Beneath the Shadows Prologue: With a Single Step

[Rothene]

On his way to reach Zeff, Caslan spotted Malachi nearby. Not knowing the man's name, but at least knowing his choice of weapon, Caslan called out, "Archer, you look strong, perhaps you should come along and help some of the injured back to the inn, some of them look really worse off compared to others, " the elf then pointed towards Raelyn as she was staggering back to the inn, Zeff who was having a hard time getting up, and then Ernce who had a hole in his shoulder.

[Bluedoom]

Noticing Sayina heal Zeff and Jacob, Rimsky steadily got off his horse, although his balance wasn't great, so he started stumbling towards where Sayina and co were gathered. Feeling weakened, he sat down on the ground, panting. He'd wait for Ernce to get healed. He mumbled, " Err Sayina sir, yeh can heal meh after that lad, if yeh don't mind" And with that he let out a huge sigh as he closed is eyes and waited patiently. It didn't hurt too bad yet it was still bad enough that Rimsky was restrained to just sitting. The arrow through his left arm really did a number on him.

[scorri]

Harried Healer

Sayina frowned at the hole in Ernce's shoulder and quickly muttered a couple of spells under his breath while placing his staff over the hole. It quickly closed up, and he nodded to Ernce, indicating that the job was done. Moving over to Rimsky, he knelt down, frowned, snapped the arrow shaft off a bit before it entered the wound, and then pushed it through quickly, while at the same time starting to chant a complex healing spell. Placing the staff near the wound, the hole was quickly closed as the magic took effect. With a small sigh, he reached into his bag, found the vial he was looking for and took a sip. Shaking his head, he seemed to have regained some energy and quickly stood up. "Everyone that does not need healing should head back towards the inn. If you still need to be healed, please come over here now. If it is a small injury, I will take care of it back at the inn. Help those who need it."

Scaled Scout

Toqua flew over the village, spotting the newer recruits slowly starting to make their way back to the inn. He did a quick count and grinned. None of them appeared to have lost their lives. Starting to turn Serath back towards the inn, he frowned. Though it was starting to get dark, he could see shadowed figures rushing towards the village. Quickly diving low before they could spot him, he quickly flew to Andre who he'd spotted earlier. Hovering above his boss, he whistled quietly to get his attention. "Boss, more people comin in. No clue who they are, but they don't seem like the villager type. Too dark to see much else though. The new recruits are startin to head back to tha inn, but if they're not quick about it, these new figures will reach the inn before 'em. Orders?"

Edited August 5, 2013 by scorri

[Eail]

"I'd like that a lot, having someone to train with, or even just to bounce ideas off of is a welcome change of pace. We could probably learn a lot from each other too if we pool our efforts." Erebus suggested as he and Chandra were on their way back to the inn.

Once they were back inside he turned to his female counterpart and asked "So what's next? I've never really used a staff or had to remove an arrow before so I'm completely in your hands here."

[eclipse]

The inn was in sight. Part of her regretted trying to make it back, alone. The other part told her to be grateful that it wasn't worse. If the healer felt that her head was bad enough, he'd do something about it. Until then. . .Raelyn bit her lip. Just a little further! Her feet caught something, and she pitched forward. Of all the places--well, no matter. She'd get to the inn. . .but first. . .just a little nap. . .

[Snike]

"Fly ahead and rush the recruits into the inn," Andre said, stopping and placing his tankard on the ground. " Get the vets if they're uninjured to guard the door outside, then keep scouting them out. I'll catch up. Hurry! If they aren't being chased, than odds are we'll get blindsided if we choose to ignore them."

The half-dwarf sheathed his sword, and without further delay, began to sprint towards the front of the inn.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Snike

[Oersted]

Ernce let out a relaxed sigh as the magic took effect and his wound closed. His shoulder was still sore but at least he could hold his lance and support the white-haired guy at the same time now. "Hey," he said to get the white-haired guy's attention. "I know you're tired an' all but really, here? C'mon" he said as he extended his left hand to the white-haired guy, "I'll help you up and we'll head back to the inn together." As Ernce waited for him to take his hand he remembered something, he still didn't know the guy's name. "Oh, and if ya don't mind... please tell me your name by the time we limp back to the inn."

[Bluedoom]

Feeling his left arm restored partially to its former strength, Rimsky felt energized enough to head back to the inn and maybe help out a few people. perhaps talk to that Caslan guy, seemed to be an interesting mage with horse problems.

"Yo Caslan! I think should errr head back ter da inn, I don't think we've got any injured people to ferry on the way... but I doubt Raelyn could make it to the inn. We be'er search fer her on da way." he suggested to him, turning his horse in the direction of the inn.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Bluedoom

[scorri]

Toqua pulled Serath back around and flew quickly back to the new recruits. Flying over Sayina, he shouted down, "Incoming. Get them back to tha inn, *now*. Tell the others to meet tha boss back in front of tha inn." Flying up, he coasted high over the village until he reached the shadowy figures. Peering down, he frowned. Senian soldiers... Here? Taking note of their numbers, he quickly turned back around and headed to the inn.

