➶ quest

[Keriae]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ＦＡＢＩＡＮ ＳＨＡＲＰＥ
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❛''''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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The start of their journey was so quiet it was almost like someone had died in their mist. Which, technically, it hadn't happened in front of them, but he certainly wasn't going to tell them what he'd been up to before he'd met them all at the city gates. Just because he had been cleared of his crimes did not mean that he was wholly innocent, and he was not going to take the risk of any of this ragtag group turning him in. Alyce might suspect something, but she was wise enough not to speak - right now, anyway - and he was pretty certain she wouldn't say anything in front of the rest of them. So instead Fabian chose to keep the silence and use his own thoughts to entertain himself. It was juvenile, really, the fact that he spent the time coming up with stupid, insulting nicknames for everyone, but there was nothing else to do and Hector was completely capable of walking steadily in the right direction, which meant Fabian only had to hold the reins very loosely in his hands.

In time the dirt track became less civilized and more overgrown the further they headed away from Aelhaven, and the roughly shaped cobbles eventually ran out and became just packed dirt, and that even disappeared the nearer they got to the Narivi. By the time they reached the edge of the forest, his steed was leaving hoof prints in the loose soil that even an idiot could follow. The man had long since grown so bored that he thought about nothing and everything. Fabian was roused from his thoughts by their halt and the arrival of some man or other. Now, Fabian was a tall man, but this man towered over him and his beard could have housed a colony of harvest mice with ease. At least, the man was just short of Fabian height at that moment, as he was still sitting astride the nag, but the moment he dismounted smoothly he felt like a child being scolded by his father, despite the friendly words. Alyce had stepped back out of the way, as if trying to hide, and inwardly Fabian sneered at the cowardice she had shown. Really, he'd expected her to be braver than that, given her career choice.

Reaching at the reins, Fabian pulled them forwards over Hector's head so he could use them to lead the horse along and stepped forwards. Truly, they were very well provisioned, as they had reason to be. But they were not here to sort out whatever trouble was going on in the forest not far away; they were here for something more serious than that. But this woodcutter did not have to know that, and with his chatty attitude, they couldn't risk word of their quest spreading. It needed to be kept quiet for them to succeed without anyone getting in their way. Instead, there was something else he could say.

"Well done, my good man," he said, shaking the man's hand quickly, "we've come to solve the trouble. Now, if you'd be kind, inform us more. We've had mixed, vague reports, and I'd like to know exactly what we could be dealing with apart from the normal complaints." If it was anything about feral elven tribes.... Well, Fabian would quite like to get into a scrap, to quicken his blood and get the adrenaline flowing. Right now he could have fallen asleep and he didn't think anyone would have noticed.

[Wolvine]

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Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

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Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

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Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

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To her surprise it was Fabian who stepped up first to greet the man, as opposed to Ernest, or whatever that other knight's name was. He looked like an Ernest. Fabian went on to say there were there to deal with whatever was going on, which was smart. Though they were as official as it were possible for a madman's quest to be, it was better to not try and spread word of their goals. Even so, giving the man hope that they may deal with the woodcutter's problem was a little cruel. This was his livelihood after all. Still, she wasn't going to question it. The more moral of them could argue over the semantics later.

"Well, the reason you've been getting these not right reports Ser, is probably 'cause nobody's entirely sure what the problem is. There's been no caravans coming through lately, even though there's always lots of traders coming in from the rest of the county, so I assume whatever it is, it's not good." Alyce let out a little snort of amusement. Clearly this man was a fountain of knowledge. We did it. We found a man who knows everything, including the cure to the sickness. He continued, either unaware or wilfully oblivious of her interruption.

"There's nobody here who can help. I'm the only person who stays here for longer than a day or two, and I'm not equipped to deal with whatever it is out there. There's only one way in and out of Aelhaven, and if the trade can't get through the city will run out of supplies before too long. I'm glad you're here to deal with it, anyhow." The man gestured for them to follow, and began making his way back to the cabin. "I imagine its nothing more than a few overexcited bandits, but it'll be good to get them out of there. I'm afraid there's nothing much I can offer you."

