Fantasy A Nation In Havoc (2.0)

[Duke of Doge]

Nia was silent. Only blinking and staring down at the snow. Her face neutral, cold and unfeeling. She would only get up once the body was moved and blood covered up.
Seeing any of it would just make things worse.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Samuel, quite handy when it came to bodies, knelt down by the mage's corpse. "Sure hope you wanted your body donated to science." He muttered, tucking the head under one arm and rolling the body toward the treeline bordering the clearing. Magic blood had a great deal of chemical properties, and Sam hated to see it go to waste spilling around the forest floor.

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius walked over and placed Raimi up against a tree next to Ambrose. He then looked at him with his arms crossed, gesturing for him to take a look at her. If anything, he needed someone to take a look at him with how much he was getting possessed. He was not too sure on being separated from the axe completely, as he admittedly enjoyed having such power.

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio stared at Samuel as he rolled the body away, mumbling about science. He raised his hand slightly in protest, then lowered it before saying anything. “You know what? I’ll just not ask.” He turned to all the blood that had pooled beneath the body, and the trail Sam had left as he dragged a dead woman’s body into the woods where the party couldn’t see him do things to it. Yeah... let’s not ask.

 

[augmentedspartan]

Ambrose's doctor instinct kicked into gear as soon as he saw Decius set Raimi down. Ignoring his glare, he knelt down next to her and looked for her pulse. It was faint, but still there. A good thing really, since his abilities didn't include bringing people back from the dead. Deciding that she was fit for a hospital, and not a morgue, he moved her from the tree and set her on the ground face up. Giving her a quick look over, and judging by the amount of blood soaking her clothes he should be doing everything quickly, he found both the wound in her shoulder and abdomen. The former was simple, as simple as wounds went anyways, and it seemed like there weren't any major arteries or veins cut, so that could wait. The abdomen wound, that one looked nasty. Initial exploration showed not only excessive bleeding, but also a pierced liver. At least it wasn't the intestines, those were a bitch to close. Going back the the cart, he rummaged through his bag until his found his field kit. The small wooden box didn't look too impressive, and in fact, it wasn't, but he hadn't had much time to pack an entire infirmary, so this would have to do.

Going back to Raimi's side, he noticed Decius staring at him with murder in his eyes. Although that could have just been his standard expression. Either way it was pissing him off. "Why don't you go and do something useful?" he asked with disdain "Go get some leeches or something." The last thing Raimi needed, or anyone for that matter, was leeches, but Ambrose didn't hold Decius' intelligence in high regard. "You, kid," he mentioned Gavin without bothering to look at him. "Boil some water." He didn't even have enough time to look at him in confusion before Ambrose snapped at him. "Were you dropped on your head in your way here? Boil some damned water!" The shouting finally got through him and he rushed to get some water.

Using the boiled water to clean his hands and his tools, Ambrose got to work. Cutting off her leather armor and opening her wound to reveal the damaged liver, he started to stitch it back together. Once both the insides and the outsides were closed, he bandaged the wound and did the same for the shoulder hole. By the end, she was as good as new. Save for the lost blood.

 

[Duke of Doge]

(Time skip to nightfall/the next morning)
Nia lay in one of the impromptu shelters that she and her companions had set up. Getting to sleep proved almost impossible for the young heir. Back home Nia had three handmaids who dressed and undressed her. They bathed her and brushed her hair. Servants fluffed pillows and brought her warm milk at bedtime. They tended the fireplace in shifts, quietly adding logs throughout the night. She has had uncomfortable nights before though.

Sleeping in her carriage had been a hardship.
Sleeping on that ghastly cot in the room of some backwater tavern was a torment.
This was insane. Even peasants had better shelter than this.

Though utterly miserable, she stubbornly refused to show it. After all, common women lived every day under similar conditions, so she could as well. The argument was noble but gave little comfort. Curling into a ball, she buried herself under her feeble excuse for a blanket. What a disappointment she was to those who loved her. She should have listened to her father more. Now her mistake and lack of action were a black stain on her people's history, and on the world's.
Tears ran down her cheeks as lay tormented by more than just the cold until- mercifully in the cold, unforgiving night- she fell asleep.

She awoke with a start. With a sharp high pitched yelp, she broke free from the dreams that haunted her sleep. Rubbing her temple and letting out a deep breath she calmed herself and looked around the camp with a sorrowful gaze.
The_Omega_Effect TheCountryWarrior MagicPenguin Randomfella augmentedspartan

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius was not amused by the doctor's attempt to distract him. With years of experience treading through the woods, he knew that leeches were for suckling out blood, not for treating open wounds. With an unimpressed humph, he turned around to leave them be. The old man probably did not want him around due to their encounter earlier. The same could be said vice versa.

Time Skip.

Darkness. Complete Darkness. Decius could see nothing. He could hear nothing. Nothing except droplets of what sounded like water, dripping onto a pool water. A sickening red light, illuminated things. Decius was standing in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, knee deep in a body of water. The fluid had a certain feel to it. It was not quite transparent and it radiated a shade of red that made Decius uncomfortable. He tried to pull his hand up, only to realise that it was chained to the ground under the red water. He looked down at his entire body, only to find all of his limbs chained in a similar fashion. The chains themselves had the same shade of red, albeit a bit darker. "What? Where am I?"

He started to struggle, trying to free himself. He could feel the chains budge under his strength. He applied more and more pressure, only for the chains to strengthen. They pulled him down further, forcing him to slump his back in a more broken down position. He growled as he did not understand what was going on, when he saw a pair of red, eye-like slits open right in front of him. "Don't you recognise me? Come on now Decius. We've been together for a very long time..." a demonic voice uttered. There was no mouth to be seen, with the being seemingly sending its message telepathically. Decius then put it together. "Y-you're that axe...My axe." The demon then opened its frightening mouth which itself radiated the same red colour that Decius had grown to despise by now.

"Correct. You aren't as dumb as you look...I am not a simple axe however...I am sure you've acquainted yourself with the...abilities that I've bestowed upon you...Well that and the insatiable thirst for blood." Decius charged against it, only to be pulled down even further by the chains. He could barely stand at this point. "I am Sel'Zor. Call me demon. Call me spirit. Call me whatever you'd like. Borderline, you need me. You are now wandering along with these petty idiots into the realms of powerful magicians, the realms of gods. To them, lifting a simple axe is a joke...but with me and my power... we can conquer them all..." "No! I will not allow myself to fall for your tricks. You are merely doing this to manipulate me!" The creature smiled as it chuckled. "Perhaps. But consider this. You struggled to kill that orc earlier today..."

