Return of The Emblem Chapter Two: The Trail

[Phoenix]

Caine soon reached the horses and took out a few grenades. He was sure he wouldn't damage the prize if he was careful enough. As he ran back he came up to Boris' side. The myrmidon faced him keeping his guard up. "This is too much. We're the only ones left." he muttered a bit nervous.

"What? Where's Uller?!" he shot back only to find out for himself when he quickly glanced at a fallen thief a short distance away. "... fuck. I'll show them ... I'll show all of them!" he hollered as he prepared to light a grenade!

"No! There's no time for spite. We're dead if we fail and I promise you if we persist now we will die here like dogs. No recognition will be given to us. I doubt we'll even be buried. Caine, this isn't the time nor the place for last second hysterics. We must flee!" Boris explained using his arm to tightly grip Caine's shoulder.

"Grrrr damn you people to hell ... let's go." he muttered and the two fled to the two horses they could afford to take with them. They rode off quickly and well before the party was able to give chase.

Point average: 11

VICTORY

... sorta ...

Raquel crawled out of the back of the wagon and stumbled onto the ground holding her shoulder. Her cloak had been removed revealing a tight fitting full body suit of some kind. The arrow had been removed leaving only a small puncture wound in her shoulder which has mostly closed up. She had treated herself while Chip defended her. She stayed lying across the road just behind the wagon for a moment.

That was so close ... they seriously almost killed me with just one measly shot. They're really out to get us. This is so much more dangerous than I realized. We need to do something about this, now. I need to do something about this, now. Something ... ugh but what?! she thought finally deciding to get back to her feet. She settled for slumping up against the back of the wagon and waiting for the party to gather instead of trying to more around much. Here shoulder was hurting so badly that she couldn't even concentrate. Thinking on it, it was the first time she had ever been wounded like that in her life. Somehow she thought it would be something that would hurt less as time went on but her adrenaline was beginning to wear off and it was just beginning to bother her more and more.

Chip came down from the wagon and sat down leaning up against her leg and began cleaning his pistol barrels. He needed to time his shots better in the future so the humans he aimed for would die every time.

Amon managed to get onto his feet and held onto his side as he stumbled back toward the wagon. I should have seen that coming. That was careless of me. Completely careless.

[Zsword]

Shadrak stumbled lightly at the series of blows he had recieved from the Renegade, but was quickly aided by the Troubadour. "Thanks... now let's help the others..." He said half weakly, before jogging over to the down mercenary and helping her to her feet as he healed her wounds. "You some very brave... or crazy people..." he mutterred under his breath as he did.

[Mercakete]

Gytha chuckled as she stood up and the staff began its mending work. "Maybe I'm a bit crazy, but I blame me lifestyle fer that. Thank ye," she replied before glaring off in the direction Caine and Boris rode off to. "Blast it. If we run into them again, I'll bleed that scum... He was gonna kill Raquel and he really hurt Amon." Remembering herself, she realized that she didn't know this healer. "By the way, I'm Gytha. I don't think we've really met yet," she introduced.

Maw snuck out from under the cart only to turn around to find some strange creature sitting next to a human. What was it? Maw stared at Chip curiously for a while.

[roymbrog]

Synthia sighed in relief as the two remaining enemies fled. She had no idea how long she could have kept this up, running around healing people. At least after the first assault no one had attacked her. With the battle over, she could finally check on Raquel. She returned to the wagon to find her slumped against it and Chip at her feet.

She sighed again, walked over, and finished healing her wound, more to lessen the pain then anything else. She glanced in the back of the wagon and gained a thoughtful look, then asked, “Did you manage to find any staves at the port? A mend staff would do wonders right now, but I’ll have to pay you for it after I’ve patched everyone up.”

[Acacia Sgt]

John watched the remaining enemies leave. 'Huh? They're running away?' He thought. 'Well, no point going after them I guess...'

Regardless, John made his way back to the wagon. He wasn't sure if they were really out of danger yet, but for now, he would do best to recover completely from his wounds.

[Phoenix]

Chip tossed a dubious glance over at Maw, and then remembering that she had been with them for so long already decided that she wasn't an immediate danger. So long as she didn't try to sneak up on him again, he wouldn't start trying to put a hole in her. He went back to cleaning the gun barrels and reloading them before putting the gun back over his back and hopping up onto Raquel's uninjured shoulder.

