Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 27: War

[Mercakete]

He'd already decided to say no more so when he heard Damian's attempt to impart some form of wisdom -- some of which he agreed would be beneficial actions to be taken -- particularly when he mentioned the Templars being defensive and clinging to their beliefs because they were challenged, he rolled his eyes. So, because I tried to explain where the Templars are coming from in spite of the fact that I openly challenged the crimson weapons time and again to prove those beliefs wrong and even said that I was willing to change what I believe if they were proven wrong, as I am certain the others are, we are defensive and stubborn and unwilling to listen at all. It can't be that the crimson weapons wielders are wrong! There's no use in looking into the possibility that the weapons really are demons because there is absolutely no way that they are and the Templars are just a bunch of lunatics with absolutely no expertise in demons! And it is the Templars who are defensive and unwilling to listen to the other side.

Heaving a sigh and shaking his head, Raemond's thoughts continued. It's worse than simply being among a bunch of barbarians... They're lunatics, willingly working with the crimson weapons and not seeing any consequence in doing so. In fact, when threatened, they simply kill all of those who attempt to destroy the weapons, not even asking to work with the Templars to save the wielders before destroying the weapons. And then they accuse us of weakening the human effort against the demons! If they had been destroyed at the first attempt, we would have far more aid against the demons than we do now. What a fine nest these demons have built for themselves...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Esphyr wound up waiting with Morgan and the others as several of the group continued to try to get ready to go.

[-Cynthia-]

Charlotte

"Yes, well...Morgan was the group's choice for leader," Charlotte said, frowning. "Where are you getting reports from anyway- and from whom? I haven't been receiving any reports," Charlotte said to Eric, feeling a bit left out of the loop.

[Snike]

Eric

Morgan was chosen as the group's leader? What? Eric shook off his initial shock to answer the question his wonderful liege had asked.

"I have been getting reports from my father, and a few of his men I entrusted with a certain task. Through spirit dolls," the man answered, producing an inactive doll. "I was going to explain to you about these contacts milady, and secure you a set of dolls, but the attack happened so abruptly that it slipped my mind. I can elaborate afterwards, but first, I'd suggest we keep moving."

[Phoenix]

Move Out

As the Crimson Brigade got moving again, something a few had suspected was beginning to seem more and more likely. There weren't any demons anywhere along their path. The skies were clear again save for the rising smoke, and there were even survivors coming almost literally out of the walls to see if the danger had passed, both civilian and soldier alike. That tore it. Viveka had to scout again and quickly recruited Tristan and Tas for backup. Once aloft and up high, it was confirmed; the demons were leaving. She could only see a few fliers in the distance trying to escape the city limits.

"... mmm." Something important was on Viveka's mind. She turned toward Tristan and Tas. She eventually laid out her plan to go find Tobe, who she refused to leave on his own any longer. The problem was she needed either Tristan or Tas to return to the group to deliver the message. She didn't want to go alone; two fliers could cover more ground. That's when she changed her mind and figured having them both come along would be even more helpful. Since Tas' wyvern was swift, and Tas himself was a courier or something--Viveka couldn't exactly remember--it was eventually decided that he would deliver the field report. Either way, Viveka didn't have to deal with Morgan for a little bit. Once he returned, the three of them flew off to search the outskirts of Ilyphia for Tobe.

The rest of the Crimson Brigade continued on to TISME, arriving shortly afterward to find droves of corpses, both human and demon. A lot of soldiers and mages had died protecting TISME, but they did protect it. The walls had been breached, but the demons didn't seem to have come all that close to taking that location. Iso was sure they had some final desperate measures in place that would have been costly but would have repelled the attack if deployed, but that wasn't worth dwelling on anymore.

Iso sighed once they arrived near the breached wall. "So we've come full circle. Can't believe we're back here."

[-Cynthia-]

Arrival

"What was the group doing at TISME before anyway? I thought you all were branded criminals by Percy and Harold- TISME harboring Elyisimian criminals would be strange, Crimson Weapons or no," Charlotte asked Isotov out of curiosity.

