Caelena flew around the night sky, finally moving back to the rendezvous point to wait for Raquel, yawning.
"Mm...must've been underground, anything serious would've stuck above the trees..." she murmured to herself, shrugging and looking down at the earth below.
Raquel leaned against a tree, smiling slightly as she idly watched the night sky, waiting for Caelena to return, scuffing her boot idly on the ground in mild frustration.
"All that looking, and nothing...I hope Callie had better luck..."
Caelena finally began dropping to the ground, sitting on a tree branch a couple feet above Raquel.
"Didn't find anything...and by the looks of it, neither did you, ne?" she inquired softly, humming. She idly kicked at the air, playing with a lock of her black hair.
Raquel shook her head, smiling apologetically up at Caelena. "Maa...The trail was cold...gomen."
She ran a hand through her hair, pushing the midnight black mane from her eyes, and pulled her cloak closed, and looked up at her oldest friend for ideas. "What do we do now? Can we still find them?"
Caelena shook her head. "Would be too much trouble for a small hoard. We should get some sleep and head for the next city. And hope we can come across something there or on the way," she yawned, pushing herself off the branch to hang from it before dropping to the ground.
Raquel nodded, smiling. "Mm. It's really only an afterthought, anyway...We can make do without it, if we need too." she answered blithely, turning toward the town.
Caelena nodded, starting back towards the damaged town, and hopefully a good night's sleep before the renewal of travel in the morning...
Raquel followed Caelena, looking forward to a normal bed for once. Sleeping out of doors was getting old. She began to hum softly as she followed her childhood friend, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings as they returned to where they had started, looking for a place to spend the night...
While everyone else is busy obsessing over paltry things like treasure and gold, Kylen sets his mind to continuing to aid the populance of the area; lending a helping hand when necessary.
After he is convinced that the town is looking after itself, he goes off to find the mayor, or at least somebody who is in a position of power.
"Excuse me, sir, but I can't help wondering if you've sent someone to the capitol for aid yet," he says upon finding them. "May I ask if you have?"
The man questioned is a bit startled, as he wipes some sweat off his brow, "Oh yes, some of the guys said the tavern had gotten us some helping hands from travellers, hello. Unfortunately, it's too dark to go out right now, even with the moonlight, the best anyone could hope for is to get attacked by some roving monster or bandit. Right now we're mostly trying to find survivors and making some areas where people will be safe."
"Ara- ah, actually, sir, I travel best by night," replies Kylen, giving an embarrased little shrug. "I'm sure I can handle myself against any bandit or monster that appears.. but, I must confess, I'm being somewhat selfish.
You see, I was hired to transport some stock to the capital.. but when the bandits attacked, my horse bolted, most of my stock, not to mention my wagon, was destroyed.. but I still have some stock remaining.
I can hardly carry it to the capitol, so I was hoping I could borrow a horse and cart for the journey? I'll see that the aid party they will send will return it to you, and I can leave right away, if need be."
The man paused in thought at Kylen's request. Normally, he'd have to be foolish to lend a horse to someone in the night, but this young man -had- helped around the village, and he looked to be honest in his intentions. They could afford a horse in exchange for quicker aid. "Very well, I'll lend you my own personal horse and cart, they should easily be one of the fastest pair you'll find in town. Please keep safe in your journey."
With that, the man leads him to his home, which hadn't been too damaged and to his horse and a cart. "Good luck," he says before hurrying back to the other townsfolk, leaving Kylen to his own path.
"Ah, thankyouverymuch! I really appreciate this," says Kylen. "Well, goodbye. I doubt I'll come back, but I hope you all get back on track."
-
It didn't take very long for Kylen to load up the cart with his coffin and cover it with a tarpaulin, and later that evening, with bow in one hand and reins in the other, he sets off with the horse at a fast pace, hoping to reach the capital before dawn.
It was only 40 miles.. with any luck, he'll get there with an hour to spare.
Though it took some hunting, Caelena and Raquel eventually found a stable building where they could sleep in at the town. It was a bit crowded, as some people also had to take up residence, but it was comfortable enough for their purposes. As Lina and her gang pillage treasure away, and Kylen makes his travel to the capital, the two women fall to a relatively peaceful slumber.
Come morning, Raquel finds herself being lightly poked as someone tries to wake her up. It's the mayor of the town, the man who had lent Kylen his horse.
Raquel had been tossing and turning a little, in the beginnings of another nightmare when she was jolted to wakefulness by an insistent poking. Her eyes snapped open, and from beneath her pillow, a hand clutching one of her throwing knives appeared.
"Who-!"
The man stumbles backwards, falling on his rear, from surprise at the woman's abrupt awakening. "I mean no threat, miss!" he says, bringing his hands up in front of himself in an awkward shielding motion. "I simply came to ask for a favor!"
Raquel nodded, pushing hair from her eyes, sitting up slowly, keeping the blanket covering herself modestly with one arm. She nodded, smiling sheepishly, but slightly uneasily.
"Mm. I apologize, then. Still, where I'm from, men knock before entering." she reproved politely, with a hard glance. Setting the knife on her lap, in easy reach, but less ready, so as to set her visitor at ease, she raised her eyebrows.
"What would you ask of me?"
"I apologize, I didn't wish to be discourteous, but as the rooms are somewhat packed, I didn't want to wake up more than necessary," he replies as he picks himself up, dusting his pants as he does so. "I was told by the tavern keeper that you had been amongst the group which saved us from the bandits. One of yours left hours ago to try and fetch us aid from the capital, but has yet to return and we were growing worried something might have happened along the way."
There was also the underlying worry that his horse and cart might have disappeared because he had been a little too trusting.
The man finishes by adding, "Anyhow, I was hoping that you and your companion could head towards Saillune to find out what had happened."
