Gialpha

Kylin looped his arm around Pike's and patted his forearm lightly smiling. His tone about as promising as a honeyed dessert. "Trust me you will get what you are owed and more, as long as you leave all my men in one piece."

Victor was giggling, tipsy still. "Ro-an is Kylin's big boy. He's had it for him since the day they met. Strong as hell, could probably punch out those smilers you love so much."

"Quiet, Victor, don't be an ass." Kylin said dismissively. "I'm this close to sending you back to the inn and letting Pike give you a black eye. I have to go there anyways to get some things."

Their detour wasn't a long one, they were staying in a recognizable inn covered in gaudy tourist lures, not a cheap stay, which wasn't unlike Kylin. He liked to indulge on the gold he earned dishonerably. A good portion of the money he'd stolen from Pike abd his own hard work had gone into a vacation rather similar, except with more prostitutes which he'd actually bought for a few other mercenaries. Not to say he didn't join in. They were attractive mercenaries. He had been incredibly disgraceful in his past. Kylin changed, forced a coffee into Victor's hands and had them wait a few moments while he survayed for signs of where Ro-an had gone.

Ro-an's bike was visible in the weeds outside the wooded area that Kaldon hid in. Kylin clambered through the window and explained their heading.

"Aaah right, Brandie'd said something about a house or...tree or something." Victor mumbled.

"You're useless. Stay here, Victor. Even if we did fight you'd probably just fall over. Lay down, Pike and I can handle this, right Pike?" Kylin gifted him a wink and his wings shifted along his back, "I hope you can still keep up!"

Kylin went to the window again and let himself fall backwards out of it, spinning in time to spread his wings and catch lift. A few strong thrusts and he was soaring upwards, more silent than the coastal winds.

----------------------------

Ro-an glimpsed at his watch. "Kylin should be here soon, its half past midnight."

He got to his feet and stepped outside to check, tipping his head up to catch a scent.

At this point the bulk of the goblin horde had either been butchered by Alexander and the others, or had fled the field of battle. All that was left was to face their troll leader in glorious battle. A troll whose eyes exhibited clear signs of some sort of mind control of possession. Readying his sword and advancing cautiously, he took note of the Therian berserker making a wild charge at the troll, only to be casually knocked aside almost immediately. The sky knight knew from experience that a head-on attack would be sheer folly. What they needed was a distraction.

A distraction that came in the form of the elf prince, channelling his ice magic to encase its body, preventing it from striking anyone else, at least for a short while. Alexander saw his chance. The light of battle seemed to gleam in his helmet's optics. Taking a run up, he made a soaring leap, his wings able to carry him despite the weight of his armour. As he passed by the brute, he took a swing at its unprotected head with his magic-enhanced sword, the momentum carrying him past the troll and landing behind it. Without hesitation, he went on the attack once more, taking a flying leap past to make another swing with the glowing greatsword.

Lailah watched with awe as Prince Yevoc displayed the raw power of his enchanted blades, encasing the troll from torso to toe in pure ice, and creating an opening which Alexander proceeded to take advantage of. The Sky Knight dashed through the air, unencumbered by his heavy armor, and delivered two heavy blows with his greatsword. The blue eyed fencer stood completely still, entranced by the sight. Like a knight in shining armor, straight out of the storybooks....

The noble girl glanced to Captain Drake and pouted. "Goodness! Those two are already superhuman without their enchanted blades. It's hardly sporting," she half-jokingly complained.

Quickly, her expression turned serious once more. Lailah stood straight, her heels pressed against one another. With her head down, her eyes closed, and her blade held in front of her face, the fencer solemnly prayed, "May the Gods bring rest upon your poor soul!"

Like a mortar, the fencer launched through the air, her cape fluttering like a flag. Lailah flipped and stopped for a split second above the troll's head, pointing her side sword straight down.

And with a bellowing battle cry, she dived straight down.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

Like a mighty spear, the thin blade sank deep and straight into the troll's skull, with Lailah's feet firmly upon the block of ice. A determined smirk formed upon fencer's face.