Suddenly, a bit far away from Decius, was the same orc that he had killed. The orc had retained all of the wounds Decius had given it, including the completely destroyed face. It too was chained to the water, although the orc provided much less resistance. It was simply a walking corpse. Decius recoiled a bit, before turning his attention back to the creature. "What makes you think you will be able to keep up? Without me, you will be left in the dust." Then, one by one, people, goblins, orcs and the sort, all appeared around Decius, all chained to the water. There were hundreds of them...No, thousands. And they all had their wounds open. The very ones that Decius himself gave them as he cleaved through their bodies with the axe. He then looked back down to the fluid, and raised his hand that was dipped in it from being pulled downwards. He realised...that it was blood...blood from everyone around him. He started to panic...before he woke up however, the demon walked away from him, uttering a single phrase. "You are be resisting now...But you'll know when to rely on me...You will need..." The demon then looked back at him, with a red light flashing from its eye. "Unmatched Power!"

Decius woke up with his eyes flashing the colour of blood and his skin being more red than usual. He was out of breath. He moved the cloak off of him, only to find that the axe that was haunting him was right next to him. He exhaled heavily while letting his breath go, his eyes returning to normal. His skin slowly lost its red colour, eventually finding his natural skin tone. He woke up, standing away from the axe, noticing that Nia had awoken too. He then moved over to where Raimi was in order to see whether she was recovering from her wounds. He watched her for a bit, wondering why he did not feel any negative emotion at all when one of the only people in the group who was on friendly terms with him almost died. Him being a soldier just had him grow desensitised to death it seemed. "Now now. Don't get too attached. You will kill her too...eventually." The demonic voice whispered in his ear, with Decius turning around to find nobody. He then looked down at his axe that he had left, picking it up and then wearing his cloak. He did not want to sleep any more.

 

[MagicPenguin]

"It's ready, everybody! Dig in!"

Raimi's mouth watered at the sight of the huge pork roast her mother set on the kitchen table before her, the meat from one of the pigs raised on the Charlotte farm. Behind the older woman trailed a skinny, plain-faced, chestnut-haired girl of 14 with mud brown eyes, her little sister Emma, carrying bowls of potatoes, corn, and carrots that she'd prepared herself from the remains of last year's crop. Light from the setting sun flowed in from the window in the outward-facing wall of the dining room in Rae's childhood home. A small fireplace radiated a pleasant warmth and a soothing crackling sound from the room's corner. The rectangular table at which she was sitting had seven places set, five along the longer sides for Rae and her siblings and two at each head of the table for her parents. Immediately to Rae's left was her father, a strong, heavyset man of 48 years with a balding head of brown hair and a tanned, leathery complexion from years of working all day in the sun. Across from Raimi was her older sister Aurora, the prettiest woman she ever knew, seated with perfect poise and a serene smile in a beautiful blue dress. She had vibrant blue eyes and soft, blonde hair that fell across her shoulders and down her back in pretty ringlets that shone like gold when the rays of the sun fell upon them. Beside Rory was her eldest brother, Brom, a quiet titan of a man wearing the worn overalls and muddy work boots in which he'd spent the day tending the farm and animals. With his full head of dark brown hair, his towering height, and his powerful build, her mother always said Brom was the spitting image of his father when he was that age. To Rae's right, there were two chairs, one for shy Emma next to her and another beside Emma's in which her younger brother Sam sat. He was the youngest of her siblings at 11 years old, a chaotic bundle of excited energy with fantastic dreams of knighthood in his future. Once the table was set, Rae's mother finally took her place at the other head of the table opposite her husband.

Bowls of food were passed around the table and each person filled his or her plate before handing the bowl off to the one beside him or her. "I can't tell you how excited we are that you're finally back from Dalania, Raimi. I missed you so much while you were gone," her mother exclaimed happily as she spooned some potatoes on to her plate.

"Momma INSISTED we cook a feast to celebrate your return," said Emma from beside her with ill-feigned irritation at the burdensome task. Her bright smile gave her away, though. Emm loved to cook and relished any chance to hone her culinary skills.

"And what a cause we have to celebrate!" her father boomed loudly wearing a look of pride. "Ho ho, 10 gold for our crop yield this year. I swear, Rae, you could sell a glass of water to a drowning man and still make a tidy profit! That's ma girl!"

"It was nothin'" she said with a modesty that belied the feeling of satisfaction she felt at her dad's praise.

Her brother Brom addressed her next. He didn't speak often, but his voice was steady and sonorous so that when he did choose to express himself, you couldn't help but listen. "That Fillie you were so fixated on finally gave birth, Rae. That pony's a spirited one. She's gonna be fast as no one's business when she gets a bit older, if we can master her wild temperament. Kinda reminds me of you, actually. You ought to come out to work the fields with Pa and I tomorrow so you can meet her. I could use someone to help me train her to saddle while I tend the crops. I'm sure the cows and the chickens will be happy to see you as well."

"I'd love that, Brom," she said with genuine excitement. "I can't wait to meet her! Don't worry; I'll make a trusty steed outta that little spitfire 'fore long, you just watch." Brom adopted a smirk and gave a satisfied nod at Rae's agreement before turning back to his meal. The pony was the granddaughter of one of the oldest on the farm, the very same cargo horse she'd gone to Dalania with. She'd learned to ride on the docile old horse as a little girl. She had been waiting for weeks for its daughter to get with foal so she could train the granddaughter as her father had trained the grandmother when he was younger. Rae's smile evaporated, however, when, as if from no where, the image of the cargo horse she and her father loved so much dead in a dark, lonely stable, head crushed by a rock, flitted briefly through her mind. Where had that disturbing image come from, she wondered? The old girl made the journey back from the city with her. She was back in the barn stables where she belonged. Raimi shook her head gently to banish the ghastly mental image and the uneasy prickling sensation that had accompanied it from her mind.

She brought her attention back to her meal and her family. As the others chatted about life on the farm while she was away, Rae took a moment just to bask in the comfort she felt at finally returning home. She sat comfortably in a simple cotton t-shirt and comfortable trousers, a pleasant change from her heavy travel wear. Her long, blonde hair was unbound from its customary braid and fell lazily to the small of her back. It was nice to just relax and unwind with the ones she loved most after so many long days on the road.

Her peaceful reverie was broken quite rudely by her little brother shouting at her from behind Emma. "Hey Rae!" he said with a level of excitement only an 11 year old boy could have, "Tell us what Dalania was like! Did you see any knights?! Were they riding huge warhorses and wearing shiny armor and carrying massive swords?!"

