Ssarak Dyreackthanose --- That was not supposed to happen. Ssarak was momentarily confused by the guard captain's extreme reaction to his breath attack. At first, Ssarak thought Meirin's weaving spell might have asphyxiated him, but he was reacting even before that would have happened. His breath attack was essentially a calming pathokinesis spell, and while it could have other...potential effects than stopping one from fighting, it certainly should not have incapacitated him. He did not know if the captain had died, but before he could do anything to check, he caught the familiar and terrified thoughts of Lyn, not to mention her audible screams. At a quick glance, he could see the robed man was still alive, but Lyn's safety was more important than him. Though Ssarak could have given chase to Lyn, he worried that might cause her even more terror. Despite the intensity of the fight, Ssarak reached into her mind with a calm voice, meant to soothe her fear. "Lyn, you need not be afraid. We can protect you; just hide behind the carriage, and we will stop anyone who might harm you." In addition to his words, Ssarak used a spell of calming pathokinesis to calm her mind, which she would likely attribute to his voice. So far, Ssarak had been nothing but calm and friendly with Lyn. Hopefully, he had left enough of an impression on her that she could trust him as a protector. It also helped that he was very intent on following through with his promise.

Darius grunted in surprise when the guard not only took his punch head on, but when he also grabbed ahold of his arm and locked it in place. Once the guard started swinging his club, Darius knew that he was going to get hit by it. At least he could prevent his arm from getting broken. When the club was close enough, Darius pulled himself closer to the man. Pain flared up his shoulder as the club struck it. It was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. He grinned at the guard. "My turn." Darius grabbed the man and pulled him backwards to knock him of balance. Then he pushed forward and, using some enhanced strength, picked the man up, took three quick steps forward and slammed the man into the ground. He kneeled on the man's neck. Not enough to choke him, but enough to possibly pacify him. "This is not a battlefield, and we are not from two different armies, so I am offering you a choice; Yield. If you do not, then I will make it quick." The hairs on the back of his neck alerted him of someone behind him. He turned his head around to see the pale guard that had attacked Meirin approaching him. He started to draw his sword, but he paused when Alaira passed through the pale man's shoulder in a run towards the Psychomancer. He also noticed another pale gaurd writhing on the ground with that stuffed bear attached to his face. The one approaching him must have been a mind trick the Psychomancer made. Darius turned back to the guard on the ground and awaited the man's answer.

Meirin had no idea what she just did. She guessed she killed the captain. A small pang of guilt struck inside of her, but it was unavoidable. She would, at least, give him some form of a burial once this battle was over. She'd have to ask what Ssarak's attack did to the man as he seemed to have taken the effects rather badly. Was it some sort of poison? Meirin soon forgot as she turned to face the next opponent. That's when she heard Lyn's scream. Looking over at the wagon she noticed that Alaira had gotten up and seemed to be making a charge at the Psychomancer. Yet Meirin could still see the demons who continued to pester her, but noticed Lyn running. Meirin had no idea what had happened but for the moment Meirin forgot all about her fight here. Meirin did not even pick up her monk's spade or told Ssarak what she was about to do. Meirin began to move her arms rapidly before ending with a hand sign, and suddenly she was floating. Another set of movements and Meirin pushed herself with a blast of wind as she chased after Lyn. She caught up to the little girl in just three seconds. Maybe it was a bit of an overreaction on Meirin's part, but she wasn't going to let Lyn run off to danger. Meirin swept up Lyn into her arms, holding her close. "Shh... It's okay Lyn, I'm here. Meirin is here... No one will hurt you." Myrn fought furiously against the vines, but ever step forward the vines would push her five steps back. Initially avoiding them was easy enough since they kept following her, but soon more vines started to lash out from her from behind, from the side, even above and below her. She pretty much slashed at everything around her, and ended up cleaving through some of the furniture in the process. She suffered from some nasty cuts as she fought but didn't let it slow her down. No, the more she bleed, the harder she fought, turning herself into a tornado of bladed fury. At some point she managed to muster the strength to push against the vines as she worked her way towards the exit, but just as she grew stronger so did the vines. They just kept coming at her no matter how many times she cut them down. It was a race between which gave up first: the vines or Myrn. And than suddenly the vines stopped. Just as Myrn was about to make one final effort to just run for the door the vines ceased their attacks and pulled back into the wall. "Did I... Did I win?" She said with a heavy breath. Looking around she noticed just how much stuff she destroyed and really hoped that no one was using this office. Those hopes were dashed when she saw an Eysire come into the room. With him was a demon who seemed to have been able to control the vines and Myrn knew she was in for some trouble. "A-are you... Khan?"

"Alright Liam, let's head out." Once the camp had settled and everyone understood their tasks, Annabeth took Liam out into the woods to gather materials they would need to take down the roc. She knew of some fiberous plants in the woods they could use to create a thick rope, since they lacked enough from the wagons. They'd also need to gather some materials for Aramir and Auriel for the balista. And of course, Annabeth wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be any animals or monsters to ambush them while they took shelter in the forest. Liam looked around, then stretched his arms over his head and sighed in relief. "So... Annabeth, I bet we gotta find stuff to turn into Ballista ammunition, right?" Liam said, now looking at Annabeth. "Have you hunted birds of this size before?" He asked, kept looking at her for a few moments and diverted his gaze to hi surroundings once more. His ears perked up and moved in a few different directions before her focused back on Annabeth. "I haven't. Though I heard that if you disable their wings, they're pretty much sitting targets. My father told me that a while ago." "Sounds about right." Annabeth answered for both his questions. She had her axe out at the ready, in case they run across some hostile creature. "The largest bird I have ever hunted was a turkey. Usually we just shot arrows into them, but something like the Roc... Well, first time for everything I suppose." Annabeth made a weak joke and continued to look for things to use. She gathered up some vines that didn't look or feel like poison ivy, and took note of some rocks she found on the ground. They looked like bits of flint, and if she could find a bigger rock of flint, they'd have something they could use for arrowheads. "So... Any ideas on how to get that wagon? I mean, I don't expect us to be able to kill the roc with what we have. But if we can get that wagon back, than we can worry about the roc later, right?" Liam chuckled at her joke, smiled and listened. "Well, technically yes, Annabeth. But..." Liam started, "It's a huge risk, distracting the Roc with bait while we sneak into wherever it keeps the wagon and retrieving it." He shrugged. "I once hunted one of these things. Of course I was magnificent back then. Two arms, two legs. A lovely torso, skin, muscle and ligiments. I was a full package! I also had pretty nice eyes if I may say so myself." He stopped as he saw something flutter nearby, swinging on the rope as his host walked around and bended over. "You know, it was a lot easier when I had my own body. Significanly more dignified as well, I mean I could go where I wanted when I wanted. Now I'm a little more than a decoration for your clothes. I miss clothes as well. Clothes were good. Anyway what was I saying?" Annabeth was going to respond to Liam when the skull spoke. Out of shock she yanked the skull off her belt and tossed it towards a tree. She drew her blade and pointed at the ivory head and spoke sternly. "Who are you and how are you speaking!?" Liam jerked his head upright and tensed his body in reflex to Annabeth's movement. His fur bristled and his tail jerked, then he relaxed once he noticed what was thrown was merely the skull. "Uh... It said it had hunted a roc, right?" "I resent that. I'm not a n it, I'm a he. Though I suppose I am just a head so not fully a he right now. However I expect you to remember your manners and respect my life decisions, also not to throw me against trees." His skull being upside down he tried using his jaw to right himself, only to end up on his side. "I am talking the same way you talk, I move my mouth. Words come out, sometimes they make sense and sometimes they don't, for example I have been making sense so far. Saying that the ice caps are going to melt due to an increase in emissions and flood the entire planet is not very sensical." He turned his attention back to the evil one. The thower and the one who wore him as a belt. Not a very nice lady. "I am Arcadius, though I suppose I didn't have to answer that as it was on my coffin. Though it also said some rather nasty things but more importantly you did not ask very nicely."

Korgal Korgal followed the Half-Man headmaster through the halls of the school, the orc looked at everything with a look of wonder and amazement on his face. Everything here truly was grand, part way through they were stopped by a woman who wore finely made clothing, Korgal instantly fought the urge to bow as he had seen humans do to other finely dressed humans before, she introduced herself as Lucilia, the herbmancery teacher. Korgal smiled, he loved flowers and plants. And he thought the teacher was lucky to have a gift like that, he got lost in a near trance imagining himself with those kinds of abilities. To those who were observant it was clear the orc was not paying attention at all, as the orc opened his mouth to speak Khan spoke instead. “I merely came for a entrance form, Lucilia. I already have his name and mageblood.” The Half-Man said, and went for a piece of paper from her, but he stopped about midway and uttered a curse loudly, instantly the orc seemed to cower at the swear. The innkeeper he used to stay with swore a lot and when he swore at Korgal it was followed by a very abrupt beating. But no beating followed instead the Half-man ran off leaving behind a dumb-founded Korgal who spoke to Lucilia very quickly. "My name is Korgal Vorinclex of Tribe Frostfall, now if you'll excuse me." Giving the well dressed professor a bow from the waist, the orc ran off after Khan. He caught up with the Half-man at his office, there was an odd beast behind him that seemed to Korgal like a monster from his worse nightmares, but then that all changed when he saw the state of Khan's office. Vines with sharp thorns had been cut apart all about the room, and things had been knocked over. The source of the chaos was an Elf who stood in the middle of the room, it didn't take long for Korgal to recognize the elf woman. "You're okay!" The orc shouted loudly his voice going an octave higher than any orcs voice should of been, rushing across the room the orc gave a rough hug to the elf, realizing how frail elves were the orc didn't hold it for very long before letting the elf go. "What are you doing here?" The orc asked looking from the elf to Khan.

