Fantasy Fading Flame (In Character)

Stink Breath
The Weird lady seemed nice, she didn't hit him when she woke up. But her chewing of his trident was weird, and he's unsure of how he should feel about that, his trident was a precious gift from Ocean Mother. But weird lady not likely know that, so he forgives her, hopefully, she didn't put marks in it.

"Weird Lady follow Stink Breath, boss help you after you help boss," He was talking about her numerous wounds, he knew that Miska would be able to heal her lickity split, Salt healed all wounds after all. As he leads her towards where he left Brother Miska, he was hopping down from the roof and towards a darkened alley where he had stashed Miska. "Weird Lady, Here!" he shouted, as he dragged Miska into the light.

"Boss use too much magic, now won't wake up"
Pilgrim59

A deep breath, gentle and soft exhaling out her strawberry lips as she took cautious steps into the ruined plaza. Her hands clutched fistfuls of her dress as she gazed - part in amazement, part in horror - at the aftermath of the attack on Frontierville. "May the Light bless the souls of the departed, and carry them to the other side where they may find peace by his side," the words fell from her lips quietly, her ocean green eyes shimmering sadly as though each death affected her personally. Unaware that she did, in fact, stick out like a sore thumb - pristine and expensive-looking clothes of immaculate cleanliness, jewels and even just her posture which screamed that she did not belong here - Lunala kept on her way, slowly, still baffled that she had somehow mad it this far without her father catching onto her presence. He would surely burst a blood vessel if she was discovered, which really was not her intention, she just wanted to see the world, even if that meant going behind her father's back.

"That's enough!" a voice yelled, his anger boiling over in both frustration and desperation for his request to be heard and obeyed.

The girl in white paused in shock, her gaze flickering up to catch the tail end of words between him and the Chaplain. A sight that made her stomach knot with guilt as she suddenly began to regret this venture. Swallowing back her trepidation, she steeled her resolve; she had already come so far, and she knew turning back now would result in nothing more of the same. Her question to herself was if she could manage it - staying out of her father's view long enough for it to be too late for him to send her away? If not for the cover of night, she would have thought not, but the darkness was her saviour - figuratively. Careful not to tread too loudly, she decided to try to be of some assistance.

Sheltered she may be, unlearned she was not. Lunala, spotting an aura of healing, made her way over as a headless woman tended to stitching up a soldier's stomach. The healing magic the Dullahan had cast there felt so warm and friendly, that the sight of the unseelie fey did not even startle her. Or, perhaps it wasn't just that - the girl was being kind to these wounded men and women, so to Lunala she had no reason to fear such a soul, despite what she may be. Knowing full well the Dullahan girl could not communicate with her, Lunala knelt beside her and picked a medical kit in search of bandages for when the Dullahan was finished with the stitches. The two were silent, yet the silence was of a mutual understanding, and once the Dullahan was done, Lunala handed her the bandages.

The Dullahan's hand was hesitant, but her demeanour spoke of her thanks, before she got to patching the wound. "My name is Lunala," the girl spoke quietly. "I don't have any healing magic like this, but I want to help the people suffering - He would want me to." Perhaps it was not obvious to the headless girl, as Lunala spoke of Light with such heart-filled love and passion in just a fleeting mention, but she imagined herself to be an extension of her Lord - a vessel for Him to use at His discretion. A soft chuckle escaped her, and she waved her hand dismissively. "I know that look, and I will spare you the sermon," she said as the Dullahan faced her and slumped her shoulders. "However, a trade must be made. I will spare you from a lengthy - albeit one-sided - discussion about Light, and you will teach me how to help these miserable soldiers."

If Lunala could guess, the Dullahan would be looking rather incredulous right now. But, after a brief pause, waved her hand to motion the girl to come along with her, and they moved to the next patient. Lunala watched the Dullahan's careful hands move - medical practise mixed with healing magic, and it all worked out so perfectly - and thus she became absorbed in that moment of healing and learning.

Maria
The guardian let out an annoyed grunt, accompanying an irritated look as the Seraph rudely interrupted her inquiry of the Vile. As if referring to her as 'Princess' did not quench his desire for an insult, the Seraph went on with his lecture. Maria was absolutely fuming to the creature's oh-so-confident assumption of his knowledge over the animosity between Maria and the Vile.

Damn winged bastards. Always so arrogant. Those beautiful wings are surely misplaced onto just another breed of simple, short-tempered giants.