Raquel blinked. "One of ours?" She smiled apologetically. "We were only there by happenstance, sir. The other people involved aren't well known to us. "
She paused. "We're actually searching for employment at the moment...I understand the need to send someone looking, but I'm afraid we can't afford to spend time hunting for someone at the moment..."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Still, it really would be important, we need to get help here soon, and I don't want to risk sending someone that's not capable in case the man faced some troubles," the man says, keeping his tone from crossing over the borderline and into pleading.
Pausing, he places a finger under his lip in thought before saying, "Would you be capable of doing it in exchange for a bag of 50 gold coins? I can also give you a letter to a merchant friend who may likely find you some work. I'm afraid I can't offer much more than that, as we'll still need to rebuild our town."
Raquel blinked and nodded, her manner warming slightly. "That sounds fair." She agreed. "If you want us to locate him, we'll need a fairly detailed physical description...whatever you can remember will be helpful...and someone to contact if we find your messenger has met an unfortunate end."
She paused a moment. "Horses would also be helpful, to reduce the head start, but they aren't necessary." she added thoughtfully.
The man turns a bit hesitant at the thought of giving out more horses, but reels it in at her offer of not really needing them, giving her a thankful nod. "I never really learned the man's name, you might ask the people from the tavern, they might recall it."
He then proceeds to add what he could recall of the man's appearance, as well as describing his horse in better detail than he could the man, more familiar in its appearance, and hoping that would also be of help.
He finishes by saying, "If he was unable to relay the request for aid, please speak to Prince Phil in his place. The horse and cart you can leave with my friend, his name is Dakoss and he should be easy to find in the marketplace."
Raquel nodded again, committing what she was told to memory. "Very well...Erk." she hesitated, at the last part. "Would it suffice if we arranged for Prince Phil to recieve your message, rather than taking it personally?" she suggested nervously.
"We know of his reputation, and we've had difficulties..." she waved her free hand vaguely, then blushed. "Ahem. At any rate, we'll do our best."
The man nods as he leaves the room to fetch the gold coins.
Raquel slipped out of bed, and began dressing quickly. Once fully clothed, she slipped out into the hall, and moved to the room next to hers, knocking lightly on the door in a pattern Caelena should recognize...
Caelena woke witha start, blearily looking about the room as she sat up, holding the blanket around herself. "Hmm?" she asked, obviously confused.
Stupid dreams...keeping me awake half the night...
"Who is it?"
Raquel smiles, a little sadly. More nightmares? I guess I shouldn't be surprised...
"It's me, Callie." She calls quietly through the door. "Can I come in? We have some work..."
Caelena nodded absently, suddenly remembering there was a closed door between them. "Ah...yeah, come in," she answered, retrieving her clothes.
Raquel opens the door, and blushes as she sees Caelena's current state of dress, slipping quickly inside and closing the door. "Er, Morning..." she greets warmly. "Were they bad last night?" she asks worriedly, concern pulling at her features.
Caelena blinks, blushing as she realizes what Raquel's talking about. "Mhm..." she affirmed, dressing quickly.
"I don't remember them if they aren't bad..." she said wryly, belting on her sword. "You too?"
Raquel nods, blushing a little. "I almost stabbed our new employer when he came into my room and woke me to give us work."
She casually walks over, sitting down on Caelena's bed, and crosses her legs, leaning back on her hands. "Maa...Uhm, I know it's not our usual line of work, but I just accepted a missing persons job." Raquel notes almost embarrassedly. "It's fairly simple, though...they need us to find a wayward messenger, and it pays fifty gold coins, and letter of recommendation."
Caelena blinked, frowning darkly for a moment. Shrugging for the moment, she leaned against a wall, casting her gaze outside.
"Mm...it should be fine, the letter's more important than the money if the receiver is well enough off. So who is the new employer?"
Raquel sweatdrops. "I...Uh...I didn't ask." she admits, blushing. "By the way he cowered when he saw my knife, I don't think he's anyone shady...probably a city offical of some kind. He did mention aid for the township..."
Caelena laughs, shrugging. "Alright...maybe if this gets around, we could even gain some kind of positive reputation...yeah right." Snickering, she shrugs.
"Guess we just wait then?"
Raquel nodds, standing up and taking Caelena's hand. "Come wait in my room...he went to get the money...that's where he'll come..." she suggests.
Caelana nods, smiling a little as Raquel takes her hand, waiting to be lead.
"Alright..." she giggled, smiling warmly at her long time companion.
Raquel gives Caelena a quick smile, then leads her from the room and down the hall, re-entering her own room, and gestures to the bed.
"Ah...make yourself comfortable." Raquel says, her cheeks turning pink. "I haven't cleaned up yet, though."
While Lina and her gang loot and shoot each other up, Kylen makes speedy travel to the capital of Saillune. His speediness is slowed somewhat, however, as an arrow landed in front of the horse as he travels alongside the outskirts of a small forest.
Kylen's heightened senses note it however, and even as the horse rears upward because of it, snorting and whinnying, Kylen is already grabbing the reins, and forcing the horse calm. The horse is quickly calmed as Kylen seemingly ignores the sounds of footsteps rushing out from the forest.
Once the horse is calmed, Kylen stares around at the men surrounding the cart and himself. There's about six of them, all sporting knives or swords of some sort. They're all grinning.
A masked man, much larger than the others, with only his eyes visible as all his body is covered in clothing, grunts from the forest while stepping forward from behind them. His clothing strains against his powerful muscles as he moves forward, pushing one of his companions to the side, wishing to get a better look at something. His companions think to complain about the treatment, but instead follow his eyes to Kylen's cargo.
'TREASURE!' is the thought shared by all.
OOC: There are seven in front of you, counting the large man. The six smaller ones all have swords or daggers, the large man has nothing visible, he is simply covered completely. You can't see anything of him but his eyes.
"I'll give you a chance to leave with your lives," calls out Kylen. "But, I would be equally amused if you decline my invitation.."
The large man grunts, obviously amused. His smaller companions likewise find it amusing, revealing this in their mocking laughter.
