Fantasy Arva: Tides of Darkness [IC]

[Breadman]

Fraskia didn't bat an eye as Marco was prepared to swing something in her direction. Such reactions are common in her line of work. Lucky that his friend was levelheaded enough.

"My colleague is right." She motioned to Kahzel "Their bodies are going to attract the creatures soon. Isn't your priest nearby to facilitate their passage?" While she talked, the familiar picked up on the scent. Lora got up from her sitting position and quietly moved towards the bodies.

 

[joshuadim]

Tavern Group

"Yer tellin' me this whole town's scared cause of some tasteless banditry?"

"How exactly are we to fight them? We aren't soldiers you know." the barkeep responded, "They're well armed and trained... deserters the lot of 'em." He the nervously took a quick look around once more as if searching the tavern for someone. Arnas was about to speak up with an offer to help before a newcomer interrupted the conversation at hand, who quickly revealed to be a salesman of potions and whatnot who then proceeded to compliment Brikaria on her horns. It was a strange encounter, certainly, but Arnas had other things on his mind rather than window shopping for stuff he didn't need: "Thanks, but I'll pass. We're a bit busy right now." Arnas replied in an effort to let the man off easily and started to speak to the barkeep once more but then quickly realized that perhaps it wasn't in their best interest to dismiss the salesman immediately. Perhaps he knew more about the ones terrorizing the town?

Arnas quickly turned back around towards the man and crossed his arms: "Say... by any chance, do you happen to know about the brigands plaguing this town? If you want to be of help that would be a start, Mister...?" He then asked before realizing he didn't even know the man's name. "Hells, I didn't even get your name yet. I'm Arnas, this is Brikaria," he then motioned a hand towards his companion, "If you have anything to help us with our troubles, it would be greatly appreciated."

---

Church Group

"In one breath you speak of them as if they simply passed through here, yet the next you suggest that they still have a grasp here on your community. Do they still reside in this village or have they moved on? If they remain here, we shall bring them to justice for what they have done. Free your people from their horrid influence."

The priest shook his head in a solemn manner and sighed, "They still plague us like locusts. I know they are encamped near but I know not where exactly. They take our grain, livestock and whatever else they please. We have no means to defend ourselves against such people..." the old man explained as he placed his hands together on his lap, "A man of the faith can only do so much, especially at my age as well." Da'Vost's offer for the Company to help rid the village of its deserter problem seemed to lift the priest's mood as he gave a weak smile towards the Aervis, "I... thank you. But I cannot in good conscience ask you to risk your lives for us-"

"You said it yourself, you nor the villagers here have the means to defend themselves. And we have the capability for this as mercenaries, trust us." Hughin cut in quickly, "And uh, don't worry about payment good Father, we'll do it for free. Especially since said deserters may be the culprits behind the theft we're after. Do you know if there are any of them here right now in the village?" he then asked.

The priest gave a nod, "Usually there's a few in the tavern, always taking drink and food. I don't know if they are there now, but please do be careful."

The tavern? Shit, Arnas and Brikaria are there. Hughin quickly realized and stood up to leave, "Danger comes with the occupation holy father, you don't need to worry." he spoke before motioning for both Erizthra ( FloweryMuffin ) and Da'Vost ( Dmaster ) to follow him out.

---

Mill Group

"Would you please elaborate? In regards to the, er... corpse-eaters, perhaps we can help you give your friends the proper last rites."

"Necrophages... y'know?" Zakala quickly cut in to Kahzel, "They scour the battlefields after the fighting is done and feast on the corpses left behind. At least, the most common ones usually do. The scent of a dead body is carried around for miles and attracts all sort of them." The demoness then pointed at the hanged family off in the near distance, "And three corpses is an open invitation for any nearby monsters. How long have they been up like this again?" she then asked the villagers in front of them.

"...we found 'em yesterday like this. So this would be the second day already." Marco replied as he sulked to himself. His friend then quickly interjected: "Listen, if ye can get them down so we can bury them... we'll help you lot find and kill the bastardi. Our priest wouldn't take kindly to us doing so, saying its ungodly to exact revenge... but what else can a man do when a family's been butchered like this?" The offer came as a surprise to Zakala and she considered it for a moment, considering they had no idea how many deserters there were actually that were terrorizing the village with their authority. But considering they were simply villagers without any sort of experience in fighting or combat, she shook her head: "I... we'll take the bodies down. But I won't ask you to fight-"

"We can fucking handle ourselves." Marco cut in as he spat onto the dirt beneath him, "Those bastardi must pay for what they did."

"Isn't your priest nearby to facilitate their passage?"

Marco looked at Fraskia for a moment before nodding, "Aye. He's in the parish over yonder." he said as he pointed to the plain white building near the center of the village, "But they can't be buried until they're taken down from those ropes."

