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 Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:32 am
Silver's eyes briefly narrowed when she saw the turmoil her question caused. Then again, most spawn hunters had unpleasant histories. Look at her own, for instance. She politely averted her gaze so she wouldn't embarress him, her task easier when her plate arrived, the cheese and bread already wrapped up in cheap paper. Nibbling on a piece of greenery, she let Seraphis compose himself. Then he snowballed her with his request for her own information. How to go about this... she thought, a little baffled. Usually, no one asked anything of her except for coin or a borrowed sword.
Speaking of swords... The man next to her, an unclean man who obviously wasn't seeking spawns, just looking for items to sell, was eyeing her twin swords. Ignoring him for now, she checked her sheaths to make sure they were secure then returned to her current problem. Metil is never going to let me live this down... she told herself with a sigh, then nodded her head in agreement. "I don't have information, myself," she told him. "However, I have a contact here in the village, an old conwoman who owes me. I believe she has some sort of information, but I'm not sure what it is yet. She won't tell unless I give her food first." Silver indicated the bread and cheese, so he would understand that was where that was going. "You are welcome to come with me to her wagon and hear what she has to say..."
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:11 pm
Grenth wasn’t surprised at how quickly someone emerged from the crowd to accept their offer, but he was surprised at just how beautifully the elf sang, especially for such a small amount of money. Back in the convoy, they’d tell the musicians not to sing their best unless it was worth it, because the better you sang, the worse you would sound later that day. So, usually, no one got a great show for less than six or eight coppers. This woman must have really enjoyed singing, to do so well for so little. He wasn’t sure, but Grenth thought he even felt the tiniest spark of magic. That was impressive stuff. He glanced at Blade, figuring she knew this song, and found that he’d figured right. The look on her face said it all, really. It was probably some elven song she’d heard back in her old village. To Grenth, it was just another pretty song from another pretty elf.
When the elf finished her song, Grenth clapped with the others. He’d have tossed a few more coins in as a reward, but the elf had taken her coins and started to walk away to wherever it was she was headed, so Grenth shrugged it off and turned back to Blade.
"Now, on second thought..."
That was enough to catch his interest, and in an instant just about all of his attention was focused on her. If he thought she had no more ideas about the spawn, he’d probably be heading to the next hotspot by now. But Blade often didn’t say everything the first time. There were multiple things she’d “forgotten” to tell him in the past, which ended up getting him in all kinds of trouble. This time it was spawn info. The spawn, she explained, had been moving strangely. He wasn’t sure what this meant, exactly, but he was willing to listen. Grenth watched her slip her hand underneath the table and bring it back up with a map. The summoning thing she did was always interesting, and he’d wondered more than once about what else she kept tucked away with her powers. For that matter, where did the things go? ‘Cause if he went into a teleport and came out with her sword lodged in his shoulder, he wasn’t going to be happy.
Blade laid the map out on the table in front of him. He took a long look at the map, examining the red spots and the faint lines drawn between them. The red spots, Blade said, were places the spawn had attacked, and the lines drawn between those spots were apparently the beginnings of a pattern. She hadn’t told any of this to her traveling partner, Ebon (Grenth was sure he’d heard the name), because the man didn’t listen. Sounded like a crappy companion to Grenth, but he didn’t say anything. Blade pulled out a second map and moved over to his side of the table, where she laid the map out. This second one was covered in very strange markings and fluid patterns, which he assumed were characters from some language he did not know. Blade obviously knew them, though, and he could tell she was about to explain exactly what they were, so he moved into a more comfortable position and got ready for her explanation.
