➶ quest

[Kitty~.]

e s t e r
role;; rogue assassin
race;; human
tagged;; the party,
Ilian and Leanne
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Ester didn't know who this healer guy was, but anyone who offered their services for free were either undermining or genuinely good. The latter was rarely found among the population, unfortunately, but the way Alyce spoke about him indicated a rarity. Someone willing to do a kindness without anything in return? It was like some sort of myth. As much as he loved them (he had only just met a few of them, but he could already tell he was going to get along swimmingly with Fabian), he was very much aware no one within this group was capable of such an act. Alyce had even said so herself. Thing was, you couldn't get anywhere with a practice such as that.

Those words became even more apparent as they entered the 'clinic'; a run-down stable that honestly looked as though it had seen better days. A lot better days. The D'Lancy's dogs had better accommodation than this. Was the mage staying here on a regular basis? Sure, they'd slept in the gutter, but that was only temporary. Probably. Ester could afford a cheap inn for all four of them if it were required, but he had a feeling that most nights he would be too drunk for coherent thought anyway.

Still, anyone with a sense of humor, Ester could appreciate. He grinned at the jibe, amusement sparking in his blue eyes. After receiving the vial, he opted for watching Alyce first - just to make sure it wasn't some sort of trick or anything. At her reaction, he barked a laugh. It was, apparently, a little fouler than she had expected. Even Allya cracked a bright smile - the first one he'd seen on her - and had to bite her lip to stop herself giggling. The mage, too, was hiding a smirk and like that, Ester was assured that the man meant no harm. Call him naive call him stupid, but Ester could tell a good person when he saw one. Why else would he be such a bad assassin?

With little hesitance, he pinched his nose and downed the unappealing liquid. Truly, it was horrible, but the end-result was appreciated. He only screwed up his face a little bit. "Thank you," he said, for it looked as though Alyce was not willing to speak after that little shock. Allya too nodded her head in acknowledgement, even if she hadn't required the tonic.

Her soft smile, however, dropped upon the mage's comment, eyes narrowing into thin slits. Ester surveyed the reactions of the group. Had they not told him where they'd hailed from? Arching an eyebrow, Ester chose to observe the following events rather than interfere. He wasn't inclined to snap at him, no matter the response. It just wasn't any of his business. He was curious about the mystery girl in the room. Another client, perhaps? A friend? Alyce and co. showed no indication of recognition.

[Keriae]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ＦＡＢＩＡＮ ＳＨＡＲＰＥ
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
❛''''ＡＮＤ Ｉ＇Ｍ ＮＯＴ ＢＡＣＫＩＮＧ ＤＯＷＮ
I WILL STAND MY GROUND! I WILL STAND MY GROUND!
⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯

★x
★
★

ＢＥＣＡＵＳＥ
ａ ｃｈａｍｐｉｏｎ ｉｓ
WHAT THEY CALL ME NOW!

★
★
★

xxxxxxxage: twenty seven
xxxxxxxclass: warrior-knight
xxxxxxxtagged: party

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If walking proved to be hard for Alyce, Fabian was surprised he was able to keep pace with her. Well, sort of. While his alcohol tolerance was much better than her's, he had also drunk more than her and, as a result, the moment he got to his feet he was nearly on the floor again. Partly because his balance was so off that the entire world was just a spinning blur around him, but also because his stomach had decided that it wanted to convulse. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice him puking, and for that he was grateful. If Alyce knew, she'd never let him live it down; she'd never seen him sick from alcohol, and he wasn't about to start now.

After that, walking proved hard. Probably harder for him, given that he didn't have a helpful donkey to lean on. What he wouldn't give to have his horse back. Hector would have been perfect for helping him move through the streets - twice he nearly lost his footing. When they reached the "clinic" Fabian was very happy to lean against the wall, though he sincerely hoped it wasn't obvious how badly he was feeling. His shoulder hummed with pain again, likely from a night on cold stone cobbles, so he twisted his torso so that he was resting more on the other shoulder and took the vial of liquid and did his best not to taste it. Obviously, it didn't work, and his stomach was definitely thinking about protesting, but thankfully nothing happened, especially because the healer then indicated for Fabian to move over. Walking had never felt like more of an effort for those couple of feet. At least his head was clearer. The knight simply grunted at the elf's words. He didn't really care that he'd figured out where they had come from. They all carried a lilt of Aelhaven in their words, whether it be pronounced or not. "You could be needed there," he said, "there's talk of Templars at the east gate." Fabian really didn't want to beat around the bush. The sooner they left the better.