The longer the man talked, the gloomier Alyce grew. Partly because the man was annoying, but also because it was becoming less obvious to see how they'd avoid having to deal with whatever it was that was happening. If there was only one safe way in and out, they'd have to confront these bandits. Hopefully it would involve little more than shaking some swords at them and telling them to move along, but she wasn't keen on making enemies, certainly not this early on. It would be unavoidable in the long run of course, but she'd hoped they'd at least leave the county before getting into anything more brutal than a bar fight. Still, it might be a nice change of pace. She'd rather take her chances with some thugs than with whatever lurked in the unexplored growths of the Narivi any day.

"The start of the track is over there. I've been stopping people going down it for the past few days, so it might be a little bit overgrown." How fast did things grow in this forest exactly? "Hopefully I'll be able to send people through though. Many thanks m'Sers!" The man offered them a last idiotic grin and ambled off back into his cabin, apparently done chattering for now.

"Well. He managed to say an awful lot and nothing at all at the same time," Alyce commented as the giant's back disappeared from view. "I'm not sure if I should be impressed or not. Is this what you all feel like when I speak?" She didn't wait for an answer before she went over to where the man had indicated and began to tug some surprisingly large branches out of the way for Fabian's horse and the donkey. Had it really only been a few days since this track had been walked on? Nature was horrific.

[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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The more the woodcutter spoke, the more Fabian struggled to keep his interest peaked. It turned out that no one even knew exactly what was going on, so how could they hope that anyone could help them? There was no way to devise an effective plan, because if they didn't know what they were facing they didn't know the weakness, and therefore they couldn't defeat this unknown danger. There was no doubt, however, that upon entering the Narivi they would have to face it, and likely have to defeat it if they wanted to continue. Which meant they would probably be fighting, even if it was thugs. Which was presumably what was going to happen, as this death mission was never going to not have fights in it.

According to this man, people had been trying to get through and he had refused to let them - like he held some sort of power. He was obviously terrified, so maybe that had been from his heart, but their arrival meant he wasn't going to stop them. If he had known what they were really here for, he could have laughed in their faces and told them that they were going to die. Which they all knew anyway. It was better than the massive being thought they were here to help solve his problem, though he was probably hoping that they'd die in the process; some people had a sour respect for knights and their kind.

Watching as he walked away, Fabian shook his head and rolled his eyes at Alyce's comment. "Every time you speak I'm tempted to hit you around the back of the head with the pommel of my dirk." He dead-panned, following the woman over to the start of the track and letting Hector's reins drop from his hand. The horse wouldn't be going anywhere; he never did. He was a very well behaved steed (he had to be) and as soon as Fabian let go the nag had dropped his head and started grazing. Reaching Alyce's side, the knight helped her to move a branch out of the way. Poor girl would probably be scandalized.

[Jade Harley.]

leanne kios
• nineteen • human • spirit healer • tagged: da party • narivi •

Leanne didn't know what to make of the beginning of the journey at first. She tried to make conversation but after a while she found it difficult and realized the only thing circle mages ever talked about was gossip, spells and pranks they could pull on the templars. Or at least that's what her group of, "friends," found themselves busy with on good days. So instead most of her attention was focused on the nature. It wasn't often that she was let out and even then it was only within Aelhaven. The forest overwhelmed her with so many shades of green she could have sworn that was the only thing she was seeing. Some branches seem to sag with the weight of the leaves and when Leanne looked up other branches that spiraled towards the sky filled her view, as if trying to touch the stars. The only animals she could hear were birds though, most likely because they all scattered when they heard the sound of the party trekking through.