For a precious few minutes after Althalus and Mar went up the stairs, there was a moment of relative peace. There was nothing attacking, no one was screaming, and their lives weren't being directly threatened. The guide took this time to relax a bit, leaning against the wall. "What do you think the odds are of them dealing with the necromancer before the undead break in are?" He asked, glancing over at Leith. A silver flash in the air distracted the man for a moment, but whatever it was was gone before he could identify it. Not that it mattered, as a broken, battered, and generally mangled hand chose that time to burst through their barricade. The cries of the undead outside took a more bloodthirsty turn as many more, equally mangled, hands began to widen the hole, heedless of any and all attacks against them. Soon there was a big enough opening for someone to stride through and first through was one of the Yarosmerian soldiers, holding his blade with evident experience. "Who wants to have a go first?" He asked, giving as close to a smile as rigormortis allowed, as more undead came through behind him. "Fuck." The guide said, with considrable feeling. --------------------------------------- Leith shrugged at the guide's question. "I dunno. I'd like to hope it's pretty high." He looked at the barricade "It's going to happen soon, though." Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the undead started ripping their way into the house. Despite all of the effort Leith put into preventing the horde from entering, they still did. When the undead Yarosmerian made his way in and spoke to Leith, he had an idea. It would be a good way to stall for time. Time that they desperately needed. Leith stood before the soldier. "I will." He looked at the mass of undead behind the man, "Although, it wouldn't be that much of a fight if the group behind you joined in, would it?" He held his arms out to the side. "What do you say; One last fight before you're dead once more?" --------------------------------------- The smile stretched a little bit wider, as Leith offered a duel. "When I first started out in the profession of murdering strangers on the battlefield for coin, that would have sounded like a good idea. After all, more honor and glory for killing the strongest warrior on my own. However, long years of fighting and death have put a new perspective on things. Win and complete the job, at any cost." He gestured forward with his sword, and the horde turned to the guide and began moving towards him. More curses spewed from the man's mouth as he raised his blade and retreated. "But I'll give you a few moments, before you too get ripped apart." Raising his sword into a guard, he chuckled. "After you, hero." Unnoticed in the many feet, the upper half of a child pulled itself towards Coco's unconscious form, a broken knife in one hand. ------------------------------------ Leith sighed when the horde started advancing towards the guide. 'Oh well, It was worth a try.' He nodded at the soldier and without another thought lashed out at the man, aiming to cut the man in half. He needed to protect Coco and the guide. ------------------------------- The corpse tried to bring up his blade fast enough to block it, but rigormortis doesn't allow for quick movements. He was able to bring it up to change the direction, losing his leg instead of his midsection, but that was about it. There was a loud clang, the sound of the blade slicing through the bone of his femur, and then a thump as he fell to the floor. "Well. This is awkward. I don't suppose you'd let me reattach my leg somehow?" The guid was still retreating, and running out of room as he did so. "Gods Damn it. I knew I shouldn't have taken this job.." ------------------------------------- Leith shook his head with a small frown [color=#00FFFF]"I was trying to stall and prevent the other undead form attacking for a little while, but that didn't happen, so I've got to end this quickly."[/color He pulled his sword out of the floorboards and cut the man into three pieces. He fought off the revulsion he felt from the action and thought he heard something whisper "Alive" He looked around the room to see the guide run out of the room with half of the horde following him. The other half started advancing towards him. He started making his way over towards Coco and tripped over something and fell backwards, His vision blurred as his head hit the ground. A look towards his feet showed him that he had tripped over a child that was holding a knife. The child grinned savagely and started crawling towards Leith. The horde was upon him as well. Panic started creeping up his spine. He struggled to get up but the undead pushed him down. He couldn't die here. There were so many things he still wanted to do. With a shout, he pulled his left arm free and reached into his pocket for Sephira Sword, the Daemon Artes he had collected at during the demon attack. But by the time that got the trinket sized sword out of his pocket, the horde were no longer holding him down. In fact, it looked like they were dead again. The child had been stopped. That was the only reason for the undead to be dead once again. After a few gasping breaths, Leith pulled himself off of the ground. He was covered in congealed blood and other filth. After a glance down, he noted that it looked like the filth was bubbling. As he noticed that, his head started to hurt. Ah, I must have been using my blood in my panic. When he thought about the fact that he had almost died and felt hopeless against it. With a grimace, he clenched his hand into a fist. It was just like the demon attack. He had felt helpess to the entire thing. Never again. Never again would he feel so helpless. If he had anything to do with it. He was brought out of his thoughts from the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs. He brushed his clothes off and turned towards the stairs and smiled. It wasn't until the first person was in sight that he remembered he had Sephira Sword in his hand, he put the sword back in his pocket and felt something new in his pocket. He pulled it out and discovered that it was a ring. "Huh, weird." ---------------------------------------------- Mar was among the last down the stairway, her tail slow in climbing down as it was up, pausing a glance at the chaotic mess on the ground floor. Grey had chosen to haul the unconsious boy but her eyes showed her nervousness. Her brown irises followed the tall, bulky man just infront of her and tense, ready to prevent an easy kill. Grey had already tried to murder their attacker once and she didn't put it past him to try again. Males were rather strange that way. Her hand was steady on her scythe, her tongue firmly stopped with a tightened jawline and spared the distain scent of long dead blood. Something about necromancy was terribly wrong when it came to animating the dead, something she couldn't fully shake, though it seemed their attempts to prevent more life lost had worked. It was a relief in more then one way. Ears caught Leith's words then shifted her eyes to him. Like a snake to a mouse, her look was serious and intense but her words were human. "At least the undead stopped, but we still need to figure out what happened. Namely the cause. The boy's information was rather... confusing and to piece it together might take too long. Though it seems one of us should've stayed down here after all." She rotated her head to see the complete gore of the battle result. Her head then twisted briefly to Althalus, slightly accusing him and laying some blame at the feet of his need to babysit her. Emotions were rather strange... especially her own. ------------------------------------------- Grey remained silent, taking this moment of calm to think to himself. Despite himself, he was still quite angry at the situation. Because of a combination of cultural differences, his armor refusing to obey him, and a less than balanced individual super-imposing her child's face onto this monster, said monster would likely escape the just death he deserved. However, he was bound by his word. Regardless of his feelings, he had sworn that he would not harm the boy, and apart from the (incredibly satisfying, to tell the truth) headbutt he intended do do so. Still, if Mar refused to listen to him about the previous issue she could at least respect his word... Her gaze was boring a hole in his neck. ---------------------------------------------- Coco lied immobile. Face bruised, yet the sap wasn't flowing free anymore. Now, it was merely an oozing wound. And suddenly feeling came back to her. At first she only felt the dulled tug and pull of her twitching leaves, unsure of which of her confused emotions to respond to. Then they were her hands to clench into fists. Then a high pitched buzzing sound rocked her head, and her necklace lit up. Then the sound in her head settled into the background, and she remembered. With a start, she shot up onto her feet. She couldn't keep her balance though, so she fell onto her knees. "Tree-" Coco said, her speech cut abruptly by her fleeting thoughts. She had little time to focus as a tall and fat dead man holding what sounded like a metal bar stood over her. He lifted the bar up high over his head and in a strong movement, brought it down--Or so thought Coco. In fact, the man had dropped the bar and fallen to the floor, as if he was indeed dead. For a few moments, Coco stayed on her hands and knees, back arched. Her neck burned and her face hurt like hell, while her leaves twitched like crazy. Then she brought a hand to caress her scratched neck, flinching at the feeling of the warm sap that had seeped out and started to harden. She did the same with her face, but that time her leaves stayed puffed out. "It feels so gross... I'm gross now." She said in a low voice, following by a shiver. Coco then lifted her head and straightened her back, leaves slowly settling back onto her head. "What hap--this hurts so damn much it hurts like that time i s--pened?" ---------------------------------------- As soon as Leith picked up the ring, it wrapped around his finger, the metal flowing like water around his finger until it met on the other side. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a normal ring again. Except, of course, it wouldn't come off no matter what Leith did. Oh, and the voice that began whispering in Leith's mind as soon as Grey came into view. Grey, molded by the Wild. Very important. Ensure he does not die. It repeated this process for Althalus. Althalus Marik. Brother to Fredrick Marik. Touched by the Wild but seems to have both no power from it, and a decided hate from the experience. Inconsequential, can be ignored. Another perk would be the fact that Leith's buzzing had stopped. Even when Althalus drew near, there was nothing but silence in his head. Althalus gave a low whistle as he walked down the steps, viewing the pile of corpses around the Guide and Leith, while keeping a sharp eye on Mar. He could sense her nervousness. He took a small step behind her whispering "Don't worry. Grey is a man of his word. An utterly goody two shoes, obey the law at all costs man, but one who won't break his promises." He backed off, looking around. "I must admit, I expected things to be much more bloody and violent. But this is all rather neat. I'm impressed Leith, and our guide, you managed to fend off an entire horde by your selves." He raised an eyebrow at Mar. "Oh yes, pardon me for having concern about the mad Necromancer with powers that should have killed him. I should have just let you slowly make your way up the stairs in your unbalanced and upset state. That makes perfect sense!" More quietly he added, "I'm not letting you go alone into danger. Get used to my presence." He gave a small smirk, before turning to the recently awakened Foreas. "Oh, and Coco, you were knocked out and saved from a horrible death by Leith and our guide. Also, apparently who ever destroyed the village is in the woods. Or so the boy claims." -------------------------------------------- "Males tend to have their uses, I won't deny that. However, cockiness will likely end with you sleeping outside the den or worse, a dirt ditch." Mar commented coolly, her eyes shifted to his current position. Her inside betrayed very little of her current reaction to his whisper, namely his closeness and fact he was just within her range. Just. She knew Althalus had done that on purpose, even ready to pull back should her tail attempt to swipe at his feet and knock him back on his ass. She noted the Foreas' unsteady standing which made her eyes follow Coco. For the moment her eyes seemed beyond human but in reality she had only concern for the 'female's' well-being. Unlike Coco, Mar suffered only shallow wounds and would heal in time. Namely after Althalus bandaged her up in private. ------------------------------------------------- Grey ignored Mar's comment, setting the kid down as he set about having him bound. He had a set of manacles in his pack, quite oddly designed ones. He had expected to capture less... crazy mages, but he would at least be able to use these. They were like normal manacles, apart from the fact that they were a set of three latches, not two. He clamped them around his wrists, and then bent him forward so the third would reach around his ankle. This way, he'd be unable to run off or something if he'd just bound his arms. ------------------------------------------------- "Oh. Thank you, Leith!" Coco said towards Leith's general direction, then held her head in both her hands and stood up unsteadily. "Wait... You just said that a mass murderer is in the forest? Right where other Foreas live? Where the Great Tree is?" Coco shivered and walked over to Althalus, stumbling a couple times, and putting her hands on his shoulders. "We have to go there and stop this murderer!" And then her leaves puffed out a bit too quickly, and a sharp pain on the side of her head made her hunch over and hold her skull. "We can't let this murderer burn the forest-" She mentioned through static, her necklace having it difficult selecting the thoughts she meant for it to communicate. ------------------------------------------------- Leith sucked in a breath when the ring melted as began to wrap around his finger. He flung his hand as he tried to shake the liquid off of his finger. Nothing worked, and the ring became a ring again. He looked at his hand and the ring that was wrapped around his middle finger. With the way the ring wrapped around his finger made him think that it was there to stay. He looked up from his hand and flinched when a voice began whispering in his mind when he made eye contact with Grey. It took him a few moments to realize that the buzzing in his head had completely disappeared. He looked at Althalus, who was close enough to cause discomfort with the buzzing, but it wasn't there. Instead, the whispers started again. What was the Wild? From the sound of it, Althalus knew about it. Leith was going to ask him about it when he had the time. When Coco thanked him, Leith nodded before realizing it was a wasted effort. "You're welcome. It's good to see that you're awake." He watched as Coco walked to Althalus and tried to convince him to go after the murderer. Stepping forward hesitantly, Leith cleared his throat. "Murderers, Coco. Four of them, if what the kid said is correct. Speaking of kid, this is him, then?" Leith approached the child that had sent the undead horde after them. "I still don't understand how he pulled it off. By all accounts, it should have killed him." Leith looked from Mar to Grey to Althalus. "Did he say anything that could have explained his power?" -------------------------------------------- The ring seemed fixed on staying with Leith though Mar couldn't begin to understand why and her inner Naga instincts hissed, her fang ready to bare before she had realized it. Before she determine a method to remove it, the student asked a question. She allowed herself to be distracted and relaxed only slightly. The ring was something that made her uncomfortable due to the odd way it reacted and even worse, the fact it didn't want to remove itself. "Yes. He was acting strange as he seemed to hear the voices of his dead family. Kept arguing with them as he tried to shut their voices out." Mar started then added more to answer Leith's question. "His eyes were glowing a strange purple and mentioned something about being promised untold power for a price. Some old source or something promised power to him by sending its servants. He needed it for some Inferno lord coming to raise and war started to spill into his village through stories and other experiences. He wasn't beyond killing his family for it which is a matter he'll have to live with for the rest of his life," Her eyes softened a moment when they looked at the boy, feeling an emotion she wished wasn't there. A voice, venomous and spiteful, hissed. Ellys' sharp words sliced into her mind like a blade cutting a point into her weakness, threatening to divide it from the rest of her. Emotions are weakness... Too...human. She fought to keep any traces from her words while adopting a monotone in the rest of the details. "Those who came slaughtered the village people against the boy's wishes and left this mess. The boy thought those Yarsomere soldiers and we were with the master. We learned the location but nothing useful beyond that." Her body seemed to shout signs far beyond discomfort as it curled inward. Her eyes seemed to have found the floor where they lingered, no long looking at Leith or the others, and curling her arms to cross in front of her. Her weapon was still held tightly in her hand but the fingers had taken on a pale coloring from the strength in her grip. The room seemed to feel like it was it closing in on her and she couldn't stop it. -------------------------------------- Grey looked to Mar with a raised brow, but sighed and shook his head. She was likely just having a panic attack or something similar. Regardless, there was nothing he could really do about it. He'd try to comfort her, but the two were not exactly on good terms and it was likely he'd just upset her more. He tapped Athalus on the shoulder, and when he got his attention he simply flicked his head towards Mar, staying quiet so she wouldn't react and say something unreasonable. "That's about all we know, I think." He stated to Leith. Mar had already said anything he felt he could have said, so he didn't really have anything to add. He strolled along, stopping near Coco. He gently turned her toward him by the shoulder, and remembered she didn't have eyes, so getting down to eye level to speak to her was a little pointless. Regardless. "Relax, Coco. Nobody's going to burn down the forest. We'll make sure these murderers pay, but we need some time to recover first." He said, in as calm and soothing a voice as he was capable. ------------------------------------------------- Althalus glanced sharply at Mar as her voice took monotone, his attention taken from Coco's ranting in his face. Something was wrong, even Grey could tell that, by the way the guardsman tapped his shoulder. Althalus gave him a sarcastic look as if to say 'no, really?' before whispering in the man's ear. "I need you to get everyone out of here. Even the kid. Naga don't like having others see their wounds treated, so Mar won't let me if you're all here. Plus, if you're all gone I can calm her down and find out what's the matter." He turned from Grey to Coco. "Perhaps it'd make you feel better if you were outside watching the forest to make sure it's not burned down. Mar and I will stay in here to see if there's anything useful inside. You all can check outside." The assassain began gently but firmly pushing the Foreas towards the door, gesturing for Leith to follow suit. He glanced pointedly at Grey, as their Guide shrugged and cleared an easy path out of the house. --------------------------------------------------- Grey sighed, he'd never really understand these Naga. "Come on, we'dbetter go check on the forest... Give these two a moment." he said, standing up and loosening his arm as he went to get the prisoner. He followed suit, leading Coco out. He was sure he didn't need to babysit Leith either, he wasn't stupid. And he'd be surprised if the guide hadn't already ran to the cart.

