Fantasy Classic Fantasy: Gathered Misfits

[Karcen]

Nasanru watched the battle and saw it was not going well, the east and the west were going at it again it seemed. Mortals never learned and religious fervor and ever shifting opinions lead them to declare this or that an enemy when behind the scenes protected far away nobles pulled the strings for personal gain. That was the truth of war it was a game of the powerful and it came with the highest stakes. it seemed that the East was losing to the west despite their powerful magic they lack numbers and their soldiers while garbed in enchantments still lacked the raw power of the west. While the east may have once been his home Nasanru had long ago lost any real allegiance long ago after they had run him out for becoming more than human. Still they were better than the rabble of the West who so despised magic that they employed it to help them,. they were hypocrites and that annoyed Nasanru so.


On the battle field Nasanru's presence could be felt before he arrived the feeling of being watched by some great inhuman monster settled over even the bravest warriors heart making him doubt making him fear and an unnatural coldness swept the battlefield so much so that despite the heat of battle and the day some shivered and some would swear they could see their breath. Then in a bright green flash the giant armored figure of Nasanru appeared and a green fog seemed to have started to appear out of nowhere, though the fog snaked and moved unlike real fog and entered the mouth and nose of the dead.


" Don't mind me I'm just passing through" Nasanru said though his voice was a loud whisper that seemed to be inside everyone's head echoing and crawling like some insidious worm had chewed its way into their minds though their ears.


Even as he spoke the area was filled with the sound of moans as the dead on both sides started to get up grabbing their weapons. The dead turned their eyes seemingly melting as the green fire replaced their eyes and the western army was faced with an army of soulless corpses.


" Have fun" Nasanru said waving his hand and the zombies started to shamble at the western army, they were weak creations but the presence of Nasanru and their own dead had a powerful effect on the warriors many just threw down their weapons and ran.

 

[TheMaskedMurderess]

Roxas looked at the man grabbing her arm and felt a little current race through her. She nodded her head but bit into her lip and looked at the battle before her. "I can help, a little." She said to him, pulling from him and looking around. If she could find some thorns that would be good, tangling her enemies in thorns would be good. Her eyes frantically went around the battle, stopping on some men from the West who had chased after her. One of them, the blond one was eyeing her up. Her eyes hit the ground and she saw what she needed, a bramble bush. Thorny and good for catching people in them. "I'm not good at fighting but I grow plants." She mumbled, inching from the man who had a hold on her arm. "You look like you could use some help, which granted tangling people up isn't much but it's something." Roxas told the man. "By the way, I'm Roxas." She said proudly and slid away from the man, who now didn't hold her arm. Roxas glanced down at her dagger and looked towards the gorge, bramble wouldn't do much good, but perhaps if she could even stall the men for a second, that would help their opponents side.


"Give me a second." She realized she was mostly talking to herself now, but with her hand protectively curled around her dagger, she began to move across the plain, steering clear of the gorge she headed for the brambles overlooking it. The long spiny green plants looked like they needed some growing. Roxas coaxed the plants, brushing the pads of her finger tips along the tops of the leaves. Her eyes constantly shifted making sure she was clear of people. Granted she could move through the bramble bushes and get to safety that way, but after going through brambles, she was covered in thorns and that took hours to remove each barb. The plant began to move and shift and slowly crept across leave covered floor. The opposite side grew down the gorge towards the fighting below, Roxas felt energy shift along her body, just a burst, it made her tired and hyper at the same time. The tendrils wrapped around a few of the humans legs and tripped them, it wasn't much but it was something. She let the tendrils with an ask, grow and trip and tangle. She spoke kindly to the bushes, which many thought was odd, but so were people of the forest.


Roxas waited for a few more beats before she saw a few more humans fall to the ground, trying to lunge forward with fresh thorny bramble wrapped around their feet. Finally Roxas jumped to her feet and ran, straight into a human, golden boy. They locked eyes and she darted backwards, not fast enough apparently since his meaty paw clamped down onto her wrist. Roxas grasped for her dagger and pulled it up with her other hand. Thankfully he had her right arm. "Let go." She said, pulling her arm and positioning her dagger so if he meant to fight her, she would have some sort of defense available. "I don't think so, devil woman." The blond sneered at her, jerking her towards him, his eyes watching the dagger in her left hand. "I saw what you did." Roxas lashed out when she heard that, and managed to cut his forearm, just for a moment, his grip loosened and she pulled away, darting passed him and full on sprinting towards the southeast. Camp, theres a camp there. She thought over and over.