"I'm stronger than I look!" She claimed. Her hands balled into fists, and after bracing herself for another half second, Lailah pummeled the troll's head, bare handed, again and again and again, the noise of each crushing blow becoming wetter and squishier.

After the seventh blow, Lailah grabbed onto her sword's hilt, and with the might of her whole body, forcefully yanked it off, before flipping away to safety, a shower of blood trailing behind her.

Nyx soon joined the assault sending bolts of shadow at each of the the troll's eyes. The creature bellowed as Nyx teleported onto it's face. Stabbing her dagger into one eye she began to channel her dark magic.

" Reveal yourself!" She yelled attempt to use her magic to find the scorce of the thing contorling the troll. She twisted her dagger deeper into the troll's eye. "Shadows grant me sight!"

For a moment Nyx's eyes glazed over like the troll's as images flashed in her mind... Snow? Catacombs? A tomb? Nothing made sense. And then the vision stopped as the troll broke an arm free grabbing Nyx and tossing her. Nyx managed to use her power to avoid death but as she landed her leg went the wrong way with a sickening snap. Nyx screamed out grabbing her broken leg in pain.

It was now clear that the troll had been neutralized. What few goblins survived scurried off like roaches when the light was turned on. Yevoc immediately went to the side of the dark elf who had broken her leg when she fell. “That doesn’t look good. I’m gonna have to set it until we can get you to a healer in Frosthiem. This is gonna hurt.” Yevoc informed the elf. He pulled the leg back to its normal position before placing his hands just above the leg and encasing it in the equivalent of a cast made of ice. “This will also help to numb the pain and prevent swelling.”
“So what’s the plan now Snowflake?” Ash sneered after shrinking and landing on Yevoc’s shoulder. “Sure you killed the troll, but what about the reward? I heard there was quite the bounty on that now squishy head. Who gets to collect? Or do you really think that all of you can split it?”
“I don’t care about the damn reward, what I’m worried about is what was controlling that troll and why.” Yevoc snapped at the fairy. “So let the others worry about the reward, you and I are going to trace that enchantment back to where it came from and find out who was controlling the troll and what they’re really after.”
“You really know how to take the fun out adventuring. You’re so noble and boring.” He whined and stomped his foot.
“Cool it hot head.” He chuckled before pointing a finger at Ash and shooting a tiny blast of ice and snow at him. “Now get to tracking.”
“I’m a fairy not a bloodhound.”
“Well if you’re going to be tagging along with me, you’re going to make yourself useful. Or you could leave.”
“Fine.” Ash sighed as he waved his hand and a cloud of blue fairy dust filled the air and a path began to glow. “Follow the path and it should lead us to the source of the enchantment.”

“Just like old times.” Pike smiled before jumping out the same window. It wasn’t too high so he landed on his feet. While he was not nearly as fast on land as he was in the water, he was still faster than any human could ever be. He ran as silently as Kylin flew and kept perfect pace with him, though it was difficult to keep an eye on him as they got into forest. He was barely able to see the avian as he soared over the treetops, only occasionally seeing his creamy wings reflecting the moonlight. He found himself glad that it was a clear night. He slowed his pace when he saw Kylin drop down below the tree line and land gently on the ground. He looked at the huge tree and saw a rather large tiger therian standing in front of it. “Oh this must be the Ro-an that the little human was talking about. He is a big boy; I can see why you would have a thing for him. Of course, I can see why he’d have a thing for you as well.” He smiled looking Kylin up and down before laughing. “Ooo, and who’s the big buff avian with the raven wings and the lovely tight boxers? He looks kinda hunky. Is he one of yours as well?” He asked as Kaldon walked out through the false stone door.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kaldon contemplated the possibilities of the hilt falling into the wrong hands. He barely noticed as Ro-an stood up and stepped outside. He came to his senses as the tiger passed through the doorway. He stood up and followed him to see Kylin and an unknown shark coming toward the tree. He leaned in to Ro-an, not taking his eyes off them. “Who’s the shark?” he asked in a hushed voice.

Kylin punched Pike in the shoulder and hissed, "Shut up, it's not like that."

