Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Nanami Touko]

Wow, my mind isn't playing tricks on me, someone's actually sitting up there. Aren't they worried about falling of-- well that's a bit of an ironic thought. Eva quickly silenced that and took to responding to the man. "I'm Eva, Orville. I ride lizards. Nothing like your humble messenger job. So, why are you up there? Couldn't find a seat inside?" Still such a weird spot to be. She'd realized that Jericho had actually answered her, so as to not leave the poor man hanging, "alright, a maybe. I'll take it. Don't worry, Sasha's the most relaxed wyvern there ever could be."

[Oersted]

"Oh, a pleasure to speak with you then Eva. You ride lizards...? You mean a wyvern? That's an interesting profession. But why are you here? It's dangerous to be seen with one of those."

Could she have missed all the children inside the very wagon she's in... ? Oh dear. "Er, because of all the children inside the wagon..." Orville replied, now becoming confused. He was on top of the right wagon wasn't he? If he wasn't that probably was not a good thing.

[Nanami Touko]

"Yes, a wyvern. And I had a meeting with someone, but got caught in this mess. Worry not, if I can handle demons, I can handle wyvern haters." But then he said something that confused her. Children? What does he me... Oh, wow, good job! There were a bunch in her wagon now, that she hadn't even noticed. "Nevermind, Orville! I simply didn't notice. Maybe I'm more tired than I'm letting on."

[Phoenix]

Tavern

"Well if you want to preserve it, don't wear it anymore to start, and then put it into a secure box, if you can find one like that," Raquel advised. The idea about alchemy being an option came back to her, and she reconsidered bringing it up. "If you'd rather have it fixed, there's nothing I can do without a lot of spare material, but maybe an alchemist could help." Granted, you'd still need spare material to fix the missing parts.

"We're heading out, Miss. Come aboard," the driver said, leaning out a bit so Tia could see him more clearly.

"Right," Raquel affirmed, having been reminded of the urgency of the situation. "We'll go over it later. Get in the wagon so we can get going. The others might be in trouble so we need to get back fast."

Estate Entrance

Shadrak looked around, trying to find any sign of the enemy. All he saw that was different was Anna running back inside. Unless there was a war going on in there, he didn't see why it wasn't safe to head back inside. Maybe they would have to remain on guard on the southern front until the fallen were all dead and gone? He didn't like the idea of that; Mushirah was in no condition to keep fighting, so she should be taken inside immediately if there were no more fallen running around in there. Despite the decision he was quickly coming to, Shadrak wasn't sure if she should be moved around too much, so it was a matter of leaving her there to go find out what the deal was, or taking her with and hoping they could head straight inside afterward.

"Well, just waiting here isn't worth much ..." Suddenly his decision changed altogether. "Let's get you inside." Anna blew away two fallen with no trouble at all. If nothing else, she'll take down anything that would end up getting in our way. If worse comes to worst, I'll blast them myself, he told himself, looking down at his own closed fist.

Stage

"Stay put and summon up whatever strength you have left; going to him would be tantamount to suicide," Steinn instructed. "Gabriella, keep tracking him, and let us know if he's on his way back here. Valdimarr is quick, but his warping has a very limited range ... compared to most."

Gabbie got to work and pulled her legs in so she could focus without leaning back anymore. "He's moving at a snail's pace and Siv is with him. They're just walking ... and not toward us, either."

[Snowy_One]

"Ummm... I don't really have any other clothes though, so I need this dress or something else to wear or else... Yea. Regardless, you're right. We'll handle this later." said Tia, smiling. "Thanks though for trying to help." and with that she calmly walked back and got into the cart.

[Eail]

Zach was still exhausted after the battle, all he wanted was to crawl in the wagon and grab some sleep.

So that was precisely what he did.

_____

"Jam...I...agh my head." Alphonse groaned, clutching at his skull yet again. "The magic I got hit with, I knocked my head on the ground. I think I need a healer..."

[scorri]

Hoshi

Even though it looked like the last hellhound was taken care of, Hoshi started to form a final ball of dark magic, just in case. As she did, she started noticing a pounding in her head, the signs of a magical headache. Regardless, she pushed on, knowing that if something happened, it would serve her well to be ready.

Erion

As Tia walked away, Erion raised an eyebrow. "Seems a bit odd to fight in such a treasured dress. You'd think if it meant so much to her, she would have bought a spare dress such that she could protect it if need be." Glancing at Raquel, he shrugged and settled back in his seat to wait for the ride back.

