the face, 'For Bromiere!' Saxious screamed crazed, and his attackers froze at their spots.

'Take off your mask,' the leader said with such an authority that Saxious couldn't refuse, and he did what he was told. The men (those that were still standing) gasped, 'What Saxious asked,' looking at them, and then the leader took off his mask, revealing his face.

'Nick? is that you?' Saxious asked, not believing what he was seeing, and then the third attacker took off his mask, 'Hansie?' Saxious asked, 'You're all alive?!'

((Here is my first example of a NPC reaction group, hope you like. ))

**************** (Aether, Saph, Ko) (All four are considered players.)

The Midpoint Tavern went silent after the newcomer after newcomer came in most patrons would only stare for a moment before going back to their meal or whatever they were discussing with each other. The tavern held an assortment in its open hall, elves, orcs, halflings, and even a group of hob goblin sorts. Although most were humans, there was no segregation of parties, orcs talking with elves and humans, and so on. It seemed that profession was the separating point for them. Adventurers, merchants, mercenaries, travelers, and caravan groups stayed with each others group, usually distinguishable with clothing and weaponry. The inn served as a rest point between towns and did not seem like a noble place, but a place for the commoner and alike.

The inns normal topics would be their jobs, about the encroaching undead, the guilds of Germany, or the wars with the empires but today seemed to float around the unusual company that now rested in the middle of the room. First a red eyed priest of the Eastern Orthodox Empire, a dhampire most could assume. There kind never went outside their own realms, so it was rare to see them across the Plagueland border. A dhampire outside its lands, can sometimes lead to trouble. Next was a girl that was well known to the area to most common patrons. A healer of sorts that used potions, herbs, and some unusual ingredients. She was popular among the commoners, even the owner, a bald and an old crusty man who was very nice to friends. She was well protected here, even with the unlikely dhampire she was discussing with. Last was a silver cloaked girl. It was not uncommon for some patrons to come in with hoods, but it was unusual for them to keep it on. When the girl took off her hood, a wave or murmuring hit the breaths of the people there. 'A katze? So far from home? They never come this far...' and other such words went audibly flying thru out the taverns walls.

Eventually, the bar calmed down again. People going back to their food and drink, back to their tales and arguments. Accept one group, in the back of the tavern, there eyes staring upon the newcomers group. Four specifically, two elves and two humans. They all wore full brown cloaks, there hoods down to expose their faces. A old male elf who was grayed in the hair and beard, rare for elves to get facial hair. His skin was wrinkly and pale-like, but still had life in it. He sat in the farthest from the group he stared at, looking straight at them across the room. His almost glowing purple eyes not unlocking. A female elf, long blond-white hair that almost looked white. Her skin was beautiful and fair, a goddess amongst the patrons. A long elven bow and quiver, on her back. Her face pointed to her friends, but she watched the newcomers from the corners of here light blue eyes. A human female, who wore short dark yellow blond hair, wrapped slightly in the back so it would not hang down. She had a tomboy appearance, gauntlets came out of her cloak for hands and a sword's sheath could be made out from under her cloak. Her face was facing her left, looking directly at the new group, her blue eyes almost piercing all three of the newcomers. Last was a young human lad. His hair was reddish-brown and eyes mimicked the brown part of his hair. His back was to the the new patrons across the room, he occasionally looked back and forth from the female human to the newcomers. His face was questioning and confused, as if his group knew something that he did not.

Even with meals in front of them and alcohol near, the group did not make many motions to eat and drink. They were silent and watched, occasionally breaking contact to grab a bite. The group was fixed, staring at the two girls and man. They did not look like they were going to do any actions, but they also did not look with some push over group.

******************** (Sax) (NPCs are controllable and expendable.)

The second man revealed his face, a man Saxious knew as Mattius, a young boy in body. The man named Nick spoke out, "Saxious, I can't believe it is you! How does it go brother?" His face was happy in expression and overjoyed at the reunion of a comrade. Two greeted Saxious, with brotherhood greetings, the one named Mattius only watched with a stoic face. He was an old child at birth and still seemed odd now. He remained silent. The group sat by the campfire and started eat food that was cooking. Nick and Hansie were built men, holding a lot of physical strength and tone. The boy however was frail in body, skinny as if he didn't eat well. His skin, a whiter tone than the tan men from sun exposure.