 

[Javax]

Roxii watched the chaos ensue as the nymph did her work, tangling the West's forces in bramble and thorns. And then she watched Halk create a diversion, the storm of fluttering glowing green orbs and leaves doing its job. What astonished her the most was the dead creature that appeared, raising the dead that seemed to fight the enemy. The battle was surely turning into something she hadn't expected. However, she'd continue her work. Invisible once again, she made her way towards the most dangerous and lethal of the West's army: the rouges.


Dual-wielding her daggers, she maneuvered her way to the magic-users, positioning herself behind the fire rouge. Roxii allowed her invisibility to cease as she lashed out with one of her daggers towards his throat. Unfortunately, the rouge was quicker than her and grabbed her wrist, flipping her over his shoulder and in front of him. Roxii rolled when she hit the ground, reducing the impact, and ended her roll when she was crouched and facing him. He summoned a ball of fire and shot it at her, attempting to get rid of her quickly, but she deflected the attack by moving her daggers in the path of the projectile in an 'x' formation and, upon impact with the projectile, lashed the daggers outward to dispel the attack. Without hesitation, she ran forward, attempting a jab to the side. The rouge blocked the strike by grabbing her forearm, twisting her arm. Clenching her jaw, Roxii used her free hand to stab a dagger into the arm latched onto her. He cried out in pain, letting go of her.


She backed away and allowed a short time of recovery since her right arm—her dominant arm—was almost twisted out of socket, but she continued on. This opponent was more difficult than she had anticipated. Sheathing her right dagger, she decided she'd use magic as well—something that she usually used for last resorts. Wasting no time, she called upon the stone and whispered "Ignis," a small ball of flame appearing in her right hand. She rushed forward again, slashing at his abdomen. He unsheathed his own dagger and blocked it, sliding her blade away from him. Roxii extended the arm with the ball of fire and whispered, "Sagittent." A piece of the fire shot towards the rouge, but he caught it, shooting it back at her. She caught the projectile as well and shot it back at him. This continued as they fought with daggers, not getting one hit on the other; their skills have met their match.


Suddenly, the rouge's dagger slid between Roxii's hand and her dagger, cutting into her hand and disarming her. She cursed under her breath as she grabbed her other dagger quickly, blocking another attack. Tendrils of stinging pain resonated through her left hand and down her arm and into her shoulder as bright red blood seeped out of the wound, around the handle of her dagger, and down her wrist. Determined to get rid of this enemy, she whispered "Crescere" and the ball of flame began to expand in size. She blocked another attack. Sheathing the dagger in her left hand, she whispered "Ruptis" and slammed her hands together in a clap-like motion. The ball of fire stopped expanding and exploded, sending out a shockwave of flame within a twenty foot radius of Roxii, scorching anyone close enough and setting them alight. The fire rouge began screaming as the fire licked at his flesh, burning him alive. He may control the destructive element of fire, but he was not immune to it.


Roxii, unfortunately, was not immune to it either. Being the source of the attack, however, she escaped with only minor burns. She hated performing that attack, especially with how much energy it leeched out of her. The stone that she'd draw her power from had depleted itself during that mini-battle, so the remainder of that magical attack had begun to siphon the energy from her very body. Luckily, the attack had also affected the other rouges—the telekinetic one and the energy-manipulator one—since the three had stayed so close together, but it didn't exactly kill them. It more so left them with scorching burns.


Feeling drained of energy, Roxii used the last of the energy she put on "reserves" for extra magic to go invisible, escaping from the battlefield and back into the surrounding shadows. She needed time to recover, or else she'd kill herself with how much she was doing. Allowing her invisibility to diminish, she staggered her way back to the East's side, hoping to find a safe spot to have a chance to recuperate.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk was going to die.


One of the westerners had taken him by suprise. The green mage had knocked over a large tree, and several troops were crossing this way. One shoved his fist up into halk's stomach, he sprawled on the ground, flat on his back. The brute raised his sword, readying for a downward strike, but Kelvin stabbed the man who had jumped out of the gorge in the back. He fell, but got up again, and something wasn't quite right. Where his eyes should have been there was green fire, and his jaw hung open. A hollow groan escaped the corpse as it toddled back into the gorge and out the other side. Kelvin helped Halk up, hands clasped. "Remind me to make you a new pair of gauntlets if we live through this..." Halks voice trailed off and his eyes widened as the dead turned on their former comrades, it was over in seconds. After the figting was done, the corpses simply wandered around. Halk's attentoin was drawn to a very, very tall man who appeared to be made of bones. Halk crossed the gorge by way of fallen tree and approached the being.