[Snowy_One]

(Nothing important then)

Edited January 18, 2014 by Snowy_One

[roymbrog]

Though Valter had heard about Joanna’s origins, this was the first time he could remember her bringing it up. That attitude wouldn’t do, though. She was valued in Europa, despite whatever abilities she may have lost. “I don’t think that matters to anyone here. What you have done to help is still valued, as are you. You’re one of the most selfless people I know. So, just… don’t worry about that, alright?” he replied. He felt slightly uncomfortable saying that, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t blushing, so no harm done. Regardless, there were other thing to worry about, like everyone about to leave. “We should probably head out now,” he noted.

---

With her injuries and fatigue, Synthia wasn’t all that thrilled to help the group subdue the fallen when she would only get in the way. Gytha called out to her, though, and her attention was drawn to something he could help with, namely healing the injured guards. She was about to jog back over there when Alex snapped out of attack mode and returned to do the job himself. The mage shrugged, and ran over to the mariner instead. “Looks like it’s already taken care of, Gytha. Do you think the escapees injured anyone inside?”

[Oersted]

"Oh, so you fought the demons too? It's good to know you can handle yourself against such strong... things as these." Orville relaxed when Eva mentioned that the Children were in the wagon. So I was on the right wagon! What a relief. "Oh so you need to meet with someone. Is it business related?"

[Mercakete]

When Anna ran into the manse, Gytha wondered if it was really safe to do so. It looked like combat was dying down and if there were any threats left, they'd come from inside. She was considering going in after her when Synthia came over and asked a very good question. "I hadn't thought o' that b'fore, but there sure could be. Want t' head inside n' check? I'll cover ye," she offered, standing up and stretching some since she didn't figure she needed the cover of the stairs anymore.

[Ether]

"Of course, Lord Steinn." Annelise replied, moving away from Gabbie a tad.

[Nanami Touko]

"I fought one. Got lucky enough to not have run into any others. What about you?" Jericho seemed to be getting tired, so she left him alone for now. He was most likely far more involved in the fighting than I was. Poor guy. "Yeah, with Weyland," she called up to her mystery conversation partner. "What about you, Orv? Why are you in lovely Europa?"

[roymbrog]

“It’s better than doing nothing,” Synthia replied. “It should be safe, since the fallen are out here… Yeah, let’s go in.” The mage began heading up the stairs.

[Mercakete]

Gytha hurried after the mage, asking as they got closer to the main doors, "Want t' be out front, 'r should I?" Seeing as someone else had already headed in, Gytha herself thought it'd be safer if she followed behind Synthia, but decided that she could protect her well enough either way. So, whatever made Synthia more comfortable.

[Oersted]

"I was lucky enough to still be with the mercenaries that I'd hired to escort me here when the demons struck. We fought off a few of them but... Merz there were so many. I'm lucky to have made it to the tavern with a few children." Orville let out a sigh. Just keep positive Orville. You're alive, you saved lives. Be thankful for that. "To answer you're second question, I was delivering some weapons to a merchant. I'd just finished and was about to head back to Lorton when this whole mess happened."

[Nanami Touko]

"Too bad, huh? Guess you're stuck here for the night. Oh well, at least you get to see the sky from where you're sitting, while I'm stuck inside here. I'd trade in an instant, let me assure you." Having been on her feet all day, being in and seeing the sky was all she really wanted at the moment. "But sleep could do as a close second," she said out to no one in general. "Ah well. Hopefully we'll all get to rest once we get to whatever destination we get to. Nice to meet you, even if I can't see you, Orv."

[roymbrog]

“Er..” Synthia wasn’t entirely sure. She could see what was in front of her though, so maybe she should have Gytha watch her back instead. “I can head in first. Wherever you are, stay close? And if we haven’t missed her, we should probably follow Anna. That crossbow packs a punch.”

[Phoenix]

Heading Out

"Yeah," Raquel replied, looking lost in thought. "I guess those books are more important."

Joanna smiled weakly at Valter. "Thank you. I'll try not to worry about it." Getting up onto a horse was something she found rather easy; riding side saddle was another matter, but still one she'd faced before. Once she was up behind Valter, she put her arms around his waist to steady herself. "Ready." Glancing at the tavern, she took note that it was deserted now. For once, a deserted building was a good sign, since the survivors were now safely inside the wagon not far away. She just wished that had been the case for all of those abandoned buildings they passed on their way from the Grand Cathedral.