The spawn were moving in patterns. Blade had mapped out these patterns for an unspecified number of years, and the only year the patterns were completed was the year that the light spawn made its one attack. So, to him, it sounded like the glyph was only complete when all the spawn made an attack. That didn’t happen often in a single year, or ever, since the light spawn almost never attacked. Grenth was going to ask if they could be tracked like this, but she was one step ahead of him and explained that the pattern was only really visible once it was too late to do anything, but since the light spawn never attacked, the pattern was hard or impossible to find. After that came an explanation of glyphs, and the way they worked. Apparently, the spawns were forming a sort of story with their attack patterns, but it was a story that could not be read properly because there were so many missing parts. The only exception was the year the shadow spawn was most active, and the patterns formed an old faerie story. Was it cursed, he wondered silently? Yes, she confirmed, it was. Grenth smiled. “I lived with merchants and gypsies. I know the story well enough,” He said, quietly, not trying to interrupt her. She finished, saying that glyphs didn’t make sense until they were just about finished, which meant it was impossible to track them using that method.
“Maybe the spawns are preparing for a larger plan of attack?”
The pretty elf had returned, this time with an idea about the spawn. It was no surprise that she’d have a thought, especially after listening to Blade. Grenth turned in his seat so that he could easily look at both the elf and Blade. “They very well could be, though I can’t imagine why. Each of them is powerful enough to tear apart any city you can think of. The idea of them working together to attack anything is terrifying.” He said with a bit of frown as he considered the destructive possibilities. “And I don’t think they all moved to a farther area, either. Some of them, maybe, but if all of them had made a move toward a single general area there’d probably be witnesses.” Grenth couldn’t really think of a good reason for the sudden disappearance of the spawn. They couldn’t be afraid of something, they didn’t mate, they didn’t hibernate as far as he knew, and they didn’t get sick.
“Ah, I’m Grenth, by the way. And my friend here is Blade,” he said with a gesture in Blade’s direction. “Are you a spawn hunter as well?”
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:22 pm
Blade turned her head to see the elf that had performed for them make her appearance again. Blade looked at her as she spoke, her eyes flickering over to Grenth as he was the first to speak. She repressed a shudder as Grenth stated that having the spawn plan an attack together would be... terrifying. That was putting it lightly. She released her apprehension and continued to listen, her lips forming a small "o" as the man asked the elf if she was a spawn hunter.
"Ooh yes, good question!" Blade leaned over to look at the elf, smiling brightly while her eyes flickered over the singer as if to size her up. "If you are, do you already have a group? If not, the more the merrier in my party!" She perked her lips and then turned to look at Grenth. "Hey Grenth, why don't you join up with me? I could use more company and I'm sure that you've gotten stronger since our last encounter." She slid off of the table, leaning on her hand with the other hand resting on her hip. "And you have to admit it Grenth, I know a hell of a lot more about spawn than most people do. I've gotten stronger myself too. See, handsome?" Blade lifted an arm out of her cloak and flexed it, sticking her tongue out and winking at him as she patted the muscle there. She relaxed and walked back over to her spot, grabbing her food and looking up at the man opposite of her and also at the singer just for the sake of showing that Blade wasn't forgotten about her. "My partner and I were planning on leaving this town soon, actually. I wanted to leave today, in fact, but he just left for one of the hunter's bars. Knowing him he's already drunk. Although he may surprise me today. Ebon is a hard worker...." Sometimes.
Blade put her food to her mouth and took a bite, watching as someone walked up and put more food on the table. Oooh, that meat smelled divine. "Help yourself, milady." Blade told the bard, accidentally using her male voice. She cleared her throat and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that, guess I've practiced that too much. Anyway, eat up if you're hungry. There's still about six or four platters of food coming out and I don't mind you picking off of my plate. Same doesn't apply to you, Grenth. You've got your own plates." She winked at him and laughed deviously before sinking back into her wooden chair and taking another bite.
As the conversation continued Blade felt a small pressure develop on her arm. She ignored it at first, guessing that she'd done too much training with her sword and had pulled the muscle. That was until it suddenly spiked, making her turn her head to look down at the lump underneath her cloak that was her arm. Her skin felt like it was burning where the sun was hitting it for a split second and then it faded, although it still felt like someone was shoving a thick needle strait up her upper arm. She tried to move her arm but found that it wasn't responding to her mental commands. Oddly enough the rest of her body was allowing her to control it.