Morgan meanwhile, surveyed the scene to find the demons already retreating. "Odd for demons to retreat- usually they attack until killed," she said, looking at the ground closely. "The demons must have gotten into the city using tunnels, judging by how much the stone is disturbed here. I doubt any city created by humans would be safe from such a tactic, they rely on their walls and the demons can simply go over or under them," she deduced, speaking to no one in particular.

[Balcerzak]

Golden Gold Gold Fix

Damian had caught her... well tirade wasn't really the right word for it was it, her venting at Raemond, and chimed in with some reassurances of his own, some advice from his perspective. He ended it up with a request for Tessa to just keep on smiling, a request that truthfully she'd like nothing better than to be able to fulfill. His more material request, to double-check on an injury, was certainly easily done, and she went to work on that, while answering his other as best she could.

"Ugh... beliefs and defensiveness, hand-in-hand, to be sure. Perhaps you're right, and I shouldn't focus on words, but... but can I trust my actions enough to do the right kind of talking?" She sighed a bit, not at anything in particular, just a general sigh of frustration. As far as his wound went, it had been expertly healed by whichever of the others had tended it, but a little extra loving care never hurt anything, so she changed from words to actions here at least, and gave it another little boost.

"Damian... promise me something?" she started hesitantly before committing fully. "If I ever get so stubborn or lose sight of myself like those templars have... promise me you'll smack me. As hard as you need to. With whatever help you need. Just... shake me out of it, if for some reason I can't do it on my own?"

OOC: post-skip stuff in a bit, I suppose.

[scorri]

Tiria grimaced as they walked into TISME. Magic. There's too much of it in this city. I'm going to have to make sure to not go near my family's house. My family... I wonder if... no. I don't care if they made it through. But wait, Uncle... "Sir," she said, turning to Beau. "My uncle... Well, he's the only one who was always supportive of me. He is a teacher here. Would it be possible for me to take some time to try and find him?"

[Phoenix]

Crimson Brigade

"Well," Iso began to think back. That was one hell of an adventure, and not the good kind, either. "Viveka was something of an enemy back then and once we escaped her and Conrad's battalion we split up and headed into the city. We all eventually gathered at TISME. I'd been trying to get here for the longest time, but it was hard to survive in populated areas, due to Proxima's instability and my habit of getting attacked by demons. Until I joined this group and was reunited with Irina, I wasn't making much progress at anything ... and then like a miracle, we made it here. I'm not sure what I was expecting to find when I got here ...." he ended, lowering his gaze a bit. "I don't know if I wanted protection, answers, a way to get rid of Proxima ... or training to learn how to control it. Maybe all of that, really. It's all a blur to me now."

[-Cynthia-]

Charlotte

"Hmm, from the sound of it, you didn't find those things here," Charlotte said to Isotov. "In Jerdon we have 'L'école de Magie', which is similar to TISME, but less independent than it is here- the monarchy likes to keep an eye on magical use for the protection of the people. Anyway, I believe Dani studied there and you're welcome to come as well after all this is over- maybe the mages there can help with your Crimson Weapon related issues," she suggested to him.

[Inactive Account]

Aftermath of retreat

As the demons fled, it became clear that TISME would not have lasted much longer. Fires burned and staff and students alike lay wounded and dead. From her position, Headmaster Athenais could see that the battle was ending. "Cease fire," she ordered over her various spirit dolls. It was time to organize cleanup.

As the surviving mages began to take accounts of their casualties and clean up after their kills, Professor Mercurius looked out over the campus. He'd made his way up to the roof, warding off attacks from above, and now he could see that his skills were no longer needed. It might pay to try and track the demons, make sure they didn't mass up on any other location...

He packed away his tome and picked up his staff, looking around the roof for a quiet corner.

The weary

The trek to TISME had not been an easy one, and after that and the two fights from before, Kelas was exhausted. Still, the gates of TISME, smoldering and wrecked, were not as welcome a sight to her as they were to some of the others. "I'm not really sure how I feel about being back," she sighed in answer to Isotov's remark.