Following everyone else’s lead, the mage slowed down as they approached the giant. Not a literal giant of course but he did tower over everyone. It really brought how small she was into perspective. Leanne’s gaze wandered over to Kalli, wondering how she felt about all of this but the proud warrior seemed unfazed. Even the tall trees seemed to tremble at her presence. Which was definitely not possible because trees didn’t think. Well they could but technically that tree would no longer be a tree, it would be a demon. A demon pretending to be a tree. Or a tree with the essence of a demon? Was that still a tree?
She lost her train of thought when the others began to clear branches from the path. The girl laughed nervously, “That can’t be good right? If people have been coming in but not out that means they’re still in there right?” She walked over using the blade end of her staff to knock some of the branches out of the way. “Well either that or we’ll come across a pile of dead bodies. Hope none of you are squeamish corpses,” This she said with a genuine laugh, because to be honest, she didn't think anyone in their group would be, but it would be funny if they did feel that way.



[ i'm sorry its so little but i didn't really know what else to write about :V]

[Wolvine]

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Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

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Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

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Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

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"You wound me," Alyce answered, too focused on her task to offer a more witty response. She gripped at a particularly large branch and gave it a few tugs, though it hardly budged. Her nose twitched a little in irritation; she had never been the most physically strong, hence why she usually stuck to slinking around in the shadows and stabbing people when they weren't paying attention. It was generally much less hassle. She gave a deep breath and gave another pull, and was surprised how easily it moved, that was, up until she noticed why that was. "A little forward, aren't we?" she asked, amused rather than shocked. Apparently Fabian had decided to come off his -both metaphorical and literal - high horse and help move the debris. It seemed only to be the start of the track that was so heavily covered, perhaps an effort of the giant man to stop people going through, but even so it was clear the trail wouldn't be an easy one.

She kicked one of the last few branches into the bushes and then looked up to the mage, who was rambling about dead people. "Guess you don't see a lot of corpses locked up in the templars' barracks," she mused, mainly to herself. Judging from the wide-eyed look the girl had worn as they'd walked towards the forest, it was safe to assume that Leanne hadn't seen a lot of the outside world. Sad, in a way, but Alyce was glad that people like her weren't wandering around burning things down at their whim. "Don't worry, we'll protect you from the very scary dead people. Probably."

The start of the track was now clear enough for the animals to get by. The trail itself however, disappeared pretty quickly into the gloom of the Narivi. "Great. I'll go up ahead and scout. I'm smaller, can move faster than you with your animals, and am much less likely to be noticed by anyone who wants to rob and kill us. Also, Fabian's horse is giving me the evil eye and its kind of intimidating," she jerked a thumb over at the grazing animal, which wasn't even looking in their direction. Horses were demons on four legs and could never be trusted, she'd learnt that a long time ago. She'd never understood the appeal of such an obviously soulless animal. There was only one circumstance in which she'd willingly let something with a mind of its own between her legs.

"And don't worry, I won't try to run away. There's only one path in and out, and I'm not stupid enough to risk my life cutting through anywhere else. If I don't come back assume I found something and am waiting for you, or found something and am now dead." She doubted that most of the party would be concerned about her either attempting to escape or for her well-being anyway, but words could reassure at times, perhaps even pacify the more noble of her companions. She didn't wait for an answer before starting down the path, her movements quickly going from relaxed to more alert. Her footsteps were light and purposeful, as soundless as possible. It didn't take long for her to vanish into the shadows of the trees.


*

She'd never been this deep into the forest before. Alyce had lived her entire life in Aelhaven, and though she'd left the city on occasion, it had never been towards the east. Her work had sometimes sent her to other parts of the county, towards the poorer towns of the west, but she'd never had reason to try and traverse the massive bulk of the Narivi. It was dark, and it stank. The smell was the worst part. She was used to unpleasant smells, the scent of death and poverty and despair, but this was something entirely different. Rot, and damp. The smell of the trees was invasive, clawing at her eyes and nostrils relentlessly. To think, some people actually liked nature. Repulsive.