[Wolvine]

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Ｉｌｉａｎ  Ｄｅｒｅｉ

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Ｅｌｖｅｎ  Ｍａｇｅ

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█ 

Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ Ｐａｒｔｙ

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They were a curious group. The human girl stepped too lightly, moved too cautiously. The knight was the opposite, his movements heavy, advertising his power with every deliberate shifting of his muscles. The elven girl seemed to take up hardly any space, clearly having practised this to an art. Oh gods, he hoped he hadn't got this wrong. It wasn't just his hide on the line now.

Though the two women showed a slight unease at his revealing what he knew, though they were clearly deferring to the knight, who showed no visible signs of distress. He wondered if the human ever felt anything at all. The new man, who's features he couldn't even begin to make out, seemed a little lost, a feeling that Ilian was more than a little empathetic with.

As the knight spoke, Ilian felt his blood run cold, his hands faltering for a second over the man's wounded shoulder. Well, that certainly complicated things. He risked looking over at the mage girl to gauge her reaction. If she lost her nerve now it would be almost impossible to get her out of town. He swallowed at the lump in his throat, and finished his observation of the strain, stepping back. He could do little else; he really was not the most talented of healers.

"I understand that you're looking for a cure for the plague, Ser." He addressed the knight directly, clearly the decision maker of the group. If he was to appeal to anyone, it would have to be him, despite the fact he looked about as emotional as a rock. Unfortunate. "I'd like to offer my assistance. Clearly you'd have use for a healer." He had other skills of course, but it had been years since he'd done more than cast a spark to light a fire. If he played his cards right, he'd be able to get these adventurers to smuggle out this mage girl who'd appealed to him, and he'd finally have a chance to try and do something that would actually help people like the dying peasant man. He stood straight, looking the knight in the eye, despite the ever increasing desire to shrink away.

[Keriae]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ＦＡＢＩＡＮ ＳＨＡＲＰＥ
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
❛''''ＡＮＤ Ｉ＇Ｍ ＮＯＴ ＢＡＣＫＩＮＧ ＤＯＷＮ
I WILL STAND MY GROUND! I WILL STAND MY GROUND!
⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯

★x
★
★

ＢＥＣＡＵＳＥ
ａ ｃｈａｍｐｉｏｎ ｉｓ
WHAT THEY CALL ME NOW!

★
★
★

xxxxxxxage: twenty seven
xxxxxxxclass: warrior-knight
xxxxxxxtagged: party

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Fabian did not ask how the mage knew they were looking for a cure for the plague. Anyone with half a brain in their head would know that the announcement claimed to be looking for people that would be saviours to the city, and the gossip had likely spread further than the town itself. This mage obviously had to keep one eye on idle talk and knowing things that seemed trivial could hold a fountain of information. Even so, perhaps he was not as good at listening as Fabian had assumed, for the moment he heard the news of Templars he seemed to freeze, and glanced at the young woman in the corner whom Fabian had not yet noticed. Perhaps she was in the same boat as the elf.

Oh, they were definitely in the same boat.

The elf was asking him if he could come along with them. Whether the unknown female in the corner would come with them was another matter, but from the look the mage had given, he must want her to come along too. And he had a fair point, too. They really could use a healer, especially after most of their group had been wiped out in matter minutes. A healer, a mage, would add something to their group and skills. Really, there was no point in saying no. And you never knew, he might be persuaded to leave a certain assassin in pain. That was a thought to brighten the day.

"The girl," he said, jerking his head towards her, "would she come along too?" Fabian thought she looked lost and in awe of everything, and keeping her from acting like a child would be hard work. He'd saddle her with Alyce; she'd hopefully have more patience than him.

[Jade Harley.]

leanne kios
• nineteen • human • spirit healer • tagged: da party • the tavern •

She listened to the healer intently as she came in and took a seat, genuinely curious for what her mage friend had been up to in the past few years, what kind of people he met and what kind of person he himself was outside of the circle. She was glad he didn't ask questions. Asking questions made things more difficult, more complicated and too personal. They were interrupted however, by a merry band of mercenaries. Well, not really. Most of them seemed hungover and awfully grumpy. They also carried swords and daggers. Dreadful things, dreadfully sharp and pointy. Swords and hangovers did not mix well.

Leanne remained quiet as they had their discussion, trying to sink deeper into her seat. If they didn't take not of her the better. Although she had to admit her curiosity got the better of her and she peeked glances at the group every now and then. They were nothing she hadn't seen before though, just a strange combination of elf and humans. A shame there were no dwarves, she had never seen a dwarf before.