"Sorry Saxious," Hansie spoke out, "We thought you were some dirty thief. And my, your combat skills have not dulled have they? Wait... Nick, do you think he could help us on our quest?" Hansie finished, looking at Nick. "Ah yes! Saxious, our god Bromiere speaks thru this young one, Mattius." Nick points to the young child, the boys face does not even flinch to the mentioning. "Bromiere tells us of a heretic that was the cause for our villages slaughter. An immortal..." Hansie breaks Nates words, "And that is why we need you to help us Saxious, the boy knows how to guide us there. We must cleanse this beast from the world!" The two men stare at Saxious, hoping for words from Saxious. The boy just stares at the fire, nothing causing any change in emotion. Almost like staring at a doll.

**************** (aiki) (NPC, do not kill or control.)

The man looked at Keltain awkwardly, a bit of his eye brow raised from such proper treatment. He was a big human, age in the 50s, a shaved face that was still rough from shadowing of white and brown hairs. A spoke out, "Stand up boy, that kind of respect is out of place here." His voice was not angry and mad, it was just informative. "Take a seat across the table, you too Groth." The large man named Grothus sat with a large thump to a chair, he leaned foward inspecting the maps with his eyes, Groth seemed to be a nick name. Grothus was a huge man, much stronger looking then the leader and looked like a better warrior as well. The leader spoke, "So what is this all about, Groth?" Taking the rolled up scroll from Keltain, he presented it to the leader. "This Carth, a royal seal from the Kingdoms of Leons." The man named Carth picked up the paper, inspecting the seal. It indeed was Leons royal seal. Carth face gave an odd expression before he looked at the boy, Keltain. Carth was probably wondering why the boy did not look like a Katze. Shaking his head, Carth opened the scroll and read.

Carth's hand went over his lower face, covering his mouth as he thought and read. His face did not stop its confusion, it actually seemed to get more confused as he stared at it. Eventually he stopped reading and lowered the paper. His eyes fell upon Keltain. "Boy... what exactly does a kingdom want with a town within Germany? We are only hundreds strong here and I am not sending them to Leons without the leader's approval. This letter seems to be addressed to the guild leader of all the fighter's guild. I am not him, I am only second in command of this town." Carth spoke calmly and precise. Grothus added in, "First in command, you mean." Carth responded, "I don't like being called first, Kane still technically rules here. Either way, it says here that you were going to join our ranks? Did you mean this town? Cause we can always use the numbers."

Carth stopped for a second and thought for a little while. "Wait, I think I know why your kingdom got confused. We do not have an official headquarters, not the fighter's guild at least. We are a confederate of guilds, that joined together under one name." He paused and looked at the letter, then rolled it and handed it to Keltain. "Who you want is Kane, he is the leader of the guild, all guilds. But he always on the move, so I would have to..."

The silence of the bar was broken, a young man wearing armors and weapon still in hand from training out in the yard ran in. "Carth! The healer's guild said that one of there leaders did not make it to town! They have requested the mages and fighters to help them find them!" The room went silent, all staring at Carth. Carth stood up and yelled, "Well what are all you waiting for? We can't let those mage bastards find that healer first! Lets go!" With that, everyone started yelling and carrying on, people were darting around getting equipment on and quickly stuffing down food and drink. It was complete chaos. Grothis had started yelling at people, trying to get them to filter out into the courtyard. Carth smiled a bit and turned to Keltain. "Well lad, what is your name? Like to help us find this missing healer?"

****************** (Ruhe)

Hours went by into the night and the morning. The man was heavily injured and and Ruhe was going to help him as best she could. Marth did not find anyone else and eventually started a fire. Ruhe and Marth ate some trail rations that most travelers had. Dry foods and meats. The man remained sleeping thru the night. Ruhe made sure he did not wake, cause of the pain of the healing process was, well painful. Ruhe eventually was done healing, it took most of the night and she was pretty sure it was morning now. Marth had fallen asleep from exhaustion of the day, it was a lot of work for one day. Ruhe did not sleep like people, she only truly rested every week for a few hours. It was just in her nature to do so. Being bored and needing to wait for dawn, Ruhe played her ocarina. She played slow and calm melodies, to not wake the two. She did it for the rest of the time in the dark.