They'd been walking for a while now. She had no clue how long. Time lost meaning in here. Hardly any sunlight managed to reach the forest floor, drenching the world into a green-tinted haze. She'd returned a few times to meet up with the rest of the party, but she'd found nothing of interest as of yet, which was probably a good thing. The farther away whatever this was from Aelhaven, the better. It did mean though, that her assignment was incredibly boring. The horse and donkey made the rest of the group's progression a little slower, as the animals had to be coaxed through the at times very dense undergrowth, and so she was spending a lot of time trying to clear the way a little.

Having found nothing, she'd allowed her guard to slip a little, hardly aware that her footsteps where not producing little echoes. Her mind was elsewhere, thinking about the strangeness of the forest and the mannerisms of her companions and her brother who remained in Aelhaven. It took her a moment to process what exactly it was she was seeing in the path ahead of her.

An upturned caravan, and a dead donkey. Alyce frowned and moved closer, drawing her dirk just in case. There was no sign of anything living, which was alarming. Surely there should have been some animal around here, scavenging? An uneasy feeling set in her stomach and she drew nearer. Two men, merchants judging from their attire, lay face down behind the caravan. The caravan's load, which seemed to mostly be composed of silks and other materials she knew nothing of, was still there, which meant this hadn't been the work of bandits after all. She knelt down next to one of the corpses and tried to turn it over, but the man had been far larger than her and she didn't have the strength. What she did have the strength to lift however, was the pouch of coins on his belt. The other man would no doubt also have something on him, but she chose to leave it in case one of the others objected to lifting from dead men.

Other than that, they had nothing of interest on them. Their corpses were utterly unremarkable; Alyce could see absolutely no reason why someone would choose to dispose of them in the middle of the forest. There were no wounds on their backs, so presumably they'd been both stabbed in the chest or stomach, but she couldn't confirm that until they managed to turn them over. Taking a seat on the caravan, she waited for the rest of the group to arrive and offer their suggestions.

[Kitty~.]

a l l y a
role;; rogue archer
race;; elven
tagged;; the party
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It felt so inexplicably wrong.

For weeks, Allya had traveled the vast forests of Narivi. It had been homely. Game had been plentiful, few individuals had harassed her and above all, nothing substantially strange had occurred. It was laughable. Of course it was. The Gods appeared to enjoy playing cruel jokes upon the young elf, keen on throwing obscure events upon her unsuspecting form. She should have expected her peace would soon come to a sudden, shuttering halt.

Allya wasn't 'one with nature'. She hadn't grown up in a clan, but in a warm little cottage in the middle of nowhere, but it didn't take a scholar to determine that something was very wrong. It had started with the animals. From a distance, Allya would often hear the startled cawing of flustered birds, their wings batting frantically in an attempt to flee. Whole herds of deer would stampede in the opposite direction, almost trampling right over her. Allya, initially, hadn't been concerned. Had it been bandits, she simply would have navigated in the other direction. She only cared for her own hide, after all. It wasn't her business. However, it appeared that she always somehow wound up closer to the source. It was wholly unnerving - even more so when one day she encountered a remarkably untouched amount of bodies. Their gold and clothes had not been robbed (which Allya took the liberty of doing anyway), yet there they lay, eyes open, staring and glazed. Promptly, Allya had turned on her heel and took to another direction.

Today, she could feel her gut twisting with anxiety. The eerie silence that had swept over the area made her skin prickle and allowed a shuddering chill to roll down her spine. The leaf litter upon the forest floor lay untouched, even by the usually-scurrying rodents. A thick, suffocating tension hung about the air like a foul stench. Or perhaps that was the smell of a corpse. Allya's green eyes widened upon spotting the scene from a sound distance.

There it was, an upturned caravan, its dead mount and several men, all motionless in the small clearing. Light, soundless footsteps placed her behind the thick trunk of a tree, trying to level her beating heart. Her fingers twitched for the safe, reassuring wood of her bow, an arrow notched in its string. Flickering through the forest, her eyes scanned for any signs of predators - assassins, anything! A breath of relief rushed from her lungs upon spotting none. Yet, her blood still thrummed with adrenaline and uncertainty.

