Return of the Emblem Chapter Eleven: Unleash

[Snike]

"I'll join your group if you're going to talk to Sardis," Axel said, next offering Veronika the elixir. "Need to ask him a question, anyways, and I can get to Arietta on the way back."

"...I suppose that could work, seeing as you're a Weyland merc," Blake said, as he noticed Norbert talking to Valter up ahead. Oh dear, hopefully he wouldn't fly into a rage once he saw that they were going to negotiate. "We may want to hurry, before our rowdier elements decide to act."

[Mercakete]

For a moment, Norbert was quiet. Then, he sighed. "I don't know," he quietly returned, "I don't want to accuse anyone of anything like that without hard evidence... It seems pretty suspicious but...I don't know."

He shifted his scrutinizing gaze to Valter as it shifted to an uncertain one. "What do you think? Am I just letting my distrust get to me or is this really something worth asking her about?"

[Phoenix]

Second Meeting

"I don't know if I can or not, but the Dauntless is right here; I can't just stand here and do nothing ... and aside from how poorly this is all turning out I ... I feel fine," Raquel explained to Blake. He and Veronika seemed to want to talk with Sardis themselves which left Raquel in an awkward spot. Even Axel was planning on going with them now. While she didn't mind not having to face Sardis directly, she still had to try and find her father somehow. Being shielded from attacks verbal or physical was getting further and further from her mind. "If you two are going to talk with him I ... well. Just be careful. I just want us to all get out of this alive ..." My emblem piece. After all of this, that girl has it, but ... Raquel took a moment to glance over at Cassandra, who was still standing a fair distance away. ... but I feel like I haven't lost it at all.

Discovery, you haven't lost it yet ... not completely. Listen carefully. The dragon has left us to seek out the lost one. I will remain here with you, despite the danger. For now, you must forget about Jethro and focus on you and your allies. Escaping with your lives is all that matters.

Raquel frowned. That doesn't ... my father's the only reason we're here in the first place! "I can't just leave him here ... no!" And now she appeared to be arguing with herself, again.

You would have to join Sardis. You would have to compromise who you are. You would have to give up the fight and submit your life to them. You will no longer be Discovery .... Instead you would become a catalyst and nothing more.

"... w-what does that mean ...?"

Do whatever you must to survive this and escape them, Discovery. Your time with Jethro has ... come and gone, I'm afraid.

Raquel began shaking her head instantly. "Don't say that ..." Don't say that; it's not true! As if things weren't confusing enough, she began to choke up at the prospect of losing her father in the end.

Needless to say, Sardis was thoroughly vexed by all of this stalling and Raquel's distant muttering. She still hadn't responded to him. "Raquel!"

Raquel flinched and took a step away from the source of the shout. "... I-I need a minute!" she eventually yelled back, trying to buy some time.

Sardis raised an eyebrow. "You don't have a minute."

"Stay in the Dauntless, Connor," Gabbie struggled to scold him once he returned. "If they start shooting again ..." She hadn't finished her sentence, but the message was still clear.

Rook and Zachary seemed to be fine, so Reign moved on while scanning the field. Faatina and Chelsea were pretty exposed, and it looked like Colin might be with them, though he was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the chest. He almost sprung into action when a pegasus knight swooped down and landed near them, but realized she was simply one of Colin's escorts. It made sense; no reason to leave one of their own with the enemy completely unattended.

"What are you doing with him?" Ellis inquired angrily to Faatina and Chelsea, acting mostly on reflex. She could tell they were trying to keep Colin alive, but she was worried about afterward. They weren't taking him hostage again if she could help it.

Colin himself wasn't very responsive at this point. One of his lungs was half full of blood and he wasn't in the best place to be making quips regardless.

Shadrak frowned. This situation wasn't the best introduction into the group's struggle with the organization, though on the other hand, with all of this tension and Sardis present and on the battlefield, this could very well be the end of their struggle against this group one way or the other. He would work toward them winning that struggle however he could, but for the time being, they were at a disadvantage. "Someone on their side called a ceasefire and I think we're taking advantage of that to heal up. You and I should find Katrina and make sure she's alright."

[-Cynthia-]

"I need my head clear," Veronika said to Axel, shaking her head at the offered elixir. "Getting out of here alive is our number one priority right now," she responded to Raquel, who seemed to be muttering to herself. Better to leave the matter of Jethro unsaid...I don't think we can get him out of here at this point.