'That's no good.' Blade thought to herself as she took another bite of meat and looked up at the sky. 'It either means I'm getting sick or a certain something is nearby.' The sun was hanging somewhat low above the horizon, although it wasn't close enough for the sky to turn red and it would be a couple of hours until night.
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:01 pm
Yes the idea of any of the spawn combining forces was terrible. Doina would admit that even her bright outlook would be shattered if that were to happen. And he did have a point about their movement…though it could also mean that they’ve all gotten better at hiding themselves. Looking at the Light spawn it was possible, it had only attacked once and there we no eye witnesses, if there were they were dead already. Why were they disappearing? Was it even through the actions of the spawn themselves or something greater?
At the introduction she smiled slightly and bowed her head towards the two. She could feel the eyes of her traveling partners and could have sworn she felt Gytha’s annoyance at her tardiness. But coming so close to the best source of information she’s had in a while, she couldn’t just leave. If she could have anything she hoped that her friends would be a bit more patient with her.
“I am Doina and it’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintances.”
At his question she paused for a moment as she thought of how to answer it. If he meant in the sense of planning on tracking down the spawn and slaying them, then no. While she would like them to be gone to stop all the destruction they caused, she knew she didn’t have the power to do so alone. But if he meant she hunted for information than she could call herself one. If anything on the spawn gave her a small idea about her family’s condition then she would willingly track down even the Darkness spawn.
Then Blade spoke up and she found herself hesitating again. Join their group…the idea was nice but could she really leave the Sisterhood of Itare? Would they let her go, they considered her their youngest sister and they might take the role of older siblings and not permit her to leave. But a part of her wanted to, she would do anything to find information on her brother. He was her main reason for continuing on.
“Help yourself, milady."
Those were three favorite words of Doina. As soon as her eyes laid on the food her stomach growled and she sat herself down. Her friends had eaten but her little adventure with the half elf had taken up her time for a meal. Thanking Blade and took a plate filled with fruit and bread, eating happily. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Sisterhood move, Gytha giving her a look and a few of the others waving to her before they left. They must be heading back to the inn they were staying at. Or going to get more supplies. She would check in later with them.
“To answer your questions in a sense I am a spawn hunter but more for information sake then to stop them. I’m afraid my merger abilities would only add me to their death list.”
She took another bite out of the bread and pointed to the exiting group of elves.
“And I am in a group but they don’t hunt spawn. It’s a traveling musical group called the Sisterhood of Itare. If I were to join with your party I must speak with them first. Thank you for your offer though.”
She saw Blade turn her head towards her arm and then to the sky. She couldn’t help the curiosity that over came her as she watched Blade closely.
“Is something the matter? You seem a little distracted.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:52 pm
Doina, quite a lovely name. Blade watched the elf sit down and easily accept the offer of food. The sound of her stomach growling was enough to make Blade chuckle a little. She crossed her legs and ate her food with her good arm while Doina spoke, pausing briefly while she told them about her group. A sisterhood, hmm? Blade looked over at the group that the elf pointed over to before her eyes flickered back to the speaker.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine." Blade smiled at Doina, showing that she appreciated the concern. "You'll be able to tell if there something wrong with me. My arm is just freezing up."
She took another bite of food before she said something about Doina's group. "So, you're part of a traveling group of entertainers? I think I actually saw your group play once." Blade's nose crinkled in thought as she tried to remember. When nothing came to she dropped her memory poking and looked over at Doina, ignoring her arm. "I wouldn't mind if you came along, even if you can't use a weapon. We all need to learn about the spawns and as long as you can help contribute to finding the spawns or in the towns, it'd be appreciated." While it may or may not be the best move, spawn hunting groups occasionally had someone who had no real idea how to wield a weapon. These members were often entertainers or the smartest members of the group. Brain power helped in spawn hunting and having someone play a small song to help ease tension in the group was sometimes all that was needed to keep a team together.