Miraculously, all the exhaustion from the recent fight simply vanished, and Maria felt only frustration with the accusations directed towards her. She had almost struck down the arrogant Seraph when it subjected her skepticism to xenophobia, and she knew his crude chunk of a head would be hers. After all, he was but a lone Seraph in an Imperial settlement. Lost seraphs were regularly hunted for their magnificent wings, said to display wicked beauty, it wasn't necessary to visualise what Imperial troops could do to him. Maria would dearly enjoy admiring his cocky face then. She did wonder whether a stake or a hook would be appropriate.

But a fight would do no one any good. Aside from her pride, of course, which protested violently to the Seraph's words. Maria knew from experience she couldn't deal with these types with her emotions taking over. She had to remain professional. And so to the Seraph's unjustified accusations, she answered.

"Fine then, winged one. You can play friends with this thing all you want, but when it turns to tear you limb from limb, do not blame me for my carefulness." -She lifted her bardiche from the dirt, and continued- "And as for the village, your winged ass didn't do much to stop the men from getting slaughtered, so what authority do you assume to merit this foul dark-creature?"

Without another word, Maria headed off towards the rally point, as directed by the man on the Lightvoxer. She gave the Vile a good look just before her departure. She would not forget their feud, despite this rather uneasy truce.

shadowz1995 QizPizza

"Weird lady... weird lady... weird lady..." the voice rang in the druid's head, as she dragged on with despair. Ouch. Sashi gripped her chest with a defeated face clearly drawn. While she was clearly not one for names and titles, the druid yet bore that sting in her mind. It was her bizarre ways that kept her from following in the paths of a noble in the first place. Forlorn from a young age, and eventually exiled, Sashi knew better than to be the judge in all her emotions. After all, no one would've wanted a child that was clearly un-ladylike, and possesses tomboyish traits like that of an average adventurer. But the past is the past, and the druid found no hope with dwelling in it, for she had embraced her true self, away from the politics and the forsaken feuds of her long-gone family. As the creature with the trident dragged his companion out from the shadows, Sashi broke away from her thoughts, fell on one knee, and leaned Miska against the wall.

The druid was more or less an apothecary rather than an expert in the fields of organs-studies, and that was more than enough, she thought to herself. Sashi withdrew a few flasks of colorful concoction and mix them thoroughly, having unveiled Miska's robed apparel. Her hands coated in an array of jelly-like fluids, rubbing against Miska's tentacles. One of the few things that the ancient texts proved to be of use, and in this case, the revitalization of one of the ancient dwellings. As the fluid began to sink into her patient's tissues, the druid worked up her magic, moving her hands fro and forth, emitting a pleasant aura of cleansing light, accompanied by a few sparkles of greenish lights within her vicinity. The light briefly glowed on the silhouettes of the robed Guardian before fading away like embers of a green campfire. Once done, Sashi let off a slight sigh, as her stomach grumbled louder than ever.

"All is well. Make sure your master gets plenty of water after this..." Sashi said softly to Stink Breath, as she caught wind of a voice calling the guardians to heed the mysterious voice's call.

"...Let us away, water-dweller. There is no rest for the wicked." she continued with a pleasant smile on her face, and by now have lent Miska her shoulder, as the three paddled towards the Imperial rally point.

billthesomething

Jericho
The fateful day begun replaying itself in his mind, and not stopping. Jericho abandoned his team. He left them, along with her. The girl. 'She was so powerful, she should've lived, not me, if I could give everything to bring her back, I would, I would give it gladly, if only she were here...' Jericho's mind ran amok, casting doubt and sadness in his psyche.

A calming voice snapped his train of thought. As he looked up, he could see a sorceress with a beautiful, yet almost unnervingly unnatural visage. Skin too clean, too unblemished to be a normal human. “Don’t dwell on the past too much, warrior," she spoke as she looked into his eyes, seemingly understanding part of his inner turmoil, before turning to the Chaplain. “It doesn’t amount to anything. Younglings like him always think they can get through life without making any missteps.”

Looking up to her, Jericho begun to introduce himself. Something told him this girl would become important soon. He would've stood up and extended a hand for her to shake, but based on his experience with mages, that's not something they would like, but only something they would do with an annoyed look on their face, just as a base to further their agenda. "I'm Jericho. Prithee, what is thy name?" He spoke, only rising to match her height in respect. He also threw in a few words from the Highspeak dialect, since from his experience, most if not all mages feel more... at ease when talking to someone who shows knowledge of the "civilized" way of speaking. He could've sworn she had spoken her name before, but his mind was rather faint in terms of memory.

