Beneath the Shadows Chapter Two: Chasing Shades

[Snike]

"If you say so, though there are ways to improve that. And, your discussion isn't trivial, by any means," Hale said, before moving on to to what he thought about this. "Well, first you guys go out and end up getting into a scuffle with demons, then, when coming back for the job, Senians attack. I don't think it's a coincidence, but if that's the case, that means dark times are approaching once more. History may be on its' way to repeating itself."

He probably would've went on, but a scream came, from the direction of the gathering.

***

The Senian officer screamed as the ice spear went through her hand and intense, cold, pain surged through it.

"N-noo, it wasn't us.... A-Aldrick k-killed them, not us," she managed to get out, before the ice casing hit her. "Aaah! P-please.... N-No..."

Then the elf got down to her level, grabbed the dwelf's arm, and began to talk about freezing her blood. Her gaze was ice cold. The prisoner was crying out of fear now. "P-please... I- don't want to die.... N-No......"

Her blood began to chill, and she was sure to die...

Then, suddenly, the elven mage fell limp, knocked out by a blow from behind.

"Sayina, get over here, now!" Andre yelled, as he pulled back the hilt of his sword and sheathed the weapon. After stowing his axe away, he picked the ice mage up and began to move her away from the Senian she had just brutalized. The interrogation could wait.

[scorri]

Sayina blinked and rushed over. Without even a word, he knelt and quickly muttered a complex healing spell, hoping that he wasn't too late. The dwelf's breath evened out and soon the color and warmth came back into her cheeks. With a nod, he looked up at Andre. "She'll be good."

[Nanami Touko]

"If you know of any ways, please, let me know. And, dark times? What do you mea--" was all Linn managed to say, before she heard Elysia scream. It made her jump, and all of her attention concentrated on it. "Goodness, what are they doing over there? Sounds like some rather extreme interrogation, for a mercenary group." She watched Andre knock the mage out, and carry her away. "Remind me not to get on her bad side. Anyway, do you think we'll be able to scour the shops before we leave? We shouldn't just leave everything here." She was determined to get herself something new to wear, as her dress had accumulated an unfortunate amount of holes.

[Ether]

'Aldrick... that must be the dark user who got that shot in and escaped... well, I can deal with him when I find him.' Elysia decided, as the trembling girl began to plead... didn't seem to have much dignity left in her, did she? Her words droned, though some in particular caught Elysia's attention.

"You don't... want to die? Tell me... do you think anyone in this village felt like dying? Any of the travellers taking refuge at the inn, coming into town? How many of them... wanted to die, so that you could set up your little ambush, toda-" Elysia began, as her icy grip slowly waned... there was no point in killing this one, she had already reduced herself to nothing, and moments before Elysia was to let her go... the better an impression she could make, the more ingrained that message would become, she felt a hard blow to the back, and her consciousness slipping, as she fell to the ground.

[Toogee]

Chandra gasped as Elysia began to torture the prisoner. She wasn’t sure how far she would have gotten had Andre not knocked her out. Sayina was already on the scene to heal the Senian, and the situation died down. During this, Chandra caught two people wandering towards her from the corner of her eye. She turned her head to find that Zeff and Aina weren't far, the latter definitely in need of some attention. Chandra broke away from the crowd and approached the two, quickly applying a healing pulse to Aina's eye socket. Though the bleeding ceased, regenerating an eye was far beyond the shaman's skills.

"That should take care of the bleeding," Chandra started, "but...I'm afraid the eye is lost. I'm so sorry." Chandra could not imagine life without seeing or reading. Nor did she know how a blind mercenary would make a living. The shaman certainly did not envy Aina's position.

“If it’s any consolation, if that arrow went a little further, it could have killed you,” Chandra remarked as she started healing Zeff. “I don’t know if you believe in fate or anything like that, but…there has to be some reason why the world would be so cruel…”

[Vestige]

A reason why the world would be so cruel? He thought about Aina's eye, and then his mind drifted to Reva. I'm not sure there is one...

"...Say, Chandra. What's been going on over there?" he pointed to the area where Chandra had just come from, "I heard a scream just now, that didn't come from one of us, did it?"

[Snike]

The dwelf just continued to shake and sob, hurting less, but still terrified out of her mind. Andre sighed. She'd be useless, at least, for the time being.

"Thank you, Sayina. Ernce, I'm going to put you in charge of the prisoner, for now," Harrop said, as he finished moving the elf away from the gathering. "Make sure no one else tries to kill her. We need her for information, for now. And Alfonso, was it? I need you to make sure our other guest doesn't go and try to pick up where she left off when she wakes up. I need to speak with Adari and check the second floor of the inn, but then I'll be back, so if you could do that, it'd be much appreciated."

And with that said, the half-dwarf turned to head back towards the inn. Before he could make it far, however, he saw Chandra, Zeff, and Aina, who was now eyeless. Oh no.

"Aina..." Andre said, as he stopped in front of them. "... Right, can one of you two act as her guide, for the time being? I don't want her to be stumbling around and accidentally injure or kill herself because of it."