Eventually dawn came up and the sun shown across the morning sky, the fire was was nothing but sparks and ashes now. A very nice sunrise. Ruhe continued to play her music in till mid morning, when eventually the mage awoke. Marth said, "Ah that is a nice song..." He was still waking sleepily and yawning. "Your very good at it." Ruhe stopped her song and looked at Marth. "Morning. You ready to work again?" Marth gave a bit of a sigh, he was still tired from yesterday. Waking up a little more, he stood up and move around a bit, getting loose. "What do you need?" "I need you to goto town and get some help to carry this guy. You would not be able to carry him long and I sure can't." Then looked at the man answering a little lazily, "Can't he carry himself when he wakes?" Ruhe shot back at him with an annoyed voice, "This man had terrible trauma and blood loss. I head wounds, not replenish blood. He is in no condition to move about!" Marth was a bit surprised that Ruhe suddenly became so lethal with words. "Okay.. okay, I'll head out. Will you be okay by yourself." Ruhe gave him a cold stare. "I was out here by myself, if you don't recall. I can take care of myself, get going. I don't want to be here all day."

Marth packed up some things and ate a little. He went down the path towards the town of Corrbit, leaving Ruhe and the fighter near the path.

Priscille's eyes opened wide in surprise at the mention of the bandits. Were these possibly the same ones who had attacked her carriage? Throwing a contemptuous glare in the girl's direction, Priscille turned around and briskly walked in the direction the girl had pointed, wasting no time. Not only was the girl too rude to follow social pleasantries, and introduce herself, but she also led the bandits in her direction. At least she knew some ettiquettes, and had bowed properly. Glancing back in the girl's direction, Priscille couldn't help but have a strange feeling about this girl. The way she moved was off. She seemed agile, though the way she moved was different. Shaking her head indifferently Priscille motioned for the girl to follow her, and began treading through the forest.

"Well, if these bandits are after us as you say, then we had best move quickly. I don't look forward to being mishandled by such brutes.", Priscille stated preening as she fanned her face with her hand. "It is dire we get to Corrbit before nightfall, I don't look forward to sleeping outside tonight."

As she passed shrubbery of all sorts, her dress began picking up burrs and getting caught on the branches. Priscille tried holding up her dress as she passed by the greenerry, but nothing seemed to work. It was disorienting and a hard effort to move with her dress getting in the way. Sighing in frustration, she turned quickly on her heel to the girl.

"I need to change out of this first, before I completely ruin it!", Glancing down at the somewhat shredded adn dirtied frills, Priscille was positive she would never wear it again. "It'll only take a moment."

Priscille moved behind a small cluster of trees and began changing into her more sturdy, and elegant traveling clothes. Considering the fact that bandits were following them, she decided to pull on her fancy, frilled, and expensive leather armor. After dressing herself in her new clothes, she pulled out her mirror and began applyign a fresh coat of makeup. She hoped the girl was patient enough.

Saxious couldn't believe it, he was re-united with two of his best friends from childhood, and now they were sitting at the bond, eating happily, exchanging memories and what everyone had been doing the past few months.

"Sorry Saxious," Hansie spoke out, "We thought you were some dirty thief." And Saxious began to chuckle of amusement, 'I wonder how many thieves now-a-days wear chain mail' Saxious said, winking to Hansie.
"And my, your combat skills have not dulled have they?" Hansie said, 'Thanks' Saxious said.

"Wait... Nick, do you think he could help us on our quest?" Saxious' face grew serious, 'What quest?' Saxious asked.

"Ah yes! Saxious, our god Bromiere speaks thru this young one, Mattius." Nick pointed to the young child, the boys face does not even flinch to the mentioning, and Saxious just stared at Mattie.

'What does Bromiere demands us to do?' Saxious asked.

"Bromiere tells us of a heretic that was the cause for our villages slaughter. An immortal..." Nick said, but was cut off by Hansie, "And that is why we need you to help us Saxious, the boy knows how to guide us there. We must cleanse this beast from the world!"

Saxious thought about that for a few seconds, and then he stood up, 'Let the Crusade commence!' Saxious said loudly, drawing his sword and holding it in front of him, Hansie and Nick did the same, and their weapons clashed when they touched. Mattie wasn't as enthusiastic as the three others, but he still stood up and brought his sword forth to meet the others.

They all sat down, 'Tomorrow we will hunt this immortal Heretic, but tonight we will enjoy the life we have been granted by Bromiere,' Saxious said, taking a piece of the food. That night they sang, ate, and prayed all night.