"You should be wary, though." Blade stated as she grabbed her unmoving arm and dragged it onto her lap. "Spawn hunting is a tricky and deadly business. I'm guessing that you have a personal beef with this, just like everyone on Pangaea does. If you were to come with us your life would be in danger because we're purposely trying to find things that want to kill us. From what it sounds like you've had no to little experience with being in spawn hunting groups, right?" Blade adjusted herself in her seat to look at Doina more fully. "Spawn hunting involves a lot of walking and we really only make brief stops to gather information and supplies before heading out on the road again. There's a lot of danger because sometimes you have to go through unstable terrain. The advantage is that you've got people around you to protect you from the danger of the wilderness." Blade paused as she wondered how many times she'd made this speech to people. About nine out of ten people usually turned her down. Not that she could blame them. "All in all, spawn hunting is dangerous and you shouldn't try to do it unless you're willing to acknowledge that you're putting yourself in serious danger. If you were to come with us and leave your group to come with me I can't guarantee you that you'd be able to see them again. Of course, considering that they're a musical group people probably talk about them a lot. So I bet that they would be easier to track down." Blade grabbed a slice of fruit and popped it into her mouth, keeping her eyes on Doina.
"Sorry if that sounded recited or a little long. I've given that talk countless times before and it seems to stretch itself every time I say it." Blade chuckled and then looked over at Grenth. "What about you, Grenth?" One of the reasons she wanted him back was because he could teleport. Made traveling a lot easier. Blade could teleport herself as well, but she did it in a different fashion. Hers relied on being able to move through shadows and she couldn't really take anyone else with her. She could take a person or maybe two, but it was only for a short distance that made no real difference in walking. Mostly because her passengers couldn't handle the ride and it was harder to concentrate on moving when she was also trying to keep a hold on her baggage.
More pain shot up her arm, harder to ignore. She gritted her teeth and turned her head to look down at the limb that was causing her grief. It would be useful if she could tell which signal it was sending her. She had almost forgotten about the pain, too. She took in a deep breath to try and relieve the pain before looking back up. "Sorry about that."
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:58 pm
It froze up? Blade didn’t seem too bothered by it, but it was still a problem. Her arm freezing up could mean a number of things, from her muscle tissues not contracting properly to incorrect singles being sent to the nerves. Doina’s healer personality began to shine through, her green eyes narrowed as she looked at Blade arm’s trying to deduce what the problem could be. She turned back to Blade as she spoke again, she had watched them perform before? It wasn’t unlikely but it sure was a coincidence that she would come across them again.
“Really? Well we have traveled to many different places. And we don’t really like to stay in one town too long, we’ve gotten used to being on the move.”
And they did, even when they stopped in one of the few elf villages they only stayed for a day or so. Continuing to listen to Blade she nodded. It was kind of her to allow those without weapon experience along. Doina always thought that a group of warriors preferred their own kind. One who was unskilled could endanger the whole group. Then the other woman got more serious and Doina found that she was completely focused on her.
The brief stops and constant travel she wasn’t too worried about. It wasn’t that much different for the Sisterhood of Itare. Gytha was the unofficial leader of the group, being the oldest, and she always told them that if they wanted the money to buy what they desired that had keep on the move. She wasn’t exactly a slave driver but she was very strict in her time management, something she always nagged Doina about. And she could imagine the danger, all the stories and the destruction of her own village made her aware of that. Even though she would dearly miss the company of her friends she felt that this was her opportunity to achieve her goal. Her brother was important to her and she would travel to the ends of the land and beyond for only a small hope that her brother was still with the living.
She smiled and chuckled lightly at her apology. She didn’t need to say it, Doina was glad that she said that speech to her. It made her really think of her choice, and while there was still a little doubt about leaving she knew that if she passed up this chance she would always regret it. At Blade’s wince in pain Doina decided it was time to show her other talent. Channeling her energy to her palm, then to her fingers and finally her finger tips she reached over to Blade’s arm.
