Beneath the Shadows Chapter One: Ancient Fears

[Vestige]

He closed his eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath. "I see. That's good." He was still tired from the whole battle and the poison wasn't helping either. For now, he would have to rely on Caslan for support. Seems I've been causing him quite a great deal of trouble. I should make sure to thank him for it later.

"Don't keep the girl waiting you say?" he laughed, "you make it seem like she has some sort of fondness for me" he said jokingly. As he was being led to Linn by Caslan, he started doing some thinking, and there was something that began to trouble him. It felt like he had forgotten something that was really important to him, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He furrowed his brow in annoyance and decided to ponder upon it when he had some time alone.

[#!/dev/haru]

If, at the very end of the battle, one were to look for Val, they wouldn't find anything, for she was no longer around. Having hung back with the other assigned to her, she had been overlooking the battle, silently noting certain patterns and watching... the mages, mostly. It was them that she was most interested in, though it would be almost impossible for any of them to notice her carefully scrutinizing their every move, sensing their styles and capabilities. Upon noting... something, she suddenly cursed under her breath.

She gave Aina a little stare, before muttering under her breath, "I'll be right back," sprinting off in a different direction, not even looking back to see if she would notice what were probably the first words she'd hear out of Val's mouth. Upon finding a secluded area, Val immediately prepares to activate a little magical amulet... except that it was already active, her brooch suddenly glowing brightly. She looked down at it, eyes widening, and, upon activating her end of the amulet, began sprinting back to the base camp. She looked at Aina. "I'll be back. Something has come up. Take care of things here." She mounted her horse, and she was off... back in the direction of the village from whence they'd come in the first place. No explanation, not caring that her words were probably loud enough for the others to hear, too.

[Snike]

"I'm fine, and don't remind me about the blow," Jacob said, trying to avoid dwelling on how he went down earlier. "Just what were those things, though? I mean, Chandra had apparently fought them before, but I have never heard about monsters in Celisa."

Meanwhile, Hale walked over and retrieved the late shaman's tome from the ground. He opened the book and began to skim it, frowning.

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh, Caslan, you're here! You can come along too!" Linn said, peaking her head out of the house to see if Zeff had followed Ernce. How surprised she was when Caslan was there too! And how wonderful it was. More people meant more chances to find out what happened here. "Why look through the houses? Well, where else would the villagers be? If there are any left! And besides, at least this way we can find things we might be able to use. Perhaps some medicine; a weapon the family kept through the ages. Things like that. So, team, let's get exploring! Feel free to scream if another one of those creatures shows up. I know I will." Despite being obviously scared, Linn bounded off into the house, leaning herself on the counter in the kitchen, and surveying the rest of the room. It sure would be great if that moon was a bit brighter.

[Rothene]

"Alright...Zeff, I'm...huff..going...to...put you...down...here," wheezed Caslan as he let Zeff sit on the floor in the house. Although he had recovered from his wounds, his stamina was not at its finest, thus he could not support the other man's weight anymore. Catching his breath, the elven mage made his way to the only room that has yet to be explored, which he assumed was the bedroom.

Pushing open the door carefully, cringing and how the creaking noise hurt his delicate elven hearing, Caslan peaked into the room. It was a mess as if a struggle took place. The elf could only make a logical guess as to what became of the former occupants. Not wanting to leaf through other people's belongings alone, Caslan called out, "This room's a mess! I think we might find something of use here if we comb it together!"

***

Bored, as soon as the fighting died down, Joey clomped to the house it saw its rider entered and promptly followed. When it heard its rider call out excitedly, it nonchalantly bit Zeff's collar to drag the poor mercenary along with it to the room. Something to take away the boredom human, this is no time to be sitting down and being lazy!

[Nanami Touko]

Linn quickly decided that being alone in the dark was a bad idea, and that there was nothing of value in the kitchen! "Sure thing, coming!" She left the room as quickly as she'd entered, and found her way to where Caslan was searching. It truly was a mess, and Linn found herself having trouble walking through all the things on the floor. It didn't help that her dress was drooping slightly more because of the tears in it. At least she was still decent. "So, Caslan! You...seem to be able to take magic a lot better than I can. Maybe you can give me some tips or advice? I can dish it out but I can't really take it back very well." She stuck her tongue out, hiding her embarrassment behind it.