Charlotte asked why the group had been there in the first place, and Isotov gave a response; Kelas decided to expand on it. "We'd been headed to Ilyphina to try and talk to Conrad and get him to join us, and we'd also been on the run. I'm pretty sure the Headmaster let us stay at TISME mostly because she's mad, but it was better than having to keep running. She cleared us of our charges and we helped fight off a bandit attack on the city." She decided not to mention the other complications they'd faced during their stay for the moment.

----

Arrin was dismayed to see the state of TISME. The walls and lawns he'd known were in ruins, and he knew that he would inevitably have acquaintances among the dead. For now, though, he was too tired to do much other than look on in horror, and stay out of the way as the mages worked to clean up.

Lost

Tobe didn't know how long Shadow and Francis had been running, but the city was a safe distance away when they stopped. The horses huddled together, shuddering with fear, and he hid himself in between them, terrified himself. He hoped the lady would be all right-- he was almost getting up hopes that someone would come to get him.

Eventually the unholy din from within the city diminished, and he wondered who had won the fight. Maybe tomorrow he could go in to look; for now, he was too scared to try and find out. He stuck near the horses as they wandered over to a small group of trees

[Ether]

"I would like for that particular course of action to remain a last resort... but if necessary, I'll do what it takes to bring you back were you to sway." Damian replied, his smile faltering at the mention of that particular action.

"But do try to avoid it if possible... I would rather not hit you if I can avoid it" He finished, giving a sigh of his own.

*********

Damian couldn't help but give a bit of a grimace as they neared TISME... it was not the most fond of his memories. Regardless, now was not the time or place for such things.

[scorri]

Arich

"Oh no you don't Mercurius. If I have to be here to clean up this mess, you need to stay here too." The weary mage advanced on the other professor. "We're all needed here. You're not leaving to go on whatever wild adventures you've been up to until I can get back to my research. Which is probably in *shambles* due to this attack."

Adena

Seeing the mess that the school was in, Adena almost burst into tears. So many friends here, so many people she looked up to. How many of them were still alive? Dismounting from Snips, she grabbed her healing staff and walked over to the nearest member of TISME. "I am a healer and studied here before. I am here to help in whatever way I can. Please. Tell me where I'll be of the most use."

[Inactive Account]

Counting the dead

Athenais continued to try to get the school into some semblance of order. First thing was to account for her faculty. The highest staff had not suffered too much-- Draper was dead, several other were injured. She set about trying to find out about the lower professors, and sent a messenger to find Draper's assistant. Verali had been on the wall elsewhere, if she recalled correctly; the girl would be necessary to help get Draper's work tidied up. It wouldn't help the school stay safe to let his research experiments unattended for long.

Here come the drums

With a sigh Eoin paused. Of course Arich would be on his case, they'd only had a rivalry for as long as he could remember. Their frequently contradictory research ensured competition, and their personalities took care of the rest. "Of what use can I be here, Branxton?" he asked. "The senior staff need someone to find out where the demons went, I'm the best for that job, so I'll just be doing that, hm? I suppose if peoples' research has gone wibbly I can help sort that out, but I doubt anyone wants me to."

[scorri]

"Well who's to say you'll even be able to find those demons? Sure you claim that staff of yours 'takes you where you need to be', but we can't trust that. Plus, you can help clean up. Look at this place. Countless wounded, who knows how many dead. And you're just going to leave? Abandon the people you care for? Could you really do that?"

[Mercakete]

Raemond was surprised that he was more or less allowed to travel without someone hovering directly over his shoulder. The sights along the way to TISME were terrible, but the crumbling walls of the school were almost symbolic in their horror. The school was a famous gem: a place known far and wide for its academic accomplishments. The accomplishments of humans. It was a place where students went to learn, so people of all ages gathered there to thrive. The walls had once stood tall, proud and thick, the monk guessed by the rubble that was scattered around. The message sent my the demons was fairly clear, even though he could long since have sensed their retreat. It would take a long time for the city to be rebuilt, to be sure, and many were violently snapped out of their complacency this day.