That's it? That's all you have to tell me? After......Baulder's thought ended abruptly. He gritted his teeth as the demon once again left him to his own devices. His claws unsheathed themselves and his double jointed legs began to swell with anticipation of attack. He could't just leave him again, no that would be.....rude. His body uncoiled it'self slowly as he looked around for the gargoyle again. Luckily it had decided not to wander far and Baulder made his way back over to it as his mood quickly jumped back into extreme enjoyment. "We must go to the demon's office!" He said extremely enthusiastically. The gargoyle made what seemed like a growling noise as it began walking down the hallway again. He hoped the office of the demon was at least as entertaining as his trip to the Inferno had been. As they continued walking through the school passing multiple classrooms and still yet more students doing various things with various magical abilities once they rounded the final corner Baulder's interest was immediately peaked. What he saw was a growing grouping of people and what he assumed was a demon surrounded by cut vines and blood. Baulder started laughing as the gargoyle again pushed him along towards this scene. The laughing continued until the gargoyle finally stopped pushing as if he was trying to hand of Baulder to these people. Baulder was struggling to breath between breathes as he walked up next to the demon. Baulder forced his laughing down as much as he could, however little it was. He was atleast able to open his eyes and look at what was around him. He was momentarily fascinated by the winged lizard but it quickly turned back into laughter. He even began petting the absurd demon he was standing next to in an attempt to regain some grip on his lungs. "Today has been good day, funny to be specific.......though most days are. Demons seem to be the theme today though. Quite enjoyable, oh also I'm Baulder." Baulder managed to drop the laughing for a few moments and crease out a cohesive sentence before returning to a chuckle, though not as intense before.

The Pale Guard screamed as he stumbled to the wagon. He fought as hard as he could, but this was too much. Half his body was covered in blood and gore. His eyes were nothing more than soupy fluids with his cornea hanging by their veins. His scalp, gone, and even his brain was exposed due to the cuts the bear had delivered to his skull. Cheek torn, ears sheered, nose utterly eviscerated. And he continued to scream until he reached the wagon. He fell over in a slump, finally silenced. The guard fighting against Darius continued to struggle even as Darius dug his knee into his neck. He flailed weakly, spitting at Darius. "Eat shit, you sangi rat!" The guard fought against the losing odds, unable to surrender as the robed man had forced him to become furious and violent. Even as Darius crushed the guard's throat he continued to fight, grabbing Darius to pull him closer, even trying to grab one of Darius's other blades to kill him before he too dies in the service of his country. "Aarem fucks your soul!" He roared. That's when the robed man started to laugh. "Ha ha ha... Well well... I won't forget about this." As Alaira charged at the robed man he walked towards her, some how able to dodge her wild swings with ease. He was toying with her, but something was off. The robed man was also running away from the battle, jumping off the bridge and into the river. Yet Alaira will get hurt; that was because the one fighting Alaira was a doppelganger, who focused all his Psychomancy into Alaira's mind. He was reading her thoughts to get a idea of her movements, but also bombarding her with with an eerie sense of calming emotions. He doesn't actually expect her to calm down, but hopefully the conflicting feelings would disturb her mind and make her sluggish, which should make dodging her even easier. All the while the real culprit swam downstream, hoping to escape by riding the currents to safety. Lucilia pouted cutely, pretending to be angry. "Oh, and I had a speech prepared and everything! All the same, please turn in this form as soon as you can so we can put it into our records. I'd also-" But before she could finish Khan cursed out loud, nearly startling the vampire. She narrowed her eyes knowing there was trouble. Khan ran out of her office with a limp, followed by Krogal, with Lucilia shortly behind him. She arrived just in time to see Khan's office getting torn to shreds by an elf with a sword and his demonic vines. Lucilia never liked them, and this was why. Demons were uncontrollable, and Khan thought it was a smart idea to fuse them with one of the most dangerous plants in Djarkel. Lucilia didn't get a chance to do much before Rathel managed to force the vines back, but the damage was obvious enough. Unless this elf was some sort of assassin, Lucilia guessed that the vines were at fault here. Lucilia pulled out a seed from one of her hidden pockets, using her magic to make it grow into a new cane for Khan. She knew it was in pain and the last thing she needed now was her the headmaster to collapse because he not only doesn't bother to take his medicine, but stops caring about his physical health. She leaned against Khan to alleviate pressure on his leg, handing him the new walking stick. "Khan... Mind explaining this mess?" Annabeth eyed this skull suspiciously. All things considered, a talking skull wasn't the most.. Unusual thing she's come across. The college has it's fair share of freaky things, but still the skull startled her. It spoke with a sense of refinement but also mild madness, though she supposed that being a skull would make you a bit mad. Annabeth lowed her sword slowly before she eventually put it into her sheath. Than she went over to the skull and knelt before it. "Sorry about that. I've never met a skull that could talk, and I'm a bit on edge. I'm sure you know the threat of the roc as well as I do, so surprises make me jumpy." Annabeth reached out and lifted the skull to eye-height. She was careful with how she held it, unsure if the skull could do anything to her in this state. "Arcadius, was it? My name is Annabeth Gulch. I would love to have a conversation with you, honest, but at the moment I'm a bit pressed for time. So I'll move strait to the point: Do you know the best way to hunt these Rocs? I promise that if we succeed in subdueing the beast, I'll do my best to get you... Whatever it is you want. Within reason." Annabeth was hesitant to actually strike a deal with this thing, but she could use all the help she could get. As long as he wasn't some sinister skeleton, she suppose befriending it wouldn't be the worse thing she could do. With Cynn and Baulder Tyrael figured that they would have to do for his mission. He'd like to have more, but honestly it wasn't a hard job. Just not something he could be bothered to do himself. He was returning to his office when he noticed a commotion up ahead. "The hell..." First he saw Baulder. How the mortal got here before he did was a mystery. He seems to be laughing at something but Tyrael didn't care for it, directing his attention onto another two strange pair. An orc and an elf. The orc interested him the most, honestly because there were very few orcs in the college aside from Tyrael, and he did not look obviously like an orc. He seemed to be a friendly sort which somehow rubbed Tyrael the wrong way, but he held his tongue. At least the orc wasn't causing trouble. The elf however was a bit more of a concern. She looked injured, with cuts and bruises on her body. Tyrael suspected that she had a run in with Khan's vines. Tyrael did note that some of them seemed rather antsy, but from the state of his office this girl made the mistake of entering without Khan's permission. Either that or those vines were more antsy that Tyrael thought they were. Additionally there was something amiss about the elf girl. There seemed to be... Worms, underneath her skin. That didn't look good. "You there... Elf. You have parasites under your flesh. You need medical attention." Tyrael wondered; since these vines had been infused with some demonic essence, could he potentially control them? He knew that Khan had Rathel experiment with some of these vicious plants and had an interest in commandeering some for himself. But he'd ask about that later, right now Tyrael thinks the girl would soon be in mortal danger if those parasites in her body do their job of killing her. "Move orc." Without explaining himself Tyrael shifted two of his fingers into hone- needle like blades. He intended to pick the parasites out of the girl's body as though they were noodles. He approached the elf with his hand raised.