[Vestige]

No sooner had Caslan put him down and walked off, had a horse appeared inside the house and start to pull on his collar. Can't catch a moment's rest, now can I? Okay horse, I trust that you'll be my escort. Using the horses broadside, he hoisted himself up and leaned on it as it followed it's master inside of the room.

Inside he was greeted by the sight of person belongings strewn across the room. Off to the side were Caslan and Linn. "Er, hello Linn. Sorry Caslan, wasn't very sure what to do with the horse," he said, the absurdity of the situation dawning upon him. How is this even happening?

[Nanami Touko]

Linn began laughing so hard at the sight of Zeff that she snorted. "All that tension's gone! We could be attacked again right now and I'd probably still be laughing!" It took her a moment to control herself, and even then she was still giggling. "Sorry, what were we doing again? Searching through the room? Right. Zeff, if you've the strength, because I understand if you don't, feel free to rifle through some things." Linn crouched herself down and started flinging stuff around, looking for anything that could help.

[Vestige]

The sound of Linn's laughter caused him to join in. "Sure, I can help you look. Though, I think I'll just stick to this area here." He plopped himself down onto the floor, under the shadow Caslan's horse, and began sifting through the items that were scattered around the ground.

"Say, guys. What do you suppose happened with the townspeople? And those demons..." he paused for a moment "I wasn't dreaming right? Those were demons we were fighting, yes?"

Edited September 20, 2013 by Vestige

[Oersted]

Ernce watched as Caslan, Linn and Zeff went about inspecting the house for anything important; although he didn't pay that much attention. He was tired, his cheek was still bleeding (if only a little) and he wasn't in a socializing mood. So long as they didn't directly involve him he wouldn't go out of his way to interact with them; he had some thoughts to sort out anyway. Why am I suddenly caught up on the past again? It almost got me killed... He glanced down at the leather-wrapped shield on his side as if it would comfort him. He briefly considered unwrapping it but quickly shook his head at the thought yet he couldn't tear his gaze from the only thing he had left of his old life. Maybe I should just be rid of it... he thought absentmindedly.

He was finally able to tear his eyes off of the shield just in time to see Zeff being drug by Caslan's horse into the only other room in the house apart from the kitchen and the room in which he was standing in alone at the moment. He turned his back to the unexplored door and looked out of the house. Someone had to keep watch, just in case more monsters showed or the other mercs decided to leave without them, on purpose or otherwise. It dawned on him that he was, in his current company at least, the best suited for the job seeing as he wasn't recovering from a magical beating or was an unarmored mage. The thought made him grin slightly but before long it faded back to his usual uninterested look.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Oersted

[Rothene]

Sorting through ruined fabric, Caslan replied, "I think all those dead bodies outside that did not fight us belonged to the villagers. There might be some who escaped I suppose but, I highly doubt we can find them in the dark." His hand curling upon something solid, excitement shot through him as he wondered what it could be. Pulling it out of some clothes, the elf sniffed in disappointment to discover it was just a broken leg from a stool and flung it behind him.

"Well, those wounds you took from the demons looked real enough to me. So I'd say yes, we fought demons." Then addressing a fellow spellcaster, "Oh and Linn, maybe we can practice our spellcraft together sometime. You show me some combative technique, I'll teach you better ways to draw magic from our surroundings to better use as a shield or attack?"

***

A piece of wood fell near its hooves, prompting the wise gelding to do what any other would have done in its place. Joey began gnawing at it to keep its teeth in good shape. Then somewhere apparently masterfully embedded inside it, Joey felt a metallic texture which glinted slightly gold in the moonlight. A very well hidden stash of a gold necklace within the wood done masterfully. Curious about how delicious this fancy looking oddity was Joey slurped it into its maw and chewed as hard as it could, breaking the golden chains and ruining the necklace before swallowing it, admiring its rich flavour.