In the corner of his eyes, he could see the town working as usual, with the Chaplain now inside the townhall, pulling his inquiring tricks on the Captain. A giant with a Claymore sword is now helping the repair work on the wall, weirdly using his back to lift up the logs. No idea what that's about.

Vyseryx

Errant Eternal

Through a village covered in the dark of pain and loss, a knight travelled. While most of the night-attack's wounded had been brought to the townhall or were being treated in other facilities, there were those that could no longer be saved, those waiting to draw their last breaths in the arms of their loved ones. Incapable of physical healing as he was, it was instead the least fortunate that the knight approached with pathos in his mind.

Some were receptive, clutching to themselves the dying bodies of their beloved, but many were hard-minded, galvanized by the losses of many such attacks. How could this self-proclaimed knight understand their pain, clad in priceless armor as he was, bearing glories and airs of lofty titles? How could he dare try to console such poor folk even as he bore riches that none of them could ever hope to attain?

On all too many it had begun to dawn: There was little hope for a small village such as theirs, so far from the Empire's high-wrought spires. If it wasn't tonight's attack that ended them, then it would be inevitably the next one, or the one after, or the one after that. For many the imperial propaganda had lost its luster; the dark never receded, it only grew further and further. To believe that there was something as frail as hope was little more than madness.

"... madness, you say?" the knight asked the forlorn that stared up at his iron-figure with loathing in their eyes "... who can tell where madness lies?" the knight questioned.

The people's scorn intensified, uncaring for being bombarded with what appeared to be empty platitudes.

Nonetheless the knight continued "I have been a slave, I have been a soldier. I have seen my comrades die in battle or die more slowly underneath the Taint. I held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who had seen life as it was, yet they died despairing. No glory, no defiant last words, just those eyes, filled with confusion, asking only one question: 'Why?'" His tone turned to sad musing "I do not think that they asked why they were dying, but rather why they had ever lived. When life itself would seem so very lunatic, who could tell where madness lay? Perhaps to be too practical was madness. To surrender dreams? That might be madness. Too much sanity might be madness. But I say, the maddest of them all be this: To view life as it is, not as it should be!"

They were forlorn, the knight was told. Simply denying reality and wishing for betterment would not save them.

"But that exactly is not the case! No matter where you may be, always, somewhere, someone is fighting for you. So long as you remember them, you are never alone."

Miska was quietly breathing as he was carried by the kind druid and his ever-present servant, slowly the helpful would begin to hear the cultist mumble a few faint eldritch words, Stink Breath understood the words, as curses that were not meant to be heard by those faint of heart as his master's strength returned to him. Stink Breath, was overjoyed for it seemed Sashi's remedy was doing wonders for his brother's aching form.

Stink Breath needed to thank her properly for her assistance. But what could he give her, she was so nice to him, it would need to be extra special. But his thoughts were interrupted by the stirring of his master's form. He had to compose himself so as to not drop his dear Brother, and cause unnecessary harm to Miska

"Master is awake, Master is Awake" Chanted the Deep One quietly

"Where am I? Stink Breath? Is that you Eevie?" No, this wasn't his friend. His head was killing him and the heavy smell of blood wasn't making anything better, he had overexerted himself with his magic. And it seemed that a headache was to be his price for it, he remembered the times where overexertion left him bedridden for days on end, so a simple headache wasn't too much of a problem in comparison.
Pilgrim59
Mentioned
Aryasaurus

Margot

Margot raised her brows at what Jericho had said. Firstly, she was pleasantly surprised with such a formal language from a warrior; secondly, the mage was pretty sure she had already introduced herself to him. But, as she couldn’t for the life of her remember whether she had asked the man for his name earlier this day, she decided to not comment on that.

“Margot Lagarde, from Red Ribbon.” The mage curtsied courtly. “Here to serve the Guardians at the their mission.” She followed the man’s eyes, as he observed the city being rebuilt before adding: “I think Chaplain called us inside the town hall? Let’s go there and see what had this man prepared for us.”

‘And let’s hope he is not one of those, who will complain about destroying few houses during the fight with Darkness.’ She frowned a little bit. ‘I had my share of those.’

The mage was already starting to walk in the direction of town hall, when she saw a familiar face with the corner of the eye. Margot felt a wave of heat travelling through her guts – it was her, the Incruscan who wielded Sarel’s magic for some incomprehensible reason. A young girl was standing close to the mage, tossing a rock up and down with a look of strange determination on her face.