[Snike]

"Right, like the aftereffects of the poison isn't already doing wonders for that," Axel replied, rescinding the healing liquid. Of course, then Valcyn began to mutter to herself, which prompted a frown from the lancer. "Well, you might not be alone."

***

Well, what Raquel said, and how Raquel actually was were two different stories, judging by how she nearly went to tears within a few minutes of her assuring him that she was alright. This, of course, was preceded by an argument with herself, which definitely was note 'fine'. Nevertheless, Blake couldn't do much about it as Sardis was growing impatient.

"We'll be fine," Blake said, forcing himself to keep an even face as he spoke. "Though we have to head over there, and fast. How far into the Dauntless is the sword I mentioned, by the way? I can just grab it and then catch up to Veronika and Axel, if it isn't in too deep."

***

Tsk, what is he playing at...? Cass, be careful with the emblem.

[GoD]

Chelsea was taken by surprise at Faatina shoving the vulneary in the troubadours mouth, but she felt much better than before. She could actually concentrate and remove the bullet properly, so taking the knife from Faatins with a quiet "Thank you", she immediately inspected Colin's wound to find the bullet.

When the pegasus knight who slashed her demanded to know what they were doing to Colin, Chelsea used her free hand to absentmindedly wave her off.

And then Chelsea found the bullet, thankfully it wasn't lodged in too deep as the troubadour prepared the hand with the knife to aim directly at the bullet, her other hand now occupied with a staff and ready to heal the moment she got the bullet out.

"Gouge and kill."- she whispered as the blonde plunged the knife quickly into the wound and within a few seconds managed to get the bullet out. (Hooray, stabbing helps people :) ) Immediately after the bullet was removed Chelsea quickly put her mad healing skills to work and began healing the poor bastard.

[scorri]

Marella glared at the man helping her. "Are you calling me fat, now of all times?" Muttering under her breath, she pulled her lance out and used it to support herself so that Rook wouldn't need to. "There, I'll be fine." At Zach's call, she glanced at him. Seeing the blood, she lost track of whatever she'd been about to say and just stared at him for a few second. "I... I don't know. I think they're going to go talk more. Zach, I... I'm so sorry I didn't protect you. I won't fail again. I promise."

[Ether]

As the falcoknight landed and demanded an explanation, Faatina turned to her.

"Colin isn't a bad man, and he saved my life when I went down... the least I can do is return him the favour." The paladin replied, as Chelsea managed to remove the bullet and began to mend the wound.

"You did it, Chelsea, thank you." The Rexian woman thanked the troubadour, and quickly pulled her into a tight hug.

[Balcerzak]

Sinbad had been intercepted on the way to the fallen enemy swordsman, as an enemy rider swooped down from the skies, and while he'd already holstered his pistol, he was slow to draw his sword and put up a proper defense. All he had been able to do was to strike the incoming lance slightly away, and instead of spearing him in the torso, it just scored a long nasty gash down one of his arms. However this, development had driven the matter of Colin successfully from his mind, as he turned to make sure the flying knight didn't try to impale either him, or the wounded red-head on the return pass.

In the wake of this, came an announcement of cease-fire, which despite being in many ways a welcoming prospect, also brought with it an incredibly bitter realization. Just a few minutes earlier and he wouldn't even need to worry about whether Colin would live or die... But no, such thoughts were only counterproductive, and the cowboy bit his lip as he banished them. Better to just focus on making sure to salvage what could be salvaged.

Much to Sinbad's surprise however, by the time he'd turned back to the fallen swordsman, another had already reached him, and seemed to be tending to him. That Rexian singer from last night, in fact. She turned her gaze up, and locked eyes with him for a moment before both informing him his wound was likely poisoned, and t the same time imploring for help in how to treat a gunshot wound. Curiouser and curiouser, though that first part at least explained why he was feeling sluggish, and the growing sense of unwellness. Right about at that same time the man he'd been protecting had called out if he should fetch a healer, and the cowboy had been about to reply to both of them when the gypsy had rode by, making her rounds on a healing circuit, presumably. Sinbad was then immediately and fully distracted by trying to wave her off, insisting he'd only suffered a mere flesh wound, it looked worse than it was, and the whole nine yards. However, the woman was either just healing in automatic mode, or sensed an opportunity for profit and would not be dissuaded, and was not about to take 'no' for an answer. Truth be told, it was probably for the best, and may have actually kept him from collapsing as the poison worked its way through his system, but that still didn't make it sit any better with him.