Meanwhile, Sayina shouted, "Back to the inn! Those of you with horses, take the slower ones." Riding over to Rayil, he reached down and pulled the swordsman up into his saddle. "You are coming with me." He started to charge back to the inn, hoping to find the other vets along the way.

Meanwhile, Adari had made it back to the inn. Seeing Raelyn collapsed in front of the inn, she frowned. Swinging down off her horse, she knelt down next to the woman. "Are you ok? Here, let me help you up."

[eclipse]

"Mom, it's too early to wake up," Raelyn grumbled. The world refocused itself. She was outside of the inn, and Adari was next to her. "Oh, um, sorry about that. . .and thanks," she said. Getting up again was NOT going to be fun. C'mon, just a little further she told herself.

[Vestige]

For the second time, he grasped at Ernce's hand and pulled himself up. He staggered a little before stabilizing himself on Ernce's shoulder. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to be doing much walking, so much as Ernce dragging him along. His entire body refused to obey him. At this rate, he was going to wear himself out by simply standing. But if he could just make it to the inn, a night's rest would be at hand. And he would finally have a chance to reflect. That's something he desperately wanted to do. In fact, he needed to do it.

"I'm Zeff..." he muttered.

[Snike]

Jacob was almost to the inn when he saw Adari kneeling down next to a blonde woman - it wasn't Aina, so Raelyn?- who was face down on the ground. Oh dear, had she been injured during the fight? It was so chaotic that the merchant's son couldn't remember. Well, even if they hadn't, this business was about teamwork, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to demonstrate some cooperation.

"Need any help?" he asked, approaching the two mercenaries. "Sayina's not back yet, but I can help either of you get inside to wait."

[Rothene]

"What? But...people...right," Caslan exclaimed after hearing Rimsky's words. It was apparent that Ernce had Zeff covered and he should head back to the inn. But the elf was already close to the two wounded mercenaries, might as well go and lend his support.

Rushing to Zeff's side, Caslan slid under his arm to lend his support, "Two people will lessen the burden. Let's get to the inn faster."

***

Joey heard somebody fall not too far from it. Curious, it turned around to spare the unfortunate soul a glance. Noticing that the collapsed individual was none other than one of those to make it to its 'individual that might be worth being nice to' list, the horse spared some precious energy plodding towards Raelyn, only to see another individual rush to help her. And yet another one.

Thinking that this might be a worthwhile distraction from its boring life, Joey got next to the two woman, placing itself between them and jacob, and gently bit the back of Raelyn's clothing to hold her up, fully intending to follow the duo all the way to the inn. It had never been into an inn before, and it seemed to always be buzzing with activity, maybe a fight or two. One hardly gets that in the stables. It was either some prick of a stallion arrogantly making advances on mares, or two stallions trying to bite each other.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Rothene

[eclipse]

Now I KNOW I'm in bad shape. I feel like something's tugging my clothes. Raelyn wasn't sure if her addled head was responsible for this, but she decided that the force that wanted her off the ground probably knew better. With whatever it was holding her up, she slowly made her way to the entrance. This time, she'd make it!

[Bluedoom]

Noticing Toqua fly by and tell Sayina something, and then Sayina telling everyone to head back to the inn, Rimsky turned to see Caslan try and help Zeff and Ernce move towards the inn. Following orders, Rimsky turned towards the young archer Caslan was addressing, telling him, " Yo, you be'er hop on ter mah horse and we move quick! Guess somethin's amiss, with Toqua comin' in all of a sudden!" Rimsky said in a hurry. Guess there were more enemies than intended? All he had now was confusion and nothing else.

[Parrhesia]

"I'm not the one who needs help here!" snapped Malachi. "My legs are fine, and I can still shoot a bow. Head back to the inn and lend your mount to someone who needs it." Pointedly, he shrugged at Raelyn.

[Oersted]

"Nice to meet you Zeff," Ernce said as he started walking while Zeff leaned on his shoulder. The pair made it about five steps before Sayina suddenly ordered everyone back to the inn. The way he said it and also the fact that he implied they should hurry, by mentioning that people with horses should help others without horses, told him that something was wrong. He looked out the village gates, not that he could see much of anything with how dark it was, and had a gut reaction to run. Just leave Zeff and run. He might've even done it if the guy wasn't half asleep on his uninjured arm.

"I'd apologize for this," Ernce said he stopped suddenly and Zeff nearly fell, clearly not paying attention to Ernce's actions at all, "but I think you'll thank me in the long run." As he said that he picked up the half asleep merc in his arms and ran. Or he would've at least if the elven mage Mira had gotten in a few fights with hadn't offered to help. Ernce looked at him, it didn't seem likely that the elf would be able to keep up with him if he ran but he'd take whatever help he could get.