He kept it vague on whether he was referring to his feelings for Ro-an or Kaldon's association with them, it applied to both so perfectly. Pike was not the first to misunderstand the complication that was Ro-an and him. Fact of the matter is it was very unlikely that he'd fall for anyone, especially outside his species. His trust when it came to his body alone was guarded enough, his trust when it came to the emotional side of him was near impenetrable. Ro-an was...close though. He had to admit to himself, on rare occasion that Ro-an's iron clad honor was very appealing. He was incredibly strong, and...well his fur was quite soft and very nice to rest against.

Kylin did not love Ro-an though. Ro-an's love was useful. It caused him to work harder than he himself realized to make the impossible possible and occasionally...that was necessary. He was Kylin's big boy, his big bodyguard. His knight piece out to protect the queen.

"I have no idea who that is." Ro-an replied, his tone as growl as it would get. Immediate distrust caused him to grip the tie on his gauntlets.

"Relax, Ro, he won't eat you unless I tell him to." Kylin said casually striding right up to them. He stood right in front of Kaldon and looked him in the eyes. "We're coming in."

"Ah! Pike-Ro, Ro-Pike. And that's....that's Kaldon..." Kylin explained turning after he'd passed the two. He did allow his eyes to take in the undergarments for a bit. "Aren't you cold? Nevermind you can stay like that. I like seeing where your weapons are."

Ro-an huffed, displeased by Kylin's explanation of Pike. He looked the shark over, words dancing on his tongue causing his whiskers to twitch slightly. "What's your plan, Kylin. It seems like stealing the hilt is rather pointless it's too hot and no one is going to buy a weapon piece unless they know what it does."

"Which is exactly why Kaldon here is going to tell us what it does. So far I know it gives visions which is valuable. Pike here seems to think its a......a...." He looked to Pike. "What did you say it was? Obsidian piece? Obscurian piece? Something valuable sounding."

"Its dangerous, Kylin, we should destroy-" Ro-an started.

"Hold on. What has he told you, Ro-an?" Kylin asked putting his hand up to quiet the others. His eyes narrowed at Ro-an at the possibility of having knowledge hidden from him.

"There are a lot of ledgends out there. This piece is no good for sale. The powers we're dealing with are on a whole different level."

"And not selling it is going to get me what? Good boy points?" Kylin spat. He turned his gaze to Kaldon."Give me one reason the three of us shouldn't just kill you and sell it anyways. For example, do we get to sell you instead, balance the cost?"

Tikal had been shoo'd off and breezed by, constantly tumbling through the air until she could right her wings and skid to a stop. "Vanarak!" she had gasped, having stopped just in time to see him crash into a hut. She clapped her hands onto her mouth and fluttered forward for a bit before stopping. "Oh.. Oh no.." She whispered into her hands. Deep concern emanated from her as she hovered in the air. She could help him, she should. But his trail of rage was still poisoning the air. She didn't know what state he would be in when she went over. "W-well he's my charge now..! I must..-" She mumbled, But before she could finish convincing herself, there was a magical commotion and war cries coming from the tunnel.

Tikal whirled around and watched, nauseated as the possessed troll was encased in ice and then attacked. But when the girl in the azure cape came screeching down, she had to turn away as she realized the path of her blade. After making a noise that was a mixture of frustration and concern she was quickly flying through the air, a short trail of color streaming behind her and her wings fluttering so fast that they were one soft blur of sea green.
When she found the crushed goblin hut she rushed forward and in the process, shifted into her 5'0" tall human form so fast that she stumbled and nearly fell on her face. But she caught herself by momentarily running on all fours.

"Vanarak!" She panted and called for the White Bull upon reaching the crushed hut in which the dust was just settling. Behind her she could hear the girl crying out victoriously before the sound of strikes being laid upon skin started up. She swallowed bile. "Vanarak White Bull!!" She frantically bounced up and down while her eyes darted from left to right, looking for any signs of movement or white fur. Cursing underneath her breath she started whizzing her fingers and hands through the air, magically lifting planks of wood and pieces of roof before throwing them aside. "You're in there! Answer me..! You..you big cow!" She whined. She hoped he wasn't dead. No no. He can't be. Just.. Unconscious..! she thought. "..Or even better! Just seriously hurt.." She reassured herself while throwing objects left and right.