“You said that an advantage to spawn hunting was having people protect you, correct? Well for that protection I would gladly offer up my service of healing.”
As she said this she touched a few pressure points on Blade’s arm, one on her palm, another at her wrist and forearm. Not knowing what was wrong would keep her from fully fixing the problem in her arm, but the healing touches should alleviate most of the pain. If Blade would allow her to, she could look at her arm and heal it properly.
“I wouldn’t want to be dead weight to your group so my healing powers are at your disposal.”
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:53 pm
So she could heal? That would definitely be helpful! Blade didn't try to pull her arm away as Doina began to look at it, merely tilting her head. Not that she could pull it away anyway.
"If you can sing like that, you wouldn't dead weight anyway." Blade answered while she uncrossed her legs just to cross them again, but this time switching the leg positions. What Doina was doing was helping to relieve the pain a little, but not by much. "I appreciate the help, but I'm afraid that your healing powers can't help me. I've gone through countless healers and none of them have been able to do anything. My problem has to do with my magic." Blade tapped her cleavage with a thin finger, foot bobbing a little. "My natural magic ability is fire. Unfortunately, Tidal cursed me with shadow magic when we first met. It contradicts my fire magic and the shadow magic itself is bad. I get sick sometimes. Or I have physical pains, like my arm."
Blade reached over to grab a fruit and popped it into her mouth, her foot now bobbing to a song that was playing in her head.
Then she paused, turning her head to look at one of the buildings. She even slowed her chewing and swallowed carefully as she was afraid of choking.
'Oh. s**t.'
"Weshouldgo." Blade stated very quickly, her words practically ramming into each other. "Really, really, really should-"
Then she was cut off by a horrible shrieking. It was so loud and painful that it rang strait through her skull. She slammed her usable hand against an ear, trying to press her other ear against her shoulder. The screaming continued, a sound that Blade could not describe as anything other than a woman in extreme pain and something that was definitely not human at all. It was one of the worst sounds she had ever heard in her life. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the screeching stopped. Deep silence followed after, people trying to recover from the sound that had just blasted strait through their bodies and jarred their bones.
"That must been a warning from the light spawn." Blade remarked quietly as she drew her hands off from her head. People started talking all at once and began moving around quickly, although not in a panic. It wasn't from the shadow spawn, seeing how it wasn't sunset yet. Blade stood up, sending her food a regretful glance before looking at the other two at her table. "That wasn't a warning for the entire week or a few days. The shadow spawn is close by and it's not going to wait very long to attack." Blade sighed and shook her head, half-disappointed and half happy that an attack was happening again. "Looks like the spawn are back."
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:39 am
Doina kept her gaze on the arm but kept her ear open to Blade. Her brow furrowed as she felt her energy being blocked. Some of the healing power was getting through, but it was if an invisible filter was placed, only allowing a small percentage of her power to get through and make a small effect on the pain. She pursed her lips in frustration. She never came across an injury that she had difficulty healing, not since she was a novice under the teachings of her master.
Blade’s answer to her unasked question took some of the frustration off. She cut the energy and pulled her hand away, placing it in her lap. She found her eyes widening slightly as Blade told her of the curse Tidal put on her. Her gaze went back to the arm being mentioned and she wondered just how powerful it was. It must be very hard for her to live with a power that’s almost in direct opposition to her natural powers. Doina would try her best to help Blade deal with the pain as she traveled with them, even if she couldn’t heal the arm.
“Is their anyway you can think of to destroy Tidal’s curse?”
That’s what she was going to say until Blade started speaking really quickly. The purple haired elf rose a brow and opened her mouth to question the other woman until she heard the most horrible sound. Like everyone else she slammed her hands to her ears, her face scrunched up in pain as the noise still made it to her ear drums. She could feel her muscles tremble from the sheer volume of the shriek and she prayed that it would stop soon. Thankfully it did and Doina shook her head as she tried to regain her senses.
Her ears were still ringing and the loud talking of everyone else wasn’t helping.
"That must been a warning from the light spawn."