"That seems to be all for those on foot. Let's get moving," the driver sitting beside Raquel decided, as he got the horses started. They turned in order to get around the second wagon, which too would be setting out shortly. It would fall in line behind them on their way back to the gate.

As both wagons made their way at a brisk pace, Raquel spotted some strange activity near the gate. The place had been completely overrun with ursian soldiers and mages. She would have been relieved, but she also saw a few demons about, mostly hellhounds. What was strange about all of this was that the soldiers had an overwhelming advantage now, and weren't bothering to kill the demons at this point. "What are they doing?" she asked aloud as they came steadily closer.

"Break him," one of the officers called out. In an instant, a hellhound that had been muzzled and held in place by several soldiers with ropes was smacked flat on the ground by a hammer spell. The officer sighed once the hellhound struggled to get back on its feet and snarled at the soldiers. "Again," he ordered. Sooner or later, the beast had to run out of energy. The beast was flattened again by another spell, but got right back up and struggled against the ropes.

An officer and a few soldiers stepped up to stop both wagons, their leader even gave them the traditional halting gesture. "This area isn't safe; you need to find another route," the officer explained in a stern tone.

The driver grimaced at that ... these guys were blocking the only road leading to the gate that the wagons could possibly fit through, and they wanted them to find another route? That wasn't an even remotely reasonable demand as far as he was concerned. Besides, there was no route they could take that would be safe unless they went to a separate gate, doubling or even tripling the length of their trip back to the estate.

"What exactly are you people doing to those demons?" the driver asked. He was as curious as the next man. "It looks like you're trying to capture them ..."

"That's none of your business," the officer immediately shot back. As some horsemen rode passed the two wagon convoy and deeper into the city, the officer rephrased his earlier statement. "Find another route."

Heading In

As Anna ran inside, Amon left Alphonse and Jamilla to see what was going on. If there was fighting still going on inside, he felt he should probably help out with that, or at least figure out what Anna in particular was up to. "Anna, wait," Amon called out. "Where are you going?"

Shadrak began trying to help Mushirah reach the door, but it was a bit of a trip, going at the pace they were. If a demon shows up, blast it! Don't think about it, don't hesitate, just blast it, he went over a simple strategy in his head.

Keeping Tabs

"He and Siv are moving toward one of the basement entrances ... not sure what they're doing th- ... hmm."

"Hm?" Steinn was still getting nothing useful from her 'sight' but he could tell what she was musing about, the newborn that ended up in the basement with the rest of the noncombatants. That was of some concern. "If Siv informed him about the child, he'll want to 'rescue' her as well. No doubt, he'll succeed unless someone heads him off ..."

"No one's in a position to do that ..." Come on ... I know we weren't quite as screwed as I thought we were before, but don't let that bastard get away with the egg-err kid.

"Weyland! Listen," Steinn got his partner in war crime's attention. "The noncombatants are in danger. Valdimarr is on his way there to get the hatchling your helpers brought here before."

"That explains why we've gotten a decent reprieve," Weyland bitterly noted. He knew there was nothing they could do about it save for sending people to try and stop him; even if they reached him before he broke into the basement, they would do little more than stall him, so he was hesitant to bother.

Making Requests

<"Princess? You're alright?"> Helga asked as Norn and Runa approached what was left of the southern assault force. There was some demons left, but they had been summoned after the battle to protect the Finnian noble and their temporary rendezvous point. She noted the downtrodden looks on both of the survivor's faces.

<"I don't know if-"> Norn began, only to be cut off as Gunnar began calling out to her.

<"We have to go back! Bring everything, anything we can spare! Hurry,">

Helga scowled at the raving vulture as he landed--crashed more like--near them. <"We are not doing that again,"> she angrily announced. <"We must cut our losses and be gone from this place. The real rendezvous point is to the north of here, which means we have a long way to go to, still.">

<"Right ... we have to go over a mile around this base of theirs just to reach them. I guess the southern group got a poor assignment too. Here I was worried about the eastern group ... though, I guess they had it the worst ... save for me and a few others, they got wiped out. I'm not sure if we should call this a victory or not,"> Runa prattled on while Helga examined Norn.