"You betcha, squirt," she replied easily. "Matter of fact, there were a whole bunch of 'em at the Founder's Festival. There was a joust and a melee with more knights than you could shake a stick at. Had swords and lances and all manner of sharp, pointy objects to swing at each other. You shoulda seen the guy who won the melee, Sam. He was big and strong as a bear, tougher than any o' those other knights, and he had a wicked lookin' axe near as big as you are." Rae paused then, suddenly uncomfortable. She felt another odd prickling sensation in her scalp, the same as when she thought of the cargo horse, a tugging at the back of her brain telling her that something about what she was saying wasn't quite right. But that's what had happened, right? Of course it was. She was there the whole time, after all, hadn't missed a second. She shrugged off the odd feeling and returned to the home-cooked meal in front of her.

Little Sam didn't seem to notice her moment of confusion at all. "Wooooah. Awesome," he replied with stars in his eyes. "I wish I had been there to see it," he said with a sulky pout.

"Tell me, Sister, did you get to see the princess? What was she like?" asked Rory politely as she picked daintily at her lady-sized portions.

"Not what I was expecting at all. I thought she'd be bigger, more commanding or more...I dunno, elegant? But she's just a kid. Probably even younger than I am. She's a nice enough girl, though, once you talk to her. A bit sulky sometimes, doesn't always think things through all the way, but she tries her best and her heart's in the right place." Rae scratched her head. The odd prickling sensation returned. How could she know what the princess was like? She'd never spoken with her before, only seen her from a distance when she gave that speech...

...that speech...

The prickling intensified. Something definitely wasn't right, but she just couldn't put her finger on what it was. She closed her eyes and tried to remember. Everything about that day was so fuzzy all of the sudden. She racked her brain and tried to recall as much as she could, but it only seemed to be coming back in bits and pieces. The archery competition...the joust and the melee...the Bear...Nia's speech...and then what? Images of a sword of ethereal blue fire and the angry, grey-faced man who wielded it flashed before her closed eyes. Falling rocks and a cramped basement, a feeling of suffocating claustrophobia. A horse lying motionless on the ground and a desperate late night ride in the back of a stuffed cart. Where were these images coming from? It had been a totally normal visit to the city, and the festival had been wonderful. Hadn't it?

"Are you alright, dear? You've gotten awfully quiet. That's not like you at all," said her mother with a concerned expression.

"I'm fine, Momma. Just a bit tired from all the traveling, I guess. Actually, may I be excused? I don't feel so good. I think I need to lie down for a spell."

Her pa nodded his assent and she said her good nights. She tried to rise from her chair, but before she could she felt a sharp stab of pain in her right side. "Ow!" She moved her hand to the place she felt the prick and was flummoxed when her hand came back up covered in blood. She looked down to her side and saw, inexplicably, a small hunting knife stuck where there had been none just seconds earlier.

She looked back up in confusion and found the dining room eerily dark and frigidly cold. The sunlight that streamed through the window just a second earlier was gone, the fire in the corner hearth extinguished. The meal she'd been eating sat rotting on the table in front of her, flies and maggots infesting the dishes as if they'd been sitting for weeks. The chairs where her family sat now stood empty. Rae looked around in disbelief.

"Momma? Poppa? Where are you? What...what's going on? Rory? Emm? Brom? Sammy? Where did everyone go?"

She fought through the pain in her side and rose from her chair. She searched the house frantically for any sign of her vanished family, but there was none. Thinking to search the barn next, she ran outside only to find flaming rocks falling from the sky and the earth rumbling chaotically beneath her feet. The moons in the sky were dyed an angry red, casting everything around her in a bloody light. She broke out in a mad dash, running as quickly as she could to the barn across the field. She dodged the corpses of cows that had been out to pasture, lying dead or wounded from the falling rocks. She witnessed the earth crack and split open to swallow an entire chicken coop and she was so shocked by the sight that she only narrowly avoided tripping over a rock that had fallen in front of her. Finally she reached the barn and forced her way in as quickly as she could before she could be crushed by a rock or fall in a chasm. She slammed the doors shut behind her, cutting off the sound of the chaos outside.

Inside the barn, there was no sign of the natural disaster going on outside except for the red moonlight flowing in from the windows high above her. It was quiet and dark, almost frighteningly so, leaving Raimi unable to make out what was in the stable stalls lining the walls to either side of her. She called out tentatively. "Is...is anyone in here? Momma? Poppa?" She took a few shaky steps forward to get a better look inside, right side blazing with pain all the while. She approached the stall nearest to her and found, much like she had seen in her mind's eye earlier, a dead, headless horse lying on the ground, bathed in the red moonlight streaming down from above.

"What's going on?" Rae cried fearfully. "It isn't supposed to be like this. Everything's all wrong!"

"Raimi..." she heard a voice from the darkened stall next to the horse's. She rushed over and found her father's body sitting upright against the wall in the back of the stall, blood running from his mouth and into his beard with lifeless eyes staring forward without sight. "Where were you, Raimi? We needed you. You weren't here." he accused.

"Poppa!" Raimi rushed to his side thinking that she had to do something to save him, but not knowing what. "I...I don't know what's going on, Poppa. Tell me what to do!"

"Wicked child," cursed another voice from a stall across from the one her father occupied. Rae stumbled over to find her mother hanging from a rope by her neck, her eyes blazing with anger, her mouth set in disapproval as she spoke "Look what you've done. If you had been here, like you should have been, this might not have happened. Just where did we go wrong with you, girl, that you would abandon your own family so?"

"No, it wasn't like that! I was in the city to sell our goods. You know that, Momma!" Rae cried.

"You should have been here," cried Brom from another stall. The stall was too dark to see the inside from where she was standing, but Rae could see the form of his body lying twisted and broken on the ground.

"We died, Rae, and you weren't here with us. What did we do to make you hate us so much?" sobbed Emma from the stall next to Brom's before Aurora cut her off from another elsewhere, "It should have been you that perished, you spoiled brat. We should have lived and you should have died."

"I never got to be a knight, big sister." called Sam sadly in a small voice from somewhere further down in the barn. "Why did I have to die? Why didn't you do something? I wanted to be a knight..."

The accusing glares of her father and mother from opposite ends of the barn with the howling admonitions of her siblings was more than Raimi could take. She ran through the stalls with eyes closed and hands over her ears, heedless of what lay ahead of her. When she opened her eyes again, she was past the stables and huddled against the back wall of the barn. She could still hear her family shouting their regrets at her from the front of the barn. She couldn't take this. She needed to get out, but she couldn't go back to the entrance where the voices were coming from. She couldn't face her family again, not after she'd abandoned them and left them to die. She looked around for a way out, a ladder to climb to a window, a hammer to pound the wall down, anything. But there was nothing. Raimi had no recourse but to pull herself into a ball on the floor and close her eyes tight again, hands over her ears to drown out the accusations and insults, whimpering helplessly, just wishing for everything around her to disappear. And just like that, everything did.