***

"I have no idea what they're doing over there, but it doesn't sound good," Hale said, once the screaming and whatnot subsided. "Anyways, I would guess you probably would be able to check the shops, but personally, I'm not interested in that. I have all I need already."

[Ether]

"Aye, boss?" Aina replied, as one of the voices she recognized well, that of Andre, rang nearby.

"Looks like I'm finished, huh? Always thought I'd atleast manage until I got killed... not like this..."

[Xinnidy]

Though the ruthless act by the mage took Alfonso by shock more than anything, as soon as he heard Andre's words he was snapped back to his old self, and gave a nod in reply. Keeping guard of somebody unconscious seemed as something he'd get proficient at, if only thanks to the current circumstances.

[Toogee]

A reason why the world would be so cruel? He thought about Aina's eye, and then his mind drifted to Reva. I'm not sure there is one...

"...Say, Chandra. What's been going on over there?" he pointed to the area where Chandra had just come from, "I heard a scream just now, that didn't come from one of us, did it?"

"No, we're fine," Chandra replied. "The elvish girl that was fighting with us had lost her group in the raid. She took her anger out on the last Senian. Andre stopped her before she could do worse to the Senian. With her alive, we might be able to figure out what's happening."

Just then, Andre stopped by, instructing both Zeff and Chandra to watch over Aina.

"Yes sir," the shaman replied before turning to the two. "Perhaps we should continue this inside?" The inn may not have been in the best of shape, but perhaps there would be less things for Aina to impale herself on.

[Vestige]

"Hmm. I see. I'm rather curious about the situation going on in my country, so I do indeed hope we can glean some information from her".

When the commander approached the trio, Zeff responded with "Yes, of course captain. I'll see to it that she doesn't come into harms way..." Still rather taken aback by the entire situation, he decided it would be best to sit down somewhere, and he followed Chandra to the inn, leading Aina towards it as well.

[Snike]

"Yeah, looks like you'll won't be able to fight anymore," Andre said, looking away. "But, don't worry too much. We'll figure something out for you. You're essentially family, and we don't abandon family."

Then, Chandra suggested them continuing their discussion inside. The half dwarf frowned, a little. "Feel free, though, it's a mess. The half elf and I did some... redecorating, so to speak."

And with that said, Harrop returned to the entrance of the inn, where Adari was waiting. "Right, now, it's time for the status report. I already know about Aina, but were there any others? ... There's another problem, but this isn't the place to talk about it. Maybe in the inn, since I have to search it as well?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Alright... I'll try to find Caslan, and we'll look around for anything we need. Let me know how to get this magic under control some time." She wandered off, in search of the other elf. That Hale fellow was alright to talk to but he didn't seem like one for long conversation. Not his fault, and given the situation, I doubt anyone else will be. The elf was slumped near his horse, but he didn't look too hurt. Aeson had probably gotten around to him at some point, though he hadn't woken up. "Hello, Joey. Good boy, staying with your master. He should try to find some treats for you, you've been more than wonderful to him. Speaking of him..." she bent over, and poked his nose as she spoke, "is he going to bother waking up any time soon?"

[Rothene]

Feeling his vitality recovering, Caslan decided to relax. Unfortunately, that was not to be as someone apparently decided to poke him in the nose. The action jolted him to wake up immediately, "What! Woah careful!"

Picking himself up, Caslan dusted himself and asked, "Oh, Linn, hey. It seems we won right?"

[Nanami Touko]

Linn laughed, and explained, "yes, we did, though more than half of us were hurt, pretty badly too. You went down, and I wasn't much better off...but we're all good now, so how about we rummage our way through the shops? It's...well, it's not like they're going to need their wares anymore." It wasn't a pleasant thought, but it was the truth. "Come on, there's a store right over there! I'll head on over and you catch up when you're fully awake. Don't take too long! And bring anyone else, if they're interested! More hands make short work, and the like." And so she hopped off, and upon entering, began to search through whatever clothes and things she could find.

Edited October 4, 2013 by I have opinions

[scorri]

Sayina was walking around, trying to make sure everyone was healed when he almost tripped over Raelyn. Shaking his head, he knelt down and looked her over. Without looking up, he shouted to Leon, "Make sure that everyone who went down is healed." Starting the complex healing spell, he gestured with his staff and smiled slightly as the color returned to her cheeks and her breathing evened out.

Adari nodded to her boss, and started to head inside. "She's the only one who took serious damage. The rest will be ok after some healing. There was... something though. A shaman who seemed to be controlling this woman who was... more powerful than anyone we've faced yet. I could have beaten her but... it wouldn't have been easy."

Rayil was still unconcious, lying on the ground in an ever growing pool of his own blood.

[Oersted]

Stunned by the sudden brutality of (who he assumed to be) the newest addition the Harriers, Ernce barely managed a reply to his boss' orders. "Y-Yes sir," he said quickly. Hoping to hide his shock he resorted to his knightly persona, or what was left of it anyway. "You can count on me! No one will get past me unless you want them to!" he said enthusiastically. Andre seemed to accept his words as the man turned and headed for the inn, leaving him alone with the newly terrified and injured Senian dwelf. Not having anything to say to the dwelf he turned to his fellow guard, Alfonso.