In one smooth motion, Kylen raises his bow, and, apparently without using any arrows, fires out three red bolts towards the lead bandits head.
The arrows fail to impact on the large man's masked face, his hand quickly having gone up, but failing to intercept them.
At least, intercept how he would have liked. The arrows, long shafts of almost solid-like blood remain halfway stuck through his palm. The eyes of the man show murderous rage as he shuts his fist, the shafts of blood breaking and the pieces not stuck in his hand falling. His other hand moves to the mask, as he pulls it off, revealing a smooth bald head, shining on the moonlight...which quickly begins to sprout hair.
His body trembles, clothing quickly ripping in areas as his frame grows slightly. Soon rags are all that's left of his clothing, hanging and clinging to his body surrounding wild black fur. His hands are now hairy appendages, sharp claws holding onto the crushed mask on one side, the other a fist, a somewhat healed set of scars present on his hand.
"Shouldn't have done that. He would have been much gentler in his human form," one of the bandits says with a smirk as his companion reveals himself as a werewolf, transformed under the touch of moonlight. His eyes remain on Kylen though, now alerted to the man's danger.
All of his fellow bandits have their weapons out, but stay back, obviously used to leaving their larger companion to do the hard work when intimidation fails.
OOC: Boy, just what is it what bandits having some sort of monster backup nowadays? Has Lina just made them all so insecure in their own abilities? ^_^
Kylen gives a murderous laugh, starting deep into the werewolfs eyes. "Transformed? Into what? A dog?" he snorts, loosing another trio of arrows into the bandit who spoke.
The man gets no reply as he nimbly dodges one arrow by shifting to the side quickly. He just barely blocks the second arrow which immidiately follows, slicing at it with his weapon, but there's no escape from the third, even being as prepared as he was. The arrow strikes directly into his eye as he raises his head. The shaft of blood becomes lodged through his eye and skull as he falls to the ground with a thud, dead.
The werewolf roars as he quickly charges at Kylen, his claw in the ready to strike and slice him to pieces as the human bandits make a nervous murmur amongst themselves.
Kylen continues to laugh, his darker urges revelling in fighting helpless foes and his normal, gentle self repressed under these black emotions.
While the werewolf strikes with his ineffectual blows, Kylen's form, bow and all, twists and mutates, eventually seperating into a swarm of bats that blow past the werewolf and rises up into the sky..
The bandits are now scared. Normal, but well trained humans they could have handled. A sorceror, probably. But a mazoku?
Somehow, in their eyes, this just wasn't some normal monster.
They make a run for it. The werewolf grunts in disgust as they vanish underneath the relative safety of the woods, annoyed by the lack of faith in him. He'd eat one of them after he took care of the being in the air.
Crouching on its powerful legs, it makes a jump high into the air as he forms between his claws a compact ball of air, grunting "Aero Bomb."
The small ball flies towards the nearest bats, hitting 3, killing them instantly.
As it falls back down to the ground, it is highly pleased with itself and its spell. Sure it may be a beginner spell, and the only one it knew, but it hurt the thing!
The bats fly together, quickly reforming back into the virtually unharmed body of Kylen.. with wings.
Batlike wings extend from his back, measuring only a few feet across. And his terrible bow is pointed directly at the werewolf, a cold smirk across Kylens face.
For this first time, the werewolf may notice two half-filled glass spheres apparently tacked on to the edge of Kylens bow. Red liquid sloshes within them.. and abruptly dissapears as Kylen pulls back on the bowstring.
Three arrows lash out; two of them 'normal' asofar as an arrow made from blood can be, but the other pulsating with raw power as it screams towards the werewolf..
The werewolf nimbly dodges the first two arrows with ease, but fails miserably on the last arrow. Sadly, the last one is the one it most should have dodged. Falling to the ground, it pants in pain, knowing it is near death. Miserable, it spitefully slashes at the cart, ripping through the wooden creation like it was nothing. The cart made worthless, it stares up at your form, with the grin of a monster knowing it was about to die but had still won in its own way.
Kylen lands near the werewolf, a menacing glare on his face. "You've ripped my cart," he says, stalking towards the werewolf. "It's not even my cart. I borrowed it.
I would've just killed you.. but I don't think you're good enough for that," he goes on, notching another trio of arrows to his bow. "Looks like you get to live."
With that, he fires a last volley, but designed to incapacitate rather than kill..
The werewolf, though injured, still fights to live, knowing the creature does not wish it dead. It manages to dodge the first arrow, but in its injured state, fails to escape the last two.
Unfortunately for it, Kylen spoke the truth when he said he would not kill him, and the last two shots go through a shoulder and a foot, causing him to howl in agony rather than the anger as he was used to.
The werewolf falls to the ground once more, grasping its shoulder, as it rests its damaged foot. His claws remain ready to strike at Kylen if he tries to even come close, but he does nothing more, still not comprehending the vampire's plan.
Kylen smirks, watching the struggles of the wounded werewolf. "Now.. you're mine," he speaks, advancing on the creatures with an expression of hunger on his face.
Ignoring the feeble swipes the werewolf directs his way, Kylen reaches for the creatures neck.
He lifts the unfortunate being up to his mouth.. and bites down on the creatures throat.
The werewolf whimpers, feeling blood drain from him as his wild final swings found themselves useless against the vampire.
Kylen dosn't drain all the beings blood. Just enough to make sure he will serve him. His cruel face becomes more coloured as the blood seeps through his body, refreshing him...
Suddenly, he drops the body and stumbles away from it, a look of disgust and horror coming over his eyes. Out of habit, he begins breathing heavily, even though he does not need to.
"Again.. not again.. never again.." he murmers repeatedly to himself, on the borders of hysteria.
Eventually, he pulls himself together. Seperating his coffin from the remains of the cart, he quickly using what remaning cloth there is to bundle it up so it looks like a regular box.