"I appreciate the offer Caslan," Ernce said as he stood back up with his left arm supporting Zeff's right side and Caslan's right arm supporting Zeff's left side. He was genuinely glad Caslan offered to support Zeff with him; he was still feeling tipsy from all the blood he had lost. If he'd tried to pick Zeff up and run it probably wouldn't have ended well. "Now let's get to the inn quickly! I have a bad feeling about this."

Caslan moved faster than Ernce thought he'd be able to and they easily made it three fourths of the way back to the inn before he himself had to slow down due to overexerting himself. Ernce walked the rest of the way back to the inn in silence, not even responding if he was spoken to as he was breathing hard. At least he no longer had the distinct urge to flee now that they were back at the inn. "Thanks a lot," Ernce said as they walked into the inn. "If you hadn't offered to help us back there, I don't think we would've made it back to the inn before something happened. So, thanks for that."

All that was left to do was go put Zeff in a bed somewhere and wait for Andre and Adari to get back. Although now that he was back at the inn he felt like he'd forgotten something. It wasn't his lance, he'd used that as a makeshift cane when they'd slowed down. He had is armor without a doubt so what was he forgetting...?

Edited August 5, 2013 by Oersted

[Rothene]

"Alright Zeff, we're in the inn, just sit carefully now..." Caslan muttered softly as he carefully set Zeff down on a chair, then shake him slightly to keep the mercenary awake, "and don't try to sleep. I've seen desert people go to sleep after bleeding a lot, some don't wake up. So stay awake, maybe eat something."

With Zeff secure on the chair, the elf glanced around the inn for the innkeeper in order to get some food for Zeff. That was when he noticed the innkeeper glaring in a general direction. Following that gaze, Caslan's heart nearly gave out from shock at what he saw at the end of it.

***

After helping Raelyn to the inn, Joey took the liberties of making its way around the interior, rudely bumping away anyone who attempted to shoo it out. With great care, the horse did not physically come into contact with any of the stools or tables. The air smelled bad to the horse, worse than the stables. There was this acrid smell that seemed to come mainly from the kitchen, no doubt the lousy food the patrons ate, and the weird cylindrical objects on the table held foul smelling liquids, another sign that the horses had better discriminating taste when it came to consumption. For Joey saw some of the inn patrons down an entire mug of the vile liquid.

Snorting, Joey eased itself to a corner of the inn and watched the people come shuffling in injured and exhausted. Typical humans, like those dumb stallions, all they do is pick fights with each other for no good reason, then grumble when they get hurt.

The horse then noticed the baleful glare of the innkeeper, clearly male because of how ugly it looked, which it returned with a displeased snort and bared teeth, fully ready to meet any combative challenge the innkeeper might bring to it. Who does that human think he is? Doesn't he know not to glare at something that he can't bring down with brute force?

Edited August 6, 2013 by Rothene

[eclipse]

Ugh, finally! Raelyn found the nearest open seat and sank in it, grateful to the weird force she thought she felt. She turned, and yelped. Was that a horse in the door, or was she imagining things?!

"I don't think my head can take much more," she grumbled to herself.

[Toogee]

"I'd like that a lot, having someone to train with, or even just to bounce ideas off of is a welcome change of pace. We could probably learn a lot from each other too if we pool our efforts." Erebus suggested as he and Chandra were on their way back to the inn.

Once they were back inside he turned to his female counterpart and asked "So what's next? I've never really used a staff or had to remove an arrow before so I'm completely in your hands here."

"Just follow me," Chandra replied as she escorted Erebus to her room. The room was, not surprisingly, rather spartan,with the bed being the only piece of furniture within. The mage directed Erebus to lay down on the bed while she went through her things. At last, she emerged with a very dusty staff.

"It's been a while since I used one of these," Chandra said, looking over the healing staff for any imperfections. Once she was satisfied by its condition, the mage returned to her patient's side. To avoid getting more blood on her robe, Chandra allowed it to fall on the floor. In her lilac dress, Chandra appeared much slimmer than within the stuffy robe. But enough about appearances. There was work to be done.

Chandra knelt next to Erebus and examined the wound. "I hope you have extra robes," she said as she pulled a knife out of her fallen robes. Very carefully, she began to carefully cut a larger hole in Erebeus' robes, revealing his entire shoulder. With a far better view, the dark mage could see that the arrow was not near any vital organs. Putting the knife down, Chandra took her staff and held the orbed end close to the wound.

"This might sting a little," she said before closing her eyes and concentrating. She focused her healing magic behind the arrow point, allowing the wound to heal from the indie first. By doing so, his healing flesh began pushing against the arrow, forcing it out of his skin. It was a somewhat slow process and likely uncomfortable for Erbus, but the arrow eventually fell out of the now much smaller puncture wound.