At the same time, she sensed that Leo was crying inside of her bag, probably already hungry. It made Margot torn between instantly approaching the Incruscan and finding a place, where she could see to her son’s well-being. It was a hard choice, so Margot defaulted to what mages usually did in situations like that – she played a wild ‘Choose Both’ card.

“You!” The sorceress pointed at the blonde girl with her finger. “I need to speak to you. Come with me to the town hall.”

Certain that Incruscan would follow her, Margot walked quickly to the building and entered it. The soldiers, both from Frontierville and reinforcements had already been gathering inside, but the mage ignored them for now, focusing on finding the place to sit comfortably. She choose a corner of the building, that seemed the cleanest and she started drawing things from her magical bag. First, a large blanket, she had laid on the floor folded in half, then a bowl, spoon and sash. Margot mumbled some spell under her nose and a little amount of water poured into the dish, as the mage was sitting down. With a move of her hand the water started steaming and the sorceress added to it a handful of whitish powder from the sash, mixing the liquid with a spoon.

When she was content with the consistency of the mixture, she had finally reached into her bag and drew a little boy out of it. He was crying, hungry and probably scared by the echoes of battle, that reached even the safe insides of the bag. Margot took Leo on her hands, and started dandling him slowly.

“Ssh,” she whispered with a voice so soft, one could find it hard to believe it came out of the arrogant sorceress’s mouth. Margot pulled the little boy closer to her chest. “Everything is alright, Leo, calm down.”

It took her few minutes to make Leo relax a little bit, and when It happened Margot pointed at the bowl with one of her palms. With a single word, she bent a small amount of milk that the mixture had turned into, and put it close to the Leo’s mouth. The little boy sucked it in quickly and Margot repeated the process, until he drunk all, that was in the bowl.

For all this time, she completely ignored the world around her, but on the blanket she was sitting, there was still place for few other people, were they to choose to sit there.

CombatReadyPenny Kabboom

Terra sighed as she heard the mage call for her. Before she could even get a word out, the mage was commanding her to follow. Having nothing else to do, Terra followed. She was thinking up things to say about how the magic wasn't really hers, she didn't know the man who gave it to her.

Once more, before she could even get a sylible out, the Mage sat down and concentrated on a lion Incrusian baby. Terra was stunned for a moment at the fact she had never met another. Instead of looking like a fool, she decided to sit next to the mage and look at the child. "He's... Like me..." she said as she looked at the baby. What's his name?" she asked, smiling a bit at the fact she knew she wasn't the only Lion Incrusian

Vyseryx

Jericho
"Go ahead. I shall join you shortly." Jericho nodded to the sorceress, Margot Lagarde, before sitting down to finish up cleaning his Halberd. Due to Magisteel's properties, he does not need to sharpen the blade, in fact, that is the counter-intuitive thing to do, as it takes away materiel. It also provides him time alone, in order to reflect on the state of the night. His bones and muscles were aching, pain rooting itself within his very core. And judging by the looks of the villagers, they feel the same too. Men with their hands on their backs, taking a while to adjust to the aching as they lift logs, hammers and other building materials. Women and children, either weeping or scavenging for goods to the best of their abilities, with some doing both.

A retinue of Imperial guardsmen pass by him, bumping into a young Incruscan lady. The incident was almost forgivable, if it weren't for the men turning around.

"Hey, kitty-kitty. Where do you think you're going?" said one of the men in a voice with playful contempt, as his pals caught on to the circus act and begun circling the woman. "Please, leave me alone. I just want to go this way-" the Incruscan tried to muster up a defense, but her voice was so fragile, so frail, and was swept under the rug immediately, as one of the men snatch one of her bags from her hip. "What have we here? Looted goods?" The despicable human being said, peering into the bag's contents, while the woman squirmed. "Please, sir, I don't want no trouble, just return my bag, and I'll be on my way, please-"

"Ohoho, what's this?" The man finally said, withdrawing his knife and acting as if he had just pulled it out of the bag. "An Imperial boot knife? Stealing is a crime, cat-bitch. A crime punishable by jail. Unless you do us some... favors?" the man said as he walked up to the woman, showing a false sense of dominance as the woman whimpered in disbelief.

A loud metallic thud hits the ground, however, turning everyone's neck towards the source. A lone Guardsman, armed with a halberd that he had just propped upright loudly, shot an angry glare at the Imperial guardsmen, and immediately, their bravado and 'superiority' was gone in a flash. "Give the bag back." A low voice growled at the man, as a slightly audible gulp escaped him.