Keltain stood from his bow, as requested, and like requested, he sat across the table from Carth. When Carth asked Grothus of the intentions, Keltain reflexively handed the scroll to Grothuis, who in turn gave it to Carth. Anticipation began bubbling inside of Keltain as Carth's eyes ravished the letter, consuming every word, and Keltain's heart thumped and accelerated as Carth's face twisted in confusion. It seemed apparent some persuasion was going to be needed.

"Yes, the letter was intended for the first in command, and I understand your reservations about sending troops blindly, we do not expect you to aid us without understanding or reward..." Keltain responded before learning about the confederacy of the fighter guild. 'Great. The leaders always on the move...' Keltain's journey just got a whole lot longer, and a sigh of apprehension escaped his lips at this unfortunate discovery. 'Ill have to remember that name... Kane'

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a fully armed and armoured warrior shouting "Carth! The healer's guild said that one of there leaders did not make it to town! They have requested the mages and fighters to help them find them!" Immediately Carth began shouting orders before turning to Keltain "Well lad, what is your name? Like to help us find this missing healer?" Keltain returned the smile, and he grew slightly anxious at this grand opportunity to prove himself. His current actions would clearly have an effect on the outcome of his negotiations.

"I am called Keltain Raesath, and while I am here, I am at your disposal sir." This would be a grand opportunity for Keltain to prove himself, and if needed he would be the perfect candidate to delay any mages. Though he had no actual spells, his dragonblood ancestry gave him natural resistances to magic. But much more useful for this situation was his good horse Lamina. "Carth, I have a horse should its use be of any value. I can ride to wherever needed, or provide a quick scout." Keltain was already ready to sprint off to fetch his horse, and he secretly hoped he would be able to catch some combat. The great military training of Leons would be of great use here.

He stared at the girl for seconds, which somewhat seemed like an eternity. Never had he seen this "type" of human. Once though, he had read about an old tale of angels setting down from heavens and releasing his kind of the curse that they carried, our vulnerabilities to light. Then, reality snatched his hand and flung him back to life as saw himself plunging down to Earth and landing on this exact spot.

He hesitated, turning his head towards the dark portal of trees that lead to a safe life, then at the girl in the opening, as the rare shafts of luminous light danced around her. Was this the choice of adventure? Maybe. He paused and thought for a moment. She was just a girl, what could she do to him? A lot maybe, he barely knew anything about her. But, she might of just been a lost being, who needed help crossing through the caliginous region that was his homeland, the Woodlands of Pamplona.

Then she backed away, her face, shocked. No, it wasn't shock that made her back away, it was fear. He was confused, he figured if she didn't want to meet him, he would have the same luxury. But, it had not happened to his intent, she tripped and fell on her back.

He sighed with a tone of embarrassment, maybe it was for her clumsy fall or maybe it was for what he was about to do. His hands firmly grasping his spear, he slowly made his course towards her, looming over her fallen body. He raised his spear up and plunged it down at her head.

The spear impaled the dirt beside her. This stance was usually meant mugging villagers for their cash in his "old" life, but it seemed awkward now as he ran it through his mind. Deix gave a slight chuckle and slowly put his hand towards her.

"Need help? You shouldn't be wandering in Pamplona, some of the other elves 'ere aren't as nice as me." He almost laughed out loud at the though, nice as me. That was everything, but the truth. Still he wouldn't have said that, it wouldn't of been a good first impression, but neither was almost flinging the spear towards her skull.

. Peggy stood and waited patiently for the pampered and pretty princess to finish changing. “Damn…Why can’t I bring myself to just leave her here? I mean she should be able to find her way to town easily enough, but there is something strange about her, she seems elfish, but an elf would have no reason to hide her ears. As a matter of fact the only two people I have seen cover their ears would be Ruhe and Val… oh... that is not a good sign is it?” She thought as she subconsciously leaned her right side against a tree. She hissed loudly and tears streamed down her face “Right, injuries always hurt worse after the rush of battle is gone.”

. She wiped the tears from her face with her left arm for a moment before looking up to realize The Prissy Princess had finished changing. She truly examined her self-imposed charge for the first time, before gazing at the girl’s eyes contemptuously. She was not jealous that this girl looked better than her (even if she was in the finest clothes available) while in leather armor, that she was used to. Nor did it have to do with the idea that any single piece of the girl’s armor out-valued all of her possessions barring her gold plated compass that was a farewell gift purchased by the entirety of “her” cavalry unit pooling their money. No it was the fact that she was wearing fancy and unblemished armor that was almost the equivalent of painting “Come kill me, I’m inexperienced!” in bright orange on the front and a red and white target on the back.