He was indeed, very dead, but that was what made him all the more fascinating to Halk. He reached out and touched the mans skeltal arm, as if to see if he was real, then withdrew his hand quickly. He repeated the action, and the look of awe on his face was replaced by the childish grin and thhe glint in his eye he always wore. "Holy shit." Halk exclaimed, "holy shit, holyshitholyshit." He circled the man, grinning with delight. "You appear to be a litch. I've never met a litch before." There were a zillion questions Halk wanted to ask the man, but they all crammed in his mind, and his mouth just stuck. He looked over the litches gear, he had a sword. And guess what? It appeared to be magical. Halk could smell it. But everything about this man appeared to be magical. This made him all the more fascinating. "Y... you... You have a sword." With that, Halk's thought process kicked straight into fourth gear. "Can I see it? What is it made of? What enchantments are on it? How old are you? Do you wear any taslams? Does holy water actually burn litches? What kind of magic do you use aside from necromancy? Assuming you are a necromancer but I can see that you are. What's your coat made of? Are any of your body parts someone elses? Will it hurt if someone pokes your ribcage? Will..." Questions poured out of Halks mouth like water over the falls. He would need to be quieted in order to stop talking now, he was so curious.


@Karcen

 

[Shadow]

Aasul hurried out of the town and pressed her thumb to her bracelet when she was out of sight. She ran east, hoping to find someone with stronger magic than her that could help. After several hours she stopped under a group of trees, trying to catch her breath. She morphed back into a human and curled up at the foot of a tree.

 

[Karcen]

Nasanru turned to look at the man and while some might expect the giant to want to flay such an impudent mortal for disturbing them, liches were not know for their tolerance, but Nasanru was not most liches. Instead of a curse of death to kill the man instead a strange whispering yet thunderous laugh came from Nasanru and echoed in the heads of all those around.


" This is new most would run from a lich, or rather and arch lich" He said he made up the rank arch lich himself as he had guided other liches once upon a time so he felt he was above them. " But I like different mortal we shall talk but for now I must clean up i am sure I have as many questions as you do , though I have far more stories" he said giving a laugh only an old man could give as he slammed his staff into the ground and all the undead collapsed to the ground dead.

 

[Vampiricdoll]

Silver could hear the swords clashing together from where she stood. She shook her head. "It is not going well..." She mumbled to herself. She walked out of the forge and saw smoke in the horizon, from the green fire. Her eyes widened. Her new friend was probably in trouble... She started walking in unbelief bus every step she took made her go faster and faster, until she was sprinting. She opened her mouth wide and screamed a song of the birds. hundreds of birds flew from out of the trees and followed her. Soon a louder screech could be heard from the sky. As she reached the edge of the mountain she jumped. And fell. The louder screech grew closer and closer until a griffon swept under her and Silver landed on it's back. "To the battle..." She whispered.


The griffon landed and Silver jumped off by a gorge. "Halk?" She called out. She looked around, and all the birds behind her landed a top of the griffon. "Halk are you here?" She called out again, this time with her staff at the ready, unsure if something is going to attack or not.

 

[Crumbli]

Gregory stirs from his slumber back at the camp. The sun's light pierces through the canvas roofing of the caravan like the fine blades of a rapier. Each streak unto itself was bearable but together, they manage to strike against the lids of his eyes and tint his dark dreams to a vibrant red. He slowly opens his eyes only to have them meet with the direct sunlight. He quickly closes his eyes and rolls over, still awake but trying not to burn his eye balls.


"Ugh.. So. Tired" groans Gregory as his hands pat around for a container to pull himself up on. He'd spent all night long sleeping on wooden boards which was strangely less comfortable than sleeping on his shield when propped up high against a tree's trunk. His hands manage to find their grip onto a container before pulling up his limp body behind him. His eyes open wider than they had before allowing him to filter in his quiet surroundings. He found it odd how the soldiers had left the encampment. He knew they couldn't be far off based by the quiet sounds of explosions off in the distance. He listened for a minute or so and gathered it was the doing of magic users. Disgusting things really. No one likes magic users in the cult from which he was raised.