"B-But Guardian, she... she stole this. Im-Im-Imperial property, punishable by-" the man stuttered in fear, trying desperately to play it off, to save his own skin. Without another word, Jericho begun reaching for his gun, Dante, which sent the men on their way good and proper, without any further words, aside from "Shit, he's got a gun! Run!" and "Holy Light preserve me!". The scum dropped the bag flatly onto the ground, and the Incruscan lady hurriedly picked it up, mixed with relief and newfound fear. "Tha- Thank you, kind sir! Thank you!" she pleaded, as her legs propelled her back in her original direction, a pair of narrowed cat eyes looking back at Jericho.

Relaxing his muscles, Jericho slumped into his seat as he spotted a few other guardsmen stare at him, before looking away as he turns his head. A woman, Maria was headed towards him, no doubt responding to the Chaplain's broadcast. "Rough night, huh?" He said, as he eyed a druid and a fishman hoist some... tentacle-y thing slowly towards the town hall. His ears could pick up a baby's faint cry for a brief moment, emanating from inside the town hall, no doubt.

Vyseryx Pilgrim59 billthesomething CombatReadyPenny Trappy

Margot

The Incruscan girl didn’t interrupt Margot with feeding, which the mage was grateful for, and simply sat down next to them. After the older woman was done, Terra asked:

"He's... Like me... What's his name?"

She looked at the boy in mage's hands with a fascination in her eyes and smile on her face, and Margot didn’t have much problem with figuring out where did they come from. It must have been touching to meet another one of her species given that lion Incruscan were very rare.

‘And I have already met three of them anyway,” Margot thought amused, but then something came across her mind and she started staring at Terra very intensely. ‘Already… three?’

"Leonard, his name is Leonard," the mage answered, analysing the looks of girls before her. Blonde hair, blueish eyes and lion features of Incruscan. A peculiar combination, that Margot had already seen once, not that long ago in a man, who had stolen her heart in Ratthe.

‘She is very similar to him.’ The sorceress’s eyes darted around Terra’s face, looking for further similarities and even finding some. A ridiculous theory started forming in mage’s head, but she wasn’t yet ready to accept it. Instead, she looked down at Terra’s sash, the one which gave off a magic vibrations she hadn’t felt since very long time ago.

“Where did you get this from?” Margot pointed at the sash, speaking with a harsh voice, in which the accusatory tones could be heard. “It belonged to somebody I know, and he didn’t give away his things to anybody who asked.”

CombatReadyPenny

Terra looked to her sash. "I never knew the person that owned it..." she said as she took it off and held it in her lap. "I found it in my house... When my mother was making me work like a slave..." She said as she took out a yellowed piece of paper and handed it to Margot.

"This is the note I found with it." She said. "He said I could find him or another powerful wizard to reverse... This..." she said pointing to her ears. "I was supposed to be born human. But I was supposedly cursed." She said as she looked down. "I know my dad is Incrusian, but I've never met him." she said as she tried to hold back tears.

Vyseryx

Margot

' 'In your house' my ass.' was Margot's first reaction to Incruscan’s explanation, but the girl sitting in front of her didn't seem to be lying. The mage took the note from her, listening to the rest of the sad story. The Incruscan seemed to be on the verge of crying, when she spoke of a…

‘Curse?’ Margot frowned. To cast a spell that would make one be birthed as Incruscan would take an advanced mage at least and was a deed, that definitely required more effort than the effects were worth. Margot had many ideas for curses, that were much easier and more painful to the child… unless it was not a child who was a target of curse.

The mage looked at the note Incruscan gave her. She instantly recognised the hand-writing of her former partner – Sarel:

“'If you have found this, then this means I am too old to continue my journeys. But you are of the age. Child, your mother is a nasty old hat of a woman and does not deserve love. You are cursed and only a wizard of true stature can undo this that I have placed upon you. Take this belt, as it may grant you my ability, or at least to the extent I put into it. Use the crystals as you see fit. Choose a stone and concentrate.'

‘This explains shit.’ Margot was visibly irritated, as she looked at Leo on her hands. ‘Though…, I guess it confirms, that she most likely didn’t steal the sash.’

The mage raised her eyes and looked at Terra again. She gave a little sigh and said:

“I am not sure, why did he do it, but I know who left the sash for you.” Margot looked in Incruscan’s eyes, still looking for any trace of hesitation, that could reveal her possible lie. “It was Enforcer Sarel, I used to work with. The crystals you use were his favourite type of magic.”