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

Raimi sat up with a sharp intake of breath as she woke suddenly. "NO!!!" she shouted out, thinking herself still huddled fearfully in the corner of the barn. It took her a moment to realize she was no longer on the farm, but in the clearing she remembered camping in when she first came to the city. The sky was just beginning to brighten as the sun inched its way over the horizon. She looked around in a daze to see the sleeping forms of her companions, all huddled around a dying fire for warmth. All except Decius and Nia, that is, who were both nearby fully awake. Before Raimi could process anything else about her situation, her body made its needs known. Her side and shoulder were well-dressed, but were damnably painful, especially the one in her side, which was agitated by her sitting up so quickly and suddenly. More pressing than that was just how thirsty Raimi found herself. Her mouth was dry as a desert and her lips cracked and painfully chapped.

"Water," she tried to call to Decius or Nia, whoever could hear her, though her voice came out strained and low because of her dry throat. "Water. Please," she tried to call more loudly.

The_Omega_Effect Duke of Doge augmentedspartan TheCountryWarrior Randomfella

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio found no sleep that night. Every time he found himself in darkness, a face flashed in his mind. He could put no names to the faces, but he felt an increasing despair with each one. He recognized them, each one a victim of that monster’s attack on an entire fucking city. Each one a person, each one with people who loved them. After what he believed to be the tenth time attempting to sleep, he decided he’d rather just keep watch.

The dawn rose, but with it came the others coming out of what he could only assume were nightmares. Raimi called for water after screaming in what was recognizable as terror and despair. Armandio pulled a canteen (that he may or may not have nabbed from the cart) from his belt and walked over to her, his face solemn. He handed it to her without a word.




Gavin had actually slept quite well. After the past few days of sleepless nights, terrifyed that he would be dead in the morning, the unslept hours had taken their toll. He awoke with a start as both Nia and his savior woke up from their nightmares. He moved closer to Nia, but not too close. He spoke to her in a quiet voice, trying to speak like his mother spoke to him when he was sad. “Y-your majesty? I... damn, asking if you’re alright is a tad redundant I suppose. Is there anyway that I can help?” He asked hopefully. So far he was dead weight, useless as far as he could tell. Thus he asked himself if he really cared or just wanted to stay with the group by seeming helpful. He smiled a small, sad smile at her, a futile attempt at levity.

 

[MagicPenguin]

Raimi took the canteen from Armandio gratefully, though she may have grabbed it a bit more forcefully than she intended in her haste. She gulped it down as if she had never had a drink in all her life and when it was all gone, she still found herself wishing there were more. Her needs were met for the moment, however.

"Thanks," she said to Armandio as she handed back his canteen. She took another look around the clearing as she tried to shake off the lethargic fatigue that came as a result of both yesterday's exertions and her body's healing. "Um. How did I get back here? I can't remember what happened last night all that well. I remember this crazy elf woman was trying to kill me, but after that it's all a blank," she explained groggily. It was then that she noticed there was an extra body in the clearing, a new member of the group that hadn't been there the night before before speaking with the princess. It was the kid from the bandit camp. He must have gotten the others to come and find her.

"Oh! He actually managed to find you guys. Well, I guess I have him to thank for my life, then." Overcome by another sudden wave of tiredness, she sighed deeply and laid herself back down. Part of her wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and drift back to sleep, but her nightmare was still too fresh in her mind for that to be an appealing option. She decided to make conversation to try and keep her mind off of it. "How did it come to this, Armandio? Fleeing the city like a mouse from a cat, hiding a wanted princess, fighting bandits for my life...this is all crazy. I'm a farmer's daughter, not a soldier." She sighed again in grim acceptance that this was apparently her life now.

TheCountryWarrior The_Omega_Effect Duke of Doge augmentedspartan Randomfella

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius was not in the mood to continue along with the group. He simply wanted to run away and take care of the demon inside his axe himself. "The "demon" is not in your axe. The demon is your axe and has a name." Right. He wanted to take care of Sel'Zor himself, despite futility of such an attempt. Besides, he had responsibilities that he had taken on here. He slung the axe over his back, looking around to see that everyone is slowly starting to wake up one by one. And it seemed that he was not the only one who hadn't slept well. He wondered what nightmares those in the group had. The terrifying bloodshed? The loss of loved ones? The fear of being a disappointment? "Ahh...But this nightmare is real." Decius got sick of it and muttered to himself. "Shut...up." Realising that he looked like he was talking to himself, Decius quickly shook it off. The last thing he wanted was for the axe to start targeting his allies.

He looked up at the morning sky, wondering what would happen to Dalania next. How would that wizard change things? How powerful is he exactly to summon so many minions at the same time and cast so many spells, considering how he looked like he was merely toying around and not being serious at all? The biggest question was how they were going to beat him? The battle seemed futile to Decius for a bit. The devious chuckle of the spirit ringed in his ear once again, with him thinking that it would take a long time to get used to this. He then overheard the others trying to make small talk. "I am the soldier here...and even I didn't have to deal with this much bullshit." He then turned to the others as a collective. "We could try to find something to eat, prolonging our trip and endangering us even longer. Alternatively, we could try to continue onwards and hope that we find a tavern or a settlement along the way."

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio searched his mind for some profound answer to her question, something that would lift her spirits up, and simultaneously keep his own from plunging to despair. It is as at this point he realized that he was not a philosopher. “I wish I knew. This all seems a bit... fantastical I guess is the word. I mean look at us, we’ve somehow managed to leave with vastly different ways of life in one group. Royalty, military, a thief, an opportunistic old man, a halfling on a high horse, a farmers girl, and now a traveler. We’re all over the spectrum.”

He was silent for a moment, then he smiled an amused smile. “The way the new kid puts it you gave those bandits a run for their money.”

He would’ve loved to continue the conversation, but Decius broke into his banter and Armandio listened to what he had to say. “There’s a tavern a good ways down the road, The Flashy Barman. We can be there by nightfall if we leave soon.”

 

[MagicPenguin]

Rae snorted at Armandio's quip about her ordeal with the bandits. "Pfft. I got pretty damn lucky, that's for sure. I probably shoulda died at least three separate times last night. The fact that I'm among the living right now makes me think there might be some god on our side out there somewhere after all."

At Decius's interjection, Rae sat up a bit to get a look at him. He looked a bit haggard. Probably didn't sleep much. She certainly couldn't blame him for that. "Hey there, Bear. Thanks for the save last night. You alright?"