<"Please, Lady Finnian! Loki'll die if we don't go back for him,"> Gunnar begged, crawling right up to Helga's feet as he did so. She was so insulted by the gesture, she planted her foot on his head and pressed his face down onto the grass. <"Mrmph ... Rrmy Fmrghargh, preee-">

<"We're cutting our losses and leaving now, is that clear?"> she angrily repeated.

Norn was struggling to accept the decision, but the humans had them thoroughly outnumbered and if not for Helga's presence, thoroughly outgunned as well. Still, without her cooperation, a second attack on the estate with just the demons they currently had was suicide. Fortunately, the decision whether or not they needed to go back was settled when Loki came flying in. Like Gunnar, his injuries caused him to crash rather than landing gracefully. <"Loki!"> Norn rushed to his side.

Once she helped him stand up, Loki presented her with the visceral bolt he'd taken from the battle. It was a wonder it hadn't detonated during his crash. <"Princess ... be careful with this. It is a human weapon. It will explode if it strikes something hard enough."> He was in a great deal of pain, but endured it in order to explain. If his injuries were as severe as he suspected, he would only have one chance to explain his purpose for returning with a bomb.

As Helga cocked an eyebrow at him, he continued. <"A single one of these ... can kill any of our soldiers. You must examine it ... learn how it works ... use it against them.">

<"Technology like that likely wouldn't leave behind much of a body. I hesitate to use such a device,"> Helga noted. She knew Loki was bleeding out, but there wasn't anything she or anyone else there could do. Any healers they happened to have before were all dead now. There was Siv, who was also a healer, but Helga assumed she was with Valdimarr or already dead.

<"This is a land of abundance ... don't stick so closely tradition if it could cost us victory, Finnian ...">

Norn winced as she looked over Loki's wounds. <"We need a healer ... now.">

<"He's not going to survive those injuries,"> Helga warned, shaking her head at the princess.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Roadblock

What are they trying to do anyway? It's not like you can interrogate a demon, just kill the damn thing, Veronika thought to herself. She decided to poke her head out of the wagon to get the guards out of the way. "We work under Professor Seth Weyland and have reason to believe that his estate may be under attack by demons- I believe that possibly saving the life of one of the most important people in Ursium takes precedence over what you're doing. Please move out of the way," she said calmly, but firmly.

Estate Entrance

There could be people injured inside the estate, but Nadya didn't think trotting a horse through the halls was a particularly good idea. Besides, Synthia was going in there and she could probably do any staff work that was needed. She decided to rest her eyes- just for a moment- and lay her head on Luca's neck...

[ReformBlade]

Eyes shut as he let himself relax, Jericho let out a tame laugh and said, "Oh you'd trade that quick? And here I thought I finally left a positive impression on a lady!" It wasn't an actual goal for him, he wouldn't say no if a pretty young thing walked into his life but he certainly wasn't looking, especially after today's events what with them being super fresh on his mind. Sighing, Jericho crossed his arms, feeling a bit more comfortable that way.

Groggy as all get out, Mushirah found it difficult to stand as was evident by the heavy amount of leaning she did on Shadrak. She tried concentrating on other things, like maybe readying a spell in case there was a drastic need for one which wouldn't be out of the question in the current situation, but that made her mind hurt just thinking about it. Come to think of it her head just hurt anyway, focusing on one thing just made it a little less noticeable, and so she put her trust in Shadrak... for better or worse.

[Mercakete]

Gytha nodded with an encouraging smile. "Aye, me thoughts were th' same," was all she said before Amon rushed into the manse ahead of them. Her grin widened some as her confidence grew. With both Anna and Amon ahead of them, she felt that she could protect Synthia well enough for sure. And so, she followed along as she let the wind sage lead on.

[Phoenix]

Move Along

The officer's expression darkened after Veronika mentioned Weyland. "Can you prove you're working for him?" He was curious as to why they thought his estate was in danger, but one thing at a time, he supposed. Either way, he had reservations about letting this many people through the middle of their round up operation. It hadn't been a demon roundup originally, but the chance to capture a few live specimens was too good to pass up. Without their insane numbers backing them, they were little more than tougher, more aggressive animals as far as the army was concerned.