With that done, he moves over to the barely-concious werewolf. "Stand up," he commands it. "And carry that," he continues, pointing at the coffin. "And transform back into a human."
After the pleasantries are dispensed with, Kylen gets back on the horse and rides off. "Follow," he commands the man.
Hopefully, they would reach the town before dawn..
At the much slowed pace, Kylen and his human werewolf thrall arrive to the capital just nearing dawn. Though he would have liked to leave a warning about the town as he'd originally hoped to do and promised, it was too close to sunlight creeping through, and he did not wish to risk his death.
Searching for an abandoned building, he quickly lucks out, finding a damaged house on the outskirts of the capital, some small distance to the north. Claiming 'squatter's rights', Kylen ties the horse's reins to a nearby tree, before quickly moving inside, the werewolf right behind.
With a blank look, the human werewolf sets down the coffin in the house's basement for Kylen to enter and fall into his sleep.
"Right," mutters Kylen. "This'll do fine. You're to guard me, dog-boy. If anyone enters the house, you come down here and tell me. Get to it, bitch."
With that, he opens the lid to his coffin, and sleeps the sleep of the damned..
The human werewolf once more nods with a blank stare as it lumbers upwards and sits near the entrance, his eyes watching.
Caelena sat on Raquel's bed, smiling. "It's not like I haven't seen your room a mess scores of times in the last dozen years..." she laughed, shrugging.
Raquel shrugged, blushing as she sat down in the chair at her writing table. "Still, I know I'm a slob..."
A soft knock comes from behind the door, and a man's voice is heard. "I've brought the bag of coins and the letter, miss..." the voice speaks up timidly. He seemed to be waiting to be told to come in, rather than face another scare.
Raquel smiles a little sheepishly, sweatdropping. "It's all right, you can come in," she calls. "We've been waiting."
The same man from before is likewise sheepish in expression, but enters the room. It is better to be safe than sorry in his opinion. Years of experience with women has taught him as much.
Walking towards Raquel, he presents the bag and letter. "Here you go."
Caelena drops her hands inside her cloak, frowning a little. The man shouldn't be a threat, but she never took risks with Raquel's safety.
Trying to suppress the frown tugging at her face, she watches in silence for the moment.
Raquel accepts the bag, and the letter, smiling politely. "Ari-er, thank you." she blushes a bit, flustered at her own lapse.
She carefully hides the items away on her person, then looks up at their employer. "Is there anything else you'd like to tell us before we set off?" she asks curiously. "The more we know, the simpler it is to complete the task to your satisfaction, sir."
"I'm afraid I can't. Outside of the descriptions I gave you, I really have nothing better for you two to start on," the man said a bit depressed. "Ask the tavern fellows if they heard the name of the young man, that's the only other thing I can think might help, since somebody might recognize the name in the capital."
Raquel nods, slightly disappointed, but accepting. "I see. If that's the case, we should get started quickly, before the trail grows cold. Thank you very much for your time." she tells the man, already turning her thoughts inward, trying to determine the most effective use of their time before leaving.
The man nods and departs, leaving Raquel and Caelena alone in their plans.
Caelena relaxes as the man leaves, folding her arms.
"Resuming...you're not really a slob. And ah...think scouting outside the road's going to be much use? Or should we just follow it until we reach Saillune?"
Raquel smiles, shaking her head. "Mm. I don't think so. We won't ignore the surrounding terrian, but it would take too much time to actively explore it. We know where our target is scheduled to end up, and the road he likely took. That should be enough for an eventual sighting." she offers, looking to Caelena for her opinion.
Caelena nods, playing with the hem of her cloak. "Mhm...that fulfills the contract, and it'll get us to Saillune the fastest..."
Yawning, Caelena shrugs, standing. "We should get ready to leave as soon as possible, then..."
Raquel nods, gesturing to the small bundle on the bed beside Caelena. "I'm ready. Hmm...Callie, should we see if we can determine our target's name?" she asked curiously.
Caelena shrugs, stepping towards the door, and pausing. "I...don't think so. When he walked into the inn, he didn't seem to be the type that would like to be noticed. Knowing his name would probably be a waste of time."
With a shrug, she steps out of the room, heading for her own to get her gear.
Raquel nods to herself, then gathers up her belongings, and heads out into the hall to wait for Caelena.
Soon, the two sorceresses depart towards the capital of Saillune.
Despite their thoughts to not to delay themselves with searching around the path, encountered traces of the battle that Kylen had fought result in a change of plans.
It isn't till much later, at around mid-afternoon, that the pair arrive to the outskirts of Saillune, their pockets somewhat richer, and their minds having gained some insight into the man they were searching for.
OOC: Okay, the two of you eventually encountered the bandits that attacked Kylen. Besides obviously taking their money as you mercenary sorts are apt to, you also learned that while the cart was destroyed, Kylen's still alive. He's also apparently a mazoku or something from what the bandits said. You don't know much else.
Caelena slows her pace as she and Raquel reach the outskirts of the city, a slightly wary look on her face as she pulls the hood of her cloak a little farther forward, trying to hide her scar.
"Think the Prince will support the bounty on us?" she asks her companion softly, edging closer to her. "We could be walking into a hornet's nest if he does..."
"I'm not sure." Raquel replies, absently rubbing her stomach through her clothes. "His reputation suggests he would feel obligated to extradite us, in any case."
She looks up at the approaching city with a slight frown. "With any luck, we can avoid making a big enough scene to attract his notice, and simply pay a child a few small coins to pass along the message, if our target hasn't already. Ano...Where should we start looking for him, Callie?"
Caelena shrugged, looking around herself at the scenery of Saillune.
"Well, if he is some kind of mazoku, he'll probably avoidSaillune proper and the heavily populated areas..." she murmured, shrugging. "So the outskirts, abandoned buildings, maybe even a cave if there's one nearby."