Once Raquel was healed, Synthia inquired about a mend staff, which Raquel just so happened to have plenty of. "Oh sure thing ... and thanks. Hey, Chip. You know where the mend staves are right? Where I put them?" Wait, did father ever teach him what a 'mend staff' is? Like what that actually means as far as the particular staff goes? Before she could think any further on it though, Chip rushed into the back of the wagon and stood near an elongated crate, one of the new ones. When Synthia wanted to find one of them, there would be one inside ... along with about half a dozen others since Raquel traded in quantity as well.

[roymbrog]

That was a pretty intelligent monkey, Synthia thought as she followed Chip into the back of the wagon. She opened the crate Chip had stopped by and pulled out one of several staves, then hopped back off the wagon by Raquel. “Uh… here, can you hold this for me?” she asked as she handed Raquel her old heal staff. It’d be pretty awkward running around while trying to carry two staves.

She first ran into John as she walked around the wagon. One quick heal later and he was good as new. Awesome, now she could send him on an errand. “John, can you find Nanahm and bring him back here? I saw him fall somewhere over there,” she said, gesturing with her staff. “I’ve gotta go take care of Amon…”

Which she did, then sighed and glared at him for several seconds. "This is the second time I've found you almost dead after a battle, and we've only fought twice!" Her eyes narrowed and she jabbed the mend staff in his face. "You might not be lucky enough to live the third time, you hear me? Get your act together." After Amon, she had made a mental note to talk to Gytha later as well. Getting K.O.'d in two battles was bad, but twice in one was ridiculous.

[Zsword]

"Call me Shadrak... but if if you'd excuse me..." he said, and taking a few steps away from Gytha before stopping to survey the field again.

He watched for a minute as the other healing type mage made sure that everyone one was attended to. Seeing as he wasn't needed he walked over to the body Cleric girl that the bandit's had convinced to help them... she never had the chance too. He knelt down beside her and said a few prayers for her. Shadrak wasn't big on keeping his religion in check; he just fealt that it was appropriate for someone like her...

'Those men... lieing pieces of dirt, I'm pretty sure that they'd tell you anything to get what they wanted from you. Whoever these people are, they don't seem too bad... mostly. A choice few don't seem to be any better than those bandit's though...' He thought to himself, looking over to the group as they converged by their wagon again and tended to each other. He kept off by himself, if they wanted to talk to him they would.

Edited February 25, 2011 by Zsword

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika watched the two men retreat after the battle and decided not to pursue given the state of the group. She wandered back towards the wagon, where the healer girl was chastising Amon.

"From my perspective, it seemed that he fought rather honorably. To go after their strongest warrior in order to defend the wagon is commendable. You were defeated unfortunately, but the important thing is that you put in a valiant effort," she said, leaning against the wagon.

[Phoenix]

Raquel accepted the old healing staff and Chip came back out of the wagon and sat down on her shoulder again. She felt much better but exerted a lot of energy from being so panicked. Put simply she was simply tired now and opted to stay seated a moment longer. She needed to address the group but they weren't ready for an announcement yet from the looks of things. For now there was someone she felt she needed to thank, and for some reason the little capuchin seemed to be expecting it.

"Uh, thank you, Chip. You saved my life back there. Regardless of what that guy said, if I had surrendered he would have killed me anyway." Now I know why Chip is trained to use that thing. It's not just the merchandise he's guarding, it's me too; and that way I don't have to do what he did. I won't have to ... hurt someone else. A smile crept up on her face as she petted Chip on the head. The monkey soon grabbed one of her fingers and began hugging her entire wrist prompting a laugh from her.

Meanwhile Amon kept his head down while being lectured. He supposed that was better than being slapped or something. He also didn't bother mentioning that he had participated in three battles with the group. Not the best time to point out little corrections and such. Surprisingly some input from Veronika came. He supposed the only thing that would have been better than fighting honorably would have been actually winning. On the other hand, he was beginning to realize that winning was messy business, especially when done efficiently.

"Thank you, Veronika. Well, thank you both, really." he replied. Not sure what else to say he kept his nervous smile right where it was.

Elsewhere ...

Caine and Boris rode off as fast as they could up into the mountainous region trying to make good time on their destination. What was their destination exactly?

"Caine, where are we headed?" Boris asked as their horses galloped at top speed.

"Ursaea. That's where they're headed, and that's where we'll be waiting for them." he replied with a sinister grin on his face.