Meirin was quick to catch up to Lyn, so there was no risk of her escaping and becoming lost. Therefore, Ssarak turned his focus back to helping end the battle. The pale guard was already dead, or close to death, and the blood-soaked necromantic entity that was Lyn's toy gave a strong hint as to why. Darius had the other guard completely at his mercy, but from his shouting, he seemed suicidally defiant in the face of death, which was especially strange, considering the situation. Regardless, the largest threat was still the robed man. At first, he seemed to be fighting Alaira, but just as he was about to take off to flank him, he noticed something that stood out in the water, something that was the same color as the man's robe. It did not take long for Ssarak to make a guess as to what was happening, as he knew well the capabilities of psychomancers. The robed man had either created a doppelganger to distract them for his escape, or had chosen the especially bold strategy of making a doppelganger escape to trick them into chasing. Normally, Ssarak would have just let the man run away, but even if Alaira was fighting a doppelganger, it could still be a threat to her in particular. Psychomancers' magic could still be cast through doppelgangers, and he was not sure how much more Alaira could take. This entire fight was her fault, but as much as she deserved to be punished, Ssarak did not wish her to perish. Alaira might not be able to see the escaping psychomancer from her perspective, so he needed to chase down and, at the very least, distract the psychomancer. Unfortunately, Ssarak could not exactly swim in his armor, so he needed help. "Darius, in the water! The psychomancer is escaping. He is still a threat to Alaira." Ssarak said telepathically, knowing that the Human could end his fight at any moment. Provided Darius was capable of swimming, he could get to the robed man; Ssarak just needed to slow him down. Getting a running start, Ssarak took off and flew just over the water after the psychomancer. Since he did not know how much effort it would take to break the man's wards, Ssarak focused on bolstering his own wards while giving chase. He was quick to catch up, then swoop down right over the robed man, swinging his hammer beneath him. He did not intend to kill, but it might be necessary to protect Alaira. As well, he readied himself to quickly pull up, if needed.

Uicle "Tyrael, perhaps we should give her over to Lidda or Sam. I know how you like to rip thing's apart, but students, I'm afraid, are off limits. Please, put away your claws." Uicle said, arriving in time to hear Tyrael and see the carnage that had been once Khan's office. A look at the plants was all he needed to understand what happened. "Khan, I assume the reason you threw me into the nearby wall and fell over is because your watch plants have turned into attack plants and tried to murder the Elf Tyrael is trying to rip apart to save. I do apologize miss, our headmaster usually has more sense than this, but appears to have misplaced and is currently unable to find where he put it. I'm Uicle, the Necromancy teacher at the school and currently one of the few people trying to prevent your evisceration." Whatever the trapped soul, back in his usual armor, was about to say was cut off as a chunk of the ceiling fell and added a new dent to his already horribly dented helmet. "Really? Really. I swear, I actually look forward to variety now. That was your plan all along, wasn't it? To make me hate it more because it happens all the godsdamned time." For a moment he paused, waiting for something else to happen. "Now, Khan if you're done introducing students to your newest security system, and Tyrael if you're done trying to murder them as they walk through the door, I'll take the elf to Sam or Lidda or both to get help, and you two can settle the huggy orc in to the college nicely. Without doing anything nasty to him. Good? Good. Let's go elf, before the parasites burst from your eyes."

The little child found herself running. Her feet driven and thumping the earth in her rapid need to escape, failing to notice the demons had completely vanished. Her eyes held tears while her mind was racked with guilt over hurting Alaira. She didn’t mean to, the words of regret and pain swelled in her mind at the actions that had happened and the memory of her Aunt’s words. Lyn started to feel her lungs burn from the flat out run. She hadn’t controlled her pace or held back since she had started, feeling the effects washing over her after only a bit away. It wasn’t until Mei’s arms wrapped about, her arms jerked for a moment, and picked her up did she realize who had her. Lyn’s eyes blinked for a moment. Her sight absorbed and seemed to widen in surprise followed shortly by her reaction. Any fear, sorrow, and pain flooded out alongside the new tears seeping on her cheeks. Her mouth started to cry her emotions into the air while she clinged to Mei, using the woman’s touch and embrace for comfort. Her eyes pushed into the neck to muffle the crying while she was shaking with each sound. Her mind kept screaming the same thing over and over. I hurt Alaira. I hurt her. Gradually, Mei’s hushing words and soothing touch brought Lyn’s outburst to a meek hiccup. Her tears were still wet and running, but her wails had ceased into silence. Mostly silence as her body jerked with the hiccups. She was still clearly upset and scared, her face reflecting it when it edged to its end. Her grip however didn’t loosen up and remained fast on the woman, afraid to lose what comfort she had right now. Khan struggled not to crumble while he fought his own weakness. Unable to retrieve his cane, he struggled to catch his breath, each time taking slow and steady pace while trying to overcome the pain. He had turned and been able to answer Rathel when he heard the elf speak. He jerked his head back to see her, noting the condition and feeling a wash of guilt surge within his core. Her question only burned him deeper when she asked his name. Yes...I’m Khan. The very bastard that caused this. Kekekaaa! Yes, the little Blower got dewskirtch created by you, didn’t she Khan? Shut up Upsah… Growled Khan, his eyes narrowed while he silenced the demon’s snide remarks in his head. A an attempt to pull more guilt and some sense of sick vengeance. He nodded his head in the elf’s direction to answer her question silently. At the sound of several feet, his head turned to see a crowd start to gather. Worse of all, it wasn’t just the student who had followed but on his heels was Lucilia, followed by Tyrael and Uicle. Lastly another student, or some rather disturbed individual, stumbled onto the scene as well. Khan was unable to focus much due to his eyesight flickering yet he noticed the student edge to Rathel. Thankfully, Lucilia reacted quickly. She stepped forward, guiding his hand to a stout, wooden cane and nudged it into his grasp. His fingers closed while he leaned to the side and took pressure off his leg. Further relief was placed when Lucilia managed to slip under to aid him for more support. "Khan... Mind explaining this mess?" Her words had sliced into him and his hand tightened, his breathing rather heavy. From the corner of his eye, Khan watched as Korgal stepped forward and made a beeline for the elf. The headmaster nearly jumped out of his scales when he heard Korgal exclaimed, his feet moving until the orc embraced the stranger into his normal, crushing hug before he released her. Then came his question, his eyes looking from her to Khan as if they both had some explanation to tell him. Khan sighed, knowing he had to explain this. "You there... Elf. You have parasites under your flesh. You need medical attention." Came Tyrael’s voice, his body moving as he tried to brush Korgal away. His hand had two of his fingers shifting as he reached over to slice her open, intending on taking out the vines by force. Rathel stiffened causing Khan to react, his body shifted surprisingly about Lucilia and aimed to clasp Tyrael’s reaching hand. “You’ll kill her if you cut them out.” Khan hissed quietly, warning Tyrael while his knee shook. Now he was leaning more on Tyrael and trying not to fall, his teeth gritted in restrain against the winning gravity. "Tyrael, perhaps we should give her over to Lidda or Sam. I know how you like to rip thing's apart, but students, I'm afraid, are off limits. Please, put away your claws." Uicle said, his current body now present on the scene. Khan inwardly groaned when he remembered who he had bumped into earlier. This was just too much at once, the headmaster thought, and heard Uicle address him. "Khan, I assume the reason you threw me into the nearby wall and fell over is because your watch plants have turned into attack plants and tried to murder the Elf Tyrael is trying to rip apart to save.” In the same breath eh then turned to the elf. “I do apologize miss, our headmaster usually has more sense than this, but appears to have misplaced and is currently unable to find where he put it. I'm Uicle, the Necromancy teacher at the school and currently one of the few people trying to prevent your evisceration." Like in the past, a ceiling chunk fell off and slammed into his helmet, cutting off his conversation. Something that all the teachers knew shouldn’t have happened since Lyn’s presence had negated the curse oddly enough. "Really? Really. I swear, I actually look forward to variety now. That was your plan all along, wasn't it? To make me hate it more because it happens all the godsdamned time." His speech paused long enough to wait for any further interruptions then turned his attention back to the head master and the rest. "Now, Khan if you're done introducing students to your newest security system, and Tyrael if you're done trying to murder them as they walk through the door, I'll take the elf to Sam or Lidda or both to get help, and you two can settle the huggy orc in to the college nicely. Without doing anything nasty to him. Good? Good. Let's go elf, before the parasites burst from your eyes." “Uicle, wait.” Khan said, his eyes drifted to Rathel. “Neither Sam or Lidda can get those vines out, they try then our young friend here will suffer for it. Rathel and I were trying to create a more passive offshoot for the Herbamancers to use and would bond with them similarly like demons did with their mages. Rathel, will you get those vines out?” Rathel watched while the man pause in his endless amusement and watched Khan with interest, finally stopping right beside Rathel. He edged to Rathel, chuckling audibly, placing his hand against the demon’s head. He started to pet him and spoke. "Today has been good day, funny to be specific.......though most days are. Demons seem to be the theme today though. Quite enjoyable, oh also I'm Baulder." Then he started to giggle again. We have an interesting one here. Rathel’s voice talked into Khan’s head with a bitter tone. Rathel was angry and upset, mainly as his past seemed to haunt him now. The vines stemmed from such research had once more proven their blood thirsty tendencies again. His eyes flickered between each speaking individual while the scene played out. It wasn’t until Tyrael reached for the elf did he tense up under Baulder’s touch and shot Khan a look, both knew the result of the rash action. Khan! He hissed only to see the headmaster intervene. Rathel felt his leaves relax a bit, knowing the headmaster wouldn’t allow any further damage on the female. Finally he turned to Rathel to mend the situation. The demon's eyes shifted to first Lucilia and then Tyrael before he spoke, as if warning them in secret against messing with the vines. “Yes, I can. I need to touch her though if she will permit it and I can force the vines out the way they came. Any other blood manipulation will result more damage and possibly death.” He moved forward to Myrn. “May I?” Once permission was given, he took her arm and would force the vines back through their wounds. They would slither and ripple, purging themselves into the nearest source of blood: Rathel.