Raquel nodded. "We might try inns on the edges of town, too." she suggested. "What the bandits told us doesn't rule out a sorcerer with a flair for melodrama..."
Caelena nodded, suppressing a yawn. "Darn dreams...split up?" she inquired, giving a cursory visual search of the area for inns or abandoned buildings.
Raquel smiles sadly and takes Caelena's hand, giving it a quick, gentle squeeze as she glances around.
"Ano...Maybe we should stay together. If this man is a Mazoku, we might need each other."
After a moment's thought, Caelena agrees with her partner, and the two move to search together. The pair quickly begin scouring through inns and other places in the area. The sun is still hot when they eventually stumble onto the sight of a horse matching remarkably the description given to them. The horse is tied by the entrance of an abandoned looking house a somewhat fair distance away from the entrance to the city.
OOC: Late afternoon, around 5-6pm. Sun isn't disappearing yet, but it has started to go back down a while back now. I'll be back later tonight (about 4hours from now), to continue posting with you two if you're around so we can get to Rat finally. *Aways to anime club*
Caelena raised an eyebrow, shrugging. "Looks like the place..." she murmured, glancing over at Raquel from beneath her cloak's hood.
"Feel like doing the honors?" she asked, resting a hand on her sword's hilt.
Raquel nods and smiles wryly at Caelena, stepping up to the door and knocking on the door to the house, letting her hand rest casually on the hilt of her sword, and listening carefully for the sounds of movement inside.
Inside the building, a pair of somewhat sensitive human ears twitch as the sound of the door being knocked on, waking him up from where he slumbered on a chair. The creature starts to transform as his body becomes covered with fur, and it gives a small growl, preparing for battle, when Kylen's mental command stabs his mind. With a small whimper, the werewolf quietly heads towards the basement, intent on awakening its unwished master. While his quiet movements are missed outside by Caelena, Raquel's manages to catch the creature's noises until they start vanishing deeper into the house.
Raquel frowns, and takes two steps back from the door, her hand gripping her sword in earnest.
"Callie, someone's moving inside, and they aren't coming to the door." she warns her friend shortly. "Did you see if this house has a back door?"
Caelena shakes her head, drawing her own blade and beginning to circle around the house. Cautiously looking for a back door, she tries to remain ready for a possible attack.
As Caelena finds a broken door, barely hanging off its hinges at the back, the werewolf reaches Kylen's coffin. Though momentarily unsure of how he is to wake up his master, he simple knocks on the coffin door, hoping that would do it.
The lid of the coffin slides off, revealing the irritated face of a teenaged vampire.
"How fares the sun?" is his first question.
Caelena smiles slightly, raising her face to the air and making a single high pitched and loud bird call towards the front of the house, then beginning to pick her way inside...
"It is still up," the werewolf grunts out. "I heard people outside, so came to wake you as commanded."
The word commanded is growled out, but otherwise, the werewolf does nothing and simply stands there, waiting to be told or allowed to do something.
Raquel blinks as the bird call sounds from behind the house, and sets her jaw. "Time to go in." she murmures to herself, drawing her sword and opening the door.
"Right," says Kylen, standing up from the coffin. "How long until it sets-"
His elfin ears twitch at the noise..
"I hope it's not another bunch of vampire hunters," he grumbles. "How many were there?"
The werewolf recalls what it heard, then combined with the sounds upstairs which Kylen also hears approaching, replies, "Two, I think."
Meanwhile upstairs, the two girls see each other as they get closer to the center of the house, and can see both a stairway up to the second floor, the stair's wood a bit rotted and filled with dust, and a path down to the basement, the door halfway opened. Raquel manages to catch "...I think." coming from down there.
Raquel pauses as she catches a fragment of a sentence, and looks up, giving Caelena a quick smile and a 'stop' gesture, as she eases to the end of the pathway to the basement, listening carefully for whatever she can pick up.
"Right, right," murmurs Kylen, *quietly*. "Don't attack them until either I say, or I or they start fighting.
Or, of course, you truly think it's in my best intrests to attack them, but if I find out you were wrong.."
With that, Kylen drifts back and leans against the side wall, indicating that the werewolf should do the same against the opposite wall.
Caelena nods, stopping and relaxing slightly, paying attion to the front end of the house, watching for anyone coming up behind her companion, and listening for any behind herself.
Caelena hears nothing approaching as Raquel attempts to eavesdrop on the two downstairs. Despite being closer to the door, Raquel finds herself not being able to hear the talk downstairs very well.
She catches pieces here and there, the end result being a fragmented, "Right...don't attack...art fighti...terests to attack...ere wrong."
After that she hears feet shuffling as the werewolf follows as his silent master commands and stations himself against the wall as well.
Raquel frowns as she can't hear clearly, the slight muffling of the words and the ominously clear parts suggesting that she should be careful.
She looks over at Caelena and makes an 'talk' gesture, then turns to the hallway.
"Ano...Excuse me? We've come to reclaim the horse. We'd rather not fight, but if you're really intent on it, we could forego peaceful discussions, sir." She calls loudly into the basement.
Caelena nods, stepping up beside Raquel, quietly preparing a Freeze Bullet spell beneath her cloak.
Can never be too cautious with her...
"The horse? Well.. sure, I suppose. From the recently trashed villiage, right? Go ahead."
If Kylen still breathed, a sigh of relief would escape his lips.
Raquel shrugged to herself, and nodded, calling out one more time. "May we assume you still intend to relay the villiage's request for aid?" she added after a moment, glancing at Caelena.
"Definately, unless you'd do it for me?" replies Kylen, figuring he can save some time.
"Actually, we'd prefer to remain unnoticed." Raquel replied. "You delivering the message will be satisfactory. Thank you for your time." She finished, then looked to Caelena, raising her eyebrows. "Should we go?" she asked her, in normal tones.
Kylen blinks. Again. That was easy.
"Well, uh, thanks. I think," he replies, shrugging.
