Pathwalker - RP

[Kinslayer]

(Meanwhile...)

Anyan walked forth, before the whole group, looking forward through Ragnar's scoop.

"We still have to walk lost through this plain..." he said to himself. Suddenly, he noticed something towards the mountain. It was a flag... A flag with the writing of a rampaging lion.

"The... Inas Symbol! That was... the previous expedition sent here!" Anyan thought, as he walked back towards the group.

He noticed Saine and Alziel talking, so he went towards them.


"Alziel, I saw a flag with the Inas Kingdom symbol, no mistake about that... we should check the camp..." he said.

He was curious about the camp, but he was worried about something else... His father should be there...

[Red XIII]

Ragnar saw the flag.
"What could this be? Maybe it was one of the King's expeditions...." Ragnar thought.

The group kept walking, but everyone seemed impressed (And, in some cases, worried) about it.

Ragnar walked forth, and passed his finger over the crossbow.

"Mmmm... Let's hope this ol' crossbow can rest for a while."

[Moosetroop11]

Liara let her feet leave the ground as a breeze drifted her upwards. It was good to fly again after all that time.

She looked over at the camp. It was a large, well built one, but showed obvious signs of battle. The creatures had been here, perhaps? Not recently at least.

The wooden stakes in the ground provided some protection in the form of a wall, and the gate was up, but there was still a large hole in the defense, pocketed with claw marks. The group made their way towards this, on the lookout for danger.
"Do you think it's occupied? I didn't see anyone" she asked, landing lightly beside Alziel.

[Ben]

(OOC casual reinsertion of character)

"I see nobody, but first glances are oft deceiving" Monty solemnly retorted

[Dragonium]

OOC: Yay! Good to have you back bro. Now, sorry for not posting recently, let's get back into the swing of things.

BIC:

Alziel stretched out and surveyed the landscape. The plains were almost flat, though the frequency of the little ridges and depressions increased away from the coast, and when he stood up as tall as he could, he could see a wide area. The mountain, though large, seemed to be drawing closer, and he guessed that they may even reach it by nightfall if they were not sidetracked.

He had decided to accept Saine's offer. He still did not trust the mysterious man, but he could learn to, surely. Anyone with mapping talent would be handy. Saine might even be able to hunt.

Still, they had discovered an old camp out on the plains, and it would take time to investigate. He surveyed the ruined tents and the flag still proudly flying.

Liara landed silently by his side, and as she stood against the sunshine and Alziel turned to look at her, he was struck with how beautiful she looked in the light. The wings which he had dismissed as ugly insect wings were shining, gossamer things with intricate patterns, and her hair was lustrous, and kept falling over her face, leading her to giggle and brush it back. As she stepped towards him she seemed to glow.

"Do you think it's occupied? I didn't see anyone", she said to him, but her voice had a different edge on it, as though she was attempting not to let any emotion show in her voice. Alziel had watched men lie, and he could tell when someone was hiding something. He decided to say nothing.

He caught sight of Saine watching them.

"I don't think so", Alziel said, slightly wary. "I'm sure if there was anyone here they'd have left a long time ago. Look at those stakes, the wood is rotten. And those claw marks... No, there's nobody here".

He finished and surveyed the scene. It didn't sit right with him. He had a bad feeling, and he would have very much liked to leave now, but the group had stopped moving.

He looked for some signs of people having escaped the camp. It had been a long time since he had tracked people; normally animals were his quarry. He didn't doubt that Shell could interpret any signs he found... But where the hell was Shell, anyway?

He turned to Liara. "Let's let everyone take a break for ten minutes or so. Then we'll have to move. Are you alright?"

She nodded, and Alziel admired her. She was holding up remarkably well on this trip.

[Kinslayer]

Anyan detected Monty after a long while. He approached the man, and said: "Nice to have you around. It seems we will be resting for ten minutes..."

"Why, it is unfortunate, the crew does not seem to be tired at all..." Monty answered.

"Indeed..." said Anyan. He knew Monty wished to have his horse in a moment such as this.

Anyan walked towards the front. He was impatient, and wanted to see the camp in that precise moment.

He turned towards Alziel and Liara, he was going to ask them about the terrain characteristics, they were obvously more experienced in that matter than him... He then saw Alziel's look over Liara.

He realized something, as he remembered his last dream...

"Memories are recalled as couples are formed. Where your emptiness lies... What you feel as incomplete, there lies your struggle. A mirror shall form infront of you..."

That was the god's message Delliah had told him...

Also, Anyan remembered how Liara recalled him of Delliah the first time he saw her.

What Anyan realized was that the mirror formed infront of him... it was Alziel and Liara...

"It seems... my struggle lies with them after all..." he thought.

He stood silent for a moment, then left. He needed to a be a bit less careless from now on...

[Moosetroop11]

The group reached the camp and Liara ran her finger along the wooden wall, even in this dangerous time instinctively remembering her soft Sprite skin and vulnerability to splinters. Then they reached the hole in the wall.