Doina looked up at Blade not quite sure if she heard right. That had been the light spawn? She heard that it’s warning was bad but she wouldn’t have imagined it to sound like that! She stood up as well, placing a hand on the back of her chair. If the darkness spawn was coming soon this town would be close to desertion by nightfall. Probably the only ones who would stick around would be the spawn hunters and even then it only be a few of them.
“So what is the plan?”
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:03 pm
Even inside of a building, the light spawn's warning shriek was loud and clear. Silver covered her sensitive ears to protect them from the sound, grinding her teeth to keep from crying out herself. When it cut off, she growled angrily, "Damn Metil! She could have just told me the light spawn was here... She knows I won't go after the thing till I get my hands on the darkness spawn first." Grabbing her extra food, she made sure her blades were all in easy reach before facing Seraphis. "If we want to catch Metil before she flees town, we'd best go now. I still want to squeeze what information I can from her. Follow if you want." Moving as fast as her bum leg would let her, she hurried back to where Methi's bright yellow wagon had been earlier. If that old woman left already, Silver was going to have a few choice words for her next time she saw her...
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 2:15 pm
So, Silver had a contact. This was wonderful news. Seraphis had finally found the break he was looking for! Positively elated, he opened his mouth to voice his reply when, quite suddenly, an earsplitting shriek cut through the air. Pain wracked Seraphis' body for the duration of the noise. He clenched his teeth and managed to keep from crying out. Only one thing had this sort of effect on him. The cry of the Light Spawn... He had never been able to explain the phenomenon, he only knew that it happened and that was that.
When it was all over, Seraphis struggled to regain control of his senses. He looked up at Silver and did his best to follow what she was saying. Managing to catch the important points like, "catch Metil," "flees town," and "go now," he rose to his feet and gave her an affirming nod. As she turned and left, Seraphis noticed a distinct taste in his mouth. Grimacing, he spat it on the floor.
"Blood," he whispered to himself. This was certainly a disturbing development. The Light Spawn had never caused that before. Not wanting to miss his chance for new information, he quickly set himself forward to catch up with Silver. Hopefully this Metil had something new since the closest spawn was nearly upon them.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:45 pm
(Metil, not Methil, lord-earthcraft. It's sounds like "metal", only with a less stressed end vowel. Just pointing it out! sweatdrop )
Silver heard the male half-elf follow her, so didn't bother slowing down. She arrived in time to catch Metil trying to hitch her normally placid mule to her wagon. Scowling, she grabbed the terrified creature's reins from the old woman. "Thinking of leaving? Without saying good-bye?" she said in a deceptively sweet voice. Under her firm hand, the creature found that it couldn't struggle so it calmed down instead, nuzzling her arm. She patted it absentmindedly, her attention on Metil.
"You know what that shriek means! I won't die waiting for you!" the old woman snapped. Silver narrowed her eyes. Metil sighed, then held out her hand. "Food first."
Without releasing the mule's reins, Silver handed her the package of cheese and bread. Metil wrinkled her nose at the contents. "It's all you'll get," the blue-eyed girl warned. "Now the information?"
"Well, it doesn't concern the coming monstrosity!" Metil snapped. "Deal with it first!" She gulped when Silver's eyes narrowed again, but then noticed her new male companion. "Oh, finally gotten around to finding yourself a mate, Silver? Need me to see your future with him, see if he'll be loyal, true, and...competent?" She winked suggestively. She had been after the half-elf to find a mate for years now, and couldn't resist teasing her.
Silver's ears turned pink in her embarressment, but she covered it on her face by scowling. "He isn't my mate, you nit. Now what do you know?"
"The wind spawn has been spotted in the mountains north of here, near a couple of the elf settlements. Now can I have my mule back?" Metil said tartly.
However, Silver's hands had locked around the leather strips. Mountains north of here? Elf settlements? "Not Falcon's Ridge...?" she managed to croak out, her distress obvious. Though she had no family left there, the guards were her friends, and the village folk had helped raise her after her mother's death.