The discussion turned to where they ought to head that day. Rae grimaced at the mention of The Flashy Barman. "I know that place," she said unenthusiastically. "Kind of run-down, doncha think? I guess beggars can't be choosers..." In truth, Raimi was much more comfortable sleeping in the wild, under the stars and the moons than cooped up in a place like The Flashy Barman, where the service was bad, the clientele were shady, and the rats and roaches were plentiful. She was aware, however, that her companions were probably not used to such living, except perhaps Decius. This was especially true of Nia, who looked just plain miserable without the luxury she was used to.

"I'd offer to go get breakfast, but I don't think I'm up to hunting just now." She thought about it for a bit. "There's a river a bit north of here. We must have passed it on the way out of the city. Fishing isn't too strenuous. I could probably catch us something, if someone wanted to come with me." She wasn't about to go traipsing into the woods on her own again, not in her state and not after last night. "Hey, Nia!" she shouted, interjecting herself in her and the new kid's low conversation from a distance. "You wanna do some fishing? Catch some food on your own, get to know what life for the common folk is like? Y'know, the real peasant experience!" she said jokingly. The girl was clearly out of her element, heartsick from the loss of her father and her city, and overwhelmed by her current living arrangements. Rae felt for her. Her poppa always said, though, that the best cure for an aching heart is hard work, so her aim was to help Nia by getting her to do something for herself, such as catching her own breakfast.

TheCountryWarrior The_Omega_Effect Duke of Doge augmentedspartan Randomfella

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia perked up upon hearing Rae call her name. Offering a soft smile as she spoke. "Sure. That sounds interesting." She got up and stretched her sore limbs out in an attempt to relieve herself of last nights torture. Once done, she placed her sword on her hip and went over to help Rae up and moving. "After we stay at this inn, there will eventually be a fork in the road. We need to take the one that goes north-west. There's a good-sized town named Windrip in between Dalania and Manzar on the coast. We should be able to buy horses and better supplies there. As well as get a good night rest. It's got a popular and well-maintained inn called the Green Dragon due to the number of travelers, as well as an average sized docking area for boats. We might be able to sail to our destination..." The girl said, recalling her hours of study at the castle.

The_Omega_Effect TheCountryWarrior MagicPenguin Randomfella augmentedspartan

 

[MagicPenguin]

"Whew," said Rae upon standing with Nia's help. She felt surprisingly light-headed on her feet, though she supposed that was only natural given the amount of blood she lost the night before. She started looking around for her cloak before she remembered it was torn to shreds in order to cover her wounds, which, she did not fail to notice, were now covered in much more clean and firmly fitting white dressings. She stepped lightly around the prone forms of those of the party who were still asleep, both to take it easy on her still-aching body and also to try not to wake them up as she moved toward the cart.

"Who patched me up? Someone did a damn good job. I feel pretty good, considering the state I remember being in..." she wondered aloud at no one in particular as she dug in the bag of clothing sitting near the cart with a bunch of other boxes and books that seemed to have fallen out at some point last night. After a moment or two she pulled out clean underclothes, a warm sweater, sturdy trousers, clean socks, and a similarly made green cloak, a spare her mother had packed for her. She donned only the cloak for the moment; she'd rinse herself off a bit when they got to the river and change the rest of her clothing there, out of the sight of the boys. Next, she found a sack full of books--whether Ambrose's or Jenny's, she couldn't say--and placed the contents gently inside the cart so they wouldn't be damaged. She had no use for books, but the bag would be handy for holding anything they caught at the river.

Lastly, she approached the kid from last night, who seemed nervous for some reason. "Hey there. Glad to see you made it out of there, friend. Hope you're alright. I think I owe you for getting my friends to come and find me, so thanks! Didn't get to introduce myself with all the excitement last night. Name's Raimi," she said, holding out her hand to shake his in greeting. He looked a lot better than another person might in his situation, she thought, but his clothes were filthy from days wearing them and he looked thin as a board, like he might be blown away by a stray wind, probably a result of his prolonged captivity and general malnourishment. "You can feel free to poke around in that bag there if you like for some clothes that might fit you while we're out. Not sure what's left, but there should be something cleaner and warmer for you than what you've got, at least," she offered with a smile. "Say, I don't suppose you still have my knife, do ya? I think I'm gonna need it to catch us our breakfast."

TheCountryWarrior Duke of Doge augmentedspartan The_Omega_Effect Randomfella

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius was trying to absorb all of the useful information while ignoring all the ones that did not concern him. But that was very difficult to do with Sel'Zor in his mind. "Well look at you. Trying to be the leader and all...You realise that you are probably the dumbest out of all of them." He grit his teeth as he was slowly starting to get under his skin...because he was literally, under his skin. He then heard Raimi ask him if he was alright. "Heh...Bear...She's not wrong now is she?" Decius growled for a bit before quietly muttering. "I'll be fine..." He then slowly walked away from the group, wanting to get to a distance where the others would not hear him talk to himself. "What's wrong there buddy? Getting mad?" He started to walk at a faster pace, carrying his axe over with him.

He looked back to make sure that nobody was in sight before starting to talk. "What is it that you want? Can you stop bugging me?" "What? You telling me that I am wrong? Its not like swinging a fucking axe around-" "JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!" "Look Decius, I wish for us together to be as powerful as possible. And that means us killing lots of living creatures while being in as little near death situations as possible." Decius then crossed his arms. "I will not fall to your tricks. I've seen how you can control my and I will not allow you to do that again." "You have no choice. Whether you like it or not, you must admit that our adventures will get more and more dangerous...With you being the meathead of the group, you will have to rise up to the challenges...otherwise they just find another meathead that is bigger than you." "Stop calling me that." "Fine. But borderline, you need me...if you want to stay with them that is." Decius grabbed his axe, returning to the group. "Just don't bother me..." He had not only changed mentally overnight, but also physically. A strand of his hair had started to turn white, with the colour draining out at an unnoticeably slow pace from the root.

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio walked over to sit on the cart, and began his watch. Bandits could still be a definite threat, and he wasn’t about to be snuck up on.


Gavin smiled a small shy smile at Raimi, his salvation incarnate, and shook her hand. “M-my name’s Gavin Miss Raimi. Thank you for saving me, and for your generous offer.” He picked the knife up off the ground and handed it to her. “Here you go. U-um, good luck. And be careful out there.”

 

[MagicPenguin]

"Thanks, Gavin. Nice to finally meetcha without a buncha ugly monkeys tryna kill us!" Rae gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and then put her knife back in its sheath on her belt. She started walking toward the North to start for the river, clothes and bag in hand.