By the time that had been all cleared up, Sinbad was left with basically no need to respond. The man had wander off to collect his horse, and the woman had been joined by a healer, and was probably getting all the advice she needed. The cowboy winced a little as he got a closer look. It wasn't just any healer, but the girl who's dream double he'd shot. He reckoned he probably still oughta finish moving in and offer a few pointers regardless, but now things were going to be all sorts of awkward.

As he arrived, so too did one of the many pegasus knights... though if he had to hazard a guess, Sinbad didn't think it was the one who had attacked him personally. The healer already seemed to be hard at work digging the bullet out, so he didn't need to offer any advice, nor even his fledgling surgery skills. The enemy knight demanded an explanation, but honestly things oughta've been obvious enough at this point. Sinbad suspected it was just an outlet for concern. Taking a stab in the dark at their relationship, he replied. "Reckon they're saving his life, which is more'n what I can say you're doing for him. That said, tell yer lover next time not ta pick fights he can't win. I gave him more 'n enough chance to surrender, really wanted him to in fact, but he were stubborn as a mule."

Edited April 27, 2013 by Balcerzak

[Eail]

Zach placed a hand on Marella's shoulder, trying to comfort the older girl in her down mood. "Hey, that attack would have killed me if you hadn't pushed me out of the way Mar. You did protect me, but don't just throw yourself in front of something like that again okay? I don't want to lose you."

_____

Luka just kept his hands on his head, accepting the hug from the girl but not really doing anything about it, maybe he should have just been knocked out

[Phoenix]

Second Meeting

"Not a bad man. Who here is?" Ellis asked Faatina rhetorically before continuing in a scornful tone. "I don't understand you people. Kill almost everyone you come across except him? Is he your good deed for the month or something?"

Around that time, Chelsea had dug out the bullet and closed what was essentially a bullet wound over a stab wound. Well, at least it was over now. Colin had been bearing the intense urge to cough and vomit up the blood gathering in his lungs, but the healing returned all of the stray fluid to its proper place and he was left coughing up nothing but air and droplets of saliva instead. "Was that payback or something?" he asked Chelsea with a depressing grin on his face, one it took some doing just to form.

When Sinbad arrived and chimed in, Ellis became noticeably more upset. "You're the ones who can't win this fight. You should listen to Sardis and surrender before this gets ugly."

Coughing first, Colin chimed in saying, "Lost a lot of friends today. Do me a favor and ... play nicely next time ... everyone." And with that, he seemed to pass out right there in Faatina's lap.

"Aaaand ... he's not my lover," Ellis tossed in apprehensively a little too long after her initial retort. She downright avoided eye contact with anyone while pointing that out. "Still, when he wakes up, I'm taking him. He's been a hostage long enough. That little game ends here."

By the Dauntless, there was still the matter of Colin's sword, though Raquel still couldn't figure out why on earth Blake wanted to return it to him. Was it some kind of warrior's code or something? Even if it was the right thing to do, she had her doubts about the timing. He and Sardis were still their enemies. Still, she decided to get it for him since the general consensus was that she remain by the Dauntless anyway. She could just question him about it once she got back. "Just wait here; it'll be faster if I go and get it." With that, she went into the Dauntless, retrieved Colin's thunder blade and as many vulneraries as she could comfortably carry and then returned. "Why are you giving him his sword back, exactly, Blake?"

The results of Reign's next survey of the field was Synthia. She was definitely down. "Ah hell," Reign muttered as he headed over, minding his fatigue.

[Ether]

"I did all I could not to kill anyone, not today... in the past, I might have been too rowdy, too quick to jump without thinking, but... after taking some time to talk with him, I... I'm just not sure anymore." Faatina replied to the woman, before Colin seemed to wake once again, though not for long, before passing out once again. Repositioning herself in what way she could to try and make the downed man a tad more comfortable.

"I still don't know exactly what happened earlier, but from what Colin said, today should never have happened... but it's too late to dwell on that, isn't it? Those two, they should only be knocked out... I can't speak for those the others engaged... I asked them not to kill but I can't say whether they listened, or who did at that. Still, you should help whatever wounded you can." Faatina continued, pointing out the same two men from earlier.