. Peggy sighed after her overview “Nice armor kid, but I’d recommend Leather Scale instead, much easier to repair. Also, wearing pristine armor like that tells everyone with moderate combat training that you have not been in a real fight before. But there is not much we can do about that here, so let’s get going.” She said turning to head north, “I’m know as Peggy by the way. I believe I forgot that earlier.” She added over her right shoulder. She walked forwards holding her right arm still with her left as blood slowly oozed out of the broken arrow lodged in her right arm. She paused to look back at the girl and make sure she was following, “Come on, hurry up or I’ll slap you with the nickname ‘Pokey Priscille, the Permanently Procrastinating Prissy Princess,’ and I am sure you don’t want that, do you?”

Priscille stared at the girl, completely baffled. KId? KID? Who did she think she was. Priscille started to seethe and grind her teeth. This girl was starting to wear her thing, and she hadn't even talked to her much. She closed her eyes and held herself in a pristine manner. She had to remind herself that this Peggy, such a common name, but this Peggy, didn't know what she really was, and didn't realize that she looked younger than she really was. A flutter of a smile touched her lips when she heard the new nicname Pegg had derived for her. This girl had some gusto, that was for certain. Quickly wiping the smile of her face, Priscille turned a furrowed brow in her direction, gesturing at her arm.

"What exactly put you in that condition?", Priscille queried as she followed Peggy, "And so you know, I am an experienced fencer. I had plenty of classes with the most famous and suitably known, Achille Marozzo. I had a winning ratio of eleven to three, and had no more than 9 strikes against me throughout my whole of training!", she declared with an aire of superiority.

What she didn't mention was how long it had been since she had been part of the class, and also her reasons for leaving. Holding her head high, though still much shorter than the girl in front, as she continuously stepped over small shrubbery and branches, Priscille made her way through the woods, behind Peggy. She hoped they would soon reach the river, then the town, without meeting back up with those bandits. It was already starting to get dark.

She had curled into ball, possibly to try and defend herself or possibly lessen the pain of getting stabbed. But that didn't happen. All of a sudden he didn't think that quickly planned out hello was as great as he rounded it up to be. Exactly why it should be kept for mugging villagers, he mumbled to himself, so softly that the girl couldn't have possible have heard.

“Umm, I may need a little help,” She responded as she shifted from laying on the damp, ground to sitting in an upright position. Then she expanded her wings outward, dazzling Deix with numerous questions. Her wings, could she fly with them? How fast could she fly anyway? How does she even move them? Being a regular being ( well he could actually tower over the majority of Dhrows due to his unusually tall height ) he didn't have extra limbs nor a pair of wings, leaving him clueless of how she operated them.

Then she raised her head spoke once again, before he could figure any of his questions , “And my people are actually from here. Well, a few hours from here, that is,”. Her people? There were more of her kind? Questions raced through his mind, making it hard for him to concentrate on just one. Never had he seen or even heard of angelic like beings living so close to the dark void of trees that was his home.

Dare he ask? He was getting himself into something, he knew that for sure, but either way, it was too late to turn back now. "Your people, huh? What... what exactly do you need my assistance for?" The stutter was a tone of nervousness, it was intent to make her feel loose and less afraid of him and it also was the rigorous contrary. It had loosened him up as well, from the strain in his mind that said he should of left when he had the chance. But enough of that, he had already asked and what kind of guy would he be to refuse an offer or assistance? He knew the answer to that, but it helped even if he was just questioning himself.

As Atellus took another sip of his wine, he felt like somebody was watching him. He felt the piercing gaze of strangers lay upon him and the others at his table. Sure enough, out of the corner of his eye, he noted at least one human staring at him.

"Great. More tactless peons," Atellus thought to himself.

All he could really tell was that there was definitely more than one. He noticed that of the one person that was watching him, there were at least three more at the table around that one. There was also an equally good chance that those three were staring as well, considering nobody took the time to correct the boy that was simply watching them.