Althalus gave a small sigh of relief as everyone left the building, taking the mad child with them. One challenge down, one to go. A small knowing smile crossed his face. "This is gonna be fun." He muttered sarcastically under his breath before setting about making the room ready for treating Mar's injuries and trying to make her open up. He rearranged the barricade to give them a measure of privacy before turning to Mar. He produced a small bandage wrap and and even smaller jar of salve from somewhere within his armor. "I stopped by Sam before we left, knowing that at least one of us would get injured." He spoke casually, approaching Mar with both items, kicking corpses and bits of corpses out of his way. He kept as much of his worry out of his body language and tone as possible, but knew it wouldn't be enough. Not if she was paying attention at least. When he was within arms reach, he spoke again. "Alright, show me where you've been injured." Luckily Mar had been so centered on her own emotion struggle, she hadn't heard Grey's comment. Strictly the mention of leaving the pair alone or the hint of it being something slightly more then merely getting her wounds attended to, making her consider ignoring it. If a Naga couldn't tend to her own wounds and ensure she was taken care for, best die from infection. Rarely a wound was terrible enough to break this key rule and if so, the Naga involved would've never spoken of it. A key reason she had discarded Althalus' aid in the day that led up to Lyn's conception. It was only when she noted the barricade being erected and rearranged for the second time did she look upward. Her eyes were no longer their usual steady, sharp glare. They looked lost, confused and worried enough she felt its betrayal, jerking her face away. This wasn't how a Naga was supposed to have think. And that was what she was after all. She eyed him holding the salve and bandage, his feet kicking the corpse bits away to clear a space. His voice was casual but she had learned to expect more from it. More then concern or worry and watched him approach, allowing him near without a fight. When he was near enough, his flimsy attempt to keep his emotion from his body shouted so loudly, she answered his question. "Just a shallow, flesh wound here." She grazed her finger across the child's strike of earlier, now crusted with dark, brownish blood. Mar couldn't stop her flinch while she let out a soft hiss instead. Quickly adding more to her earlier words. "It's nothing. It will heal." Althalus's gut twisted as he saw the confusion and worry in Mar's eyes, before they were abruptly. Something was wrong, badly wrong. This was the first time he had seen this in Mar and it scared him. Regardless, he didn't approach her about it yet, instead focusing on her wound. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Yes, a cut from a likely rusty and gore, and gods know what else, encrusted farm tool is nothing and will heal just fine. I have this crazy idea though, lets be on the safe side and get it cleaned, covered with salve, and wrapped up shall we? Stay here while I see if this cess pit has a clean bowl and clean water. Don't argue, you know what happened the last time we argued over a cut and I don't think Lyn needs a sibling. Stay here." Without waiting for her response he turned and went into a nearby room that looked vaguely like a kitchen. There was rattling sounds and several exclamations of disgust, followed by a ripping sound, but he quickly returned with a clean bowl and water. Cold water, but water none the less. A piece of his sleeve was in his hand. "There were no clean rags. Believe me, you don't want to know what they were covered with. He knelt down so that he was level with her cut. After dipping his makeshift rag in the water he slowly reached towards her with it, glancing up at her as he did so. "This might sting." Mar didn't fight. After his mention of another sibling, she raised her eyebrow and gave him a look dark enough it could've blotted out the sun. Her eyes watched him travel to the back as sounds of something clinked and rattled in his search. She sighed with annoyance. Why did males have to make it so difficult and work themselves over the little things, she thought bitterly. After a few disgruntled sounds, ripping and many other noises, Althalus walked back out into the room with a bowl in hand and his sleeve. "Obvious or you've never torn your sleeve off your shirt." She stated, her tone edging slightly back to her original state. It still held the bland tone which betrayed she had only suppressed her conflict...for now. She held still while he leaned down, her body now at its more human height, to wash away dried and rotten blood. She fought the winch in her body, keeping it from rippling throughout her figure and jawline tightly closed. It was clear it hurt. With each dab and touch, she tried to keep any foolish emotions, positive or negative, from flooding her head. This action's display was foreign to her. Why did he bother? She thought inside. If she couldn't mend herself, than what good was she in the end? No point in caring for someone who couldn't take care of themselves, a strict reason most Naga didn't take risks, as it lead to unwanted emotions and attachment. It made it harder both to kill should the Malice ever hit or if worse, it hit while treating. Many were lost in the past because of that. "I've got bigger problems then pain, Althalus." Mar stated bluntly. Althalus glanced up, to check if the way he was cleaning the wound hurt to much, and for once he could read Mar like a book. Despite the turmoil he knew she must have been going through, he couldn't help the surge of relief that it was something understandable. Emotions, emotions, emotions.. He thought with a small sigh. At least it was something he could help her with, and not some strange Naga thing he knew nothing about. He continued in silence, getting much of the wound clean before she spoke to him again. He gave a small smile, shaking his head. "You do. Like understanding that the emotions your feeling, while confusing, aren't a weakness. You can't repress them. I've tried, and it only leads to them bursting out in an uncontrollable wave." He glanced up at her, pausing momentarily. "Don't try to deny it. For once, I'm the one who can understand what your trying to hide. Is this what's suddenly caused your shut out? Your attempted withdrawl?" The wound was clean, so he put down his makeshift rag and unscrewed the cap, gently rubbing it across the wound. Despite his relaxed demeanor he was ready to fight through all of Mar's denials and stubborness. After months of it, she could do nothing that would really surprise him. "Althalus, this isn't normal for Naga. We can't feel emotions or let them rule us, it's no better then Malice. I can't lose myself and I've never known these...feelings so strongly." Mar said, feeling the sting worse at admiting than when Althalus was finishing up. She had managed not to lash out, at least, but her body still wanted to curl inside itself and die. "I couldn't even defend myself properly." Bitterment crept more willingly in her voice this time causing her clamp her mouth down, trying to rein it in. It just kept pushing past her control like smoke past her fingers. Her arms tightened about herself, coming from their fallen position, as if to shield herself from her surroundings leaving her mind to torment her. Again, she spoke softly. "This isn't suppose to happen..." Quickly, while listening to Mar and damning whatever God thought it a good idea to make the Naga clamp down on their emotions, he bandaged the wound. I swear if I ever meet the bastard I'll kill them for what they're doing to her... He thought as he heard her continue. As she curled in on herself, he stood and gathered her into his arms, hugging her. Mar stiffened for a moment. Her body warmed by Althalus' touch and his arms curling about her, embracing her into a tight hug. Normally, she would've glared. Reacting with a limp body and done nothing to return the affection displayed. However she felt like the emotions were choking her. Slowly killing her from the inside until nothing of her Naga comfort and beliefs were anchored within herself. Gingerly and total hesitation she lifted her arms to wrap about the man clinging on her. Feeling them reach behind, she pulled him close while sinking into the flood of emotions that overwhelmed her. Her head twisted about just when dampness started to leak from her eyes and buried into his neck, hiding the terrible truth from the world. Her voice was stuck fast in her throat but the tears spoke clearly of her fears, worries, and frustration. "Why is this happening?"She couldn't help the question, unsure why it crept through her mind and her lips gave it life. Althalus didn't say anything, simply held her tighter as she cried into his shoulder. He felt terrible that he was partially responsible for causing this to happen to her, but knew it would be for the best in the end. He hoped so, at least. For a few moments, there was silence, and then Mar asked her question. Althalus spoke gently as he replied, "Because it's not easy suddenly love someone when you've gone through centuries of keeping your distance. Your love of Lyn, while inconvenient in this instance granted, but it will get only better as time goes on, I promise you. And it's natural to feel that murdering a child is wrong, and you should never change that. I don't have a problem with it because I'm already dead inside, and Grey's sense of the greater good allows him to justify it." He held on for a few more moments before withdrawing slightly and tilting her chin up to make her look at him, brushing away her tears. "I promise you Mar, by all the Gods and all the love I have for you, this will get better. We'll work through this." "Naga aren't allow or should Althalus. We're taught that at an early age but I don't know why. The Matriarch was to teach me something before I was banished. Now I feel...strange and the Naga within me wants to coil up and lash out. This isn't right...I can't..."Mar started but found her argument failing as she merely let the sentence drift off, her arms loosen. Her eyes had already started to dry up while she knew they were redden by the crying, leaving signs of her weakness. Thankfully her bandage held despite their bodies pressed tightly together. It was a foolish action cause now the wound flared with fresh pain and made her flinch against her mental tolerance. "So many fears are racing through my head. Lyn, that sensation a few months ago, this, and the future all seem to wheel within my focus before they hid away. Returning when they aren't wanted." "Mar, this isn't the Naga lands anymore. This is as close to right as anything can be. Of course you feel strange, you've never experienced these emotions before. But it will get better, I swear it." He noted her flinch immediately, and released his hold on her, generating some space between the wound and his body. "Sorry." He gave an apologetic shrug before chuckling at her words. "That's called being a parent. I have those same fears, all the time. More so than you, considering that I nearly lost the both of you, twice. Why do you think I was so angry when you risked your life instead of going through the damn door? It's because I love you and the thought of you dying was terrifying." "Althalus..." Mar began only to be interrupted by Althalus' smile caught in her eyes. He smiled, looking at her. "I'll still keep my word about Uicle if you ever do something like that again." "I don't know how I'm supposed to act. There's no purpose for these emotions!" Mar stated bluntly, her confusion more dominate."I don't know why it's seen as something worth having..." Her emotions seemed to have flooded then fallen back, her mind still stinging from the mixture of pain and weakness. However it was slightly faded. "Why do you care? Althalus, what happened was a one time thing. Not that I regret Lyn, but that doesn't mean you need to worry or care about me. You're Lyn's father and can teach her much more since you two share legs especially since she will never be accepted within my world." Mar slouched back a bit, her body propped up by her bones as she absorbed Althalus' words. She seemed to be trying to make sense of them. It seemed like the world had changed but her mind knew better, it was her who was changing. A fact she wasn't sure was a good thing. "The others shouldn't be kept waiting long." "People rarely know how they're supposed to act when being driven by emotions. They just act. Fighting and trying to repress them never works. They always win, in the end. Your emotions will always get the better of you eventually." Althalus raised his eyebrow at Mar's insistence, again, that because they shared legs he could teach Lyn more than she could. He chose to answer the final comment before that, however. "Our companions know how stubborn you can be. Unless we take several hours, I doubt they'll be knocking the barricade aside to get us moving. Coco is barely able to stand, Leith and our guide were nearly mauled apart by a zombie horde, and Grey has a prisoner to watch over. Even if we do leave as soon as possible, we won't be going anywhere anytime soon. If anything, we might end up heading back to the College, even though we only found one mage." He gestured vaguely towards the woods outside. "And who knows where the ones he spoke of are." "Anyways, why do I care? Well, at first, I didn't. You were just like every other Naga. Hostile, proud, and easily annoyed. I only stayed with you out of a sense of loyalty to Lyn. I couldn't just leave her with no father, despite your frequent and borderline violent insistence that I do so." He smirked, remembering the frequent arguments. "However, as the months wore on, I began to find that I could put up your few flaws and see past your harsh outer shell into the good. The way you obviously cared for Lyn, not even knowing if she was going to be Naga, human, or hybrid. Your loyalty to Tyrael despite him being...well, Tyrael. And yes, even your ruthless realism." Althalus shrugged. "What can I say? I said I'd stick around and I have. I taught Lyn to walk, but anyone could have. That's the only advantage I have and as we both know, she's learned to climb and walk now." "In short, I want you to remember one very important thing; I love you, and I'm never going to stop loving you or let you go into danger alone." He grinned. "So get used to my presence and my many faults." "It doesn't serve a purpose. For survival or anything... there's no reason to be emotional."Mar mumbled, her voice quieter and struggling with what Althalus' words. Finally her body relaxed and her shoulders slumped, letting her skeleton prop her upright. "I can't lose the part of myself I have left. If I'm not a Naga, then what am I?" Her eyes narrowed their fix on Althalus. She felt so lost and confused, her mask flimsy and gone for the moment. "I feel...torn." "Do you love Lyn? Would you die for her? If there was even the slightest chance to save her, would you take it, no matter the risk? No matter the cost? Emotions, at least the good ones, typically aren't meant for our own survival. They serve a purpose, a mysterious, sometimes aggravating purpose, but a purpose none the less. What are you if you're not a Naga? You're the mother of Lyn. The love of my life. Mar, you're much more than a member of a race of beings that shut themselves off from their emotions. You're the friend of Tyrael, Aramir's hunting partner, and one of the few people Alaira won't get all that agressive with." He met her gaze without flinching, and spoke gently. "Torn between what?" Mar lingered there, her eyes sat and body still. She looked like a cobra ready to strike. Each look turned into something more akin to studying while she seemed to fit pieces of his words into a puzzle, her mind ticking quickly when they fell into place. Her body straightened up suddeningly causing her tail to wrap about behind his legs and preventing his escape when her next question came. "What did you mean when you spoke about killing mages?" Althalus became uneasy when Mar suddenly stilled. He could practically see the gears turning in her head and something falling into place. Too late he realized his danger, and had only time to brace as she straightened and suddenly her tail was wrapped about his legs, immobilizing him. In a reflex he tried to move his legs and only succeeded in unbalancing himself so badly that he needed to grab Mar's shoulders to not fall over. That's when she asked her question. He tried to hide his surprise and despair at her directness, doubtlessly failing. Avoiding her eyes, he offered a thin lie. "Oh, that? It's just a common idea....." He trailed off at both the look on Mar's face and the tightening of her tail around his legs. He heeded the warnings and slumped as much he was able to, while trapped by Mar's tail. Well. I've royally fucked things up now. He thought bitterly, utterly certain what he said next would make Mar despise him and keep him from Lyn for the rest of his days. With a sigh, he met her eyes again. The look in them was similar to someone signing their own death sentence. "I'm an assassin. I get paid money, and I kill anyone those who paid me want dead. Foreas, Naga, Orc,mages, nonmages, it makes no difference. If there's a race in Tiien that hasn't been hiding for centuries, I know how to kill them. That wanted poster Grey had? The one of the mask? That's me. Got sloppy one day when killing an artist's wife. He had exceedingly good memory, and soon that mask, the one in the Den, was everywhere in Port Slaughter. Made my job much more profitable, but also much more dangerous. Known assassins have much less stealth options." This was stated flatly, with no emotion. The bitterness only came with his final words. "So congratulations Mar, the father of your child is a murderer who is so dead inside he'll kill anything for money." Mar looked at him a little longer as her eyes lessened their harsh gaze and her tail removed itself, slithering back to settle beside her. She didn't remove his hands as they braced against her shoulders, her arm out to aid him enough until he gathered his balance, allowing him to pull away. Something she expected he to do with his flat tone. A sense of hurt filled the edges of her eyes before it disappeared beneath her dark irises. "You ask so what if I wasn't a Naga, wondering why it mattered. You expect me to trust these emotions, to trust you yet... You can't bear to trust me with the truth." She let her words settle on the air a moment, her coils pulled against herself and debating inwardly on the facts which spilt from his own mouth. It merely hurt but deep inside, she knew it didn't change her connection to him. Her love hadn't faded. It merely hurt her more. When he didn't remove himself, she added more."Unlike bipeds, at least Naga trust enough to survive. We have a daughter... how can we raise her if we can't trust each other? Consider that Althalus." Exhaling to rid herself of some conflicting feelings, feeling him still against her. Her head only slightly looked to the barrier. "Are you sure you rather not return to the other?" This was worse than what he had expected. Anger, disgust, even hate, he could have dealt with. This hurt, poorly covered up, cut him as surely and even more deeply than if she had shoved a dagger into his chest. He didn't remove his hands, afraid of what would happen if he let her go. For a long few moments, he was silent, considering her words. When he spoke, it was in complete disregard of her question, and spoken softly, hesitantly. "I've always trusted you. With my life and many other things. I didn't tell you about my past because...because I thought I could be something other than the Terror of Port Slaughter. The masked murderer with the blood of dozens on his hands. I thought that if I ignored my history, I could be a good man. At the very least a good father. I thought the past would go quietly into the night, and never become a problem again." He gave a small smirk, a twisted and bitter version of his usual one. "And now look. In my efforts to create a new life and protect it from the blood filled and dark old one I lead, I only managed to hurt one of the two people I care most about in this life. For what little it's worth, I'm sorry. For everthing." "Althalus," Mar's right hand reached out and pulled him to look at her, "You will always be a killer as I am. I killed in self-defense but I still killed, and his eyes, expression, and more stay there. What is done, is done. Ignoring it won't erase it." She paused, seeming to search for the right words. "I might not see myself as a Naga, one day, but others will. That is all they will see. Just like those from Port Slaughter will only see a killer, not a father or a man, despite your actions. The present is what matters most in my eyes and it is what you do now that will always show me why I seem to care about you." Her head touched his and gently applied pressure, a small comfort she had once shown her own family, while she waited for the influence of her words to spread. Had she helped herself? No, but that seemed to matter little when it came to him. A matter that still confused and rattled her to this very moment. Althalus turned to meet Mar's eyes hesitantly, expecting something worse to come from her insistence. When she started, he could tell it was different. The hurt was gone, along with the accusation. As she finished, he nodded returning the gentle pressure against his head a relieved, happy smile across his face. "Okay." He said softly. "No more secrets. We'll focus on the present, and damn what everyone else thinks. We're going to figure out how to help you through this floodgate of emotions, and we're going to figure out how to raise Lyn with people like Alaira around her. Though, that might not be as easy as we thought. But I promise. No more secrets." "Good, now the others have been waiting long enough. We still have some mages to hunt down and Athalus..."Mar started, seeming not finished just yet. Her body had started to remove itself and once more returned to its formal position, bring her eyes above his. The relax and intimidate nature of her closeness gone and was replaced by the serious tone, one he might've been relieved to find was normal. "We'll discuss more on this later after Lyn's been placed on a playdate with Tyrael."