She could feel their eyes one her, and then Illian's. Noticing the the fear in his eyes that came after the news of the Templars she could tell he was panicked because of her. These silent little looks were just like the ones back in the circle, she thought, where they had to converse without the templars knowing. Something familiar in the outside world for once. She remained calm, listening to her own loud heartbeat as they continued to speak. They didn't know she was a mage yet it appeared and Leanne could surely use that to her own advantage. If she let Illian do the talking it seemed everything would be fine and she would be home free.

[Kitty~.]

a l l y a
role;; rogue archer
race;; elven
tagged;; the party,
Ilian and Leanne
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Allya was a tolerable person in most cases. Sure, some individuals had the tendency to test her patience, but most she had at least the patience to withstand for a duration of time. Somehow, this group was among that lot, despite their drinking habits and overly hostile ways (she was still sore about practically getting kidnapped in the first place) and yet, they found themselves in the oddest situations.

The mage's knowledge of Aelhaven was disconcerting, even if she didn't originate there herself. She didn't entirely trust individuals with more information than they needed, whether it had been simply deduced or not. Still, she had to give him leeway. The elf had been more than generous to them, healing the battle wounds Allya could not treat and even mending their hangovers.

She perked up notably as the healer continued to speak - the intentions of the group now becoming clear. Previously, they were yet to inform her about their 'quest', per se. For what reason, she was unsure, but now their plans were out in the clear. Allya herself had not had a lot of experience with the plague, being as isolated as she was. She'd heard only the odd tale from a travelling merchant or the gossip of the nobles. Their business to finding a cure, however, was lost upon her. Wasn't that the type of thing alchemists were more suited? Alyce and Fabian were far from scientists, that was evident upon first sight. She doubted Ester knew anything either (though from his expression, it was likely this was his first time hearing of their purpose too). What were these humans up to? Why on earth were people such as Alyce and Fabian doing something so noble? Allya was beginning to regret her decision to stay. Never had she been the honorable type and she didn't intend to become one.

"You continue to surprise me, Alyce," said Ester, scrubbing his chin thoughtfully. Allya was persistently confused as to how a man could be so jovial all the time. He shrugged his shoulders, digging his hands into his pockets. "The more the merrier, I suppose. What's the worst that could happen?"

Allya turned to cast the assassin an incredibly dry glare. He had not been there when half of their squad had been slaughtered by that beast. She was not one for superstition, but those words were constantly asking for bad luck. As if they hadn't seen enough of it already. Her skin itched to get out of this town and into the open, where they were less likely to get blindsided. She did hate to admit it, but Ester was right. Considering the rate of survival so far, they stood a greater chance in greater numbers.

[Wolvine]

█

Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

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█

Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

█

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Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

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So. They were taking the wanted mage with them. Great.

Alyce did her best to hide her sour expression. She had no love for magic-users, even ones who appeared as harmless as this one. He was frail, half-blind, and far too trusting. It'd be easy to slip a dagger into his chest before he could react. She shifted unhappily, fingers resting on the hilt of her dirk. Logically, she knew this was the right choice. Having a healer would mean they'd never be in the same situation they were in now. Unless he died.

"My name is Ilian Derei." He hesitated before his next sentence, obviously searching for words. Of course, Alondrian wouldn't be his first language. His overly formal manner made a lot more sense in that light; with no coin to spare, he'd be self-taught. "May I crave a boon, in exchange for my services? This girl needs to get out of town without being detected. Hiding in plain sight would work in this instance, for no guard would stop to check who accompanies you. It would be no extra effort for you, and I would greatly appreciate it."

Alyce scowled. She didn't like this, not at all. The had to be a reason the girl was wanted. She didn't carry herself like a thief or look either brawny or scarred enough to be a mercenary. She was something dangerous. If they got caught with her, there could be problems. She opened her mouth to state as much when a series of loud screams came from outside, making her forget whatever it was she was going to say.

Ilian reacted fast, far faster than she would have expected, rushing outside. Perhaps he recognised some of the voices. Through the open stable door, she caught sight of a dark, unfortunately familiar hide, spattered with blood. She swore, violently, and followed him out. The bear was on its back legs, towering over the fleeing people. It let out a furious roar, swinging out a massive paw and clipping a young girl on the shoulder, who was knocked out of the way. The elf let out a furious shout, which she cursed him for, as it drew the beast's attention towards them. She felt heat next to her, and turned to look at Ilian. He held no staff, having left it resting against the stable wall in his hurry, but even so, fire was cracking into life between his clenched fists.

