Lord of Azure ***** Chapter 4: The chapter in which no one dares to utter the F word

[Snike]

"I'd advise the idea of the nearby town," Eric said speaking to the group for the first time. "But, you'd have to sneak in during the night. However, wouldn't it be better to put some distance between you people and the capital? That way, you could keep a low profile for a few months, and head to the capital, to settle things, once the guards have been lulled into a false sense of security."

[-Cynthia-]

"In a few months I imagine demons will have already ravaged the capital so much that we needn't bother sneaking in anyway. Time is of the essence here, we cannot wait around for this mess to blow over. We need a quicker solution."

[Inactive Account]

When Tessa asked if he was afraid of her, Arrin realized he'd been acting odd. "No, I'm sorry, you're really nice, I'm just not used to being around--" He broke off, realizing that he'd been talking ridiculously quickly again. He felt his face getting warm. "I'm sorry... I think I might be getting a fever or something..."

He was saved from further explanation as the group began, once more, to argue. "Have you ever seen them agree with each other?" Arrin asked Tessa tiredly.

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"We're not reaching the capital in an evening's walk. Why don't we head to the next town, then send someone in to scout before we all go in?" Kelas suggested. "If it's a small enough town, word may not have reached them yet, and they won't have the strength to enforce anything anyway. If we send a couple of people in beforehand, they can work out what the army's describing us as and then we'll just... fail to meet that description. If we camp out in the open like this, we're just asking for trouble, wanted or no." She shrugged. "I've no issue with sleeping under the stars myself, but a group this large'd attract attention from crooked sorts as well as military."

OOC: How far is the capital anyway?

[Snowy_One]

"We don't even know if there are demons on the loose Morgan. You're the only one who seems to think it. Granted, knowing some bard tales, the loony girl with dark powers who is claiming that some threat thought long dismissed is coming back is probably right; but still... The only thing we have is the mesh... Actually, I change my vote. If what we fought was indeed demonic, and it does manage to break out, and the hero's are in such dire need of a workout as Percy is, the world is damned anyways. Better to know what we fight against then to die in terror. We go to that town and we may as well spend the rest of our lives hiding like rats. I vote we go to the capitol and to the mage academy to find out just what it was we fought back there. If that was a demon, then I think it a bit more important then our lives."

[-Cynthia-]

"Don't forget that Ivanko reported fighting demons as well. They were apparently of a weaker variety, though his perception may be skewed by his own power level, but history suggests that things will only get worse."

[Inactive Account]

Kelas sighed, looking westward: people's eagerness to reach the capital wasn't enough to beat the sun's progress. "Would it not then be wise to be well-rested? We'll not make it to the capital before sundown. If we stay the night in the next small town, we might learn something useful about who and what we're up against-- if there's demons about, there'll be talk to be heard, and we need to know what manner of human enemies are after us too. We can also stock up on supplies before we go charging to the capital like you all seem to want to do." She stretched, adding, "Maybe you've more tricks up your sleeves and those weapons of yours make the few of you tireless, but the rest of us aren't, and you five aren't leaving us behind."

OOC: Seriously, is the capital really only a day's walk from that border town we were in? We also were delayed a fair amount what with slow progress and lunch and arguing and fighting... so it's mid-afternoon now.

[Kanami]

OOC @Lacuna, Bal posted something Snowy posted that seemed to indicate the capitol was only a day away, but it was kind of vague, I think you're the third (including myself) to bring that issue up now :P

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Kamilla sighed "Are we going to wait for a unanimous vote or can we start heading to town now?" she knew she was contradicting her earlier statements about planning, but this group weren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed... well maybe they were tools, but not useful ones.

"Plus, you people haven't even decided what you're going to do at the capitol, some of you want to meet Sir Harold for some crazy reason, most likely because you've falsely convinced yourself that he'll be cooperative, others want to see Sir Jackson, who probably can't help us at all but is supposedly in possession of a crimson weapon"

She paused and looked at Esphyr "And now some want to go read in the arcane library of Elysimma? May I remind you wanted criminals aren't going to be allowed an audience with the headmaster? Not if there's guards around the Mage school, and there's bound to be now that Percy knows we've got one of his mages"

Finally turning towards Morgan she sighed, never had she found talking so laborous, and she almost wished she was mute like the mage lady. "While I agree that time is important, time will mean nothing if you get yourselves killed by rushing to the capitol, I don't know the specifics, but there was a debate a few moons ago that the Crimson Weapons were essential to sealing the demon lord should he arise, I also heard that a Crimson weapon is rendered useless ones the wielder is slain. If that's the case, if we were to lose one crimson weapon holder and find the Crimson axe, you wouldn't be any better off, on the contrary you've rendered one weapon useless, so you're worse off"

"Either way, I think we can all agree camping out in the wild is suicide, and the town I saw would be a 10 minute detour tops, and it would help restock supplies."

[Snowy_One]

"Fine. We'll head to the town though. I want it on record that I was against this though."

OOC: Great. I didn't expect this to be the outcome. Give me some time to start the next chapter.

[Balcerzak]

Tessa smiled a bit when Arrin praised her, and was relieved that she was not the issue, but still curious just what it might be. Before she could explore this train of thought further, however, the mage mentioned he might be coming down ill.

"A fever?" Tessa echoed. "Hmm, well that wouldn't be good! After things settle down, I'll have to take a look at you tonight. I wonder if any of the spells I know will be useful..."

By this point, they were back in the heart of the group, and discussion was fierce over where to go next. Tessa sighed a little, at the indecision and argumentation that was holding them up, but was in no real mood to try to contribute.

"Have you ever seen them agree with each other?" Arrin asked Tessa tiredly.

"Oh, yes," Tessa said, thinking back to their decision to flee the rot knights. She went on to elaborate, "Just yesterday there was... wait, I guess that only really lasted about five minutes, though didn't it?" As she remembered the disagreement that had cropped up just after they'd crossed the bridge and were again in relative safety, she laughed lightly.

"I guess we only really are united when under immediate pressure? As soon as the tension lets up, it does seem to tend to fall towards bickering, doesn't it? I was kind of hoping we might go to the magic academy, but I guess I'm fine with wherever." A thought crossed her mind, and she followed with a question, "Have you been there before? What's it like? Lots of books and tomes, I assume. Yeah, that'd be nice."

[Inactive Account]

OOC: Aware of the chapter change; just posting here to wrap up a conversation.

Arrin thought. "I've been to the big academy a couple of times, but I didn't see much-- I was just accompanying my teacher on errands. She was forever arguing with the higher-ups... the last time we went there, she came out with her hair on fire swearing she'd never speak to them again, but I know she was still in correspondence with them when she..." He broke off. "Ah, there's the town. It's rather small... maybe they won't have heard of us yet?"

The group walked in tired silence, nearing the village.