"How would I know what the elves call their villages? Go north and find out yourself!" the old woman snapped, reaching for the reins, trying to pry them from the half-elf's much stronger grip.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:19 pm
((Fixed. I was going by your previous post, though. blaugh ))
Seraphis flushed slightly at Metil's assertion about him and Silver. He had never even considered the possibility of another woman since Tidal rampaged through his village. His only focus now was finding and eliminating the spawns. Still, the comment forced him to look at Silver again in a slightly different light. Pretty as she was, his stay here was transitory and he had little time to even forge a friendship. Plus, there was always that other thing. He moved his hand to one of his pockets and fingered a small, folded piece of paper. The last memento he had of the one who had been stolen from him...
Seraphis' hand moved to his chin as Metil described the location of the Wind Spawn. Further north, as he suspected. He glanced at Silver as she responded, taking careful note of her reaction. Apparently she had connections in the area. Perhaps they would share the road. He made a mental note to bring it up later, after the present situation was resolved. Turning back to Metil, he reached into his purse and placed three silver coins in her hand.
"Thank you for the information, Sera," he said appreciatively, "This should cover my part." He turned back to Silver and smiled slightly.
"Thank you for bringing me here with you," he said sincerely, "If I am not mistaken, you also seem to be hunting the spawns. If this is the case, then I suggest that you make your preparations now. If the rumors of the cry of the Light Spawn are to be believed, we will have quite a fight on our hands." With that said, he reached into his bag and produced a thick book. It was his spell book, written in his own hand. He opened it and began to flip through the pages, deciding on what he would need for the coming battle.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:38 pm
(My bad!)
Eagerly, Metil took the coins. However, it didn't last long. Silver quickly swiped the coins from her, a dark scowl on her face. "Oh no, we've been down this road. You owed me, Metil, not him," Silver said pointedly, "You aren't taking any of his money. He isn't about to become one of your 'sponsers'. If I find out you pester him again, I'll be after you with a sword." The old woman scowled as well, but nodded. The half-elf finally gave her the reins to the calm-mannered mule, then stumbled to back to Seraphis's side. "Keep your coins," she adviced, pressing the coins back into his hand, "Old Metil, or Sera as she goes by to keep at the moment to keep those who were stupid enough to buy a spell off of her from finding her, makes plenty of money. Plus, she'll come to you again with supposed information next time she sees you, and I can almost guarentee it will be false. She's bad about that. If she didn't have a blood debt to me, I wouldn't trust what she tells me. However, she's paying her blood debt with her honesty, so unless she wants to die by my hands, she'll be truthful." Silver sat down against a nearby wall, a position she often found herself in, and sighed. "Not that I would kill her anyway. I've known her too long..." With ginger fingers, she began to work the muscles of her bad leg, encouraging the muscles to relax, even as she thought over her current problem.
Stay here and assist with the darkness spawn, or hurry to the north and hopefully find the wind spawn and protect her home village from it? Her mind said one thing, but her traitorous heart had other ideas. Those guards had raised her, taught her to fight with her blades, gave her techniques to use on her leg, and would most likely die trying to get the women and children of the village to safety when the wind spawn attacked. But the darkness spawn... It was one of the worst out there, and it was on hand. There were other spawn hunters here to help her defeat it, so it could maybe even be a quick battle. If just one of them would come with her afterwards to check on Falcon's Ridge... How sad. She was going to become dependent on another person. However, her heart ached at possibly failing those guards because she was too stuborn. With another sigh, she eyed the other half-elf out of the corner of her eyes. Perhaps this one would be willing to accompany her, despite the slow pace she would be forced to set... He would understand her ties to her elven home, surely... Now how to ask...