Risking another gaze, Allya pressed herself to the rough wood, flattening against the towering pine. To her surprise, a figure approached. She looked human and relatively harmless - well, as harmless as one could be with a dagger in hand. However, Allya had no doubt that she was not the cause for the incident before her. Especially as she began to loot from one of the dead men. With narrowed eyes, Allya decided to observe the female. Exempt for the merchants (and even them these days) it was rare to find one so deep within the forest. An array of questions flashed in Allya's mind, the main one protruding from the haze of uncertainty. 'What was she doing?'

The unnerved nicker of a horse in the distance caused Allya to flinch, snapping her head away from the curious woman. More were coming. Of course. Who would be so dumb as to come out into these parts alone? Especially with everything going on. Crouching low to the ground, she awaited patiently to study the group's intentions.

[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, allya

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After clearing the branches somewhat, the group headed into the forest. Fabian was no surprised when Alyce took it upon herself to venture first and farther away from the group, acting as a scout. She was used to working on her own - much like himself - and she probably longed for just some time to herself, especially as no one knew just how long this wild goose chase would last. She wasn't foolish enough to try and get away, not in a forest as famous and dangerous as the Narivi. Not when the fate of who knew how many people rested on their shoulders. Besides, she knew that if she did, she would either die, or he would come after her and drag her right back by the ear. There was no way she was leaving him to do this quest with this group of idiots. Fabian could handle a couple of hours at the most at a time, but there was no way he was going to be able to put up with them all indefinitely if she left him on his lonesome. They were all righteous, noble people, good citizens, while he and Alyce were no good criminals who would do anything to get what they wanted. Even if, for all appearances, I have turned my back on that life.

Unfortunately, the man began to regret his decision to bring his horse with him. Hector was a good steed, always calm and hardly ever spooked, but something about the Narivi set the nag into an uneasy mood, ears constantly flicking back and forth, eyes wide and air puffing from his nostrils. Once or twice he was sure the stallion was seconds away from rearing at the sound of a twig snapping, and the fact that his horse was acting like this meant Fabian was on edge too. His right hand was constantly on the pommel of his sword, while his left had a death grip on the reins. No matter how much he now wished he had left Hector back at the barracks, the horse carried supplies in saddle bags for all of them. He'd taken a great load off of their shoulders and it also meant Fabian would be able to save the little amount of money he had brought with him while the rest of them emptied their coin purses on substandard steeds from some farm or other.

Clenching his jaw and pressing his teeth together as the nag threatened to rear yet again, nickering nervously over a small log in their path, Fabian kept his eyes on the path ahead. The stink was unbearable, even for someone who dealt with dead bodies on a regular basis. The light was low, even if he normally traversed through filthy cities in the night. Stepping over the log, he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, beckoning the horse until the black animal stepped over. But as soon as that was done he was edging to the side, hooves beating up and down anxiously on the forest floor and head tossing. The warrior-knight tugged on the reins sharply - something that would probably be hated by his companions, but frankly his patience was running thin - and swore under his breath. Hector got the message and settled down as much as a tense animal could. Within minutes they had caught up with Alyce, who was seated on an upturned caravan. In front of her were the bodies of a pair of merchants and a bloated, stinking donkey.

"That'll be no good to eat," Fabian quipped dryly, walking around the dead animal and over to join the woman. His fingers worked quick to tie his horse to the caravan: he didn't trust the horse not to bolt right now. He turned back to the bodies and toed one with his boot. "They've been here for a couple of days at least. Strange that nothing has started to feed on them." Or that elves had not come across the mess and taken the silks. They probably never saw anything so fine. Not that they were any use to his group, unless they ever needed money. Not that they had time or space to take the silks with them. "I take it you couldn't flip them." Fabian wanted to see if they had anything of value on them, coin or weapons or maybe even a bit more food.