"God, we never get a break, do we?" She drew her blades. They were going to die this time, for sure. They were battered and far from recovered, and Alyce could feel her headache coming back. She was going to die hungover. God.

[Keriae]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ＦＡＢＩＡＮ ＳＨＡＲＰＥ
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
❛''''ＡＮＤ Ｉ＇Ｍ ＮＯＴ ＢＡＣＫＩＮＧ ＤＯＷＮ
I WILL STAND MY GROUND! I WILL STAND MY GROUND!
⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯

★x
★
★

ＢＥＣＡＵＳＥ
ａ ｃｈａｍｐｉｏｎ ｉｓ
WHAT THEY CALL ME NOW!

★
★
★

xxxxxxxage: twenty seven
xxxxxxxclass: warrior-knight
xxxxxxxtagged: party

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It turned out that the girl was coming with them. If they were just getting her out of the city, they wouldn't have to worry about her for long. And so far Ilian (as he introduced himself) had only asked that they get her out of here. If she ended up stuck with them..... Well, they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. There was no point worrying about it, not when it would be hard enough to get out of town as it was. Not in the sense that getting through the gates would be hard; they had been stared at from the moment they arrived, and the more eagle-eyed of the townsfolk would surely notice that the group of two humans and an elf had grown to three humans and an elf, and the original three still looked like they hadn't seen a good day in a long while.

Not that he got the chance to worry about that. He didn't even get the chance to open his mouth and tell the healer that he agreed, because clear screams pierced the air from outside. Whipping around, Fabian nearly got pushed out of the way by the male elf and he too caught sight of something that made his blood run cold.

They really couldn't deal with this right now.

Following Alyce outside - though at a much slower pace - Fabian unsheathed his sword, arriving in time to see a young girl land on the floor. Blood leaked from a fresh wound on her back, just about her shoulder blade, and her face streamed with tears as she lay on the floor, too scared to move. She looked hardly more than a child. Though he was ruthless, though he liked to feel blood on his hands (warm and fresh, preferably), he was not completely heartless. Call it foolish, but he still managed to get across the cobbled street and haul her to her feet without getting trampled by the bear. "Get out of here," he ordered her, his voice more of a snarl than anything else. To make sure she moved, he gave her a quick push in the direction of the fleeing crowd. But by the time he turned around, he decided that he shouldn't have bothered.

The bear was advancing on him, now on all floors. It's tiny beetle eyes were fixed right on him, and his jaws were dripping with saliva. The wounds they had made previously had apparently had little affect on the beast, and this time Fabian had nothing to distract it from him. No horse, the donkey was long gone, and while he did think about grabbing some passer-by and using them as a human shield, he doubted anyone would be happy with him. If he ever got back to Aelhaven, he'd like to still have his job. It would be a lie to say that Fabian wasn't scared. The knight wasn't scared often, Alyce knew that. Better than most, actually. But right then and there, with the bear walking towards him, he was very scared. There was no way he would get out of this. So, he resolved that he would, at least, die like he had lived. On the edge. Adrenaline set his blood on fire as he settled into a familiar fighting stance and gripped the pummel of his sword so hard his knuckles went white. There was no turning back now.

[Jade Harley.]

samahl alerion.
• twenty five • elven • arcane warrior • tagged: the damn bear demon • ??? •

Annoyed was an understatement. The elven mage was enraged. Who in their right mind would antagonize the demon he had been tracking for weeks? He had not bothered it because he needed to study it. A warrior going in unprepared was just begging to lose a hand...or a head. He had seen it happen, with a reckless friend of his who happened to be quite young at the time. Perhaps he should have eliminated it as soon as possible though. Letting a demon run lose was most likely not the best idea, but he did intervene when it looked like it was going to slaughter something. Actually maybe there was a reason he lost it. Demons were uncontrollable creatures. Maybe the demon had just shifted into another form, again.

Samahl had tracked the demon to the second closest human town, Daemarel. This was a bad sign, if it was anywhere in public he wouldn't be able to use his magic without being on the most wanted list for templars. The elf walked through the town, avoiding the main pathways. If he walked around he could miss important clues, and if he walked straight through he would attract too much attention. He wasn't a city elf and despite not carrying a staff but instead the hilt of a sword, him being an elf would arouse enough suspicion.

The screams however, forced him to dash out of the shadows and alleyways. His eyes widened as he ran towards the source, panicking and trying to imagine what had happened. He soon heard a familiar roar and was certain that it was the work of that accursed bear. His long legs carried him quickly enough, only to have him stare in horror, as he came upon the demon, at a young bloodied girl who was limping towards the crowd behind him. He didn't know any healing magic, he thought, panicking, the best he could right now, was protect these people from this bloodthirsty monster.