The sight of the school's shambles was hard on Beau as well. He remembered wanting to enroll, though never having been allowed to. Now that he was duke, he wouldn't have time for full enrollment, either, but he was okay with that. It was just difficult to see the school in such a state, especially with the bodies strewn about as they were. Tiria's voice drew him out of his thoughts, though, as she asked to look for her uncle, who was a teacher here. The young duke felt a stab of sympathy for the woman who had, thus far, been an exceptional help to him who did her job immediately and well without ever questioning him. Though it had only been a short time, he was beginning to trust her quite a bit.

"I'll go with you in case he is injured," Beau replied to Tiria's request, "If something has happened to him, Captain, you do not need to stand on ceremony."

Raemond had heard the nearby exchange and offered, "I could go, too, if you would like."

Almost immediately, Esphyr spoke up. "Not without one of us with you you won't. Remember, you, Templar, are supposed to stay with us Crimsons. Not with other groups that only traveled with us for a little while."

The monk sighed at the reminder. "I'm sorry, Captain. It appears I won't be able to go with you after all." He didn't want her to feel obligated to bring one of the Crimsons with her, after all.

[scorri]

"Thank you sir." Turning to a nearby mage student rushing by, Tiria coughed. "Uhm, excuse me, but do you know where Professor Draper is? Or if you don't, do you know where his office is? He's my uncle and I would like to see him."

[Inactive Account]

Never stay in one place

Eoin grimaced. "Sticking round to clean up generally doesn't go well for me, or anyone near me, really. I can't stay. Wouldn't do anyone good to get used to having me around." He hated when people got to counting on him, because he knew that one day he'd let them down somehow, but he wasn't about to admit that to Branxton of all people.

Loss

A messenger eventually located Verali out among the rubble. She was injured but alive, having used her limited healing magic to stop the bleeding from the injuries she'd sustained in the wall's collapse, but was clearly in no condition to be dealing with her late advisor's work. Still, she ought to be informed. "Verali Wersra?" asked the messenger. "Er... medical help is on its way out, but I've been sent to inform you, well... Professor Draper's been killed by a demon, and the Headmaster's concerned about leaving his experiments unattended. I'm sorry."

The shock hit Verali hard, but she was able to blink back tears and make an answer. "I'll be able to shut everything down once I'm healed up," she replied after pausing to recover a bit. "It won't do anything on its own, but you should have someone close up the study until I can see to it-- if someone walks in there and fusses with it they'll be in trouble." Most of the experiments involved intricate metal sigils, she knew, and polished stones-- the sort of pretty thing someone might pick up. "You must be busy. I can wait for the medics, go on and keep delivering messages." As the messenger left, promptly forgetting the part about closing up Draper's laboratory, Verali tried to gather her strength. It had been a long time since she'd lost someone so violently, and while she knew she'd get through it, it was hard.

Answers

The student Adena had asked paused mid-stride, nearly tripping. "Infirmary's that way, talk to a professor, they'll give you a station," she spilled out before running off again.

--

"Think I saw him out on the wall, but he won't be there now," replied the student Tiria had spoken to. "I don't know where his office is-- try asking a staff member, if you can catch one."

ooc: so somewhere in TISME there's an open door and some dangerous shiny objects, wheee

[Phoenix]

Iso

"Maybe?" Iso answered with a shrug. He figured he was on a pretty short leash now, even shorter than usual now that Ivanko was sitting on the Zaftran throne. Hopefully wherever this anti-demon campaign ended would be far from there. It would give him more time and legroom to figure a way out of this situation. "So ... what do we do now ...? Wait for the others? Go inside? Help with ... the damaage?"

[-Cynthia-]

I wonder how bandits attacked a city like Illyphina with any measure of success anyway- were the guards off-duty or something? Charlotte wondered to herself, but decided not to pursue the subject as there were more pressing matters to attend to.

"I think that we should see how the situation at the palace has progressed and reinforce there if necessary. Matters seem stable enough here for the moment- there are others available to heal the wounded," Morgan responded to Isotov's query.