Gregory turns around inside the caravan, his mind focused on Elise above all. Elise lets out a quiet snore, her knees pressed tight against her fairly flat chest and her hair concealing her face in a veil of peace. Gregory slowly kneels down beside the sleeping child, placing his hand on her back and gently petting her awake. Elise opens an eye from under her hair veil, barely visible to Gregory or anyone who might be outside the wagon. She mumbles a few words that Gregory can barely make out. One of the words was 'papa'. Gregory feels guilt pierce his heart at the mention of her father. He regrets what he'd done even though he'd probably still be walking here if he hadn't had done it.


"Elise? Are you awake, sweety?" asks Gregory, his head's tilted to the side.


"Uh.. Pa-pa?" Elise's hands move to her face, brushing hair out of the way and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Papa, I had the scariest nightmare" she continues on. Gregory just keeps rubbing her back, afraid to speak up and ruin her distorted reality. "I had a nightmare that you and, he-ahhh, Carl were killed. It felt so real" Elise begins to sit up, turning to face Gregory as she believes him to be her father.


Gregory looks down to the floor in shame as Elise faces him. Elise's eyes begin to swell with tears as she realises it was no nightmare but in fact a horrid reality that she was forced to live. She stops herself from crying, wiping her tears away with her hands and pretending she was fine the entire time. "Morning.." she says, her tone flat and her facial expressions wiggling between sorrow and seriousness. Elise begins to look around, studying what she could see of the outside world with extra care. She runs her fingers through her hair before asking a very sensible question "Did you kill them all?"


"Huh? Wha- No!" replies Gregory, surprised and almost offended that she'd say such a thing to him.


"Weird then. I'm gonna go look for food then" adds Elise, making her way out of the caravan and walking off to the workshop. She had no idea what any of these buildings were but had the rough idea that one of them would contain food.


Gregory stays put in the caravan, feeling both guilty for what he'd done and insulted that she thought him such a savage. As he pities himself, he realises that he hadn't given the girl any means to defend herself if anyone were to approach. He sits there hoping for the best. Why would anyone come into the camp? Who would attack her? Surely no one would do such a thing.. Right?

 

[Javax]

Roxii stumbled through the dim shadows, finally far enough away to be considered "safe". Her energy wasn't recovering, and that made her worried. Normally, her natural energy would begin to replenish by now, but it simply wasn't. Perhaps she had drained too much. Whatever the issue, she felt weak and groggy, and if anyone or anything were to come seeking blood, she would be the easiest target to take down. She needed to get back to the encampment. Not only was it safer than out in the open, but there were supplies there that she could use. But getting back to the camp seemed impossible at the moment.


Letting out a gasping breath, Roxii leaned herself against a tree, sliding down it to the leaf-covered floor. She won't deny it: she was in terrible pain. She normally had a very high pain tolerance, but with how weak she was combined with a wounded hand and an arrow sticking out of her side—


She paused. There was an arrow embedded in her right side more towards her stomach. She hadn't noticed it before; maybe it was the adrenaline. Whatever it was, that arrow was halfway in her flesh and it hurt like a bitch. Cursing herself for not knowing any healing magic, she gathered herself and took a deep breath. She needed to re-group with Halk. That was her goal right now. Except, that would be hard to do with a projectile protruding from her skin, but she couldn't pull the arrow out without any medical supplies nearby; she'd bleed out before she ever saw another soul.


Taking a deep breath, she gripped onto the sleek surface of the trunk of the tree and tried to pull herself up. Once she was standing, she continued moving; staying in one place for too long was asking for death to come along and rip your very soul from your body. It wasn't difficult to hear the Eastern soldiers' armor clinking together and their boisterous voices. As the army came into view, she quickly scanned the area for the enchanter's unusual jacket once again; that seemed to be his trademark. No wonder it wasn't hard to find him. Appearing from what little shade there was, Roxii kept her stoic expression and wiped all trace of pain away from her face, her gait, and her movements, but she couldn't help one hand cupping the arrow to keep it from moving around too much. She approached Halk in silence.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk tore his attention from the litch. "We'll talk later. We NEED to talk later. Allright, yea. We'll... Yea." Halk followed the sound of the person who had called his name. He found silver riding a griffon. "OH MAH LAWD, A LITCH AND A GRIFFON IN THE SAME DAY, OH MAH LAWD." Halk's smile shown through the mud, ash, sweat, and the little bit of blood that still clung to the side of his face. "Is it yours? Do you own it? Is it tame? Can I ride it? Oh mah gowd..." Halk sat down on the ground, rocking back and forth and giggling childishly. Gerld came up behind him and hauled him roughly to his feet. "Get ahold of yourself son, there's work to do." Halk made small noises of protest. "But,eh,but,eh,but,eh, It's a GRIFFON!!!" Gerld glanced at the griffon. He stared at it for a moment. "Yes Halk, I know it's a griffon. But the griffon needs to help us move the tree that's over the gorge. It'll ruin our tactical advantage." Halk hung his head. "Ok." He sighed softly. Gerld motioned for the griffon to follow him. A couple of men were heaving at the giant oak, but to no avail. Halk beamed at silver. "Heh, where was that when we needed it? Ah wait, nevermind, it would have just been a bigger target and get in the way..." Halk watched the beast set it's shoulder to the tree and shift it's weight, the soldiers helped as well, grunting with effort as they pushed the oak from the gorge. Halk tasted something in the corner of his mouth. He wiped at it with the back of his hand. It was blood. Nothing too serious, he had recieved a cut on the cheek along with the gash above his eye from before. He also had multiple bruises from where he was struck, pummeled, and punched. His ribs had started to hurt, and he was wheezing slightly when he breathed. It all would heal, all in due time. He knew he must look like he'd been through hell, so he smiled at Silver reassuringly.