"Well, then, Princess, shall we go?" she called to Nia behind her as she went. The sun was completely above the horizon by now and the sounds of night--crickets and insects chirping ceaselessly--were slowly giving way to those of morning, birds singing happily, calling hopefully to their mates. The sound was so peaceful and heartening, if Rae didn't know any better, she might have thought the chaos of the day before was all a horrible nightmare like the one she had last night. Despite the early hour and the pain in her side, she felt that she was starting to get her energy back. She was naturally a morning person, so she always had a lot of spirit at this time of day. On top of that, even with what happened last night, she couldn't help but feel excited to be out in the forest again; being one with nature, out among the trees and the snow, always put her in an positive mood.

As the two walked off, Raimi came upon Decius a small distance away from the main camp, who seemed preoccupied. "Hey there, Decius. You doin' okay? We're headed up to the river to see if we can't catch a fish or two. I'll try and nab a big one for ya. I know how bears love their fish," she said with a smirk before moving on, Nia following behind her.

They walked onward, leaving Decius behind. Ordinarily, it would only take about twenty minutes to get to the river from where they were, but Raimi was moving slowly on purpose so as not to flare the pain in her wounds, especially in her side, which hurt something fierce. She had to stop every once in a while to rest, much to Nia's concern. After their third stop, she found a long stick, about as tall as she was, and picked it up to use as a crutch to walk on so she wouldn't have to put too much strain on her bad side. In addition to that, the stick was just the right length and sturdiness for spear fishing, a happy coincidence. She took out her knife and started sharpening the end, to which Nia gave her a quizzical look. Rae simply smiled cryptically with a playful twinkle in her eye and said, "you'll see," while she continued to sharpen it with her knife. After a few minutes of this, she got up to move again, using the stick for support as she went. The rest of the trip fell into an easy routine; walk for a few minutes, stop to rest for another few moments while Rae continued to sharpen the stick with her knife, then start walking a bit again. It was slow going, taking thirty or forty minutes, but eventually they found their way to the river's edge with a sharp stick perfect for spearing themselves a nice, fat fish.

The river where they approached was relatively deep and the edges of the river bank were fairly sparse, no trees for shade or cover. "Hmmmm," said Raimi as she evaluated their location. "Not here. We need to find somewhere more shallow, preferably with some tree cover. Fish won't just hang out under the open sun; they'll want shadows to hide from predators. C'mon, let's move a bit farther up; there should be some trees further up this way," she said as she started moving along the river. Nia followed along quietly, though whether she was impatient at all the waiting or simply ruminating on her circumstances, Raimi could not tell. She hoped it was the former, for the Princess's sake; if she was too annoyed at walking and waiting to be sad and miserable, that was a step in the right direction as far as Rae was concerned.

Eventually, they found a bank by a nice, shallow section of the river with lots of reeds and overhanging tree branches. "Here we go," she said with a satisfied nod. "This should be perfect. Let me show you how this is done. Watch close, now."

She approached the water and looked for the area where she judged that the reeds would give the fish the most cover; that's where she'd most likely find them hiding. She waded in a bit, fishing spear at the ready in her right hand, not deep enough for the water to cover her boots, but close enough that she had a good view underneath the water's surface. The water was murky with soil and, despite the branches covering the water, the sun still managed to hit the water in such a way as to glare into her eyes, but she was positioned so that she could see beneath the surface relatively well. She stood silently for several long moments, spear in her right hand ready to pounce at a moment's notice, eyes glued to the shifting water's surface, looking for any sign of a fish lurking just beneath. She thought that she could make out a fish's tail swishing back and forth near a few mossy rocks, but the foggy, ever-shifting water made it hard to tell. She continued to wait and watch until she was sure she was staring at a fish loitering lazily and not just a trick of the light on the water. When she had waited so long that her right arm holding the spear out was starting to get tired, she was certain she could make out the form of the fish well enough to tell precisely where it was located. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and relaxed her whole body, like a coiled snake preparing to pounce in a flash on its prey. As sudden as lightning, she shot her hand out with all her strength, aiming a little bit above where she thought the fish was to account for the way its image seemed to move and shift with the water. She was rewarded with a blinding, pounding pain in her wounded side, causing her to grimace and cry out. "Ah! Dammit!" she yelled as she pulled the spear back out of the water; she was successful, however. On the end of her spear was, impaled through the middle, a fat Dalanian river trout. She waded back out of the water clutching desperately at her pained side to where Nia was watching her on the riverbank with the clothes and sack, spear and fish in hand.

"Ow, ow, ow." She complained as she fell on her butt next to the empty bag, into which she placed her quarry. It wriggled and waddled inside, causing the bag to twist and shake, but that would subside in a few moments. "Ugh. I didn't think that would hurt so damn much, Nia. Damn it all," she complained with her eyes tightly shut against the pain. She held out the spear and the sack for the princess to take. "Think you got the idea?" she asked, hopeful that she wouldn't have to demonstrate again. Nia looked uncertain, but took the spear. "It's easier than it looks," Rae said reassuringly. "Just don't be afraid to get wet and maybe a little muddy. Really get out there if you have to. Watch the water carefully; look really close for anything that looks like a fish. The water can play tricks on you sometimes; there isn't always a fish where you think there's one and, even when you see a real one, it might be a little higher or lower or left or right of where it looks like it is. You might swat at nothing or miss a real fish the first few times you try, but you'll adjust to it and get one, probably more, eventually. Just keep at it and don't give up! You'll be an expert spear fisher when I'm through with you, girlie!" she said with a laugh and a smile.

She left Nia to her task and sat still on the bank watching her for a few minutes, waiting for the pain to subside. When she felt comfortable enough to move again, she walked a bit downriver so as not to disturb the princess or her targets. When she reached the area that the pair had initially come upon where the water was deeper, far enough away that Nia wouldn't see her that well even if she was looking, she went to the water's edge and removed her cloak, gloves, and undershirts. The cold was bitter, so much so that it nearly stung her, but it was also refreshing and it helped her forget about her aching side. She sighed, wistful and longing. This wasn't going away anytime soon, she thought bitterly. She'd be nursing these damn wounds for weeks, walking on eggshells so they wouldn't hurt too badly. What a royal pain in the ass this was going to be. The fact that she'd have to be so careful and work at half capacity like an invalid for the foreseeable future, holding the others back and slowing them all down for her sake, made her want to cry more than the pain itself did. But she was in a good mood this morning, she decided, so she wouldn't let it get her down.

She quickly gave her limbs and torso a cursory rinse, careful not to get her dressings wet, before donning the warm, clean pants, socks, shirt, and cloak she'd brought from the camp. Then she washed her face as well as she was reasonably able. Finally, she took some time to undo her braid and comb through it with wet fingers to try and get all the dust and grime and tangles of the previous day out before braiding it carefully once more. Raimi loved nature, but the one thing she had to admit that she didn't care for was the lack of a nice, hot bath. She remembered with fondness and no small amount of longing the steaming hot water of the tub at The Brazen Fox that first night in Dalania. It seemed like things were so much different back then, like she was remembering a completely different life; it was amazing how much a mere two days could so completely upend everything.