Darius wiped the spit off his face and sighed. "Very well." He knocked the man's hand out of the way and drew his dagger. He was about to follow through with his promise before he was stopped by Ssarak shouting in his mind 'Darius, in the water! The psychomancer is escaping. He is still a threat to Alaira.' Darius looked up to see Alaira fighting with the robed man. Confused, he looked towards Ssarak and saw him flying towards another robed man. For a few seconds, Darius had no idea what was going on, but then it made sense. One of the robed men weren't real. Either way, he was not going to get into the water, he could not swim. Not sure what to do, Darius called out in his mind 'I cannot swim.' If the robed man was floating away, that meant that he could still be a threat later on, and that would not be good. Darius looked down at the man and smiled. "You are a lucky bastard." And with that, he moved his knee and grabbed the sides of the man's neck, cutting the blood of from his brain. When the guardsman went limp, Darius let go, rolled the man onto his side and cut a strip of cloth from his pants. Darius needed to be quick and bind the man's hands before he woke up. With that out of the way, Darius stood up and ran towards the man on the bridge. He was ready for the impact of either hitting the bridge, or hitting the man.

As Althalus (his crossbow loaded and in hand) and Mar exited the building, both looking more miserable than when the others had left them, there was a disturbance by the edge of the forest. A man, clearly Yarosmerian, ran out of the forest. He was bloodied and injured, from far more than just running through the woods. As he came closer to the group, it was clear he was wearing a diplomat's uniform from Yarosmere. It was also clear that that uniform was burned and the few places where you could see burnt skin were obviously chewed upon. As he reached the center of the town, ignoring everyone and anyone who tried to stop him in his terror fueled head long rush, he crashed into Grey. Landing on the ground with an audible curse and a thump, leaving blood on Grey's armor, he began to babble. "Oh thank the Sand God we need to get out of here. Mages who wield black, unholy magic that's an affront to the Sand God, would even be an affront to the false gods the rest of Tiien worships!" The man grabbed Grey's armor."We have to leave now. There is not time for questions, I will answer them when we are far, far from this place!" He continued babbling like this for several minutes, gradually growing more and more incoherent until it was just a bunch of terrified gibberish. Two things were abundantly apparent. 1. The mages they were supposed to find and kill were in the forest. 2. The man was going to be of no further use, terrified as he was. However, when Althalus and Mar came into view, he suddenly calmed. A disgust and hate warped his face as he glared at Mar. "What is that thing, that monster doing here?" Althalus leveled his crossbow at the man. Normally easy going, the assassin's patience was as shorter than it ever had been, run low by the previous conversation with Mar. "You have ten seconds to explain why you hate Mar, the Naga you're so pleasantly staring at. Speaking of explanations, where in the name of the Inferno did this guy come from Grey, where's Leith and where's Coco?"