“I… hm… I guess he would be able to curse you… but for the love of Light I can’t figure out why would he do it,” the mage added, though she was speaking more to herself than to the girl.

"It wasn't to me... It was for my mother..." she said as she took the note back. "Having an Incrusian child if you are human is looked down upon in my village where I was born... Vice versa as well. Making me like this caused my mother to become an outcast... But caused her to treat me like a slave..."

Terra folded the note and put it back into her satchel. "I set out years ago to try and find my real father and find a wizard to reverse this..." She said with a sigh. "But... You said you knew him? The one that owned the sash?" she asked a bit enthusiastically. "That means that you can help me! Do you know where he is now?" she asked with a smile.

Vyseryx

Margot

“Having an Incruscan child if you are human is looked down upon in my village where I was born.”

‘Not only there, I am afraid.’ Margot frowned delicately. The more of the girl’s story she learnt, the clearer it became she had a very sad life. Her mother seemed to had been an abusive woman, and their relationship must have been toxic for the most of Incruscan’s life.

“Do you know where to find him?” The mage’s reaction to these words was very, very weird. Her face become completely indifferent, but one of her hands get away from Leo’s body and clenched into a fist, piercing woman’s skin with her nails.

“He is dead,” Margot said harshly, maybe even more than she intended. The look of hope in girl’s eyes saddened her, as she had not a single good piece of information for her. “And I am afraid, that even if he was alive, he wouldn’t be able to reverse the curse.”

Margot looked at the Incruscan, trying to read her reactions. She felt a little bad for putting end to her hopes so drastically, but she decided to carry on. “In fact, I can name only few mages, who could do that, and none of them would help you out of kindness of heart.”

The sorceress’s thoughts turned to Grand Arcanist. She would certainly be able to help the child before her, but Margot knew, that sooner the Sun would freeze, than Lazareth at’Zethra would aid a non-mage in their struggle.

CombatReadyPenny

Terra's eyes saddened with every word the mage said. She started to sulk as she learned that the man she had wanted to prove everything in the world to was dead. She would more than likely never be Human, and she wouldn't be able to learn more about the sash. She could only muster the word, "oh..."

She wrapped her arms around her legs so she was in a ball as she let this information sink in. "Thank you for being honest..." she said as she sighed. She then looked to Leo. "Wish I had you as a mother... Maybe things would have been better for me..." she said with another sigh.

Vyseryx

Margot

"Wish I had you as a mother... "

Gently speaking, Margot had no idea what to answer to that. She never liked children very much, and vice versa, but now all of a sudden a girl sat in front of her, talking about mage as if she was some model of a mother.

“Uh.. thank you?” Margot answered flustered so much even a small blush appeared on her face. She looked at little boy in her arms, and suddenly felt a influx of anger at the girl’s mother. How could one treat their child so badly, that they would happily replace their parent with a stranger? It was beyond Margot. “I am not sure if it would be that much better. If you think you have seen ‘looking down upon’, then you clearly haven’t been to Ratthe. I’ve got pretty much exiled for this.”

The mage pointed her chin at Leo, though she immediately reflected, that it could have sounded wrong. “I don’t regret it, don’t get me wrong. Though I may one day make them regret it.”

It was a little bit more ominous than Margot expected, but right now she had very little sentiment to her home town, and ‘friends’ she had left behind. Looking at the Incruscan before her, the mage realised a one important detail was missing from the information she had on her.

“Margot Lagarde.” The mage placed Leo at her left crook, at reached her right hand to the girl.

CombatReadyPenny

"Sure I'll 'elp you! Name's Spessartite. I 'ear we are goin to the town hall, so maybe we can find your parents there huh? Is that who you need to find little one?"

"B-But my parents aren't in the town hall! It took them! I'm sure of it!". Leafa was starting to get panicked, her parents weren't in the town hall, she was sure of it, she couldn't waste any more time. "Look lady I can't was- wait a minute, your skin! I-It's made of rocks! I... I don't get it, how do you have rocks for skin?". Intrigued, the young elf took a step foward, analyzing the rocky skin of the odd woman that stood in front her, the girl's eyes glowed with curiosity, a person with rocks for skin? She had never seen such thing before!