In the meantime, Lora approached the hanging corpses and saw their purplish faces up close from underneath as their lifeless eyes stared out towards the horizon. The smell of decay began to set in but more importantly the familiar could discern the scents. Two of the three scents were more faint and closer to the ground, along with nearly a dozen other unfamiliar ones which were likely the other deserters. But most interestingly, the remaining scent from the troll's campsite emanated from Lorenzo's corpse as it gently swayed off the branch he was placed on which signaled that he was one of the people involved in the theft. This raised more questions rather than answers, but before anything could be done a growl was heard in the near distance.

What caught Lora's attention then as the familiar turned its head towards the destroyed house was the sight of a deathly figure slowly and cautiously crawling on all fours towards the corpses as it rounded around the building. It gave off a gutteral rattle from its throat as a warning to the familiar to back away from its next meal, which alerted the others to its presence and immediately caused the villagers to back away a few steps. "Fuck! It's a fuckin' corpse-eater!" Marco shouted, "Kill it before it defiles their bodies! Please!"

 

[Anne Boolean]

"Necrophages...?" Kahzel repeated to himself. After hearing the demoness's explanation, he pondered over whether he had ever come across such a creature. Usually, as soon as the battle had been won, he was away from the site of the altercation and onto his next mission. After hearing how long the deceased had been hanging, he wondered just how long it usually took for the vultures to come for the scraps. If it was usually more than a few days, Kahzel was certain he would have been far from the place of death by then and unable to see the monsters.

"Alright then," he responded to the deal the three villagers were willing to make. As the other two enquired about other things, the Lusvoni had started towards the hanging tree. Before he could make his ascent though, something caught his eye from around the corner of the burnt house. He once again reached for his blade as the zombie-like creature let out a roar.

Upon hearing Marco's words, the demon changed course from the tree to the approaching monster. With his blade drawn, he rushed forth to rend their foe.

joshuadim

 

[Breadman]

"But of course." Fraskia eyed up the corpse eater. Necrophages were some of the worst problems she had to deal with, but the most reliable for work. She readied a spell to bind the creature is place with the earth and roots in order for her companions to kill it quickly.

 

[FloweryMuffin]

The old man seemed rather reluctant to allow them to rid the village of their supposed thieves. Erizthra had to wonder what did a bunch of foreign thugs needed a pearl for. They could harass the villagers and wring them dry of all of their supplies the same without it. Then was it out of sheer greed they've taken it and now the company was stuck chasing after some deserters. Which the priest had mentioned were probably at the tavern.

It occured to her that Hughin's son might have been searching for clues there, thus the sudden hurry. In that moment Hughin reminded Erizthra of her very overbearing parent. Former parent. She shook her head at the thought, sort of trying to usher it out of her mind. Before turning to follow their leader though, she made sure to reassure the priest,

"We ain't made o' paper sir and our boss's offering the service for free. Take it as is and dun worry 'bout us gettin' beat or sumthin'. Mercenaries are sorta expensive, I hear."

 

[Roda the Red]

"Sorry to say, my horns aren't for sale... And I doubt ye have anything I'd be interested in. Unless ye got a pearl findin' potion that is."

"Hells, I didn't even get your name yet. I'm Arnas, this is Brikaria... If you have anything to help us with our troubles, it would be greatly appreciated."

The man gasped in an overly dramatized way after realizing he didn't even introduce himself yet, how preposterous!

"Oh my goodness, just where are my manners!?" he bowed slightly before saying his name. "My name is Raphael, and i am but a humble alchemist, and i must apologize for intruding so suddenly, but in this day and age we all need to do what it takes to earn enough gold to get by, don't we?"

Raphael started to roll back the cloth containing his wares. He was certainly dissapointed at the response from the adventurers, truth is that normally he'd be a lot more pushy in situations like this, but after years of doing this he developed an eye and an ear for clients that are absolutely disinterested, and these two clearly fit into that category. Still, not everything might be lost, as they asked some interesting questions.

"Oh, brigands you say? that actually does sound very familiar, you see for the last ten or so days i have been staying in this village, as i heard there's some unusual flora around these meadows. And if memory serves right i have seen some suspicious folk going around not far from the village during my gathering expeditions... Also what is this about a pearl that you say, you certainly piqued my interest!"

Raphael's senses were tingling, it wasn't hard to realize this pair were on a mission of some sort, probably they were looking for said bandits, and if a reward of some sort lied at the end, then he was not going to let this chance go.

 

[Dmaster]

"Then to the tavern we shall go. I take no pleasure in combat, but if these upstarts will not see reason and continue to harass these innocent people I shall do what is necessary to evict them." Da'Vost stated with some conviction in his warbling tone. With a slight twitch and nod to Hughin he began to follow him out of the parish, turning to the priest before he gave a slight bow to the man. "We shall not allow them to harm ourselves or anyone else, you have my word." the Aervis croaks before turning to the exit once more.

 

[Oreo Cookie]

"Well if ye must know, we seek to return a stolen pearl." Brikaria explained to the alchemist. "I'd wager this pearl be bigger and shinier than yer usual sort. It belongs to a troll after all." She said the last part with mild distaste, but continued. "We tracked our pearl thievin' culprits to this here town, and by the sounds of things they might still be here. Perhaps our pearl thieves be yer suspicious folk. So if ye could point us in their direction, that'd be great."