After about a half hour of trying to make herself at least somewhat presentable, the pain in her side had subsided somewhat and Raimi felt clean, refreshed, and ready to tackle whatever the day had in store for her. She cheerfully started to make her way back to Nia to see how her spearfishing protege was getting along, whistling a happy little tune as she walked.

Duke of Doge The_Omega_Effect TheCountryWarrior augmentedspartan Randomfella

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia glanced at the spear and sack now in her arms and gave them a curious look. The young heir glanced from the spear to Raimi and gave a "hmpf" before setting it down against a tree. Nia took off her shoes and socks. Setting them aside before rolling up her pant legs. Walking around in wet clothing at this temperature was sure to give frostbite.

The girl grabbed the spear and bag before slowly stepped out into the water. Grimacing as the freezing water raced over her feet. She squinted and looked into the water. She scanned the bottom for fish as she moved around some to look at new areas. Her eyes widened and she quickly brought the spear down into the water. The spear made contact with a solid object, glanced off and sunk into the sediment a ways. Nia sighed "That was a rock..." she looked around her to ensure no one saw that. The coast was clear and she continued her hunt. "Why am I spear fishing anyway? I could just as easily do this with a rod and reel. Though I guess we don't really have any hooks or other fishing tackle..."

She cast away her minor complaints and focused on her task. Believing she saw movement she struck again, yet this time she actually landed on an actual fish. A small sunfish found all over the world that was no bigger than her hand. It was a start. She pulled the small fish off the spear and placed it into the bag. "Cool. I did it!" she cheered, proud of herself. Using this newfound optimism she eagerly continued to fish while Rae was off... doing... something.

In the time it took for Rae to come back Nia had attempted to stab something four more times. Three of her strikes missed but she managed to nab a decent sized trout on the final attempt.
MagicPenguin

 

[MagicPenguin]

"Hey," Raimi said as Nia approached her from the river with sack in hand, looking proud of herself as she did, "good job! Looks like there's hope for you yet, Princess!" Raimi hadn't been sitting long, but she'd been there long enough to see the girl nab that last trout, a pretty big sucker he was. "Well, three fish won't make us a feast fit for a king, split among seven people, but we won't starve at least," spoke Raimi conversationally as she waited for Nia to replace her socks and boots. When they both were prepared, Raimi slung the bag with their fish over her shoulder, once more used the spear as a walking stick in the opposite hand, and started back in the direction from which they'd come.

The trip back to camp felt a lot faster than than the journey to the river had been. Their spirits raised from a successful endeavor, the two chatted amicably and animatedly as they walked. Raimi told the Princess stories about the farm or her family or tales of her time in the city selling goods while Nia, in return, regaled Rae with stories about life in the castle. For a few blessed moments, Raimi even managed to forget about the pain of her wounds, absorbed in conversation as she was. When they emerged back in the camp, it was Armandio they saw first this time, sitting atop the cart where he'd been when they left, looking far more grim and serious than Rae was used to seeing him. It was a little depressing to see his usually happy demeanor so subdued, actually, and she was feeling too good herself to let him wallow in his depression any longer, no matter how justified that depression really was.

"Hey, City Boy!" she said by way of greeting. "Don't look so glum. Look, we got breakfast!" she said cheerily holding up her sack for him to see. "Well," she added sheepishly, "Mostly Nia got breakfast, anyway. C'mon, don't make the ladies do all the hard work, especially when one of us is wounded! Be a gentleman and help us get it ready." So, the girls semi-forcefully enlisted Armandio's help. He was hopeless when it came to making a fire, it seemed, but his skill with a knife was not nearly so inept. She tossed him the bag and told him to gut and clean the fish, something she assumed he'd had at least some experience with even if he was from the city. City-folk go fishing too, after all. In the meantime, Nia and Raimi did what they could to gather kindling and firewood to turn the smoking embers that remained of last night's fire into a big, warm blaze once more. To each side of the fire, Raimi placed a Y shaped stick and, when they were ready, retrieved the fish from Armandio's care and placed all three of them lengthwise along a stick, each end of which she rested inside the curve of each Y so that they cooked evenly in the fire.

After turning them periodically and letting them cook for a reasonable amount of time, Raimi removed them from her makeshift spit and cut them up into mostly equal portions for the entire gang. Anyone who was still sleeping, she woke gently, saying "breakfast is served" with an eager smile in a jokingly servile tone of voice the likes of which she imagined a maid or a butler from one of Nia's stories using. Once everyone was awake and sitting around the fire, she began to hand out the portions of fish she'd cut up. Everyone mostly got the same sized portion, not a whole lot by any measure, but enough to keep them going, at least. The one exception was Ambrose, for whom Raimi had purposely set aside the largest, choicest portion of one of the river trout. She'd been mulling over which of the group had been the one to patch her up the night before all morning and decided it had to have been him by process of elimination. She knew Decius had been a soldier of some kind at some point, something she'd heard him mention casually several times since they met yesterday, so he might know some field medicine, but her dressings seemed too clean and too professionally done to have been him. She doubted Armandio, Nia, or Jenny knew anything about medicine, at least not enough to fix wounds as bad as hers had been. Gavin looked like he could hardly stitch his own wounds, let alone anyone else's. That left Ambrose.

"Here," she said, handing him the especially large amount of fish. "This is for saving my life. It WAS you, right? I'm a little surprised you cared enough to save me, but I'm very thankful for it. You earned this."

Once everyone was seated and eating and the mood was not so grim as it had been when she first awoke about two hours ago, Rae decided to bring up the subject of what they'd do next.

"So, what are we going to do, guys? I mean, obviously today we just get as far away from the city as possible, probably traveling South and East toward the fork in the road that the princess mentioned earlier, but what then? If you take the East fork, you'll end up deeper in Dalania and eventually to the Dalania-Fenwood border. The West fork leads through the Red Mountains to deep Fenwood and eventually to the Askary Republic. I don't know what the best thing to do for you all is, or what Nia should do to beat Kruziik and get her city back, but I do know that I have to get back to my family's farm to make sure everyone is okay. That's Southeast of here. I'll travel with you for as long as I can, but whatever you all decide, eventually I have to break off, take the East fork, and make my way there," she said apologetically.