[Nanami Touko]

"They were most definitely demons, Zeff. I can't even fake happiness at finding that out. I want to, but..." she shivered, "they were far too terrifying for even I to be happy about this discovery." She stood back up with a sigh, finding a wall to lean against (in such a small room it wasn't that hard). Caslan spoke up about practicing magic, and Linn smiled. "Do you think we could do that when we get back? I think that would be wonderful! It'd probably be fun to spend time with a fellow mage, either way, so, great." Happy about her plans, and little else, Linn decided to stop searching through the floor. There's no way we're going to find anything in this wreck of a house. Perhaps the other ones, but I doubt them too.

[Bluedoom]

"If you say so yerself! And I dunno, but maybe da people who hired us know more... if yer wanna find out, we better ask 'em ourselves!" he said as he nudged his horse to ride towards Chandra.

Getting off, he checked Chandra's pulse. She was still alive, although her condition didn't seem good at all. He gripped her tightly, trying to get her back to conscience. "Chandra, yeh ok? ..Darn, that was a serious blow yeh took there." he said silently as he checked her wounds, which had been somewhat healed by Sayina.

"Guess I'll be takin' her back to camp on mah horse. How 'bout you, Raelyn? Tired? Think I might need a healer mahself.." he said and he winced, looking at his thigh, that had been stabbed by one of the creatures from earlier.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Bluedoom

[Snike]

"I suppose you're right," Jacob said, cleaning his axe now. "Well let's hope that that's the last of them."

***

"... If I pay, it's coming out of your paycheck, Toqua," Andre said, as he, Adari, and the half-dwarf wyvern rider all came around the corner and into the center of the village. They appeared to be more or less alright, though there were a few scratches on Andre's armor. Now, to survey the scene... The rookies seemed to be all right, but why was the traveler here, and where was this 'Val' person?

"Adari, please ask that half-elf stranger why he's here," Andre said, with a frown on his expression. "Toqua, in the meantime, please bring Val over here. I have a few questions for her. I'll be over by Sayina for the next few minutes."

And with that said, Harrop made his way over to the elven healer.

"Status report," he said, simply.

[scorri]

Adari nodded and headed over to Hale. "You. What brought chya here? Ya visited us last night. Why'd ya follow us? Though if ya helped, an I'm assumin ya didn't attack us since yer still standin, I'm grateful. These... were somethin I'd never seen before. Yer still gonna need ta explain."

Toqua meanwhile cursed and pointed at his boss. "You lost, fair an square. Adari kicked both our butts and I beat you by one." Shaking his head, he stalked over to where Aina and Val had been left. Frowning at seeing just Aina, he growled in a slightly irritated voice, "Where's our friend? Andre wants her."

Sayina sighed. "Went about as well as could be expected. A couple that went down and went down hard. Chandra's still out. Shock I think. As much from these... demons as it was the blood loss. The half-elf came in and helped save us. He took out a couple of the big ones all by himself. He's fast... I could barely keep up with him."

Rayil was sitting near Sayina, and looked up as Andre approached. With a slight frown, he muttered, "Sir... how many more battles like these are we going to have to face?"

[Ether]

"She rode off sayin' she had something to take care of... I woulda stopped 'er but she had 'er horse. Seemed real shook up about somethin'" Aina replied when Toqua asked of Val.

[scorri]

Toqua cursed loudly and for a few seconds before catching himself. "Sorry. I'm not mad at you. Just... boss wanted ta see her." Sighing, he shook his head and headed back Andre's way.

[eclipse]

"I'm in better shape than you," Raelyn said, frowning as she got a good look at Rimsky. She shot a look at the other houses. "Your leg is a mess, Chandra's out, and Jacob isn't much better. I'll stay with all of you, just in case." A random thought turned into an idea. Oh hell no. . .not that. . . She took another look at Rimsky's leg. My past or his future. . .I don't like this. With a heavy sigh, she dug out the ribbon she had carried from Inthus. It's not like my hair will be long enough to make use of this.

"Here, hold still," she said, as she wrapped the ribbon around Rimsky's leg. She bit her lip as blood stained the ribbon almost as soon as she finished tying it. "This is a pathetic excuse for a bandage, but it's better than letting you bleed out." Where did the healers go?

[Rothene]

Not amused with his lack of success, Caslan slumped against the wall muttering in a displeased tone, "Well, so much for valuables worth looting. Even if the other houses have something worth looking at, I'm too tired to bother."