Once the tree was moved back, Halk had suggested it be to their side of the gorge as to provide more cover (something which Gerld had commended him on), Halk spotted the familiar flash of black again. He looked up to see Roxii. "Oh dear. It appears that you have been stuck in the side with an arrow." Halk held out his arm, then he realized that she might take this as an insult, a sign that Halk thought she was weak, so Halk simply swept an arm under her legs, picking her up, supporting her back with his other arm. "Don't try to move, you'll get that arrow buried further than it already is." He said, cocking his head in a way that showed he was concerned, but paying attention to Roxii's wellbeing.

 

[TheMaskedMurderess]

Roxas didn't really make it that far, before she felt a sharp pain in her left thigh. She hit the ground hard, her hands landing on soft grass. The rest of her follow suit and she howled in pain, looking back and seeing an arrow high on her left thigh. "Are you kidding me." She growled, her hands reaching backwards to see if she could reach it. She couldn't, she mewled and closed her eyes for a beat. Finally she dragged her up to a standing position and began to limp towards the camp that was southeast of the fight. Maybe if she could get to the camp, she could find someone to help drag her arrow out of her thigh. Thankfully, it wasn't embedded higher up, because having someone pull an arrow out of her ass was so much more embarrassing than her thigh. "I literally didn't fight, well not really, a guy grabbed me, the blond wanted to kill me, I only wanted to go out and explore today and this is what I get?" Roxas ranted to herself, limping with determination.


Roxas noted that she was closer to the gorge and that she could see something. Something near her, like people, she thought rubbing her eyes. Maybe it was someone who could help her. She felt blood trickle down her leg with every step she took and noted that she could use some help. "Hello?" She hollered, her voice carrying with her yell.


(It's short but I'm not sure what to do for some interaction)

 

[Javax]

Roxii tensed up as Halk made contact with her and picked her up. She didn't know how to react, to be honest; she didn't know if she wanted to punch him in the face and rip his arm out of its socket or to just sit there and listen to him. Knowing that the former would only lead to more issues, she went with the latter. Quite to her disliking, if it weren't obvious before. She tried to keep her distance from the man as much as she could, despite the situation; she hated any type of physical contact if she could help it, but she couldn't deny the fact that she did need help. She was weak, wounded, and she knew that any help would keep her from getting killed.

 

[Alstromeria]

"Gerld, you good here? I have something that needs to get back to camp. Like, right away." Gerld shook his head with a sigh, then nodded. Halk sometimes refered to people as objects, and Gerld didn't like that. "All that's left is for the dead to be buried. I'm having Kelven oversee it with half the men, you take the rest back to camp." Halk nodded. "Letsa git goin, time to move on." Halk said, jerking his head at his friends to follow him to the camp.





Halk nodded to one of his men. "There's more wounded, we got our asses beat out here. It's a good thing the litch showed up when he did. Run ahead as fast as you can and bring us a healer." The man hurried off with a "Yes sir," but was back almost instantly. "Sir, there's a nymph. She has an arrow in her leg. Halk shook his head. "Well that doesn't matter, she's magical, she needs help, and she sure as hell hates the west. We'll bring her back to camp with us." The soldier was off again. As they approached the Nymph, Halk noticed she was the one from before. " 'Ello again. I didn't catch your name before, mine is Halk. This is Roxii," He nodded to the assassin he was carrying, "And that over there is Mr. Badass." Halk nodded at the litch. "I didn't catch his name either."