Samahl was at an advantage now, he observed, the bear was preparing to charge towards something in front of it, something that he couldn't see. The man held the bladeless hilt tight, pulling it from his side and gripping it with both hands. He let the magic flow from his fingertips and into the hilt, allowing a blade of concentrated energy to form. Samahl still had the element of surprise. Charging the creature with a swing of his sword would be too dangerous, it's hind legs could knock him into something and break some of his ribs right off the bat. Instead, he opted for a more mage-like approach. Digging the blade into the ground, he sent a large current of electricity towards the beast, hoping to temporarily shock it.

Leanne on the other hand, didn't immediately rush out, she dashed up to the window to see what had caused all the commotion, and was glad that she had chosen to do so. A large rabid bear, that clearl reeked of demonic possession was the source of the problem. She was curious and studied it for a while, only being broken out of the trance as she heard a pained howl from the creature. The girl glanced towards the people who were going to smuggle her out of here. If they were dead she would have no one. The prospect scared her and she quickly tried think of anyway she could help without giving her anything away. She recalled their posture, and how they were seemed to be hungover. It seemed too much fatigue to be a hangover though, then again, she thought, she shouldn't underestimate how drunk someone can really get before they accidentally kill themselves. The girl racked her head for a temporary revitalization spell, whispering the words under her breath, hoping that they would look to Illian if they noticed any magic going on.

[Kitty~.]

e s t e r
role;; rogue assassin
race;; human
tagged;; the party,
and Samahl
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Ester honestly had no idea what he had gotten into. One minute, he had been content. In fact, he had been halfway through properly introducing himself to the handsome healer with a broad grin and an extended hand when the sudden, chilling sound of screams echoed throughout Daemarel. He froze in his spot, a frown furrowing upon his features. Surely, he hadn't imagined it? No, there it was again. And everyone had the appropriate reactions. Ilian was first to act, bolting outside with speed Ester could not muster with this hangover and, to Ester's absolute horror, he noted there was a flicker of familiarity between Fabian, Alyce and Allya. Allya, the poor girl, looked as though she'd seen a ghost, her face washed over any colour it might have retained as she stared in shock at the terrifying beast snarling before them.

Never in his wildest dreams did Ester think today would be the day to fight an angry demon bear, but alas, as both Ilian, Alyce and Fabian moved out to greet it, he was all but forced to confront it himself. Before he left the stable, he turned to Allya, who looked remarkably reluctant to join the fight. In any other situation, he may have sympathised with her. She was fairly young, obviously new to this world of horrors, but civilians were dying and if she didn't help out, then maybe they would too. "Come on!" he barked, beckoning with his hand. Allya snapped out of her reverie and drew her bow. As the only sober one there, other than Ilian, perhaps she would actually have a shot at landing a blow on the huge creature.

Ester drew his knives. This...was not one of his fortes. He was an assassin, trained in quick, stealthy murders in the dark of the night upon nobles who don't know any better. In contrast, this huge demon bear was rearing up at them in broad daylight and all he had were two toothpicks. He supposed it could have been worse. He could have been Fabian.

Speaking of the devil, the sod thought it was a good idea to square up the bloody monster. Ester groaned, gripping the smoke bombs by his belt, prepared for drastic measures should they be required. Ester didn't give a damn. He wasn't about to let anyone sacrifice their life for this beast, even if it was the same guy that had knocked him out the night prior. Call him selfish, but he would rather run if it were for the sake of his friends (Alyce was the only one thus far, but by association, he was required to play nice with the rest of them).

It appeared he didn't need to take such drastic measures. Out of nowhere, an elf burst into the clearing and, just like that, created a blade of magic and thrust it into the earth, sending a current that rushed through the monster's veins as it bellowed out an enraged/pained cry. Ester felt himself warm up to the fight a little more, straightening and rolling his shoulders. Allya took the opportunity to let fly a few arrows into the creature's tough hide from a safe distance. For all her prickliness, she was a smart girl. Ester only wished he had the same opportunity with his weapons. This, however, wasn't the case.

"An old friend of yours?" he called to Alyce. Nearing close enough to the horrifying beast (but not close enough to get swiped by one of those monstrous paws), he thew out an array of caltropes from his pockets, hoping to lame or at the very least hinder the angry bear. To his displeasure, it didn't appear to do all that much. What did he expect with a possessed beast such as this one? Wolves were bad enough, but bears? Ester was quietly regretting joining this merry band of misfits.