Breathing hard Meirin held Lyn tightly but knew she couldn't stay here for long. She could still hear fighting behind her and as much as she wanted to make sure Lyn is safe she needed to get back to the others. Lyn was in more danger away from the wagon so Meirin got back onto her feet and started to move briskly to the wagon. She saw the Robed Man launch a flurry of spells before jumping off the bridge, but she still saw him at the bridge fighting Alaira as well. Meirin had a bit of an idea of what might have just happened: the robed man must have used a Doppelganger. She vaguely remembered seeing something like that when she was with Ssarak during one of their morning exercises. Meirin guessed that the one at the bridge was a doppelganger because she saw Ssarak flying over the river. She knew that Ssarak would be able to discern the difference between a Doppelganger and it's mage, so he must have chased after the real robed man. Meirin returned to the wagon, careful to shield Lyn from the ravaged corpse on the ground. Alaira must have gotten to him, as his head was just an utter mess. Though near the body of the corpse was also Lyn's bear... Covered in blood and gore. Meirin wouldn't have been surprised if one of Lyn's guardians also gave her a protector in the form of a bear, but what exactly this bear did to kill the pale guard was something she'd rather leave unknown. Regardless the bear was important to Lyn so Meirin picked it up, tried to clean it of the blood the best she could, and than put it and Lyn back into the wagon. "Stay here, okay Lyn? We're going to protect you. We almost have all the bad guys beaten, so please just stay here until we come back." Meirin gave Lyn and quick kiss on her forehead to seal her promise before running off to help Ssarak. She saw Alaira and Darius fight the doppelganger, and uncertain of how one goes about defeating one of them Meirin simply shouted at them. "That's a doppelganger you two! Don't waste your time with him, the real one is in the water!" Meirin didn't stop to say that and yelled it as she ran past them. She couldn't fly as well as Ssarak could and frankly she didn't think it would have been much help if she did. Ssarak was already flying as low as he could and she'd only get in the way if she tried to squeeze between them. Instead she ran as far down the river as she could until she was a bit ahead of the robed man and Ssarak. Meirin spread her legs shoulder width apart, took a deep breath, and thought back to one of her previous Weaving lessons. Spreading her arms out Meirin began to move her arms slowly upwards in a circular motion. Only one arm was up and down at a time, in perfect cadence with each other. It needed to be for what she was trying to do. Soon she was able to move her arms faster and faster, timing it just right so at the last moment, she exploded in a flurry of movements ending with what looked to be a palm thrust towards an nonexistent chin. This set of movements was actually one of her Hydromancy Weaving Techniques: It basically allowed her to move a certain body of water sharply upwards. She could move a whole bathtub of water up, but she couldn't do the same for the whole river. But she only needed to move the section of the river where the robed man was, so timing it just right with Ssarak's hammer swing, she launched the robed man into Ssarak's hammer. A lot of things happened very quickly. Soon after the headmaster arrived a small entourage of others showed up. It made sense she suppose, there was a rather large disturbance at his very own office. Still just who came to the office shocked Myrn more than the vines did. Shortly after Khan and his demon arrived Myrn was tackled by a very large person. She nearly punched him in the gut when she realized that the person, an orc, was the very same one she's been looking for all this time. She was just as surprised as he was to see her here. "Whoa! It's you again! I-I can't believe it, I knew you where coming here, but I never thought an orc would actually show up at the college..." Myrn didn't get a chance to say much before another person arrived. A very pale lady, whom Myrn thought was rather beautiful, but something about her screamed of danger and arrogance. Like a noble who served in a deadly decedent court. The woman seemed to have not noticed Myrn and went strait to the head master. With just a glance Myrn could tell that the Head Master was in pain. She's seen plenty of others doing exactly what he was; trying to hide how tired and hurt they were from doing something as simple as running. But where others would think this made Khan weak Myrn knew better than that. While a strong mage should be able to keep themselves in good shape, she knew from stories and experience that even the oldest of veterans were a force to be reckoned with. Their scars and injuries were merely a testament of their durability. Myrn was certain that whatever Khan must have dealt with to be so weak, it was something powerful that not even she could withstand. Myrn was going to speak to Khan when someone else arrived. Someone or some... Thing. A grey creature who, whom Myrn pinned down as a demon of some sort. He looked very monstrous, but what he said scared her more than what he looked like. "W-w-worms!? Myrn looked down at her injuries, and sure enough there was something crawling underneath her skin. Her body went cold. How could this have happened? Was it the vines? Just what in the world was going on? Than the demon approached her with blade-like claws, causing Myrn to step back and draw her blade. It was an instinctual thing to do, despite coming to the realization that she likely just drew her weapon on a teacher at the college. She was going to apologize when another person arrived. He looked normal at first, but when she looked down she noticed his bird like legs. He called himself Baulder, but Myrn could hardly comprehend it. This was madness. It needed to be stopped. "Stop, just, stop! Everyone please just stop!" Of course it didn't. As though the situation wasn't any more bizarre and lacking of colorful characters, a suit of armor approached them. Myrn could tell at a glance that the armor was hollow but that didn't make her any close to being at ease. First there was the Eysire, than the pale woman who radiates a sinister aura, the demon who threaten to cut her open, and now a possessed suit of armor. Despite being one of the more odder creatures here the suit of armor, Uicle, seemed to be one of the more reasonable people around. He told the demon, Tyrael, to put away his claws. But the way Uicle said it made her think that this was a regular occurrence with Tyrael which was why she still kept her sword up. Than out of no where a part of the ceiling fell on Uicle's head, denting it. If she didn't already know he was a hollow suit of armor before, she certainly would now as she heard the echoing in his body and saw now sever the dent was. If that helmet had a full head their skull would have been split. Finishing off this madness was another Demon Rathel, at least that's what Myrn think's Khan called him. Apparently he can safely get the vines out of her body, but at the time Myrn also thought he was the reason why they were in her body in the first place. Sufficient to say she did not trust him at all. But from what Uicle and Tyrael said, she was in mortal danger. At this point Myrn was seriously debating if she should just take Krogal and fight her way out of the college. But she started to feel her strength get weaker. She suspects that this is the work of those vines or parasites, sapping her body of energy. She wasn't really in any position to fight further, so she shot the demon Rathel a hard glare. "Just get it this over with." To say that Myrn was incredibly annoyed right now was an understatement. She sheathed her weapon and readied herself for whatever it was that Rathel was going to do.

Mar

They exited the house in silence. The earlier scene of chaos and hell forgotten, yet the words spoke lingered between like a knife able to cut through the thick mood. It might’ve appeared to the others things were back to normal at first glance. However, that matter was hardly the truth. Things were much different inside due to the conversation of pain and misery that happened, her body patched while her heart was still bleeding. So many questions swimmed in her head that Mar’s only chance to stop the hurt was to focus on something. Her eyes slide down to see her torso. In moments she found herself examining the sloppiness of Althalus heartfelt attempt to patch her up. Her eyes never removed from the haphazard way the small wrap had sat, unraveled from his sleeve and slapped on by the salve. It wouldn’t last, at least in her eyes, for very long. Males… She sighed yet, for some odd reason, couldn’t bring herself to undo his hard work. It felt wrong to attempt or consider it. She puzzled over it for a few seconds longer even after they exited the house, her demeanor seemingly returned to normal. Or at least less closed off. It wasn’t long before her attention was drawn to seeing a blur of someone dashing out of the forest, her eyes jerked up and watched the figure suddenly slam into Grey sending him to the ground. As she drew closer, she noted his robes were burnt and tattered, his exposed flesh had been bloodied, charred and chewed giving him a look of a victim. Her mind knew their targets was within the forest which made her question why this man had survived. She wasn’t given a moment to wonder long when the Yarsomere, his look of disgust and hate plastered on his face, snarled his demands. Her emotions already worn by Althalus earlier, Mar reared to her nine foot tall height and gave a long, uncharacteristic hiss. She revealed her fangs as her tail coiled about her torso, ready to defend herself. About to speak and answer to the man’s insult, her words were interrupted when Althalus leveled his weapon at the man’s position. His questions didn’t echo hers, her ability to sense heat could’ve easily located them if they were in open ground, it would do. Forcing herself to relax, she lowered herself down back to her original position. Through her eyes glared just as ferociously at the man.

Lyn

Lyn was shaking, though slightly less than before, with her arms tightly wrapped about Mei to keep her mind off scene erupting around her. She felt Mei quickly moving, her steps bounced the small child within her grasp while she made her way back to the wagon. It wasn’t far despite Lyn’s fear as she hadn’t much time to run and her distance cut short by the haste in being scooped up. It was a good thing after all. She felt her current guardian's pace slightly change causing her to try to lift her head, only to feel Mei hold her hand against her skull. The child didn’t fight it. Instead she just stayed down and listened to Mei’s breathing to calm farther down. Unaware of the bloodied corpse and the damaged her toy had created, she noted Mei had paused shortly. She felt gravity shift when Mei pause long enough to pick the stuff animal up, its body limp and harmless even when she tried to wipe most the gore from its fur. It was a hasty job but enough to turn the red fur back to a shade of brown, allowing Lyn to hold it close. In moments the girl was settled into the wagon with the warmth of Mei’s kiss and words promising to be back. Lyn whimpered softly, watching the woman leave with fearful eyes, as her arms clinging to her bear and her body lowered to curl up into a ball. All she could do was wait.