 

[TheMaskedMurderess]

Roxas noted a man come her way before he stood at attention and scurried off, before he headed back and went past her. The man from the gorge came as well, with someone in his arms he was carried. "Hi Halk, I'm Roxas, I was in the fight for a second there, but I'm not really a fighter, but assessing the damage that happened out there, you need more magic on your side, which is funny coming from someone of the South. But you need a plan. Like a good solid plan, you could use some people that don't really fight, but like can help control the elements around you, which may sound weird, but i think it might help, humans don't really last long in the elements, and are weak under the onslaught of rain, heavy underbrush and darkness. There are legendary beasts in the south, perhaps you should ask for help." Roxas told him, the words spilling out in a mess of anger and concern. The concern was for the people who were hurt and would be hurt again if the West's men continued this war. The anger was for the fact that there was an arrow in her leg, she wasn't a fighter, she'd been chased all day long, and she was exhausted. "You know, I haven't ever been violent, I've spent a lot of my time alone, i help animals, and talk nice and I don't mess with people, I've even met humans and they've been kind to me, because I can grow fruit, and help their cows, I've never been awful to anyone, why is this happening?" She asked, her eyes narrowing as she could feel a bubble of rage surfacing. "I have an arrow in my leg, I carry a dagger, but it was a gift and this is the first time I used it, and I got it when I was sixteen, and I'm twenty four. I mean, it's ridiculous, right?" She asked.

 

[Karcen]

The time after the battle was hectic as it always was doctors found those they could help and the throat slitters found those they couldn't. Nasanru had been in many a battlefields the endings were rarely ever different no matter what side won there were always the hurt and dying and Nasanru loved it. Some things never died the feeling of death always excited the old lich the spilling of life always empowered his dark magic gave it the green tint that came from the essence of death and undeath being part of his very being.


It was only after Nasanru got over the intoxicating feeling of death that now stained this patch of land that he realized that interesting little mortal had got away and he hadn't bothered to get his name or maybe he had that boy had asked so many questions. Nasanru thought about teleporting, but instead he levitated , he could walk faster than most undead but still it was not as fast as levitation, but levitation was fragile and generally failed if he was targeted by attacks.


Nasanru moved after the boy finding him by his jacket which truly was a master piece in its own right and gave off a unique mystical signature which some mystic creatures and any mage with the right spell or enchanted glasses could see. he found him with a Nymph and in truth they were not that far away he could catch bits of their conversation but not the whole thing manly he heard words that were important to him.


" This is Nature little nymph " Nasanru said his voice a chilling whisper in the others head easily sending shiver down their spines " Man is like any other creature that lives with others , they need land, they need space, they need resources and therefore they must take what they cannot make " he said his explanation like something a professor would say " Or at least that would be how it should be but they have new reasons they hate magic they want it all gone they want suffering and death to overrun the world even if they don't realize it " he said his cold voice sounding amused and actually pleased at the idea of a world of death and suffering.

 

[Crumbli]

Gregory's worries grow too much for him to bare only an hour or so after she's left the caravan. Gregory stands from his self-pity-perch and goes to located his weapons that were laid about in the caravan to lower suspicions of him. He decides to only take a single weapon as it's all he'd need. After a minute of searching, Gregory finally manages to get a hold of his shabby crossbow. After fiddling with it and his twenty-one crossbow bolts he sets out of the caravan on his way to the forge where he believes he'll find Elise.


His boots make quiet squelching sounds as they cross the strangely damp grounds. He hadn't noticed any rain fall since the other day, so he starts to think that there's no real cause for the grounds to be wet other than Eastern sorcery. That's when it hits him that these damp grounds could be a sign from the holy mistress of the future to come. Back in his cult, the psychopaths who worshipped Heid'Zuu, a dampened ground without rain fall was a bad sign to show that the future would be restless or filled with mourning. This usually lead cultists to believe when the ground was wet a loved one had passed. Gregory doesn't love anyone however so he puts it down to the next closest thing. He cares for Elise very strongly. He sees her as his only real friend in this otherwise 'hostile' world. Gregory's pace increases and his crossbow becomes raised as he enters the workshop.