"We must try again, yes but an urban setting is going to work against us."

"Not necessarily. Don't worry I'll think of something, we've got time." Caine said as he kicked his horse into trying to go even faster. The horse had just about had it with all the unnecessary kicking and wanted to throw him off but kept going hoping that the human was simply not noticing the inevitable slowness of traveling uphill.

[roymbrog]

“Amon… Don’t thank me for yelling at you, dammit. And you,” she said, turning on Veronika. “Sure, he may have fought honorably, but what good is that if he ends up dead? I’d like to keep everyone here alive, thank you very much. Speaking of which, there’s still other people who need healing… We’ll have to finish this discussion later.” And with that Synthia stalked off to go find Domovoi and John, who should’ve retrieved Nanahm by now.

OoC: Lol, probably won't be here again till late tomorrow night/Sunday :/

[GoD]

Cynthia decided to go to Raquel and heal her wounds.

"I must say, you have quite a few enemies that want to kill you. But, if I may be so bold as to ask, why you of all people?"- Chelsea asked her employer.

"At any rate, that is quite a smart little guy you have. I'd hate to be on his bad side."- after saying this, Chelsea giggled for a bit before going back to tend Raquel's wounds.

[-Cynthia-]

"Well I wouldn't recommend dying either, but you shouldn't feel ashamed about what you've done. I would try and take it easy for a while," Veronika said to Amon, giving him a small smile.

She walked over to Raquel who appeared to have been hit by one of the stray bolts. "Are you all right? I'm sorry for your injury, we really shouldn't allow the noncombatants to be hurt." The troubadour from earlier then came over and healed Raquel's wounds.

"I suppose she should know if she's traveling with us," she said to Raquel.

Edited February 26, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Amon nodded in return to the two women and sat up crossing his legs. He would have gotten onto the wagon, but ... he just felt like sitting for now. He figured someone would call him if he was needed.

Raquel was a bit reluctant to answer at first. Chelsea didn't seem like the kind of person who would instantly believe that the artifact she was carrying was the legendary fire emblem or that the people that ambushed them were trying to kill them over it. More likely a bunch of bandits just tried to hit a well guarded merchant. Veronika gave a bit more prodding and Raquel decided to just explain everything all at once.

"They're chasing us because they want to take this thing I've got which is said to be at the very least a piece of the fire emblem. It's pretty obvious that they aim to kill us for it, so we have to get more allies, get better equipped, get stronger, the works." she explained looking at the ground.

[Mercakete]

"Hey," Gytha started, following the shaman but stopping when she saw him kneeling over what appeared to be a dead ally. A bit of guilt came up at the realization and let him say his goodbyes in peace while she took out her cleaning rag and wiped the sword clean the sheathed the weapon. "I'm, er...sorry 'bout yer friend," she consoled as she walked up to him when he seemed to be finished. (No ocean to send 'er down either... What do these landlubbers do with their dead?)

[Zsword]

Shadrak slowly stood up as he said "I didn't really know her," he turned around, to face Gytha. "It's just she didn't deserve this, and I figured I'd atleast give her a half proper send off, as out here we won't be able to take her anyplace proper for a funeral." He looked past Gytha back towards the wagon. "Shouldn't you be helping your friends clean up?" he asked her, doing his best to ignore the blood dripping off his arm, the quick patch up from the troubador was enough to keep him going, but he hadn't actually recieved a proper heal yet... and staves didn't help the wielder, just the patient.

"But if you don't think you're needed I do have a couple other questions..."

[Mercakete]

"Hmm, guess yer right..." she muttered in reply to there not really being a way to give the lady a proper burrieal since there was no sea. At his mentioning she should be helping the others and that he had question, the solution immediately came to Gytha's mind. "Well, I prolly can't answer yer questions, but I know someone who can! I'll show ye to Raquel," she replied before slinging the shaman up over her sholder and dashing to the cart at top speed. Not seeing Raquel right away she used her momentum to jump onto the cart's top and onto the other side. Turning around, she saw Raquel talking with the healer-girl from earlier. Che...something... Bah, no matter. Gytha thought as she dropped the shaman rather hard onto his feet before Raquel.

"This'un's bleedn' and he's got questions. Good thing there're healers about, aye?" Gytha asked in her friendly manner with a huge grin.