Rathel

Rathel’s tendrils took in the pheromones radiating off the Elf as a cue to calm things down. She was clearly upset and that would only create more pain, his long fingers slowly reaching for her out held arm. He nodded. However before he began, he closed his eyes. From under the stones plants, namely camomile, spearmint and lavender started to spring forward and reach high. They sprouted green leaves and flowers while slowly filling the air with their scent. After several seconds the air was thickly perfumed in a rich, calming aroma that-unless countered- would’ve sent any breathing creature into a less excited state. “I’m sorry this has turned into such a mess, these vines weren’t suppose to attack you unless your were trespassing. They were a defense meant to kill my kind, namely after last summer. I’m called Rathel and I’m sadden to have met under such terrible conditions.” Rathel commented then started. Letting his magic flow and reach into the skin, the withering under her surface quickly stilled and started to gather. Fire was likely the best sensation to describe the pain. Namely as the flaring nerves felt themselves rubbed against and pressured as the vines slithered to meet in the center of her forearm where Rathel was touching. Luckily they hadn’t much time to spread too far. His nail reached to his own arm and started to slice into the joint where his wrist connected, revealing a weak point for a blade. Blackish green blood oozed. Instantly Myrn felt the pain increased tenfold while the vines seemed to give a hiss. They jerked through the open wound, prying open the skin, then borrowing into his wrist with greed. More of his blood spilt, causing to flinch and resist the urge to give any signs of pain. It hard to hide the fact he was hurt when the plants entered. “There,”he spoke then started to place a seed to the wound. Immediately the vines started to sprout and grow, thickening to create a green, flexible bandage allowing him to stop the bleeding for now. Sure it would’ve held, he gently released the Elf . Then he paused as if realizing something, his head and body motionless while the plants he had used to calm Myrn returned back under the stone. The scene looked the same before it ever happened. Finally seeming to have absorbed his information given by the vines, Rathel ensured to be ready to keep Myrn upright if she felt dizzy or weak. After all, the procedure had taken a lot of blood and been crippling almost for Khan when it happened. “Now, Uicle would you be so kind to take our guest to the infirmary? Best to get that bandaged properly and any damage mended, something one of Lidda’s advance students should be capable of and Sam himself. He’ll also have some painkillers to ease the hurt.” He was about to leave when he stopped, adding one last thing in a quieter tone between the two. If she was observant enough she might’ve spotted the trickle of his blood dribbling from his tendriled mouth. “Some of the worse things have been done with such intentions, those plants are one of them. One of Khan’s desperate ideas to protect. However, please, don’t judge him too harshly. He blames himself for you being injured, rightly so, but also...he takes blame for many things that he shouldn’t. His heart is and will always be his greatest weakness.” It was then, when Tyrael backed off, Khan suddenly fell to his knee unable to fight gravity any longer. His rush to Myrn's aid had taken far more energy than any of them had originally thought.

As Grey left the building, he simply found a spot to set the kid down and sat on a nearby stump. He threw off his gauntlets as he leaned over, resting his head in his hands as he gathered his thoughts on the day. To his surprise, he didn't really have anything. Just a sense of impending dread. Those mages were still out there, but Coco needed medical attention, and the five of them were exhausted. Well... five if you count the guide. But Guide's didn't tend to last very long on jobs like this. His train of thought was interrupted when something slammed into him, scattering blood on his left cuisse, or thigh-plate. He jumped up to his feet and took a step back, but upon seeing the condition of the 'attacker' he did not ready his weapon... The poor bastard babbled at him for some time, and he grew exceptionally irritated when the man insulted his gods. However, he was not irritated enough to consider any act of violence. Before he could respond, Mar and Athalus arrived. Then the survivor decided to make a very bad decision. When he called Mar a monster, he felt his blood boil. Mar had fought just as hard as the rest of them and despite her... unnerving appearance she was no beast. He lifted the guy up by his collar with a growl, and backhanded him. Lucky he wasn't wearing his gauntlets, or he'd have been severely injured. "She fought and nearly died for us! You will not call her a monster again unless you desperately wish to meet your gods!" He shouted in fury, dropping him onto the ground. "I swear to whatever god you worship that if you don't make yourself scarce right now, I will end you myself, clear!?" He turned to Athalus, sighing loudly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "No... I don't. They aren't impaired children, they can be left alone for five minutes. I was simply trying to rest when..." He turned to glare at the man. "Anyway, put that down..." he added quietly, gently placing his hand on the crossbow and lowering it. "He's no threat... the most you'd do is waste a bolt."

The Robed Man thought he could escape. He thought wrong. He was about to hit the current that would take him to freedom when suddenly a surge of water knocked him up into the air and into the path of Ssarak's hammer. It was a solid blow that, despite being the first hit he's taken, was enough to knock him out cold. And when he crashed into the rocks it did little to assist in his recovery, forcing his head under the waters. If no one came to rescue him soon, he would drown. And with the robed man out of commission his doppelganger by the bridge vanished into thin air. The bridge was quiet once again. But instead of a small group of guardsmen, there were only corpses and wounded. This bridge would be left undefended now for an indefinite amount of time. The only ones alive were the guard captain and one of the minor guardsmen, and perhaps the robed man if the others came to his aid quick enough. The caravan master collapsed in a heap. He had been menaced by demons this entire time and fell to the shock and fear of it all. It'll take a few minutes before he'd come to and make the group move on, hopefully before they cause any more trouble. Despite his obvious weakness Khan continued to strain himself as he lurched forward to tend to the elf. Myrn was her name, if Lucilia remembered correctly. She was just passing by the college searching for someone, but with Krogal's arrival and embrace of the elf Lucilia could correctly guess that Myrn found who she was looking for. An elf and an orc... Lucilia supposed there were always stranger pairings. That wasn't the top of her concern however. Tyrael arrived and mentioned something about worms in her body. "Godammit..." Lucilia said underneath her breath. New students arriving unannounced was one thing, but now this. Stepping forward to ensure that Tyrael doesn't proceed with his butchery of an operation Lucilia prepared to take over herself before Rathel stepped forward and explained what was happening. Things were just going for bad to worse, but at least he seemed to have a safer solution. Even Lucilia was uncertain if she could save Myrn given the new threat. She had removed parasites before, but these abominations were obviously a different breed of menace. Though Rathel's method still looked rather painful it served it's purpose. Myrn was purged of the vines and Lucilia quickly went to her aid to ensure that there was no further damage done. She took out a healing poultice and applied them to where she saw the most grievous of wounds. "I am so sorry about that. I can assure you, this mistake won't be happening again. Is there anything we can do in compensation?" Than a twitch. The smell of blood. How long as it been since Lucilia had fed? She remembered taking a drink this morning- But than she remembered that it was Marrow Draught. Still imperfect and only staved off the thirst for so long. And she could smell the sweet blood from Myrn... Lucilia stood up. She had to fight this urge. She was stronger than that. It was too soon to let herself go so easily. But it would be unbecoming of her to just leave unexcused. She could hold back. It was only a minor hunger. "But of course... We need to let you recover. Please... Krogal, Uicle, if one of you two could take Myrn to the Infirmary." Lucilia's voice was starting to get a bit stilted. The smell of fresh blood was alluring. Than she heard Tyrael call to her attention and directing her to Khan, who was starting to look more ill than Myrn was. This quickly snapped her out of her daze and went to Khan's aid. "Honestly.... Let's get you somewhere to rest before we discuss what just happened." Using her vampiric strength Lucilia kept Khan up but also held onto him tightly. She wasn't about to let him slip out like last time, least he collapse from over exerting himself. She made a mental note to have an examination about Khan's health. While she was aware of Kudd's poison, something else was in the works to make Khan so weaken. Unless he still isn't taking his medicine like Lucilia constantly tells him to. Tyrael was going to try to remove the barasites when he heard Uicle chastise him. Followed by Rathel explaining what was occuring and even Khan grabbing hold of him. Sighing Tyrael shifted his claws back to normal and escaped Khan's grasp. "If you wanted to create a weapon against demons, you should have asked me. There are very little demons on the college for these vines to be used against." More worrisome however was that Khan was leaning on Tyrael. Khan was normally more poised than this, but these past few months have not been kind on the headmaster. And sure enough after Rathel removed the vines from the elf Khan fell to his knees. Tyrael simply sighed as he helped Khan to his feet. "Professor Riovas." Calling out to Lucilia the fallen orc didn't need to say much else before the vampire came to the headmaster's aid. With that out of the way Tyrael had no more business here. He was about to walk away before stopping. There was one more thing he had to do here. "Orc, Elf, when you both are in better health come to my office. There is a task I have for all of you. Khan I will give you the details when you are in better health." He didn't stay to hear their comments about his orders before heading back to his office. He needed to prepare the details and map out the directions he had for the newcomers. Paperwork wasn't something he liked to do, but that was part of life. He just hoped his penmanship was up to standard.

Ssarak Dyreackthanose --- Ssarak swooped down low, just a few feet above the water. He did not expect the robed man to come shooting up into his hammer in a small geyser of water, but nevertheless, it was unquestionably effective. He went limp, though whether he was dead or merely unconscious, Ssarak could not tell from above. The man crashed into some rocks jutting out of the river, forcing his head underwater. If he was alive, he would not be for long without intervention. The robed man had pushed for unreasonable reparations and had seemed all-too eager to get into the fight, but even so, Ssarak did not wish him dead. This fight had ultimately been instigated by Alaira, so he wanted to minimize casualties as much as possible. Additionally, there was enough that seemed wrong about the whole situation that Ssarak wanted to question him. As a psychomancer, it could be difficult to keep the man safely detained, but it was a risk they would have to take. Unfortunately for Ssarak, he was not precisely in a position to save the robed man. He was quite capable of swimming, but not in full plate armor. If he tried to pull him out, it was entirely likely he would drown himself. As such, he needed help. He turned and quickly landed on the riverbank before looking around for his allies. Meirin was the closest, so he shouted to her as he pointed out the robed man in the river. “He may still be alive, and we should save him if we can. I cannot swim in this armor.”

Either Ssarak's blow was hard enough or the robed man was fragile, as he went limp with the first strike. His body slammed against the rocks and with him out of the way the battle was over. Meirin was about to turn to leave when she heard Ssarak call over to her. He wanted her to save the robed man, for some reason. "What!?" While she blames Alaira for instigating the fight in the first place, the robed man was a corrupted officer of the law. While she doesn't condone Alaira's actions, Meirin had a feeling that they would not have passed the bridge unharrassed if the robed man was as slimy as he was before. Still, it would do them no good to leave behind a trail of corpses. At the very least Meirin felt obligated to bury the ones they did make. Jogging on over to Ssarak she could see where the robed man was stuck. She doubt he was alive but they would discover the truth soon enough. The river was deep enough that she'd need to swim most of the way there, however there was some rocky formations that she could leap across. She'd rather not risk herself saving him, but she will do what she must. First she leap across the rocks to reach the robed man, pulling his head out of the water. He was bleeding and she was certain he was dead. But she would bring him to shore nonetheless. Carefully positioning herself Meirin swam towards the river edge with the robed man in her arms. He made no resistance, so he was either out cold or dead. And now she would soon find out. Once Meirin pulled the body out of the river she turned to Ssarak. "Let's tie him up. I'll use some of my magic to try to heal him, see if we can snatch him from death's clutches. But we shouldn't let him too close to the others, especially Alaira. Oh, but I guess we should check him for any hidden weapons." Meirin searched the robed man's body for anything else that he might end up using against them. While she didn't feel all to comfortable rummaging through his clothing it was better safe than sorry. Once she found everything on his person Meirin moved it far away from him. She came back with a length of rope and securely tied the robed man up. "Alright Ssarak, be ready for anything." Taking a deep breath Meirin did a few weaving motions for Vitamancy to give herself minor healing hands. She lightly touched the robed man's head and waited to see what effects it would have.