[Snike]

"Alright," Blake said, when Raquel left to get the weapon. She shortly returned, thunder sword and multiple vulneraries in hand, and asked why return it. To that query, the Ursian man shrugged. "As a token of goodwill, as well as maybe keeping a channel of dialogue open after this mess. It might lead to useful information, maybe even an ally or two. If not, well, it'll help make him think twice about blindly following orders if they're against us."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

A lot of people were crowding around the wagon as the recovery spot now. And there were certainly plenty who were trying to make him all nice and safe and comfortable. It was almost comedic. Gar kept up his eating and his singing as some others talked about meeting with Sardis, and some talked to themselves. Or probably the dragon head really. Nothing Gar really felt like commenting on yet.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Script

[roymbrog]

Valter thought on the question for a moment. Faatina was being awfully friendly with the swordmaster, but he didn’t think it was because of what Bert suspected. At least part of that was confirmed when she explained to the new arrival why she was helping an enemy. “Honestly, I think she’s just really fond of Colin,” he told Bert. “If you’re worried, it would probably be best to just ask her about her reasons for joining. Not right now, though, this isn’t the time,” he continued, the last part quickly added.

With the conversation the others were having right now, it would probably be best to input over there too. He felt like he needed to defend himself, for some reason. “I haven’t killed anyone today either. I can’t promise the same for those who downed those I injured, but if you look for red fletched arrows you should find someone alive. And I don’t use barbs or broadheads, so you can pull them out without further injury.”

---

Meanwhile, Volga had decided that the safest place to keep her rider at the moment was by the edge of the wall. No one could sneak up on the wyvern from behind while she waited for Katrina to wake back up, like she was supposed to. Maybe licking her face would help?

[ReformBlade]

An antitoxin? No, fuck that, I'll live... She thought, feeling like she was gonna pass out any second. Swallowing those words in her mind, the lady finally used it. No outstanding immediate effects, but there wasn't as intense a burn. Aneda was happier than she was a minute ago, that's something.

"They want to talk?" she asked, still not quite grasping what was happening. At this point though, Mushirah gave up trying to figure that out and focused on steadying herself more. Katrina, right... "Isn't that... Volga, right over there? That's her wyvern... right?" the lady said, pointing tiredly towards the Wyvern.

[Mercakete]

"Maybe... But it's not just that," Norbert replied, mulling over Valter's answer. He stopped there, however, as the horseman addressed an enemy pegasus rider. She wasn't the first to help him. He helped her first, but he seemed pretty ready to kill Valter... There's something about her that sets her apart from us to them. I want to believe she's not with them, but how can I? All this could just be a lie... They were acting like comrades, and not just Colin! While she was behind their lines, everyone was acting like it was normal... Grr... Either she's one of them or I'm missing something and I don't want to risk either of those.

He shook his head. Really, Valter's solution sounded the best. I'll ask her about it when and if the chance to comes up. I'm not going to just assume one way or the other.

[Balcerzak]

The enemy flier did make a good arguement, about how they were outmatched and still currently surrounded in the courtyard of a stronghold fortified against them, but Sinbad wasn't going to give her any satisfaction from having scored a point there. After all, if the group had any intelligence at all they were making use of this stall to prepare to get the hell out. If they had to leave without Raquel's father, so be it. If they weren't leaving, well, the cowboy figured he'd already done more than his share, and he'd just have to part ways. No point getting himself killed in this quarrel.

Sinbad had to try to keep the smile from forming on his face when she denied romantic entanglement with the swordmaster though. The way she spoke it seemed more than clear that if they weren't and that denial of hers was truth, it seemed like a state of affairs she maybe wished to change. She followed this up by making clear that she wasn't gonna just sit by and let Colin be taken hostage. And that, that posed a bit of a dilemma.

"Don't know if I take too kindly to just letting the two of you waltz away when he wakes up, if you know what I mean. Having someone a little under our thumb shores up our position here a great deal, and while he did say some int'resting things about the matter of Raquel's father, I'm not too inclined to just take that at face value. Unless Raquel herself disagrees, a hostage still oughta to improve the shots of gettin' him back, by my eye. If you don't want the hostage ta be him, you're more'n welcome ta volunteer yourself, darling."

[Parrhesia]

Right, that mage-freak is gonna hit up Marella again. Sod this, I'm gone.

Rook wandered off.

[GoD]

"There that's all- ooof"- Chelsea was assaulted by Faatina who hugged the troubadour tightly. "Tina that's very sweet, but get offa me!"- the blonde yelled softly at the Rexian girl and wriggled her way out of the bone-crushing hug. "I'm still exhausted so destroying my body won't score you any points with me."- Cheslea whispered.

It was about this time that Colin asked her if stabbing him was intentional. Chelsea only replied with a smile on her face "Maaaaaaybe it was, or maybe it wasn't~"- the blonde gave those present a very vague and frightening answer, though for some reason when the pegasus knight told the guy that shot Colin that she wasn't Colin's lover, for some reason Chelsea's eyes lit up and she wore an even bigger smile on her face.