Ragnar really was a man without fear. He strode into the camp and Alziel followed, Monty and Anyan drawing their weapons and entering with them. Liara stepped over the dirt threashold, but at first did not register what she saw inside the walls... She was struck by a warm feeling in her body, like blood circulating in defrosting hands.

Her magic was returning.

[Ben]

Monty was irrate, and agitated.
He had not swallowed a decent morsel in a couple of days, and the pangs hit hard. He was, however, too unnerved to eat.

The innicdences with the winged beast and ominous signs had him on edge...without the protection of his cloak, he was left with a constant feel of insecurity and vulnerablility...the survival instinct had replace his previous pompus nature.

 His documents were gone...and the crew of derilicts and mercinaries were left on this forsaken land to fend for themselves, and at best, find salvation through the impossible.

Liara strectched her fingers, and smiled a little, through a cold wet face. Monty assumed some of her magics were returning to her.

And Rangar....the arrogant old man whom had criplled them so, with his blasts in the ship skirmish walked confident. Monty blamed him for his cold state, and when it was benificial to him, monty would have his blood on a small throwing knife...even if not a blood tainted with death, monty would be sure to have a revenge on him.

Monty was unnerved. Everything about this place had a saturation of The vile. Monty had never believed in Good or Evil, but shades in between. But one irributable incarnate he had encountered in the past, was the Vile. Pestilence, Diease, Rape, and the like....all Vile.


And monty Could feel it sokaing into his skinn, chapping his feet within his boots. He had not been warm, or dry for days.



"I think, we need a decisive plan. Something more tangible than a DIrection to walk....."

[Emerates]

Saine had to bow his head as he walked through the hole in the wall.  Rotted wood lay on the ground, and creaked as his boots came down on it.

The encampment was well-made, with the usual military feel to it.  Someone from the kingdom had been here before.  Saine recalled memories of several late nights in bars and taverns when he had listened to the half-drunken tales of soldiers who had told tales of their comrades going to unknown parts and not returning...  Perhaps this was where they had met their demise.

Saine looked back through the hole at the landscape behind them.  They had gained altitude, and he could see further than before.  The sea was still in sight, the blue the only color besides the dead-like grass and the sky.   The ridge the camp was built on was still low, and Saine estimated they had only risen about 50 feet from the ocean up to this point.  For the distance travelled, the elevation made sense.  However, the way it rose did not.

It looked as though the ground had folded and bent closer, causing the ridges.  Usually, the ground rose steadily, a very gradual slope.  This continent was truly strange.

Saine spotted Alziel and Liara talking.  He watched Alziel's gaze, his expression, the way his eyes did not leave Liara as she approached him.  Alziel's eyes darted towards Saine for a brief moment.  Saine nodded, then turned back into the camp.  He had been right, at least about one thing.

Saine walked further in.  He looked at the nearest building, spotted Ragnar, and ambled toward him.  His thoughts were torn between the landscape and Alziel and Liara.  For a moment, he felt jealousy toward Alziel, but decided against harboring them any longer than that.  It never would have worked anyways.  I am dark and she is light.  My affections would have only torn her apart.

"You are Ragnar, correct?" Saine said as he reached the old man.  Ragnar was squatting low, examining a dark patch of burnt earth.  He looked up at Saine, his haggard features passive.

"Aye.  Saine, isn't it?"  The old man rose to meet Saine's eye level.  Saine still stood at least 3 inches over the imposing old man's head.

"Yes.  I get the feeling you know a lot about geography...?"  Saine left the word with a slight implication of questioning in his words.  "You undoubtedly have more experience than most of us.  I was hoping you might be able to help me something about this land."  The old man's eyebrows raised slightly.  Saine knew Ragnar did not trust him, but he could at least try to build a genial relationship with the man.  Perhaps it could ease tensions a bit, later on, to have at least had a conversation with him.

Saine began to explain his observations of the ridges to Ragnar...

[Kinslayer]

"Such a stench..." said Anyan. Monty was beside him as they entered through the hole.

The Viper was ready, and so was the young former knight, as he was more aware of the dark beast's strenght.

Anyan detected Alziel and Liara together, and Saine talking to Ragnar. "Surely you'll hold out fine old man..." he thought, as he walked towards a tent. It was totally wrecked, and a horrible stench came out of there.

"Hold back, I'll go first..." said Anyan to Monty, who silently nodded his head.

As he entered the tent, Anyan found aout something...

A corpse. It seemed to have rotten through the years, as it was a victim of an attack. It was dressed in a black armor, although, the armor's material allowed it to shine. And there was a spear beside the body.

The spear was totally made of metal, a part painted in total black, and the edge was platinum, and a little shape of a snake was written on it.

"That's..." muttered Anyan. Monty heard him.

"That's... the Python Spear... that is my father's..." muttered Anyan again, with his voice even more quiet as before.

He knelt beside his father's body, who seemed to have fought to the end. But he did not cry, he was silent all along.
His father was dead, now for sure...