He wasn't quite sure what to do as of yet. If he turned his head, odds were they would notice that he noticed them. While that didn't seem like a big deal, it could very well result in some sort of standoff because of the unknown nature of people in the area. At least the people of Atellus' home country had a more polite disposition to stare, especially towards a priest. Here in Hungary, people didn't seem to recognize or even understand Atellus' position in his own society, not that it mattered because of precisely where he was.

While odds dictated that they might start conflict, there was an equally good chance that they would remain in their current position. With an inn full of people, they probably wouldn't start a fight unless they were usual patrons and the whole bar was on their side.

That was unlikely. Possible, but unlikely.

Regardless of whether or not they intended on starting conflict or conversation alike, they were definitely being rude. At least if they started a fight, they'd have to work hard to finish it. Atellus spoke up without turning his head, but obviously directed his speech at them. He spoke clearly and loudly enough for them to hear, which meant the rest of the bar was bound to hear it as well.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but notice your staring. If you wouldn't mind, could you please stop? I'd appreciate it if you weren't so rude to me and my guests."

Saxious, Hansie, Nick and Mattius walked through the woods, the next morning, debating about what they should do where they should go, and what they should do when they met the immortal heretic.

'I'll say that we go to our home village, and if Mattius, or rather Bromiere, speaks to us what to do next, we'll follow the order,' Saxious suggested, and they all nodded to the suggestion, all but Mattius, Mattius isn't as enthusiastic about his religion as the rest, Saxious thought.

'How are we suppose to beat someone that's immortal?' Hansie asked out loud.

'I have no clue,' Nick said, 'Maybe, we should just tie him up, and throw his body into a lake, that would get rid of him for long enough,' Hansie agreed with Nick.

'No! No one's immortal, for if there was such a thing, then our entire village would be immortal, wouldn't we?' Saxious asked.

'Well, yes, I suppose. I'm not a god, so i wouldn't know,' Nick said.

'Do you have any suggestions for how we should kill the immortal heretic,' Hansie asked Mattius, but there came no answer.

'I think i might have a good solution,' Saxious said, scratching his chin, 'We chop off his head, then chop him into small meat pieces and bury it in different parts of the world.'

'Why different parts of the world?' Nick asked.

'For if the meat, or limps, digs itself up, and goes out searching for the other body parts, then years before they would be able to find each other again,' Saxious said.

'But, what if.... the limps, or meat, began to regenerate, and created more immortals?' Hansie asked nervously.

'Well, that's a thousands times the fun,' Saxious said, winking.

'Sounds fun,' said Hansie, 'Have you ever tried something like that before, Sax?'

'Not exactly, but i have tried this once where i sneaked up on a heretic, stabbed him, and then re-arranged the scene, so it looked more dramatic,' Saxious explained.

'Really? Tell us some more,' Nick said, obliviously interested in what Saxious had been doing the past months that they had been separated in, and before anyone knew it, they were eagerly talking about how they had murdered and slaughtered in their Lord's name, and Saxious saw that Mattius actually smiled a little as he listened.

Kohanna watched her companion amused before she picked up a glass of ale and sniffed it once wrinkling her nose slightly before she chugged nearly the entire glass down and spit the rest out,
her head felt dizzy and she scowled at the empty glass before she noticed all the people staring. Comments about the Katze flew and a cold smirk found its way to her face.

"These people need to learn some manners...." She thought before the hair on the back of her neck stood up as she felt someone was still staring at her eating a piece of meat before she decided what was best to do. She would deal with them they way they were presenting themselves to her, like children. The male had already dealt with them but she felt the need to make sure their point got across this was the best time to try and figure things out while she was at it.

"Excuse me.." She muttered before getting up the cloak still hiding her long bushy tail however when she walked over to the table she put a hand to her hip and stared the people down, interesting little creatures, rude.....but interesting none the less. Putting her hair back in order she cleared her throat before her honey colored eyes locked onto the table guest.


"Are you always this rude? I should think at the age you appear to be you would have some manners now, the gentleman at my table has already asked you so I shall repeat the statement. If you can politely stop staring at my companions and I, as if we just grew second heads so I can get back to my meal, I would appreciate that." She snapped coldly, her tone was critical like a mother chastising her child for doing something wrong. Or a teacher scolding her student, she took the time to examine the people she was addressing, "Be careful Ko...you don't know what they fight like..and you drank that weird stuff." She reminded herself as she felt her fingers touch the tip of her sword, if they wanted a fight she would be ready that much was sure.