Sighing in relief and gripping her staff tightly with her left hand, she used her right hand to snap her fingers so that she could call Nenesha to her side, to which the horse did appear near the party of five. Getting to her feet, the troubadour went up to her steed and stroked his mane softly, then faced Faatina while taking care of her mount and told her "We are leaving Faatina, we can trust that one to take care of Colin. We should go and take care of the rest of the group. That includes you as well Mister Cowboy~."

Edited April 27, 2013 by GoD

[scorri]

Marella shrugged slightly. "That's not something I can promise. My job is to do the best I can to protect you and so I'm going to do that." As Rook walked away, she yelled to his retreating back, "Don't think I'm going to let that comment about my weight go unrepaid. Just you wait." Glancing back to Zach, she sighed. "I suppose it's just a waiting game now. Hopefully we can get out of here without any more violence."

[Parrhesia]

...Well, at least her voice hasn't suffered from today. Can probably expect a right kicking for that later, but... for now I just need to sit down somewhere and try not to think of them kissing.

[Eail]

"I hope it's done for now... I don't think we're in any shape to continue doing this." Zach muttered, gazing at his companion. "You can barely walk and I don't even know if I can cast right now."

[Phoenix]

Tension

"Tch, not a chance I'll be used as a bargaining chip by you crazies," Ellis shot back at Sinbad(verbally). "I'll be back with some help after we finish picking up our wounded--not many of those around--and if you still want to play this hostage game when I get back, this is going to get extremely violent," she threatened before trotting away atop her pegasus.

Meanwhile, Reign tried to carefully pick Synthia up off of the ground. He planned on putting her inside the Dauntless but noticed Blake and Veronika preparing to do something with Raquel and his pace slowed as a result. That was when Raquel noticed that Synthia was out cold. "Oh no, is she going to be alright?!"

"I have no idea, but she's been lying in the dirt long enough, I think. I'm going to put her in the Dauntless; at least there she won't get hit by a stray shot. What are you going to do about Sardis? He seems to really want to end this with words this time around."

"I don't know. Veronika and Blake are going to try and settle this," she answered.

"... is he really going to go for that instead of talking to you directly?"

Raquel didn't know, so she didn't answer.

When Mushirah pointed out Volga, Shadrak began running sluggishly in that direction saying, "Yeah, that's her--come on, let's help her out!" His hastened approach gained quite a bit of attention, which had him feeling nervous before long. He hadn't quite reached her before his pace began to slow. He could have sworn if he hadn't, the archers on the walls would have shot him dead. "Urgh ... there's no cover aside from the Dauntless ..." He wasn't close to the Dauntless and so the threat of the archers was a bit much for him to handle. Can't ... die here. I can't die here, dammit! There's still so much I haven't learned ...

Samael meanwhile, continued to observe the situation. He was finding it kind of silly at this point, with Sardis being blown off by Raquel. At a time like this? Hilarious. "Heheheheh hahahahahahahahah!" And so eventually the hilarity got to him, and Samael transitioned from a mere chuckle to full on laughter.

"Urgh. RAQUEL!!!" Sardis called out to her again causing her to flinch. "Enough stalling. Surrender."

"Sardis, it might help to explain the 'Jethro situation'," Samael spoke up from on the wall, loud enough for anyone listening to make out what he was saying, including Raquel.

"S-situation ...?"

"This isn't just about Jethro," Sardis said back to Samael, ignoring Raquel for a moment.

[Snike]

"He probably should, especially after what happened in the meeting room," Blake said, turning away to hide the fact that his face fell a bit as he saw yet another defeated mercenary - Synthia- and knowing that he had failed them all today. After masking his emotions once more, the man returned his gaze to the conversation just in time to have to turn to Sardis, who was definitely in an impatient mood now. Someone from the fortress wall -A white-haired man who was an equal or superior to Sardis, from what he said. Had he ordered those archers to fire? - began to laugh and mentioned a 'Jethro' situation, loud enough so that everyone by the Dauntless could hear it. Given Sardis' reaction, something aside from his allegiance had come up.

"What is this 'Jethro situation', Sardis?" Blake asked, loud enough to reach the Organization officer. "And why do you want us to surrender? You got what you want, with the piece of the Emblem. You already have an emblem wielder. There's no need to pursue this group further."

"That isn't good...," Axel muttered, under his breath.