A smirk crept across Kaldon’s face, the same smug grin he back at the bar. “Wow, your moral compass only points toward the gold doesn’t it?” He snickered. “You must be the most uncultured avian I’ve ever met. It’s the Oblivion blade, it’s a legend older than the fuckin’ Nocturnal War and you seem to be the only avian to have never heard of it.” He bent down and grabbed the hilt with his cyber hand from under the chair. “As for why you aren’t going to kill me, well, there’s still this.” He projected laser dots on to everyone’s head. “But threats aren’t necessary because, unlike you, I’m a man of honor.” He turned to Ro-an and gave a sympathetic look. “I told you I’d give it to him if you couldn’t convince him to destroy it.” He turned back to Kylin and tossed the hilt at him. “It’s all yours. The hilt, the money you get from selling it, the guilt when you realize that whoever buys it is probably going to try to destroy the world. This is only one piece of the oblivion blade, but if one surfaces the rest will surface soon after. If the blade is re-forged it can be used to open a portal to the underworld. So, by all means, if cash means more to you than the rest of the world, if you can live with that guilt, go ahead and sell it, but you won’t be able to enjoy the spoils for very long.” He turned to Ro-an again. “I’m sorry. You seem to be the only one in your little group that understands the severity of the situation. In another time I would have gladly fought by your side. Men of honor are rare lately. Come and see me if you ever want to get away from him, chances are we’ll all be fighting for our lives soon enough, better to be fighting on the side of honor.”

Nyx grimaced as the snow elf set her leg "Thanks... Name's Nyx by the way" she said still in pain as she looked around seeing the troll dead and a frantic fairy trying to wake the bull.
Nyx listened to the snow elf and another fairy as she slowly stood leaning heavy on her good leg. She grimaced as she turned and looking at the snow elf said "The tombs..At least it looked like tombs the vision wasn't clear"

Kylin looked down at the hilt, heavy in his hands and studied its appearance for once actually looking at it. Ro-an was silent, watching him, he himself seemed to have decided not to respond to Kaldon's remarks, it was Kylin's time to speak.

"I really do hate people like you, Kaldon. All honor and grace until it comes to someone you don't like. One evening and you're ready to leap at the chance to make a judgement on my moral compas and intelligence. I'll wager you expect I used trickery to get Ro-an on my side as well and somehow have him blackmailed to stay with me. What the hell is a warrior like him doing with a low rent thief like me."

Kylin tossed the hilt back to Kaldon and crossed his arms across his chest and chuckled. "Why would you just give something like that up anyhow? Your moral compass must be flawed if just handing something like that over is an ok thing to do in your mind. Especially after you so readily flaunt how disgustingly powerful you are. Somehow standing back and putting your hands up in surrender takes away your guilt. You're not doing this because it's 'the right thing to do'. It's obviously a distraction and a curiosity."

Kylin's gaze flicked around the room until they landed on the photo on the mantle. "A distraction from him maybe?"

He took a few steps forward until he was standing directly in front of Kaldon. He looked him in the eyes, his focus switching between Kaldon's very different looking gaze. "Gold..."

"Tell you what, when this is all over you will pay me. You'll pay me in one kiss. A proper one, on the lips no complaints and no half-assing. I stole from you because you looked interesting, because I liked your stride and I followed you here because you pissed me off with your cocky attitude. There's room for only one narcissist here and that's me. I'll help you destroy the hilt because Ro-an thinks it's the right thing to do and we work together as a team. You don't know it yet but you'll need me. I know a lot about magic-infused weaponry."