The driver of the wagon up front, the same one Raquel was on, began digging through his coat pockets for something to help Veronika out and get this convoy moving again. Meanwhile, Raquel looked around the outside of the wagon from her seat, trying to find a Weyland Enterprises logo. For some reason, there wasn't one. "Urgh ..." Hilariously ill-timed, we know.

"What are you people hauling that has that many people on the roof?" one of the soldiers asked, looking at them like they were crazy.

"More people, survivors," the driver said, pausing before clarifying and then going straight back to his search.

The soldier looked at the officer and got a scowl in return. The soldier knew what they were doing wasn't going to sit well with most, even in the military, but they were going to find out eventually, anyway. Because of that, he didn't see why they couldn't just let this one batch of survivors through. There was no telling if the threat had really passed yet or not, which was also why that patrol that went on ahead not long ago was sent out in the first place. They weren't expecting survivors in the immediate area, but they wanted to retake this sector, street by street, and cavalry was the best place to start.

"Sir, let's just let them through; there's no point trying to keep this under wraps and the fewer noncombatants in the area, the better," the soldier reasoned.

"Hmph." Without saying a word, the officer began backing up toward the side of the road. His men began to follow suit. Once he was out of the vehicle's way, he pointed his thumb toward the path ahead of them. "Get going, and don't speak a word of this to anyone," he instructed. It wasn't a completely secret operation, but the officer and many of his colleagues still wanted to complete their work before anyone with the authority to stop them caught wind of it.

The driver sighed, having failed to find the credentials he was looking for in time. It was half a sigh of frustration due to failing, and half a sigh of relief due to not needing it in the end. He waited for Veronika to get back aboard before getting the wagon moving again.

A Glimpse Inside

Inside, Anna found a bit of debris from inaccurate gunshots, some blood from the accurate ones, and the body of a comrade. The black smoke had cleared out of the main hall some time ago, but Anna sorely wished it hadn't. How many of their people would they have to bury in the end?

"Time to see if things worked out for Steinn," she decided, making her way toward the conference room.

By the time Amon got to where Anna had been, she was halfway down the hall to the conference room. "The place looks totally abandoned," he noted with a slight frown, forgetting that that was usually the case, even during the day. Some hallways, even the main one, just didn't have much traffic. Noticing the body on the floor, made him frown even more. He'd taken a direct hit from a blunderbuss, that much was clear.

[Balcerzak]

Apparently the refugees were going to at least share part of the trip with the people who'd brought the wagons. Life's little conveniences, huh? Theodore helped boost some of the children up into the wagon, then some of the adults up onto the roof. He made it a point to leave the prime seats for the survivors, and it wasn't a surprised that the allocated wagon filled up fast. There were still some in need though, but with a little convincing they managed to squeeze on to the other wagon, for at least as long as they were going to travel together anyways. Theodore ended up hitching the ride there too, being one of the last to load up. Apparently the decision of how to proceed would be put off until they managed to get as far as they could without having to split in some fashion, and that was good enough, he supposed. When they had an unscheduled stop due to the military rounding up stray hound demons, it was definitely worth raising an eyebrow over, but nothing so much as needing to get involved with, so he just let the others take charge of the situation as it came.

---

Well, so much for her being a damsel in distress. Apparently free from that magic webbing and the immediate threats having been taken care of, that Anna woman had taken off full pace into the estate. Now Sinbad were loathe to see a woman rush headlong into potential danger, particularly without an escort, but when he'd tried to jog after her, he discovered to his chagrin that some of his wounds were still a little ginger. Anything above a leisurely walking pace was pretty much out of the question. Still, things didn't seem so bad when he spied a Rexian who seemed fleet of foot push his way in after, and the cowboy's countenance practically brightened when he came up right behind Synthia and Gytha on the steps. The two had apparently just finished coordinating something, with the wind mage taking point and Gytha following after. Sinbad was more than content to stroll along the rear. Casting a glance behind it seemed some of the others were funneling their way in after as well.

[Nanami Touko]

Eva thought Jericho was done for the night, but she wasn't upset at his newest contribution. "Jealous already? How very unbecoming," she said with a laugh, "sorry, Jericho, but the sky's more important to me than anyone. Unless you can give me the sensation of the wind in my hair and no ground beneath my feet down here?" Suddenly, the wagon stopped, which was terribly confusing. Eva tried to get a better look from her spot to what was happening, but being at the back of a crowded wagon was making that fairly difficult. She eventually gave up and leaned her head onto her hand.