But Anyan detected something on his father's hand. Something Monty did not notice. A little paper. It was a note.

Anyan grabbed it and saved it. He would read it later on. For now, he would just take his father's spear and pray...

[Red XIII]

Ragnar heard Saine with attention. He had thought before that Saine must've had some skills, but Ragnar realized that he had underestimated him.

"My my... He could be a great ally.." Ragnar thought.

When Saine finished telling him about the ridge's details, Ragnar answered: "Well, I know some geography, but you match me. Indeed, I had seen some of the things you described, but meny others were out of my sight."

"I think we adventurers should help each other for the time being. Don't you think?"

Before Saine could answer, a horse's cry was heard from the distance.

Monty, who was around, turned to look, and his eyes met Ragnar's

"Hey, Was that a horse?" Ragnar asked.... How could've a horse have survived whatever disaster came on hte camp?

[Kinslayer]

A weird sound interrupted Anyan's prayer. "It is just a horse..." he muttered. He looked behind him, and Monty was distracted by that sound, so Anyan took out the note.

He started to read:

"To the blood of my blood, Anyan:

I write this letter in the darkest of circumstances, hoping that it will someday reach your hand. It's been months since I last saw your eyes, and Delliah's... Is she allright? I am hoping to finally give you both the blessing, she seems like a fine woman.

I must tell you the truth... we are sorrounded. I have not seen the enemy, but my senses tell me that we are being watched. Do not worry, us Leddwicks have always been fine knights through all of the Inas history!

I have learned something that will surprise you, and I have to tell you this. You must flee from Inas. I have found out that his Majesty has betrayed our legacy...

I know there's a conspiracy here to kill me... and my spear is ready, but what they are searching for, they will never find it. I gave it to you Anyan, and that is the Vi..."

The note ended there.

Anyan, then, saved it in his pocket, with a sad look in his eyes.

Those last words were clearer than water...

"All of this... all of this suffering... just to get your drity hands on a sword...!!!" Anyan screamed, with tears filling his red eyes, full of wrath: "I do not care about how mighty is the Leddwick's Viper... I would never kill for it... your Majesty... I swear I will not rest until I pierce your heart with this steel of mine!"

Anyan didn't care if Monty, Alziel, Ragnar or anyone could hear him. He was too angered.

With grief, and after saving his sword in it's sheath, Anyan took his father's corpse outside, and taking a broken shield on the ground, he started to dig a hole to bury him.

[Moosetroop11]

Liara walked over to Anyan, but knew better than to put her hand on his shoulder, her natural instinct in such situations. She saw him burying the body and knew that it had been someone he had been close to. That was enough.

In this silent, foreboding landscape, the man with the weight of a thousand upon his shoulders dug and Liara stood beside him, her mere presence supporting him more than the power of words ever could have.

***

Alziel walked cautiously towards the sound of the horse. One of the contestants that had abandoned the group, perhaps? Surely no horse could have survived out here...

[Kinslayer]

OCC: had to edit because I mispelt some words xD

After finishing his father's burial, Anyan said a short prayer while kneeling. And stood. He noticed Liara standing beside him, and the sprite was speechless. Anyan understood her intention, and he smiled a little.

"Thak you..." he said to Liara, with his always low voice, almost like a whisper: "He was... my father." Anyan was sadenned, although he already had known that the posibility that his father was dead was high. He wanted to at least see his body.

Liara's silence helped Anyan. He knew she was supporting him, but yet she did not want to speak senseless words.

"Now... I must focus..." thought Anyan, as he stood still for a little while. Suddenly he realized something... something written in his father's note...

"We are sorrounded..." muttered Anyan. Liara stared at him and said: "What?"

"My father left me a note..." he said: "It said they were sorrounded..."

Anyan soon became aware.

"Gather everyone... I beileve we are going to be ambushed..." said Anyan to Liara quickly. He had the Python, his father's spear in his hand. It was about to break, although it was made of metal.

"For one last time, you will serve my blood..." thought Anyan.

[Red XIII]

Ragnar tried to follow the sound of the horse...
"Where could it be?" Raqgnar thought. Suddenly, something moved inside Ragnar's pocket..... it was Shell's frog

"So, it's you, little one..." Ragnar said to the frog "What's going on?"

The frog looked back and Ragnar, and its look said one thing: "Stay with the group. Danger"

"What, shouldn't I follow the horse? If I caught it, I could fix a past mistake...." Ragnar said

The frog's look said: "Death. Only death if you follow..."

"So that's it, little one..." Ragnar said in a very low voice and thought "Sorry, Monty, you'll have to wait...."

Ragnar stood and prepared his crossbow and his swords, as he walked towards Anyan and Liara, who had started to gather the group.
Ragnar said to the frog "Stay inside, little one, and hope we can get out of this one too"

The frog looked at Ragnar, and suddenly Ragnar felt relieved.

"Yes, we'll get out of this one.. And I'll find the cure!!!" Ragnar said to himself.