[Script]

Luc Altair

After enough dallying everyone else finally saw fit to catch up to Luc who had miraculously not been ambushed by demons and died. Which was worrying in its own way. Even the tension riffing in the air seemed to have stopped. Something was strange... but the reveal of living humans made it a good strangeness. There was no possible way the reinforcing units could have beaten off the demons this quickly. Had Helenos' fall buckled their moment that badly?

It would seem so, for they arrived at TSIME still held by human hands. The demons had fled, into... tunnels? Which they entered the city with. No wonder they struck so powerfully. But it wasn't absolute if they needed to breach TSIME's walls.

CHAAAAAAAAAASE what am i doing

They'd made it to TSIME. Some of the others talked about the last time they were in the city. That brought Chase way back. It was so long ago, he felt like a different person than way back then. Maybe Zephyrtwine had something to do with it.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Script

[scorri]

Tiria

Tiria sighed and turned to Beau. "I suppose that means we should head inside and try to find someone more important. I hope he iss alright. Raemond, I wouldd like it if you came along. I suppose... I am worried something has happened to him and, well, you two are the people that I am the closest too. It would be of great comfort to me if you both came along. Just in case... just in case my worries turn out to be correct. If that means that you," she turned to Esphyr, "need to come along, then you are welcome as well. My name is Tiria. What is yours? Raemond, are you coming?"

Adena

Heading to where she had been directed, Adena approached the person clearly in charge of the infirmary. "Hello, my name is Adena. I studied here previously and have some skill in healing. While I am not currently at full strength, I still have enough strength to do some good here. How may I help?"

Arich

"Fine. Run then. As you always do. Run to keep things from catching up with you. But know this. Some day you won't be able to run and you'll be like the rest of us. Stuck facing a truth that you'd rather avoid." He gestured to the carnage around them. "Escape this. I won't stop you. But just remember. Eventually this will all catch up to you, no matter how far you run." With that, he turned his back on Eoin and started to walk away.

Edited December 9, 2012 by scorri

[Mercakete]

Beau smiled a little at Tiria. Raemond had a similar thought to what went through Beau's head: that was sweet of her. Raemond felt a bit sorry for Tiria, though. If we're the closest friends she has, then she must not have had many friends before we met her. We haven't known each other for very long, after all, and so far it's seemed to mostly have been a business relationship. Thinking back to when she'd been about ready to cut down half the members of the Crimson Weapons Wielders to defend him, Raemond realized that it was probably not as simple as he'd thought previously. Before, he assumed she'd done that primarily because it was her job to protect Beau and she was being fierce about it. Now, it seemed, she was also behaving that way because she was angry that they were threatening him, her anger intensified by a form of friendship.

The woman offered her name, then asked for hers before suddenly asking the Templar if he was going with her. "Esphyr," the mercenary simply replied before noting, "I should check with Morgan before I go with you all, though. If for no other reason, she's the leader and should know that we're going somewhere."

Raemond cast Esphyr a somewhat annoyed glance as she left to inform the druidess before he replied to Tiria, "I'll gladly go with you if I am allowed to."

Meanwhile, Esphyr walked up to Morgan and gave her a brief explanation of the situation at hand, "Morgan, that swordswoman from before wants to look for someone in TISME with the kid with the staff and she wants the Templar to go with them. Should I go with them to keep an eye on the Templar? Should I bring anyone else with me?"

[-Cynthia-]

"Hmm if they are left unattended, they may attempt escape. I would bring someone else with you, in case the situation becomes violent. The majority of us should go to the palace. While it is likely that the demons also retreated there it is not certain- and General Jackson's safety is paramount," Morgan stressed.

[Mercakete]

Esphyr nodded. "I will see you there, then," she agreed before going to look for someone to go with her and the other three.

[the_whistler]

Heinz reappeared from hiatus the shadows in which he had been lurking, reaching out to tap the arm of a mercenary walking past. "Need some help?" he offered. "I've had plenty of guarding experience."