With that, he sits against the wall and waits for the sun to set..
Caelena nods, releasing her hold on the magic.
"Yeah, our job's complete. Just need to take the horse to the merchant then...and see if we can get a job..."
Raquel nodded. "The letter should give us a head start there." she replies warmly. "You want to ride the horse?" she asks, grinning as they leave the house.
Caelena shakes her head. "No...we should just lead it. Not enough mounted folk to not be turned into arrow bait on a horse..." she says, shrugging.
"But yu know me..." she continues, shrugging and heading towards the front of the building.
Raquel nods, giggling. "Yeah...well, we can lead it into the city, it's not too far..." she observes, pondering as she walks through the door and out into the yard where the horse waits.
The two women soon find themselves at the entrance to the capital. They avoid making eye contact with the pair of guards as they walk in calmly. The guards, having no real reason to be suspicious or to stop them, leave them to go on their way.
Continuing to walk into the city, they head towards the marketplace to find the man they were told to contact, moving slowly due to having to lead the horse through the busy streets by hand. They find the man easily enough who blinks at the sight of the horse, recognizing it.
"Wha...that there's Miccah's horse!" he shouts as he points at it. His widened eyes grow smaller as he frowns at the pair suspiciously.
Caelena glances at Raquel before stepping forward, shifting slightly towards her right to reduce the prominence of her scar and sword.
"Your...friend sent us on a job to find a messenger that was sent with this horse. We were to return it to you upon finding it," she shurgged, glancing at Raquel for another second. "We were also given a letter from him for you..." Holding her hand out to Raquel, she glanced a third time, her gaze asking for the item.
Raquel blushes, and fishes in her cloak for the letter, and withdraws it, handing it to Caelena, stepping up just behind her.
Caelena smiles slightly, her expression softer as she holds the letter out towards the merchant...
The merchant blinks once more at the girl's statement, and pulls back sheepishly as he begins to look over the letter. His expression further reddens after reading the letter.
"I'm sorry I was jumping to conclusions," the man apologizes as he sets down the letter and he stands up from his booth and motions for a nearby man to come and grab the horse. "Thank you for bringing the horse. Please, follow me, and we'll talk."
With that he moves out of the booth and walks through the cloth flap covering the door of the building behind the booth. "Rahn, watch the horse and booth," he says to the other guy as he disappears inside.
Caelena smiles slightly, nodding in acceptance as she follows the merchant.
Looking around, she tries to discern his business, and relative status...
Raquel followed Caelena in, her manner somewhat subdued as she observed any people that happened to cross their path, gauging them to judge their relative fitness, and what type of work they might do for the man who had invited them in...
Caelena figures the merchant has some pull in the area given the way people act around him. While upon entering they don't face any grand luxury, it's still a comfortable place. The lack of luxury could simply be to avoid getting thieves too interested in the place.
While Caelena tries to figure out the merchant himself, Raquel focuses on the men around. Nothing special there, really. Most of them are just what you expect of the brawny hired hands.
Eventually they're in front of a small dining table. "Please," the merchant states. "Sit and dine with me. A meal is the least I can do as an apology. We can discuss business over dinner."
The two, not ones to say no to a free meal, sit and discuss business alongside the meal that soon arrives.
***
As the two mercenaries talk with the merchant, Kylen continues to wait for the sun to set, a bit impatient and not able to go back to sleep. The werewolf, who'd gone back upstairs, soon returns though, and relays the news that the sun has finally set, leaving Kylen free to travel outside once more.
***
OOC: okay...finally posted. -_-; anyhow, pause on bean and asrana for a little while. I'll talk to you about what the business is, so we can just timeskip to you leaving and still have you roughly on time with Rat once he does whatever he wants to do in the city if anything.
"Don't worry, it'll be over soon," chuckles Kylen. "I've no desire to keep around a flea-bitten mutt like you any longer than I have to," he continues, heading for the guardpost..
The werewolf, back in its human guise, manages a growl worthy of his more feral form even while keeping it under his breath. Carrying the coffin behind him, he follows after his vampiric master, wondering what the being meant by it all being over soon. As they arrive at the guardpost at the entry to the city, the werewolf shifts somewhat nervously. Being a bandit by profession tends to do that to your nerves around the local law enforcement.
"Good evening, travellers," the guard greets as the two finally come into his less sharp field of vision.
"I wish I could say the same thing," replies Kylen. "But I have terrible news.
Did you know that the southern villiage has been raided by bandits?"
The guard's appearance straightens up from his relaxed position and he asks seriously, "Which southern village? How are the villagers? Any survivors?" as he tries to assess the situation.
He did not wish to call for the news to be delivered to the crowned prince before he was sure what was necessary, or the prince might just charge in his horse to commit 'diplomatic' exchanges on the bandits, expecting them to still be there, and forget to take a small military force with him or aid for the villagers.
"The one about forty miles south," replies Kylen. "The bandits are all gone. Lina Inverse and her merry band where conveniantly placed to stop them.
But they're in serious need of aid at present.
And another thing. I ran into some bandits along the road. However, I was able to.. disipline this one," he continues, shoving the werewolf forward. "He'll do anything I say.
And right now, he is going to tell you the location of his buddies, give himself up to justice, and confess everything.
Aren't you?"
The huge man, while not in werewolf form, was still an intimidating presence. At his gutteral growl, but lack of inaction against Kylen, the guard begins to feel a bit...nervous about the man in front of him, in spite of his polite demeanor.
Still, the guard now has the information he needed, and as such he nods in reply, stating, "Very well, I shall inform my superiors. If you could please wait here with the..."
He pauses, looking again at the apparently captured bandit, before continuing, "...prisoner, I'll bring some guard escort and chains as well."
"Now, now. You're going to be a good boy and do everything the guards ask you to," whispers Kylen. "Maybe they'll even give you a bone as a reward! Wouldn't that be nice?"