[Wolvine]

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Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

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█

Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

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Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

█

There was something distinctly unsettling about this forest. It was probably little more than her usual paranoia, but Alyce couldn't quite shake the feeling that she was in intense, immediate danger. Finding these bodies had only increased the sense that something was about to leap out at her, and she found herself watching the trees carefully, unnerved by how impossible it would be to tell if someone, or something, was flanking them. She picked up the sounds of the rest of the party approaching well before they came into sight. If they truly were being tracked, it wouldn't take an expert. She wasn't sure if that was comforting or not.

She stood as the rest appeared into vision, and noted with a wicked grin that Fabian had given up and was now on foot. She was no expert on animal behaviour, but even she could tell that the beast was tense and had an even more wild look in its eye than usual. The rogue carefully gave it a wide breadth and went to go stand by the corpses of the merchants.

"Oh I don't know. A few hours boil, and it might taste every bit as bland and leathery as we're used to. Or I am at least. I'm sure knights aren't subjected to such torture." She saw him cast a glance at the silks, and trusted him to come to the same conclusions as she had. She had little interest in what the rest of the ragtag group thought; this was likely far from their expertise.

"No chance. I'm curious to see how they were stabbed." Their clothes seemed mostly intact, suggesting there had been little, if any, resistance, but that didn't make sense. There were two of them; if one had fallen, surely the other would have tried to defend himself, or at the very least escape? "Lend me a hand, would you? Maybe they've got something on them."

She crouched and tugged at the man closest to her, letting out a small umph as the dead weight shifted, but seemed unperturbed by having a dead man more or less resting on her boots. His chest bore no wounds. A poisoning then? Her eyes travelled up curiously towards his face, which was twisted into an ugly caricature of shock, mouth hanging open. His eyes were wide, staring, and seemed to hold no colour. There was nothing indicative of any wounds at all but for a small trail of dried blood under one nostril. "That's... not normal." Something was very, very wrong here. "We shouldn't stick around for longer than we have to."

[Kitty~.]

a l l y a
role;; rogue archer
race;; elven
tagged;; the party
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Allya stiffened as another figure came into her vision - a male this time, seated upon the saddle of a powerful, dark stallion, the colour of a moonless night. It's flank shimmered in the fading light, quivering with a certain apprehensiveness that she too understood. Judging by the gear and, of course, the sword at his side, his rider was a warrior. From her position in the undergrowth, she prayed she was unseen. The increase in human activity made her anxiousness peak further and she found herself shifting on the balls of her feet in a vain attempt to rid herself of the abundance of nervous energy. It was painfully obvious to the few she was acquainted with that the lithe elf did not act well under pressure. Now was no exception as she observed, legs bent and eyes keen. The little light retained in the forest began to dim further, a cool breeze making whispers of the forest. The woodland was Allya's home. Never in the entirety of her life had she felt so perturbed. The slightest echoes threatened to set her off, not unlike the horse before her. However, she was certain that she was far more skittish than that phenomenal beast.

The sight of supplies upon the great steed withdrew her from her reverie and successfully obtained her attention. Not that she was without such luxuries, what with all the dead merchants and all, but the thought of further coin to line her weathered pockets was a temptation even she may not deny. Her tongue flicked out to lick her dry, chapped lips. If she were to...liberate them of their goods, she would have to be extremely cautious and only attempt to do so if she was absolutely sure she could get away with it. She didn't fancy having her own hand...liberated from her arm by that heavy sword of his. The girl too could undoubtedly slit a main artery within an instant. Surely, she rationalised, if the soldier could afford such a magnificent mount, he could spare a little gold.