Getting up, the elf added, "I'll be outside resting. I think the battle fatigue's catching up to me and I would prefer having the strength to continue marching." Looking out of the window to remind himself that this village now belonged to the dead, Caslan continued, "I hope our leader doesn't plan on camping here."

[Psych]

Leon noticed a few of the others who hadn't gone to search the houses. One was still bleeding from his leg, and a few others looked worried. "Careful, it's better to just not mess with the wound since it could get infected." Leon's staff glowed, the gem looking like a wintry storm. He held it near the Rimsky's leg, slowly letting the light and energy seep into the wound. The bleeding stopped, and it simply looked as if he had a hole in his pants' leg. "I think that should do it. Sayina's busy with something and Chandra's still out. I don't know where Aeson went, so I have to fix everyone up. Shame about your ribbon, it looks nice too." Leon gave a smirk, leaving the two alone, and hustled over to Sayina for more orders.

[Nanami Touko]

"Caslan seems to be right, unfortunately. I'll be outside as well. Maybe we'll be leaving soon." Linn propped herself off the wall and made her way outside. Everyone seemed to be doing something or another, and there didn't seem to be any room for her to walk in and talk. In any other situation she would've anyway, but this atmosphere was sapping all of her joy. She sat herself near the group and amused herself by spinning some leaves through the air with her magic.

[Vestige]

Rather than follow Caslan and Linn outside, Zeff crawled over to a wall and sat against it. He was far too tired to be moving around needlessly, and if all that was going on at the moment was waiting for their next orders, he didn't see any reason why the waiting had to be done outside. If someone needed him, they would call for him.

"Tch, bloody demons..." The fog clouding his mind had begun to dissipate, and he started recounting the details of previous battle. Twice he had fallen in battle, and it wasn't much of a surprise that he did. Given the way he had been acting, he had left himself open to so many lethal attacks. But part of him shuddered at his bloodthirsty behavior, yet the other part scorned him.

Tears started to well up in his eyes. Reva, what am I to do now? Why couldn't it have been me instead...? As wave over wave of sadness washed over him, he became too tired to cling to consciousness. He curled up and closed his eyes.

[Snike]

Unsatisfied, Hale began to tear up the book, as he responded to Adari.

"I wanted to see whether there was any truth behind those 'monsters' you mentioned," Hale said, as he continued his destruction of perfectly fine literature. "It turned out that it was worse than monsters: demons. Beings of those kind haven't been seen frequently since a hundred years ago, and not since the demonic war six hundred years ago have they been seen in Celisa, land of the Primarch, according to records. I ran into a group of them, a long time ago, but to see them this far east is strange. Who tipped you folk off about them?"

***

"Right, remind me about that the next time I save you from having your face rearranged," Andre retorted, before raising an eyebrow. "The half elf? Looks like I'll really have to be speaking to him soon."

He paused, when Rayil asked how many more fights like this they would have to endure.

"The honest answer would be, I don't know, but I'm inclined to say probably not many more," the half-dwarf said, crossing his arms. "Dealing with what looked like demons wasn't what we were hired up for."

[scorri]

Watching Hale destroy the tome, Adari couldn't help but grin slightly. "Ya seem ta know quite a bit bout these demons. Ah, some half-elf hired us. Said his name was Xane. Didn't give too many details. We're headin back ta meet him soon. Suppose you could come along if Andre's ok with it."

Sayina merely nodded in response to Andre, but Rayil frowned. "Well... maybe he didn't know any better. I mean... they were monsters. Right?" He paused, planning on saying more when Toqua arrived and interrupted any further thoughts. "She's gone. Aina said she rushed off saying she had somethin to deal with. We're goin after her, right? Maybe tha two of them are tryin to cheat us."

[Snike]

"I don't know enough about these demons," Hale said, frowning. "That tome didn't have enough energy nor the right spell for fiend creation, considering the region, so there's another force at work. I'd like to come along and talk to this half-elf, with that in mind."

***

"... The way he talked about it, I think he knew about those 'monsters', if you want to call them that," Andre said, shaking his head. Then, Toqua reported in. "... Damn it. We can't go far without some rest... Toqua, try to see if you can catch up. We'll leave immediately once everyone who's injured is healed. Sayina, check on that, if you will."