"Say Alfonso, when you moved me did you happen to notice a shield nearby? And if you did, did you happen to pick it up?"

Edited October 4, 2013 by Oersted

[eclipse]

Sound pierced the darkness, but where was it from? Light gave form to sound. She blinked a few times and gasped. Rimsky was. . .closer than she'd realized. "Hey, there. Looks like you're okay. How's your horse?" She heard the sound of retreating horse hooves. Was that. . .Sayina?

[Xinnidy]

Alfonso just kept his look down at the unconscious elf for the time, for once, he wondered what to do. He supposed to just wait as Andre went in the inn, but what if she woke up? While he hesitated to knock her unconscious again, he feared another outburst to catch him off guard. Letting out a heavy sigh, the old knight was interrupted by none other than Ernce, whom showed concern over some shield he seemed to lose. "Hmm, I can't say I've picked up anything, from the hurry to get you far from their corpses and close to a healer. It's probably still where you dropped, if you lost it." He said, trying to remember if he ever saw Ernce using said shield in actual combat. He hoped he'd not gone senile this soon.

[Bluedoom]

"Glad ta see that you're ok, Raelyn. Mehr's doin' fine. Sayina just revived ya and the battle's over now, thankfully. That was one heck of a battle. Think you can stand up?" Rimsky asked, letting go of his grip on her now and taking a few steps back to give her space.

[Snike]

"Alright, no problem. Bye for now," Hale said, as Linn left to go find this 'Caslan' fellow. That was a relatively pleasant conversation, given he wasn't held at bow point for once. Regardless, the half-elf decided that it was high time to get out of the way of the mercenaries. So, he made his way into the inn, and decided to take a seat over in a relatively bloodless area. After removing his gauntlets so he wouldn't get the pages stained - and he could look at his ring- the scholar began to start sifting through his notes on demons.

***

"Well, I suppose that's good to know," Andre said, as he headed for the stairs. "The injuries, I mean, not the shaman. And you say he was controlling her? Like, with dark magic? We're going to have to speak with Chandra about that, then. Anyways, I suppose it's time to discuss that matter," he continued, once the two of them reached the second floor. "We have one of the Senians - a dwelf- disarmed and alive outside. Before the elf I don't recognize went and tried to kill her, she said that they were looking for a tall half-elf, with silver hair, a blue necklace, and a ring. Now, ring aside, who does that remind you of?"

***

Aldrick and the thrall arrived at his office in the freshly acquired Senian outpost on the border of Celisa. His wounds were healed, thanks to his slave's elixir. Essentially ignoring the pair of waiting subordinates, the shaman led his tool to a cell, directed her inside, and closed and locked the door. From there, he returned to his office, sank into his chair, and savored it for a moment.

"Contact General Brams, I have a combat report about Project LUNA," Aldrick ordered, almost immediately afterwards. "Oh, and someone bring me a cup of tea, immediately."

The two underlings nodded, and immediately took off. A few minutes later, the shaman was sipping his beverage. There was nothing quite as satisfying, as tea, after bloodshed.

[Rothene]

The spirit of looting is strong in that one, Caslan thought as he made his way to the shop Linn entered. Then he realised there was something he desperately needed if he were to survive this line of work. Calling out to his fellow preoccupied spellcaster, "Hey Linn! I'll be going to a leather shop near the edge of the village to see if I can find armour. These's clothes will not do. I'll see if I can pick any out for you."

Then the elf went to the leather shop that he mentioned and started sorting through the few hardened leather armour the shop had.

[Nanami Touko]

Linn poked her head out of the door, her arms already full of clothes to try on, "wait up, I'll come with you! You don't even know my size!" She quickly tossed back half of the things she'd found, and trailed after Caslan. He was already sifting through leathers when she walked in, and she quickly ran herself into one of the dressing rooms. "Just find me something medium sized, I'll tie it up after. And don't you dare look!" There must be something I found that'll be wearable. Something...

[Shin]

He was getting used to getting people back on their feet. He approached the wounded Rayil who had seemed to have acquired a rather substantial pool of blood. Feeling that it would be more useful for him to not bleed to death, Aeson began his work.

"A river is no good without water, come, allow yourself to surge once more." Aeson proclaimed, healing the unlucky combatant.

His work not done, he hurried over to Malachi, doing a similar job. For people who were apparently soldiers, these folk seemed awfully bad at not going down. Perhaps fate had not been on their side?

After completing the job, Aeson found himself a nice piece of greenery to lie down on, finding himself exhausted from channelling his energies.

[Rothene]

After a while Caslan picked out two armours that suited his size, which he estimated was about Linn's size as well. Length wise at least. Satisfied, the elven mage started slipping one on top of his clothes. With his new armour, Caslan could not help but tap it with his fist, unsure if they really would lessen the strength of enemy weapons.

With nothing else to do but wait, Caslan decided to survey the room or any other interesting goods, a glove or perhaps some new boots, finally getting into the groove of looting. Speaking loudly for Linn to hear, Caslan asked, "So, after this, should we get to practicing on magic?"

Edited October 5, 2013 by Rothene