The werewolf shoots him a dirty look, though it's cut off as the guard arrives back quickly, with five other men behind him. The look is replaced with one of trepidation.
"The captain has gone on to pass on the news to the prince. We can take care of the prisoner now," he states, looking from Kylen to the werewolf, the other guards approaching the werewolf carefully with manacles. Some care was needed when handling captured bandits, no matter how 'tame' they might act.
"Make sure you give him very explicit orders," states Kylen. "He's a bit thick that way."
Having no problems 'subduing' the werewolf, the guards shrug but nod at Kylen. They then begin to pull the growling, but relatively complacent captive away. "Thank you for your gracious help in capturing an, err...'dangerous' criminal," they state before they vanish with a smirk in their faces.
The guard that Kylen met first remains however, as his post is still not over. Before Kylen can leave and go about his business, he asks, "Will you be staying around Saillune for a while, traveller?"
"I havn't yet decided," replies Kylen, shrugging.
"I would recommend that you do so. If he's from any large or notorious gang, there could be a reward for helping Saillune to mantain justice within its borders," the guard explains with a smile. "Besides, if you've never been here before, it's always a wonderful place to explore and learn from. It is the capital of white magic, after all."
"I appreciate that," replies Kylen, chuckling. "But how will I know if there's a reward to be collected?"
"If you leave an address where you can be contacted, that would work. However, you can also just go to the castle in a few days. Ask for the captain, he'll be able to answer your que..." he explains before being interrupted by loud galloping and a war cry.
"FOR JUSTICE!!!" shouts forth an imposingly large figure with an arm stretched out forward while riding on a white horse speedily moving through the city and out the city gates, ignoring his surroundings as some people find themselves leaping out of the horse's path.
"Your highness, wait!" a voice shouts from the city. Another man, armored, chases after him also on horseback. He gives a brief look at Kylen, shaking his head, before continuing after his target. "I haven't finished the report!"
Both figures quickly vanish, one last cry of "JUSTICE WAITS FOR NO ONE!" sounding through the air.
"Perhaps you should leave an address," the guard hastily corrects, while shaking his head.
"I don't have one," replies Kylen, shrugging. "How about you take the report for me, and I'll come back to you in a few days?"
"Oh? Won't you be staying at any of the local inns?" he asks somewhat puzzled before shrugging. "Well, in any case, I don't see why not. Sure, I'll have information on the matter for you within a few days."
Kylen nods. "My thanks. Could you direct me to the library?"
"Of course. Just head down that road..." he says, pausing to point over his shoulder to the main road where some people are still dusting themselves after their jumps out of Prince Phil's horse's path and an occasional person was finding himself arguing with a merchant over the fruit splatters on their clothing.
"...It'll take you straight towards the castle, if you want to have a closer look, but you'll be wanting to take a left turn just before that to get to the library. Turn when you see the sculpture of a sword wedged in a stone and an owl resting on the handle. You can't miss it once you're down that street."
Kylen nods. "Thanks. See you," he replies, heading in the aforementioned direction.
If there wasn't a cure here.. well, vampiric goth parties did have their morbid appeal..
Kylen walks at a leisurely pace through the market-side road when his superior hearing catches sounds causing him to whip his eyes to the right side of the road and some distance farther ahead.
There, he notices two unfamiliar looking women walking out of a building. Despite their unfamiliar looks however, it is their voices which he recognizes and makes him wince somewhat.
He doesn't have much of a chance to react in any way to their presence though. Something else suddenly occurs to distract him even more, as his sense of hearing is horribly assaulted.
***
Earlier...
The merchant made a satisfied noise as he finished through the meal. His two guests made a similar noise before their expressions turn more serious.
The man near them nods at seeing their expressions and adopts a similar business expression. "Ah, yes, to business then?"
The two women nod and the trio then launch into a two-hour long discussion on their abilities, possible jobs, and finally... money. The money alone part took nearly an hour of the discussion. Still, the merchant grudgingly gives in at the minimum payment Caelena was willing to accept as the discussion comes to an end.
"Very well," the merchant states. "Let's go over this again, yes? You two will hunt for the bandits that attacked my wagon a few days ago. What you do with them is your business, but you will regain the Isanura Jewel, no matter what.
"If possible, recover the rest of the wagon's cargo as well. When you return, you will be paid the amount we discussed, as well as a bonus for any additional parts of the cargo you were able to recover. Are we in agreement?"
The two nod, and take the list with the wagon's cargo while shaking the merchant's hand. Departing, the two begin to discuss their plan of action, not noticing a figure freeze at their voice in the crowd.
They cannot miss the loud booming explosion and combination of smoke and fire rising into the air some distance ahead and to the left.
***
OOC: basic area diagram -
X = Explosion, K = Kylen, G = Girls
| | |
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| | X |
|W| |
|A| |
|L| |
|L| |
| | |
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K
G
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Yeah, there are side streets and stuff, but those are like the big space areas, so just drawing them >_>
Kylen turns and rushes towards the noise, hand on his bow..
Raquel's hand drops to the hilt of her sword, and she glances at Caelena, raising an eyebrow as they watch the smoke curl into the air. "Should we...?"
Caelena nods, slowly beginning to move towards the explosion.
Beneath her cloak, she begins the gestures and chant of an Air spell, Raza Klouva, in case it's needed...
Raquel follows, careful not to overreact, but hurrying behind Caelena, her hand on her sword...
As Kylen approaches closer to the source of the explosion, he begins to notice how it's getting hotter and harder to see.
Through the wavering hot air and some smoke, Kylen slowly begins to make out two large blurry forms, and a number of smaller ones as well, all moving. Occassionally, one of the smaller forms screams before falling to the ground.
The two women, still a distance behind the vampire, can only hear the occasional scream as they approach, not able to see through the hot air and smoke in addition to their distance, though they can still see Kylen fine.