"I'll need to do another round of healing, but the worst is over," Chandra reassured Erebus, reaching for his opposite shoulder to comfort him.

[spoiler=Points spent]Chandra now uses her healing staff: -30 points for Healing Staff C.

Total: 22 points

[Lyunn]

Mira had watched silently as the group picked itself together and headed back towards the inn. The more able fighters carrying the wounded. A few of the more energetic ones were trying to look for ways in which they could assist the rather strained healers, but eventually the group disappeared one by one, with the reduced numbers, it didn’t take much effort to crouch down and snatch a small satchel one of the bandits had been carrying. The clink of silver causing her to smile. She looked around to see if there was anything else of value, but to her dismay there wasn’t much at all.

That said, the silver pieces she’d picked up was more than enough for her to get to the next town. It was a pity she couldn’t kill the elf she’d interacted with earlier, but either the groups foes would take care of that for her, or if he survived long enough, she could probably hunt him down once Andre’s little band became famous or something. She figured she might owe Andre or Adari some sort of notice, but the idea of returning to the inn wasn’t at all appealing, and the less shouting she had to deal with the better.

Making sure that she wasn’t being watched, she slipped away silently

[Vestige]

The moments spent walking back to the inn were a blur to Zeff. He hadn't spoken, and if anyone had spoken to him, he didn't remember. Nor did he particularly care. He was thankful to be back at the inn however, and it seemed as though somewhere between leaving the battlefield, and returning to the inn, it seemed as though Caslan had joined him and Ernce. He was slightly annoyed that he wasn't placed in a bed, but rather at a table. He was more annoyed however that Caslan would not allow him to sleep.

He had no energy to make it to his sleeping room, so he remained at the table under the supervision of Caslan and Ernce. However, ignoring Caslan's request he put his head down onto his arm while letting the other one stay limp at his side. Sayina was right, his arm might have been healed but it wasn't feeling the greatest. Still, it wasn't enough to keep him from sleeping. He took a large breath and closed his eyes. Whether Caslan returned to wake him yet again was something he didn't really care about. And If he didn't wake up again, he still didn't care.

[scorri]

Adari was surprised as the horse went into the inn, apparently carrying Raelyn. Frowning, she grabbed the horses bridle. "Yer not allowed in here. Tha innkeeper will not be pleased with me iffen I let ya stay here." The horse snorted in protest, but Adari just whapped him on the nose. "Yer coming with me whether ya like it or not." Dragging the horse out, she placed him in the stables and started to make her way back to the inn.

Meanwhile, Sayina arrived outside the inn and dropped Rayil off on the ground. "You go inside. Keep the newer members inside, no matter what. You are all too injured and inexperienced right now. Rest. We will be back soon." Rayil stared at him for a few seconds, nodded, and rushed inside. Sayina watched him leave and then shook his head. Spying Adari, he called out to her, "Adari! Have you heard? We are to stay out here, there are incoming soldiers. Orders from the boss." Adari frowned, but nodded. "Alright, I'll stay out here. Hopefully Andre'll get here soon. I don't much like tha idea of fightin soldiers without him."

Toqua was perched up on the inn's roof and called down to the pair, "We've got about another minute before they arrive. Ah've been watchin them. Looks like real Senian soldiers too. Ah don't like the looks of this..."

Meanwhile, Rayil got inside and looked around. Picking a seat near the door, he steeled himself both for having to prevent others from going outside and also for having to listen to the sounds of an inevitable fight going on.

[Psych]

Leon headed back into the inn, with his staff in hand. He noticed the group of four at the table, none of whom exactly seemed like a ray of sunshine. "You guys have a bit too much ale before the fight?" He smirked, before noticing his joke falling flat. "Hey, I can help you guys some, but it's not nearly as good as Sayina. Who's up first?"

Leon tried going through his bag for some bandages, but he didn't have many medical supplies. He hadn't expected such wounds, and was really only equipped to handle first aid through his staff. "I guess I was kind of lucky in that fight, since how would it look for a healer to get hurt?"

[Snike]

A horse arrived on the scene, prompted Raelyn to get up, and went into the inn with her, oddly enough. Adari quickly took control and brought the mount to the stables however, so it really was none of Jacob's concern. While the horse was led back, he entered the inn and collapsed into a nearby chair. That was one hell of a first battle. Hopefully he'd be able to get used to that pace.

***

Andre rounded the corner to find Adari, Sayina, and Toqua already in front of the inn. Charlie was approaching from the other side, with a puzzled expression?

"Reinforcements?" he asked, while his boss approached.

"Yes. Probably the same group," Andre said, coming to a stop a few feet away from Adari and the others. "If we're lucky, they're the ones who organized this attack. Weapons ready, they must be relatively close."