Gregory enters the workshop, turning the corner and freezing with the crossbow aimed up where the chest of a man would be if there were one there. However, instead of a man he's greeted with a startled Elise reading a large book and eating a bowl of red berries. Elise's eyes widen as she realises that Gregory's holding a crossbow and has it aimed around her head height.


"Are you going to shoot me? I guess I should have seen it coming, huh?" asks Elise, assuming that Gregory had finally come to end her the same way he'd ended her family. "Wh- Ohh, sorry.. I just didn't kno-" Gregory's cut off mid sentence by Elise saying "So you assumed I may need help and the best way to help is to shoot me with a crossbow?"


"No! I was gonna shoot what ever was attacking you. I just thought someone had hurt you. That's all" explained Gregory, seemingly genuinely concerned for the safety of Elise. Elise seems to stifle a laugh as if she didn't believe he'd care about her safety before turning back to her book. Gregory lowers the crossbow and props it against the wall of the workshop, making sure he could see both Elise and the door way from his position.


The two of them sit there in mostly silence, the occasional munching of berries and polite offerings to one another are the only exceptions. That is until Elise mentions something from the book she was reading. Gregory has no idea where she'd gotten this book from and assumes she'd found it around the workshop but the topic it speaks of seems to be unrelated to forging or enchanting of items.


"You ever seen a demon in the South?"


"I'd rather not speak of my times there" replies Gregory. He keeps his eyes peeled for any movements but is still yet to see anything.


"So that's a no, isn't it?" asks Elise, prodding him with her questions in the hopes of getting a specific reaction out of him.


"We all have demons in us. I've seen a lot of people so I've seen a lot of demons. Some wear their flames on the outside where as others like to keep them inside. It's all a matter of how cunning the demon is I'd guess" Elise sits there a moment in the chair, mulling over his words before giggling at them as if he'd said something absolutely hysterical. She takes in deep breaths to calm herself down and continues reading. Gregory takes little offence to her laughter, mostly because he thinks her laughter is adorable. (He sees her laugh more as a baby's laugh rather than an insult)


The two of them wait there until someone arrives or if no one arrives before night fall, the two of them make their way back to the caravan in order to rest for the day to come tomorrow.

 

[Vampiricdoll]

Silver watches as Halk do these many things to help people. She didn't have time to respond about anything. She walked over to where the griffon was and helped with the oak tree. They struggled but it finally was out of the gorge. She walked with the griffon around the battle field. Everyone else was busy... So she decided it was best to stay out of it until they were done speaking...

 

[Shadow]

Aasul sat up abruptly when she heard someone shout not too far away. She threw her pack over her shoulder and loped to where she had heard the shout come from. She came across a gorge and saw two people across the gorge from where she was. She went alongside the gorge before finding a place she could scale down. She slid most of the way to the bottom. She wandered along the bottom of the gorge until she found another place where she could climb up. When she reached the top, she went back to where she had seen the two people talking. She walked quietly, stopping once she could see them. She crept closer, trying to hear what they were talking about. She rested her hand on her sword hilt, in case she needed to draw it quickly.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk nodded at the nymph. "Well, you are right, help is needed, but I doubt we'll be getting any." He said as they continued towards the camp, "The beasts of the south have no love for easterners either. Like, dragons are more interested in protecting their mounds of gold, and they are extremely prideful creatures. I've never met one, but I dont think I'd like to. I'm curious, not suicidal." They approached the camp, and halk had one of his men help Roxii to the healer, who was settled in a large pavilion known as sick bay. "We would have been fine today, but the gorge is a very hard place to defend, and the rouge mages didn't help either."


Halk jerked his head at the litch and the nymph to follow him to his workshop. "I'm going to need to get back to work, improving others armor and such. It appears we'll have to defend against magical attacks too. I really don..." Halks voice trailed off, his hands on both sides of the doorless frame, his jacket swaying a bit, shimmering in the slight breeze. There was two people here, one he recognized as the merchant, and the other a girl, barely in her teens. "Well 'ello there." Halk said, realizing he must not look like the best person in the world to strike up a conversation with. The cuts above his eye and on his cheek had clotted, but there was dried blood on the side of his face, as well as grime from the previous battle. Halk wasn't used to having people in his forge when he wasn't there, it was his domain anyways. He noticed the little girl was reading one of his books. It wasn't the enchanting notes that spiraled across the page, it was one that he kept on creatures of the south. Halk really didn't know how to react to more people in his forge. "Uhh, I see you like reading." He shoved one of his hands in his enchanted jacket's pockets and motioned to the girl with the other, wearing a 'not bad' face for lack of a better expression.