Sybil

The little one analyzing their arm was nothing new, sentient elementals were a rarity after all. She offered the hand to hold now as a hand to examine for the girl, flipping it from palm up to palm down for the child. In many villages she traveled this was honestly a good way to either scare or amaze, this being her very body seeing as magic can scare or dumfound others.

"I didn' try to, I jus' ended up wit' it...... but what's this abou' missing parents? We can't do nothin' without gatherin' up now! Come on lets go and maybe someone knows where to look yeah?"

The elemental did not mean to ignore the issue, but the girl was late for the gathering so she would continue walking while signaling for the girl to follow. She could feel the surrounding misery practically as she ended up walking, hopefully with the small elf in tow. She wondered if her own village ended up worse than this, but then again she wonders if she should be wondering about it.

-robert-

Maria
Despite having left the Seraph and his 'pet' behind, Maria couldn't get thoughts of the Vile off her mind. As much as she'd like to exercise everything it had done to her warriors on the Vile itself, she had found it to be an unlikely ally, a potential companion on this quest. It had time to time seemingly attempting to prove its 'good' intention to Maria in particular, and its will to aid her. However, she did not forget grudges, nor the mysteries behind such creature's motives to help them, all for the better. One would know better to turn their back to beast-kind anyways.

Maria let down a sigh as she climbed the steps of to the main hall, an exclamation of disappointment to her failure to chase away these thoughts. Some survivors of the fight were resting there, who looked up to her as she climbed past them. Their eyes met Maria's. Such tired eyes did not belong to so young faces. They then stared into the distance, towards the breach that was being sealed by engineers and villagers, unflinching to the cavalrymen barking orders from horseback near and far. Maria recalled her early years in the legions, and, as usual, she felt some obligatory respect and admiration for these young soldiers. And in a peculiar way, she sympathised with them. In the infantry, they say you are reborn in your first battle, baptised by your comrades' blood.

As her hand reached the door, it suddenly flung open, startling Maria and sending her a step backwards. From the opening, a man donning a blue beret appeared.

"Why, Lady Theodosiel, pleasant evening." - The man bowed slightly, to which Maria could only react with a surprised - uneasy look on her face. Before she could say anything, he continued. "Enter, if you would. We are about to begin."

The man spoke in a low, almost monotone voice, as if the voice of an artist leading up to an opera. With that said, he turned and opened the door for her. Maria felt uncertain of this figure, but she stepped through the large doors to his guiding gesture, and spoke up.

"Thank you, Sir . . . ?"

"Crimson. Audrich Crimson. I am Chaplain of the unit which relieved this town's defence. We will start shortly." And he was off with a medic giving a report by his ear. Left alone amidst soldiers carrying gathered goods and medics tending to wounded, unconsciously, she found herself making her way to the only familiar face in her vicinity, Jericho Audaton, the halberd-wielder.

As she approached, the man spoke up.
"Rough night?"
"We prevailed." She answered him, dismissing the question as she recalled how she was pathetically smacked aside by the Cerebrate's pincer. While she was on those thoughts. "My eyes may have failed me, but I did not see you in the fight? Sudden change of plan?" She smirked. That said, Maria knew Jericho wouldn't dodge a fight, unless she had judged his character wrong.

Kabboom

Leafa

"I didn' try to, I jus' ended up wit' it...... but what's this abou' missing parents? We can't do nothin' without gatherin' up now! Come on lets go and maybe someone knows where to look yeah?"

The woman was starting to get angry, it didn't take a genius to figure it out, which was good, because even Leafa managed to understand that the woman really wanted to go to the Town Hall, the young elf didn't exactly understood why they needed to go there, but the lady was her only help...

"Uhm... I-I..."

It was obvious the girl was nervous, she didn't want to lose the lady, even though she had just met her a few seconds ago, Leafa felt close to her, the same "closeness" she felt when she first met with Yellow hair, even though they had never met eachother before, Leafa seemed to trust her, maybe due to her guillable self, maybe for another reason.

"Ok! I'll follow you, to where we need to go, which is... uh... ... ... lead the way!"

Sybil

'All are equal on the frontline' his tail... At least it wasn't a rough ride. Pretty standard. And already he found the scenery much more appealing than Fort Vainlight. With the added bonus that the civilians in the town didn't look at him and automatically assume he was a convict. The fact he was, was neither here nor there. Remember 'All was equal on the frontlines', a naive and inaccurate saying, but whatever recruited the troops, he supposed.