Kylen uses his natural powers to emphasize the fog and smoke around him so he's invisible from sight, then quickly brings out his wings, floats the the top of a nearby (and not on fire) roof, then puts them away and takes a better look at the big forms.
Kylen's body seems to be hugged by the smoke as he moves closer as well as a small fog that forms around him. Disappearing within, possibly a surprise to the two trailing after him, he soon lands on top of the closest rooftop not on fire, which is also a bit closer to the figures he saw earlier.
Focusing his sight on them, and with less of the distorted hot air around, as well as the smoke dispersing better at the higher altitude, he can make out the forms to be soldiers fighting with two monsters, though he cannot tell what sort they are.
One is blue, with scaly skin, but a body otherwise much like an ogre up to its head. Its head sports pointy ears and lots of hair resembling a wild mane around its disfigured face.
The other is redish in color and more closely resembles a humanoidal crocodile, except this one is missing the scales that would more likely be apropriate to its look. Oddly enough, its reptilian face also sports a mane of hair, with it's hair spiking backwards.
Then Kylen notices something he'd almost missed due to the lack of movement. Just barely visible past the door to the main source of fire, a burning building, he can make out what looks like the border of a shield of some sort, keeping whatever is inside from burning.
"ZELAS BLEED!" a rumbling voice cries, causing Kylen to whip his eyes off the shield and seeing as a head explodes when a bullet of black and white light impacts the head. The guard's body lumps to the ground, headless.
One of the few guards still not retreating, growls out, "WHERE ARE THOSE BLASTED SORCERERS?!?"
Kylen pulls back on his bowstring and unleashes a trio of brilliant red bolts towards the spell-slinger..
The arrows fly true, and seem like they would impact the blue monster in the chest. That does not happen however. Before the arrows can hit, the monster shimmers for a second as he disappears, the arrows impacting the ground. Before Kylen can wonder what happened, the creature almost immidiately reappears a few feet away from his prior spot looking as confused as his companion, at least until a deep male voice comes from the burning building.
"Careful, Zhenix. You were almost hit for being careless."
The blue creature, now known as Zhenix, growls. "Shut it, Lofaum. You..."
"I have a mission to finish," the voice interrupts. "Are you done with your carnage, yet? The sorcerers being shouted for will be here in a few minutes, and you know how I hate white magic."
The two monsters growl, but look towards the reaction the arrows came from, straight at Kylen with narrowed eyes.
"Ah, so be it. I'll come back for you later then. Maybe."
The same shimmering effect that surrounded Zhenix appears barely visible within the shield before the shield collapses and the fire moves towards the spot previously left unclaimed.
"Always 'later'. Never 'now," shoots back Kylen, irritated, firing two arrows at the monster.. then firing a third a short moment after, hoping to catch the creature as he phased back in.
Zhenix grunts as the arrow impacts on his palm, while the red crocodile simply kicks up a dead corpse to catch the arrow. The third arrow impacts nothing, the mysterious speaker not reappearing as Kylen had expected.
"There's the hit I owed you, little man," Zhenix calls out before turning to look at his companion, who is shaking his head. "What?"
"Moron," is all he hisses out back, before pointing his arm at Kylen with a shout of, "Fireball!"
Kylen calls up a conveniant fog and flies straight up as he hears the name of the spell being called..
Zhenix smiles coldly as the fireball flies into the fog, apparently missing. "Why Mitade, I think he'd prefer to be my prey."
An angry hiss is his response, before the guard who spoke some time ago suddenly finds himself in the presence of the monster known as Mitade, who grasps his head. Screaming, the guard tries to struggle, at least until his head explodes in a gory mess and his arms fall to the side limply. "...Your prey?" he hisses quietly. "I think not."
Zhenix shrugs, his cold smile still present. "Alright, we can share."
From his position up high, Kylen blankets the entire area below him in a thick fog which only his advanced vision can penetrate, then fires a single, incapacitating arrow at the fireball-slinging monster..
Mitade's eyes glow yellow, as he raises the corpse of the guard he still holds by the remains of its head. The arrow impacts the body, but penetrates through not just the corpse, but the arm of the monster.
He gives a shrill cry, though it seems likely to be more from anger than pain.
Zhenix raises an eyebrow, going, "Ohoh..." before smirking upwards in the direction of Kylen. "Hell blast," he almost lazily casts, pointing his arm at Kylen.
Apparently, the pair can both still tell where Kylen is in the fog.
Kylen goes into a dive, slashing open his own body and firing another trio of arrows at the creature..
OOC: Ok, I'm one level of Blood from my bow, and burning 30 hp to deal 20 extra damage, which brings it up to +30. I'll add 10 damage to each individual arrow. >_>
Kylen dives under the spell cast at him, going for an attack on the paralyzed monster. His attack is a success, as the light behind the eyes of Mitade vanish.
ooc: well fuck. I need to twink these bitches up more. They all die or lose way too quick, with the exception of Ekanna, and that was more of a drama fight. Oh well... *waves goodby to the soon to be departed Zhenix* >_>;
Kylen uses the blood created from the arrows to regenerate his self-inflicted wounds..
Raquel frowns at the sight...or rather lack of it. Recognizing the spell Caelena is chanting, she taps on her friend's shoulder. "Hold on a sec, Callie...Someone just ducked in there..." she murmurs softly, then begins chanting her own spell.
Raising her hands to point down the smoke filled street, forming the spell between them, she releases it with a loud shout.
"BOMB DI WIND!"
Caelena nods, withholding the spell until she can see her targets clearly...
The wind spell fiercely pushes away all the smoke and fog out from the area, revealing two figures on the ground and one in the air. One of the two on the ground turns to look at the two women and shakes his head before turning back to look at the vampire above. They didn't look as dangerous.
"You killed Mitade and now ignoring me?" Zhenix mutters. "Che..."
Kylen promptly summons up the magical fog again, obscuring the entire area and beating a hasty retreat to the backalleys at the other end of the city.