Written with [@PrinceOfHeaven] and [@BlondyMcHuggles]

[b][u]A Call to Arms[/u][/b]

With  the unfortunate thieving incident behind them, the Order continued  their feast in Mirador Keep. At this time they had progressed to the  fourth course, consistering of light wafers, jellies and preserves,  cream covered in fennel seeds and preserved in sugar, white cream with  cheese and fresh strawberries, and plums stewed in rose syrup.  Each dish was served by young pages and squires to the guests, who  occupied themselves once again with their companions and with the music  of the bards.

Apostle  Sorano seemed to favor the white cream and strawberries at first,  though was beginning to noticeably slow down, his brow furrowed as if he  were in deep thought. He had a contemplative aura about him as he  looked off into the distance. Delicately placing a cream-dipped berry  into his mouth, he looked over to Erika and Herbert. "Tore apart a  werewolf unarmed? Normally such a feat is performed by the werewolf. I  have a few ideas as to how this is possible, but I would not like to  make baseless assumptions; each seems more ridiculous than the last,  which leads me to believe that perhaps your partner's tale is mere  embellishment. Fiction."

Erika smiled back, now somewhat amused by the elf's lack of faith. "Truth can be stranger than fiction, Apostle Loraethal. Why not  tell us what these 'ridiculous ideas' are?" With that, she took a small  bite of her own serving of white cream and strawberries. Meanwhile,  Herbert sipped at a cold beverage and listened to the conversation with a  smile twitching at his lips.

"The first is that you killed the werewolf in a fit of desperate wrath, killing it with your bare hands before ripping  it open," Sorano replied, leaning fowards. "The second, that you  possess some sort of magical power, potentially a form of berserker  rage. Third, is that you are of questionable heritage, granting you  strength superior to that of the lycans." He punctuated his explanation  with another strawberry, chewing quietly as he looked the unassuming  human over.

"'Questionable?'  All this time and you've never once commented on my giant blood," Katla  remarked, chuckling at Sorano. "What pairing would you consider so out  there as to be questionable?"

The  Sun Elf swallowed the strawberry and glanced over to the half-giant  woman. "Something volatile to most people. A rare pairing, possibly a  black-widow mating," he responded. "But I do not wish to insinuate that  which is false..."

The  healer contemplated Sorano's theories for a moment before speaking.  "Desperate wrath - even in the most dire of scenarios - is no match for a  lycanthrope on its own. As for berserk fury, I'm not entirely sure who  would win in unarmed combat between a berserker and a werewolf. Nor am I  cursed by Odys. Your last theory is the correct one. My parents were  indeed a rare pair, but not a black-widow pairing." She paused,  reflecting and then chuckled. "Let's see if you can guess my heritage,  shall we?"

Sorano leaned back, narrowing his golden eyes at the Asmeinlander. "Ah... what could be vicious enough to take a werewolf..."

"Cyclops?" suggested Apostle Alessio.

"No, you dumb bastard, she'd only have the one eye if that were the case;  Cyclopses are close enough to human to not need polymorphing, same with giants," retorted Apostle Sidon. "Clearly she is part Karkadann."

"And what in the fuck is a Karkadann, Sidon?" Alessio replied.

"Savarian  unicorn, essentially, only it more closely resembles a rhinoceros.  Hulking, black-scaled mass of muscle," said Apostle Yusuf as he  continued to eat, staring nonchalantly at his meal and not once sparing  the other two Apostles a glance, as if speaking to himself.

"A Karkadann doesn't have the power to tear something apart though. Goring, yes, but not ripping. Perhaps you are half-chimera?"

"No," Said Erika, "but it's definitely closer than a rhinoceros unicorn, except for the fact that a chimera is a beast rather than a being." She stretched briefly. "I'll give you a hint, it's native to the west and capable of thought."

"Capable  of killing a werewolf in such a manner... native to the west...  sentient. Which was the human if I may ask, the father or the mother?"  Sorano inquired.

"My father was the human." Replied Erika, trying to think of what creatures might be ruled out by such a statement.

Sorano  went quiet, his focused expression indicating that he was calculating  the likelihood of each possibility. As he opened his mouth to speak,  there was the low, deep sound of rumbling. Seconds later, plates, bowls,  utensils, and goblets began shuddering atop the tables. Moments after  this, Rhodric, Aranirya, and several other priests became visibly  distressed, with Lucian following shortly.

"No, no that's not..." Aranirya mumbled to herself, holding her head.

"What is it this time...?" Sorano inquired, perking an eyebrow.

Lucian  sat back in his seat, a glazed expression forming across his features  as he stared off towards the ceiling. "So they do bleed..." he murmured.  The rumbling grew more intense, turning into an outright tremor as the  faint sound of something distant could be heard in the air. This sound  was prolonged, hanging in the Great Hall for an extended period of time,  before it suddenly exploded into  an omnipresent, monstrous blend of a bloodcurdling scream and a  ferocious roar, chillingly similar to that of a dragon's cry. Curiously,  only the priests and Lucian flinched and blocked their ears.

"By  the Gods! Hargash! Hargash!" screamed one of the priests, dropping to  his knees in a panic. "The Shaituns, they can die, the Gods, they can  die!" he said. "What black sorcery is this?! Has the Flame advanced?! It  burns! Heat, fire! Scorched undeath!"