Speaking of troops, Todd had just road in with the reinforcements. Taking his time to busy himself with making sure the horde he road in on was secure in the stables. No real reason than to spite a certain someone who was pressuring him to hurry to the meeting place. Though oddly enough, Todd was looking forward to this alternative over being darkborne fodder at the front. Because a daring jaunt through enemy territory was much more pleasant.

After taking his sweet time, he grabbed his belongings and made his way to the town hall with relatively few detours. And just as the Chaplain was exiting the building... Todd entered.

He wasn't terribly tall or broad. But this Incruscan stuck out like a sore thumb. A fox breed humanoid, with fur of white, black, and reddish orange. A bushy tail swayed behind him as he stepped forward, His boots clacking against the floorboards.

He did not dress much like a soldier. Wearing what looked more appropriate on a farm than any sort of armor. He was, however, clearly armed. With a firearm on each hip that he did not bother hiding. With countless tiny metal cylinders across his chest and belt, and even the band of his wide brimmed leather hat.

With his thumbs hanging on his belt, he stopped and looked around. A few people here. That made them the Guardians he was supposed to meet up with. Or at least the team. And quite the patchwork of a team they were. But it wasn't all that bad. A pretty scaley in the corner twisting herself around. A cute young incruscan next to a lovely woman with a kid. Very nice. Very nice. And, was that Taryn? So it was. Huh. With all of them, he didn't know who to wink to first.


But perhaps that should come later. Todd situated himself and leaned against the back of a chair, before brazenly asking,"Alrighty then! When are we having this meeting I keep hearing about? I ain't too late, am i?" his voice holding a surprisingly not-so-thick accent. And though he wasn't speaking to anyone on particular, he did look over at the closest one to him for an answer. The one he saw enter the building just before he did ( Trappy ) "Did Richy Crimson say anything yet, sweetheart?"

Jericho
"My eyes may have failed me, but I did not see you in the fight? Sudden change of plan?" Maria asked him. Jericho rubbed the bridge of his nose, caressing his closed eyelids, seemingly in a mix of annoyance, tiredness and relief. "Civvies were in a way. A particular... Elf girl. Apologies, I could not close ranks effectively with a pointy-eared teenager on my back." he said jokingly, almost eliciting a laugh out of himself.

"You did splendid back there. Would've been a lot harder, taking down the Cerebrate without you and your powers." He said, gesturing his head back at the Regalian general. The woman smiled back, before taking a seat with him, letting out a tired exhale as her muscles finally find respite, a metallic clink as her plate armor leaned back against what's left of the town hall's wall.

"You have my thanks. Your Shield Aura is rather handy as well." She turned to him. Jericho wondered whether if she was being honest, or just trying to flatter him and try to lift his mood. She probably heard what Crimson had to say with Jericho, too. 'Maybe that's why she's bringing this up,' thought he. "Uhm, how did the Chaplain know my name? Am I... famous here?" she spoke up again, looking at the sizeable amount of men and women shuffling around inside the town hall.

"Yes, you are. Maria Theodosiel, General of the Regalian Legions. Your stories spread far and wide. Arguably the most popular non-Empire story in existence right now." Jericho spoke in a matter-of-fact manner, having found a new subject for conversation. "Stories have spread about you. Your strength, your leadership, and your courage. You surely displayed them tonight. Won't be surprised if a lot more stories crop up after tonight." He spoke, as the sorceress, Margot and another Incruscan girl converse not far away.

"If only they knew how wrong they are..." the woman trailed off, looking away. Jericho looked back, a bit puzzled. "What? How are they wrong?" He pushed, questions forming in his mind. "I... well, forget it. Perhaps in time, I shall tell you. But for now..." Maria snapped back to reality, dismissing the question altogether, and standing up as the Chaplain begins to clear his throat silently, in preparation for a long 5 minutes.

As Jericho stood up alongside her, an Incruscan, seemingly another one destined to join this party, walked in through the doors in a particularly flamboyant manner. He stood out like a sore thumb, with attire more fitting to be a lowlife Dirtroot farmer than to be an Imperial warrior, though Jericho suspected this.. guy was somewhere in between, with a duo of revolvers, and metallic cylinders adorning most of his torso on bandoliers, and the bushy tail swaying joyously.

"Did Richy Crimson say anything yet, sweetheart?" A question shot out from the Incruscan, as he sat down on a chair, making himself comfortable. Jericho entered the conversation instead, almost forcing himself in, as Maria stammered from the surprise question. "Nope, not yet. Though he should be doing that soon."

Trappy CombatReadyPenny Vyseryx D. Rex