“Oh my fucking gods, finally!” Kaldon exclaimed. “Was that really so hard?!” He started laughing. He had hold his sides and laughed for a good five minutes before he saw the confusion on everyone’s faces. He finally caught his breath. “Seriously, this is the first time you’ve been honest with me since you met me. Of course you’re right, my own moral compass would have to be pretty fucked up if I were just gonna hand something that powerful to you and not think twice about it. Thing is, I knew you weren’t as morally devoid as I said you were, I knew you cared about the fate of the world, even if it was just because you live here. The problem was that the only way to get you to be honest about it was to wound your pride.” He chuckled and threw an arm over Kylin’s shoulder. “Good gods that was hard to do, but the morality thing seemed to be the best way to do it. Why else would someone as noble as Ro-an stay with you if there weren’t some good in you? Sure this whole thing is a bit of a distraction and curiosity, but not from Dylex, more from the monotony of my life in the jungle as a weapons smith. As for Dylex, he would have wanted me to be happy and move on. Also that was years ago.” He ran a finger down Kylin’s cheek and gave him a wink. “Oh, and by the way, you better make room, because I’m just as much a narcissist as you are.” He grabbed ahold of Kylin’s blue shall and pulled him close to where his face was mere inches from his own. “Consider this a down payment for helping to destroy the hilt.” He pressed his lips to Kylin’s and forced his tongue into his mouth, giving him a deep passionate kiss. “After we’re done destroying this thing, I’ll give you something much better.” He laughed at the shocked look on Kylin’s face. “Oh and I know you aren’t just doing this because I wounded your pride, or because Ro-an wants you too, but because you know it’s the right thing to do, that hilt needs to be destroyed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go get dressed.” He walked into the other room and started putting his armor on.

“Uh… what the hell just happened? Did he just pull a 180 on Kylin?” Pike asked Ro-an quietly. “My gods they’re both so screwed up in the head, they’re… perfect for each other.”

Alexander stood by, sword ready as ever, watching Lailah and Nyx finish the troll off. The sky knight was impressed by the noblewoman's strength and the dark elf's speed. Unfortunately the latter misjudged her landing and Alexander heard the snap of bone. He rushed to assist but the snow elf prince was nearer, setting the broken bone and forming a leg cast made of ice. Seeing that his presence would not be needed, he decided to see how Lailah was faring.

"Miss Lailah, are you all right? No major injuries that require attention?" he asked with a touch of concern. "I must say, I have never seen a noblewoman of all people fight with such skill. Or strength, for that matter..." While elves were well known for fighters who relied on their agility, it was quite strange to see a human perform feats of strength who lacked bulging biceps or an apparent magical or technological aid. Most curious...

Kylin was frozen in place, staring at the spot where Kaldon had just stood the feeling of his lips still fresh in his mind. Speechless, again fir the second time in just one night Kaldon had managed to take him completely off guard. Kylin refused to face Pike and Ro-an until the heat in his face cooled down from the temperature of the sun, but there was no hiding his breathlessness. 'Fuck....get a hold of yourself...' he thought, coldly. He clenched his fists, then let them go, lost as to how he ought to properly react. A shamefully large portion of him was tempted to burst into the back room and interrupt his dressing. He had never felt less sure of his actions before.

Ro-an was furious. He felt immediately the moment Kaldon took hold of Kylin's shawl a mistake had been made in leading them all there. "No." He growled

"They're going to tear each other apart." He stated, for Pike to hear. He turned and left the tree, unable to bear the stench anymore. Ro-an might have been a noble soul but even he was a mere therian man subject to jealousy.

Kylin finally snapped out of his shock and he knocked on the back room door. "So....what is your...grand plan, since you're so sure of all of us. Why are you dressing, its past midnight and we don't have an oracle."d

It was... Dark, Vanarak had only left himself for a moment. He did not feel a single thing from the impact. Nothing at all. Simply because of the fact. There was nothing left in his body but that bubbling rage. In reality he had broken two ribs from the impact the club had made. But he was a minotaur, The ribs would cause nothing but pain and his anatomy would make it so that somebody would have to repeatedly puch him in the chest if they wished for one of the bones to penetrate his lungs. A large grunt eminated from the pile of wood before the different boards and rubble flew upwards like a volcano flying haphazardly around him.

He had stood directly up, Crashing both his arms around him, breaking planks in their way, and on instict grabbing the axe on his right. It was still perfectly fine. Another growl bellowed out from him, Like a wolf about to do a deadly trashing upon being forced into a corner. Vanarak had lost control. There had been cases where he had lost it even more than this, But this was still very bad. His eyes, now more animalistic than anything else, His vision was still blurry, only seeing movement around him. He rose up from the pile, swinging his axe in an arc towards Tikal, It was more of a a clumsy swat, Simply attempting to remove anything in his way. The strike did not have much hope to hit.