A  couple of knights ran to his side, helping him up to his feet. The  priest was a hyperventilating mess of a wood elf, clutching a knight's  cuirass, gripping the surcoat. "Hargash is dead! I feel it, they feel  it! The Whore Queen Rastuna weeps, the Army of the Dead bows to a new  master!"

The raving priest's speech devolved into muddled Narbosi as he was escorted out of the Great Hall.

Erika  grimaced and looked to Herbert. "That seems an Infernum of a lot more  serious than a gutsy thief." The tenseness of her body language and the  tightness with which she gripped her cup were the only clues as to just  how uneasy she felt.

Herbert,  meanwhile, had paled. "It can't be..." He said in a half-hushed  whisper. There was fear and despair clearly present in his eyes and he  seemed to be speaking to himself, as if desperately trying to convince  himself that what he knew to be true was false. Eventually, he took a  deep breath, and with determination replacing despair and fear, he  looked to Erika and spoke. "It's Htraknu. It must be."

The  half-manticore regarded her lover with equal parts confusion and  concern. "Honey... Why do you think that Htraknu is the one who killed  Hargash? All the priests said is that Hargash was slain, and that there was fire. Fire doesn't necessarily mean dragon fire."

The monster hunter shook his head. "It's not just the fire. He has Veturia's scalpel."

"Oh. Right." Said Erika quietly.

"He  does not work alone," said Lucian, rising from his seat. "I hear and  feel Hargash's presence in the Infernum dwindle, and mingle within the  energy of another, stronger entity. Whatever it is, if it can kill a  Shaitun, it can kill more. It's not like such creatures to stop once  they've had a taste of dark power," he said. "And in order to invade an  Infernal Realm, they had to have had some sort of help..." he sighed,  holding his head as his premonition began to fade.

"Ladies,  Gentlemen, I do thank you from the bottom of my heart for attending  tonight's feast, however strange and eventful it was. Alas, I must  excuse myself and my Apostles, for I need time to pray, to commune with  the Gods and determine what this latest interruption means for us all.  You are free to help yourselves to whatever food may be left, dismiss  yourselves at your pace. Farewell, and have a blessed night, all of  you." With that, Lucian gestured for his Apostles to rise and gather.  "And, honoured guests, you are welcome to stay the night in the Keep,"  he added, bowing courteously to Herbert's group. He then walked off,  headed out of the Great Hall with his ten Apostles in tow.

"I've  had more than enough to eat." Said Erika to Herbert. "What are we going  to do? Surely we can't take down Htraknu ourselves."

Herbert  exhaled and thought for a moment. "I don't know how, but we need to  find a way to end him. Lucian's right, he isn't going to stop - though I  don't know what the dragon is planning." He paused. "We won't have to  do it alone, though. Let's stay the night and in the morning, I'll ask  Lucian for his help."

Athaliah  and Rhiara looked absolutely stunned by what they were hearing everyone  come out with. “Herbert, Erika – I’m coming too.” Athaliah said,  resolutely. She looked at Rhiara, who nodded meekly. “If there’s  something out there that can kill the very gods themselves, nobody is  safe.”

Erika and Herbert regarded the pair from Hoffen quietly. Finally, Erika spoke. "Your help is certainly welcome, just remember what you're getting into. You said it yourself - this is a being that can kill the very gods. The odds aren't exactly in our favor."

“I know.” Ath looked down at the ground, thinking of how big her adventure had become. “It’s a [i]stupid[/i] idea, but frankly, if we don’t kill him as soon as possible, then it’s all over.”

"Aye." Said Herbert. "If we don't stop him, the world as we know it will most likely burn. It's unlikely that we'll manage to defeat him, but there's at least a tiny chance, and that's better than just waiting for the end."

Rhiara, who had been silent throughout the affair, finally spoke up. Her voice was quieter than usual and she unsurprisingly looked troubled. “This isn’t a fight we can win; do you not see that? We’ll all die for nothing.” Her voice had gradually raised until she was nearly shouting. “You three can’t stop him, the Order can’t stop him-” Rhiara interrupted herself with a gulp. “Honestly, we lost as soon as Hargash fell.”

Herbert regarded her with steely determination. "Htraknu himself proved that that which lives can be slain. If the gods themselves can die, so can an overgrown megalomaniacal winged lizard. All we need is a plan and appropriate preparation." The monster hunter thought for a moment and then spoke. "Do you remember that other survivor I mentioned? He's probably long-dead, but he was the type to record his battles. If we can find where he lived while fighting the dragon's servants, then maybe we can find some information that will help us kill Htraknu."

“I guess we’re doing this, then…” Rhiara replied, back to her quiet self. She still thought that it was a stupid idea and a stupid plan that would get them killed, but she could see how determined Athaliah, Herbert and Erika were, and she saw how much that meant to the pair from Krossavik in particular. “Hey,” Athaliah said as she put an arm around her shoulder. “Everyone’s going to be fine, Rhiara.” The two looked each other in the eyes. “Nothing is going to hurt us, okay?” Rhiara nodded slowly in response. Privately, neither of them believed what she had just said.