 

[Javax]

Roxii time at the healer's was not her favourite. She usually preferred tending to herself because she actually knew what she was doing and when she was doing. These people, however, did what they wanted to when they wanted to. The arrow was, as expected, the worst part. Much like a fishing hook, its end had barbs on both sides of the arrowhead, but it was worse since it was much larger. Roxii had kept her mouth shut throughout the time but ripping an arrow out of her flesh was not enjoyable. After that was finished, they tended to her injured hand and attempted to tend to her burns, but she refused harshly. She could take care of herself, she had snapped. The healers seemed persistent for the moment, but the harsh refusal from Roxii caused them to take a step back and allow her to do what she wanted.


When she was overall tended to, she left the sick bay and made her way to Halk's workshop to meet up with him and the group. Group. That was such an unusual word to her. She never associated herself with "partners" or "accomplices" or "groups". It was always herself, by herself, for herself, in her life of solitude and isolation. The word "group" honestly terrified her. The last time she was in a group or team...


She arrived at the workshop and saw that everyone, even some whom she hadn't even met, were there, including Halk. Wasting no time, she walked up to him and spun him around to face her, pushed him against the wooden frame of his workshop, and stuck her last dagger to his throat—since the other dagger was lost and left behind on the battlefield. She snarled, "Don't you ever touch me again." After staying like that for a moment, glaring coldly in his eyes, she finally let go, sheathing her dagger and stepping back but keeping her harsh glare.

 

[TheMaskedMurderess]

Roxas listened to Halk and shook her head as she followed him. First of all, she still had the arrow in her leg, and she was confused as to what she would do. But she kind of wanted to help the East now. "Dragons aren't all that bad, if you can barter with them, they're actually decent." She told Halk. "Maybe I could ask some Nymphs or weather creatures to help you out." Roxas told him. She thought about what the dark creature had told her about humans and nature. Humans weren't all that bad, she'd met nice once. Like the knife man, Roxas lovingly stroked the golden dagger's hilt once and smiled. "The beasts of the south like humans probably less than the East does, and we don't want them harming us, so you can easily sway a crowd that way, because if they kill off all the East, then they're certain to come for the South next." She said, and then peered around the place they'd walked through. Armor is definitely a good idea. She glanced at the young girl and the man in the forge. She noted as well what the girl read and scoffed. "There are books on my home land." She muttered.

 

[Shadow]

Aasul followed the two people that she had seen by the gorge. She suddenly noticed the girl had an arrow in her leg. Why isn't the guy helping her? Aasul wondered. She tried to stay hidden as she followed them. She was slightly worried about where they might be going, but she was fairly confident in her protection abilities.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk frowned at Roxii. "Well, I accept the consequences of my actions, I'd rather you not bleed out." He rubbed his neck a bit. That had hurt. Not alot, but it had surprised him. Come to think of it, Roxas had an arrow in her leg as well. "Is that bothering you?" Halk asked. It didn't look too bad, all she needed was to snap the fletching end off and pull the rest of it through, but it still couldn't be comfortable.

 

[TheMaskedMurderess]

"I've never really been stuck with an arrow before, so it's not really comfortable, but what I'd like to talk to you about right now, is your plans for what to do in this war, because that feel important to, but." Roxas stopped and took a breath so she could collect herself. "If you would be so kind as to pull it out, since I can really reach it, that would also be good." She gave him a sweet smile and turned a little to show him her left thigh. "I apologize for the inconvenience, I know you're probably very busy, but really I must ask if you thought about asking the beasts of the south, some of us can be very nice you know." Roxas said to him, her hand waved every once and a while when she spoke.

 

[Javax]

The assassin felt no guilt for putting Halk in such an unexpected predicament. She agreed to protect him from assassins, bounty hunters and the like, but that didn't mean she was included in that list anymore. No one lays a hand on her without her permission, and that permission is not granted lightly, even when she's drunk. Roxii's not entirely sure what the reasoning is behind why she dislikes physical contact so much. Her lack of trust in others? The numerous accounts of betrayal? Being taken advantage of as a child? Whatever the reason, she despises physical contact, and if she weren't bleeding out, weak and dying, Halk probably would've been severely injured within that moment; perhaps on the brink of death even.


Roxii listened to the conversation just long enough for the nymph to finish speaking. Once Roxas completed her rambling, she turned around and began walking away. There wasn't much need for her here anymore; she never agreed to join a war.