[Phoenix]

Amon remained seated and soon began scanning the area one body at a time. He then saw Gytha running over to the wagon with a robed man slung over her shoulder. He could have sworn the man had never been lying on the ground. Kneeling perhaps but probably not injured. He hung his head with a sigh. "There she goes again ...."

There didn't seem to be anymore use in just sitting around so he stood up and slowly walked back over to the wagon. When he arrived there seemed to be a conversation going on so he stood back and simply listened while leaning up a bit stealthily against the cart. In plain sight, yes, but not much of an attention grabber.

Looking up again, Raquel saw Shadrak, the man Gytha was referring to. "Questions? What questions did you have? I'll let you go first since you asked first but I've got questions for you as well." she said giving him a slight glare.

[Zsword]

Shadrak stumbled quite heavily, he wasn't sure if he was set down or thrown down. He placed his hand to his for head as he regained balance and a sense of direction, unfortunatly it was the bloodied hand, and it of course smeared.

Once he had regained his composure and stance he addressed the young lady. "So... you... are the leader of this group then... oohkay uhm yeah. If I heard those bandit's right, which I'm sure I did, they claimed that your group has The Fire Emblem, which I find odd... cause it's only a myth...

"Second, your 'team' seems rather disorganized, and just kinda running out doing there own thing, these are some very bad tactics on your part, I'm honestly suprised you ran them off without properly developed combat teams..." he died off, though they weren't exactly questions, persay, they were certainly discussion starters.

[Phoenix]

At first Raquel felt like just saying something a bit snarky but settled for just answering his questions as politely as she could, though she was obviously annoyed. "First of all, what we may or may not have in our possession is none of your business unless you're a customer. Second; are you really that surprised that a merchant group getting ambushed and the leader getting shot had nothing to do with our being disorganized? I'll admit we've only been together three days and I haven't finished doing my research yet, but we did win." she finished with a slight huff.

"Now then, what were you doing with those people?" she asked before Amon stepped forward.

"Um one thing, Raquel. I noticed that he was with the enemy during the ambush but he turned on the leader shortly after this all started." Right, I did hear him ask about the emblem. Maybe that had something to do with him turning on them? He must be after that, picking which ever side can bring him closer to it .... Amon thought as Raquel suspiciously eyed Shadrak.

[Mercakete]

Gytha was a little confused at first but it all made sense in a moment. "Oh, ye were with the enemy?" she asked, "But ye healed me twice..." What's all this about an emblem anyway?

Maw had jumped up into the cart and was eyeing Chip again. That was the weirdest rat she'd ever seen. But it looked almost human, too. Did a rat and a human have offspring? Was that the human's child?

[Zsword]

"I met them in a back alley of the port town that I believe you just left. They promised me information of a certain object that you may or may not posess unless I am a customer, if I helped them out with a little something. I saw no reason not to, and they eventually took me, and two other healers not actually a part of their gang, back here to ambush you. Once I heard about certain things, and had certain events reveal the true nature of who I was fighting alongside I defected. What use to me is information if I might have access to the object to study personally?" Shadrak explained. He saw no reason to the lady, if he tried anything there was two rather talented looking people on either side of him to make sure he didn't get far... but then again there wasn't anything stopping them if she said to just kill him...

Edited February 26, 2011 by Zsword

[Phoenix]

"So they just recruited you in an alley?" That makes me wonder exactly what they took my father for. You'd think they would have set up for a ransom instead of ambushing us. Maybe they were a separate ... cell? Or something? I don't know. We need to find out what the structure of this organization is. "You didn't learn anything about them, did you?" she asked. She full well expected a no, after which she would simply sigh and hang her head.

[Zsword]

"All I know is that tey want you dead. but something tells me that you already knew that." Shadrak answerred, shrugging with his good arm. The action actually made him stumble a bit, as he was starting to get light headed as the rush of battle was leaving his system and he was starting to realise how hurt he really was.

[Phoenix]

"Yeah." she replied dully before sighing and lowering her head.

"... sooo ... he isn't an enemy ..." Amon quietly muttered hoping to shift the subject back to Shadrak himself.

"I guess. So you were looking for information about the fire emblem, right? Well I'm still not sure we can trust you, so I'm going to have to ask you to just leave ..." she began, before looking up at him directly again. "Or ... perhaps if you're willing to help us ... ... maybe then we could trust you. Besides, given the circumstances there's someone else I want to at least have a closer look at it before anyone else."

Someone else? Amon thought to himself tilting his head a bit.