But Vanarak was in a charge, more blind and deadly than the earlier ones. He was running directly towards Alexander and Lailah, more just spurred by the big figure he could make out. On instict he did one of his favorite moves, grabbing his axe with both hands and doing a grand leap, Swinging the axe in a downwards arc towards both of them. The strike going for Alexander's shoulder and Lailah's chest.

If the strike was to miss or just cut through both of them then Vanarak's charge would continue, Rushing towards Drake, Attempting to simply grab him and slam him into the ground, hoping to just crack his neck in the process

Stationed in front of one of Frostheim's personnel gates, two guards briefly exchanged nervous glances before turning attention back to the blue trail that was glittering its way through the bars. The one on the left was a younger recruit with a few strands of gray hairs poking out from underneath his helmet, subconsciously tightening the grip on his spear. There was a moment of shared silence between them, only the sound of the howling wind filling their numb ears. The older man on the right occasionally looked back at his partner as if waiting for him to speak.

At length, he finally did.

"S-Should. . . should we report this?" he blurted out, keeping his gaze forward on the snowed path. He'd been on the job for about a week now, but he wasn't expecting something peculiar to be happening so soon. Sure, there was a troll on the loose and hordes of goblins were attacking their trade routes, but at least Frostheim itself seemed to be safe from hostiles.

"We're not supposed to leave our station, remember?" the guard opposite to him replied quietly, the slightest hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Besides, I'm sure they've noticed by now."

"What do you reckon this is?" he asked, though he wasn't expecting a legitimate answer. The other man scratched his chin, looking thoughtfully up and down the trail before turning to him with ice blue eyes.

"Well, if I had to take a guess. . ."

---

". . . this looks like fae magic to me," Juniper said with her hands on her hips, walking back and forth as she observed the trail of blue dust. She waved her hand through the path as a test, but nothing happened. Squinting through the fog, she looked down both ends of the path. "Hey, Tsu. Isn't that way. . . ?"

"It's the way we came through," the therian wolf confirmed without looking back, arms folded over his chest.

"Thought so."

Behind the pair, the sound of boots crunching in the snow grew near. As they turned around, the owner of said boots gave a formal salute to the noblewoman and her guard with a stoic face.

"Your request has been accepted, ma'am. We have eight men on standby, officer Hail will be your section leader. Are these terms satisfactory?" As the woman concluded her message, Juniper clasped her hands together and gave a slight smile.

"I'm the section leader," Juniper said. "Tell Hail that while he is working with me, I have authority over his men."

"With all due respect, ma'am, I don't think the city council will agree to that. With the citizens of Frostheim involved, I believe they will not offer you more support unless you hand over the jurisdiction of the matter to the council."

"Then I don't want their help," Juniper replied bluntly. "I won't relinquish field command to someone that I don't know."

"Please reconsider," she said hastily, trying to find the right words before the older woman cut her off. "I assure you that officer Hail is very capable-" Instead, it would appear that cut herself off. After a few confused blinks, she stared up from the blue trail that was glittering behind them. ". . . what is that?"

"Well, that I wish I knew." With a stretch and a yawn, Juniper rubbed her gloved hands together and drew the woman's attention back to her again. Okay, let's see here. . . we do need those men, at least for the purpose of being trusted eye witnesses. That way, if anything goes south they can't just pin all the blame on me. Even better if I can get some of those plucky adventurers to sign up with me. With some reluctance, she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them again, Juniper said, "Alright, alright. Tell them I agree to the terms."

With an expression of relief washing over her face, she saluted once more before promptly striding off.

"Not like you to give up the higher ground," Tsudao commented with a wry grin, playfully hitting her shoulder. "You aren't getting 'cold feet,' now are you?"

"Oooh boy, I am about this close to being so done with you," Juniper snapped back in mock anger, holding up her thumb and index finger with roughly a millimeter of space between them. "Come on, let's get moving. We must've moved all of sixty feet during the half hour we've spent here."