Still, she was extremely hesitant. Let it never be said that Allya was a brash woman. Her bright eyes followed the pair as they ventured tentatively around the scene. Like the booming grumble of a storm, her heart thundered loudly in her ears as the man dismounted. If she were to flank them, keep low to the bush...she could perhaps nick their supplies. They wouldn't know until she was long gone, she tried to convince herself. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm her breathing. Stealing from the living had never been an easy task for Allya. Guilt and apprehension often consumed her, both before and after the crime. If she had obtained any insight throughout her travels, it was that the dead were far more forgiving than the living. The vivid recollection of a particularly livid noble flashed within her mind, sending a shiver across her cool skin.

A sudden chance struck. Excellent! The warrior and the girl engaged in conversation, their undivided attention focused solely upon the dead merchants. Quietly, Allya ducked low and scurried from tree to tree, bush to bush in an attempt to near the stallion. If she could just get close enough to reach...As she neared closer, it became abundantly clear that she was overrun with anxiety. A thin sheen of nervous sweat cast over her fair skin, adrenaline pumping through her veins like a burning flame. Now, within hearing distance, she couldn't help but eavesdrop. Her hope of thievery was depleting with every second, as the rest of their group approached the two. It was not all fruitless, however. From the shrubbery, Allya scrutinised the corpses as the warrior and the rogue continued their conversing. One body was upturned, his lifeless features revealed as the elven woman drew back in shock. She could not prevent the low hiss that escaped her lips, very much repulsed. She stared at the merchant, frozen in shock. Never in her years...Perhaps it was a mage, she reasoned. Some type of horrid magic? The plan she had previously initiated became, essentially, null and void. She wanted - needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. This was precisely why she didn't engage in the world's affairs. Wars, politics, deranged evils - there were enough dead already. She did not need to be added to the growing tally. She had seen bodies like this one before, but there was something about this lot. It scared her. Any sane person could see that something was very wrong here. The bodies, although aged, did not bode well with the small, elven girl at all.

[Keriae]

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I WILL STAND MY GROUND! I WILL STAND MY GROUND!
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ａ ｃｈａｍｐｉｏｎ ｉｓ
WHAT THEY CALL ME NOW!

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

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"If you want to die of diarrhoea, go ahead. I'm not helping you to skin, gut, butcher and cook that meat." The donkey looked like it would give anyone who ate it a fowl stomach and loose bowels for weeks. Fabian was not going to go near the thing, not for all the money in the world. Alyce was welcome to crouch down next to the body and remove it of its skin and organs, but he would not be helping and he would not be eating anything meat that came off of its skeleton. He wouldn't be saddling any of it to his horse, either. The meat would soon be rancid, even if it wasn't yet, and he didn't fancy having flies hanging around his face. He didn't mind dead bodies, and he wasn't adverse to eating something they found on the road, but something as old and putrid as the donkey was not on that list.

Crouching down, the man helped to move swollen cadaver onto his back and his nose wrinkled at the sight that was before them. There was no wound on his front at all, and his clothing was almost pristine - apart from the obvious mud stains. In fact, the owner looked like he had been pretty well off, like many merchants were, if they were good at their job. There was no coin purse on his belt, but a glance at the woman next to him told the warrior-knight that Alyce had already taken it. With luck the other corpse would have something.

Returning to the body at his feet, Fabian pressed his fingers to the cold eyelids and closed them. He'd never been shaken by anything, but those eyes....... No. Just the thought sent him into a light sweat. He didn't like the way they were sightless, more so than a normal corpse, and he didn't like the way they had no colour. The fact that only a trail of dried blood was coming out of the dead man's nose was unusual too. It unnerved him some more. This was not the work of bandits (not in the normal sense, at least), and it was not the work of the usual predators. This was either a poisoning or the work of some new predator; the disease currently running rampant would have left marks too. Asphyxiating would have left some sort of mark, and there was none. Getting up, Fabian moved over to the other corpse and was greeted by the same problem. "There's nothing here for us. We're best to mo-"

Movement caught by the corner of his eye caused the man to twist sharply and he stared at the undergrowth. "Get out. Now."