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:26 pm
Well, Blade had to do something. She glanced down at Doina as the elf voiced her own thoughts. The elf had said something earlier, before the call, but she couldn't remember what it had been. "Leave, unless you're brave enough to face the shadow spawn." Blade answered while she stood up, a tinge of regret reflecting in her. She had only gotten half of her ordered meal and she'd have to leave it all. Oh well, at least she'd had the joy to get some of it. "This place will be deserted before sunset except for the few brave spawn hunters who decide to go against the shadow spawn. As much as I'd like to take that b*****d down my choice is to try and knock the others down before going against it. We all know that the shadow spawn is promised death. The only reason we have records about it is thanks to the blind."
She'd rambled and lost time. Mentally cursing herself Blade grabbed the maps on the table, rolled them up, and then stuck them in her shadow. What was the elf's name again? Doish? Deesha? No... Doini! That wasn't it either. D-something. Was it... Doina! "Doina, it's up to you. You can either leave with your sisterhood or with me. I won't be insulted or disappointed if you don't take my offer." Blade lifted her hand up to her chest and formed an odd symbol with her hand and fingers. Doina would know it: it was a symbol known amongst elves that was meant as a sign of peace and protection.
Then Blade stepped up on the table, looking around at the people who were running around. She sighed and set a hand on her hip to survey the crowd. She'd been hoping to accomplish some kind of a group before she and Ebon had left. Well, if the shadow spawn was nearby... she didn't want to risk being caught with only her and Ebon. Even if Doina and Grenth decided to join up, having at least one more person on their team would help. The shadow spawn was the most deadly and in this case there would be safety in numbers.
"HEY!" Blade yelled out at the top of her lungs, scaring the life out of a couple of people. Only a few of them turned their heads before continuing on their way. "Spawn hunters! I'm forming a team and plan to leave in the next ten minutes! Anyone willing to get out of here get over here!" There. Now she could only hope that she might have a chance at getting more people.
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Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:31 pm
"What about you, Grenth?"
Yes, what about him? He chewed on a roll as he pondered that question. He had absolutely no other leads to work with and Blade had a decent theory as to what happened to them and what their yearly goal seemed to be. But there was that elf about a dozen towns west of this one, probably wearing that dress he’d bought her…
Grenth swallowed the bread and sighed. This was more important. It was unlikely that he’d get any action from the people he’d be traveling with, but that stuff could wait if it had to. It was pretty pathetic that he had to put any thought into it at all. Killing the spawn was always more important. While Doina and Blade talked, Grenth stuffed himself full of bread and meat. After spending the last weekend in a small farming village with nothing but vegetables to eat, he really wanted nothing to do with the damn things. Like Doina, Grenth had noticed Blade’s messed up arm, but he saw it as a possible warning rather than some sort of problem with her body. He had no way to know it was a warning, of course, but her shadow powers seemed to be causing the problem, and that made him suspicious.
The recruitment of the elf seemed to be going along smoothly, though. She could heal and she could sing like an angel, two very big morale boosters. The healing would definitely help, as spawn weren’t the only threats a spawn hunter had to face. They were common targets for both bandits and dangerous animals. The spawn sometimes made their way into very harsh places, and following them was often difficult. Grenth had an easier time of it, being able to teleport and whatnot, but when he was with a group he usually couldn’t go off teleporting. People always thought that he was too likely to run away. So, to show he was committed, he almost always stayed with his allies.
He said not a word while the women spoke. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing tall, and when that shrill cry echoed throughout the town, loud enough to shake buildings and bones. His hands flew up to his ears and he shoved a finger in each one. This was the fourth time he’d heard the cry of the light spawn, and it hurt every time. Grenth had heard the screams of the dying, the tortured, the frightened, and even, on one horrible occasion, the raped. But nothing compared to that terrible noise the light spawn made when the dark spawn was near.
Blade warned them that the shadow spawn was very close, and that the town would be empty before the night came. She was right, too. The shadow spawn could cause a panic unlike any other. She then got up onto the table and made an announcement, a call for all spawn hunters to join up with her. Meanwhile, Grenth was chewing on the food that was left and watching the people as they packed up.
“Well, I’m with you. Where we headed?" He questioned, mouth half-full of pork.
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