Duke of Doge TheCountryWarrior augmentedspartan Randomfella The_Omega_Effect

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio managed a small smile at Raimi’s proposition, and he was never one to pass up a chance to be a gentlemen. Yes it was true, the secret of fire eluded him still, a source of frustration definitely. But his skill with a blade was unmatched, at least in his opinion, and Raimi must have seen how amazing his skills were. That was his thinking anyway. Her smile actually filled him with more confidence, until he was faced with a daunting task.

He had to gut the fish. W-what did that mean? He briefly remembered fishing in Askary, but they weren’t allowed to keep the fish, just catch and release which seemed stupid to him back then. He found himself talking to no one in particular, himself most likely. “I’ve been fishing before! As a kid... like... a small kid. What does gut the fish even mean?” His musings were cut off by the unimpressed and maybe amused voice of Raimi. “Take out the organs city boy! Just take out anything you can’t eat.” This made sense to him. “I-I knew that... I was testing you! Y-ou passed.” He admitted to himself, that deflection was a bit weak. “Uh Huh.” She looked at him with an expressionless face, before turning to tend to the fire she had made. Armandio decided Now was a good time to feel optimistic. “Hehe, dodged an arrow there.” He did manage to figure out how to do his one job, and he presented his work proudly to Raimi.

He dug into his fish with the rest of the party, fully enjoying what may have immediately become his favorite meal. Raimi slightly brought down the mood with asking about the future, but he couldn’t blame her for it. She had family to get back to, and so did he. But he knew his grandfather didn’t really need him, right? He was like, magic and shit or something. He never asked. He probably should’ve.

“I’m down for anything. I need to get to Calcia at some point, but I’m perfectly willing to help you guys out. Especially in the cities. That’s my favorite terrain.” He ate quickly, and sat among his crew. He felt remarkably happier, since he had too much work to do helping make food to think about anything.

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius looked at his food, not wanting to touch it at all. His mood was completely ruined at this point. Having to deal with a conscious being that criticizes your every move whom you cannot even silence is definitely something difficult to take in. He listened as the others started to talk about what they wished to do after this moment. The thought of what he would do in the future never came to him. Ever since his expulsion from the army, Decius really had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Well, nothing other than serving as the host for an extremely destructive spirit. As a soldier of Dalania, he could help out Nia. But then again, who was Nia even to him? Did she deserve his help? Did she even need it? So far, the only thing he was good for was lugging the cart around which can be done by a mere donkey.

What else would he even do though? If he did break apart from the group, there would only be one thing left for him to do. "And that would be handing the control of his body to me. Over the years, I've collected many souls from the victims of Decius. I have amassed quite the impressive number. I simply need a little bit more. That way, I can both create a physical version of myself whilst murdering this meathead and take all of the souls I have inside of him. However, if he is more...compliant, I will be able to control and morph his body, allowing me to start out in my most powerful state. That would require him to murder a few villages of people though...yeah...that will take a while with him not allowing me to take control and murder these people here."

Decius stayed quiet, looking down and staying out of the conversation. He eventually started to eat, doing so at a relatively slow pace. He was not too hungry, he simply needed an excuse to not talk.

 

[augmentedspartan]

Ambrose was woken up by someone screaming, several times. After confirming that his heart wasn't retiring from its job and that they weren't in fact being attacked, rather half the group seemed to have gotten a bad case of the nightmares, he tried to go back to sleep. After a couple more rounds of the same screaming circus, and several curses expressed by him, he finally gave up and decided to just stay awake. While the rest of the group got around to setting up a fire and catching breakfast, he went over his stuff and started planning on what he would do in the near future. Aside from dropping dead, which was rather plausible at his age, there wasn't much for him to do. He could perhaps return to working as a physician, possibly for some fancy noble, but even he was aware that his bedside manners were severely lacking. Teaching was out of the question, he didn't have the energy nor the patience to deal with amateurs. It wasn't as if he was hurting for money, though, his little stash would probably outlast him, but he still wanted some manner in which to continue his studies, and having an ample supply of material was necessary. Thinking it over, his best bet was to try and set shop in Askary. He did have some contacts there, so he wouldn't be necessarily be starting from zero.

His mulling over was interrupted by Raimi offering him his plate and thanking him. "Wouldn't be much of a doctor if I couldn't deal with common wounds," he said, accepting the plate. His words, while somewhat stroking his ego, were mostly coming from his respect of the craft. Whether he liked people or not, his job was still to care for them, and he disliked those who couldn't do their job properly.

"I'm no use on the wild," he said, once the conversation moved towards their next step. "But I can get us into Askary without anyone noticing if necessary." Surprisingly, smuggling in live people wasn't too different from smuggling in corpses. This he knew from experience.

 

[Duke of Doge]

"Honestly, as long as I get to The Imperial City without dying in the process." She took a bite of fish "I'm fine with wherever you guys take me..." she told her group.

*Meanwhile*
Violet had managed to sneak into the castle where the royal family lived. She had hoped to take advantage of the chaos and get off with the score of a lifetime. She pressed her back against the cold stone of a wall. Waiting for a guard to come by. Once he had her dagger lashed out and cut through his throat with ease. She moved quickly and grabbed the body, preventing any unnecessary noise. From there she took a quick look around before continuing down the hall.
TheCountryWarrior (AKA Kruzik)

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Gavin ate his fish slowly, not looking anyone in the eye. He knew he was responsible for getting Raimi hurt in a way, and also for leading that Mage right to their camp. So he ate in silence, not feeling like he really had a choice but to leave.

Armandio looked at all the others eat tasty fish, and looked sadly at his plate which was unfortunately empty. “Damn... that was good fish Country Girl. You too Your Majesty.” He made idle conversation as he waited for others to weigh in on where their journey would take them.


Meanwhile.... in a forsaken castle...

Kruzzik watched from literally the shadows as the anomaly slaughtered a guard with ease, remorseless. She wandered the halls, quieter than the most silent of mice. It was clear to him what she was after: riches, easily made in chaos and confusion if you knew where to find the best things. And so he followed her, watching as she wandered in search of “the big score.” But he grew tired of watching, and called out. He called from nowhere or everywhere or some place in between. “Excuse me, are you looking for the treasury? You seem the kind to do so. I’d ask you your name, but those of your lifestyle seldom give a straight answer to that inquiry.” The room grew colder, but warmer, but felt just right, a mix of physical feelings floating through the air. Symbols glowed on the walls where banners must have been torn down, symbols painted with blood that had dried by now. They glowed a rainbow of colors, some of the most beautiful and simexif the most evil seeming. “But I am kind enough to tell you my name. I am Kruzzik Kro Lo, symbol of the downtrodden, rallying point for the oppressed. God of Goblin Kind.” He kept silent, gauging her reaction to his proclamation of divinity.