[centre][h2][colour=DAA520][u]Yui Ren[/u][/colour][/h2][/centre] [sub][centre][@Sync][@Lyla][/centre][/sub] Yui chatted with Nanami a bit longer while the day began; a few small jokes, another bout of over the top flirting and flattery that got some more laughter and blushing from Nanami. Eventually though, they said their goodbyes and went about their day. Heading out, Yui made her way to the market district in search of a few things; lead for more bullets, ingredients to make more black powder, and a few other odds and ends. Once she’d gotten her ‘essentials’, she did a bit of browsing amongst the blacksmiths stall, before returning to the inn for lunch and starting work on making another small batch of powder and bullets. [h3][centre]Later[/centre][/h3] She woke almost immediately as the bells began to toll, rolling out of bed and piling on her gear almost by instinct. She saw Alm disappear out the door to find out what was going on, so while she waited she tweaked her armour and double checked her weapons; she could hear cries on the night air, things were going to get bad for them soon. -- Alm’s statement about the approaching threat did little for her mood. [i]Normal[/i] bandits were bad enough, but they were in it for the coin, hit ‘em hard enough and they’d leave. Orcs…orcs liked things to get [i]bloody.[/i] As Jing divvied up everyone into teams, she looked over her ‘team’ and was a tad concerned; going into a fight like this with two unknowns was not something she was looking forward to. As they set out, Half spoke up. [colour=DAA520]”Well there’s a rarity,”[/colour] She quipped, trying to settle her nerves with a bit of humor. [colour=DAA520]”It’s not often you meet a guy built like you that speaks so well, and like you said, it’s all our asses on the line.”[/colour] As they hustled towards the fires and sounds of fighting, Yui began to scan for the best vantage points to shoot from. Rounding on the main fighting, she saw a party of orcs appear out of a side street, between them and their goal. [colour=DAA520]”Fuck me running.”[/colour] She muttered. The orcs were still a bit out as she finally spotted the perch she wanted, a small balcony that over looked the street. [colour=DAA520]”Half,”[/colour] She called out, pointing to said balcony. [colour=DAA520]”Gimmie a boost.”[/colour] The big man cast a wary eye on the advancing threat, before nodding and positioning himself, cupping his hands to act as a step. As she stepped up, Half lifted Yui rapidly, almost tossing her up to her spot. [colour=DAA520]”Thanks,”[/colour] She called out as she made ready. [colour=DAA520]”I’ll be down shortly.”[/colour] Glancing through the glass door that lead inside, she guessed this was the home of the owner of the business below; she hoped they were already long gone. There was no time for any further thoughts in that direction though, the orcs were almost on top of them. Cocking her rifle, she took aim and fired; the gun bucked and a half inch diameter chunk of lead slammed into the chest of an orc moments later. The one Yui hit simply pitched forward, dead before it even began to fall; however it [i]was[/i] carrying a torch, a simple affair made of a branch wrapped in cloth and dipped in pitch. When the first orc died and went over, its arm flailed out and smacked the orc beside it with the mass of flaming pitch. As Yui reloaded, she say one orc down and another peeling away from its group, screaming, as the pitch clung to it. [hr][hr] [centre][h2][colour=6A5ACD][u]Isbeil Camshron[/u][/colour][/h2][/centre] [sub][centre][@13org][@HowlsOfWinter][/centre][/sub] [colour=6A5ACD]”I do understand,”[/colour] She replied to Ehri. [colour=6A5ACD]”If for no reason more than the fact that we do not really know one another, your caution would be warranted.”[/colour] As Ehri spoke of the potential dangers of her powers to the unprepared, Isbeil regarded her gravely. [colour=6A5ACD]”I assure you I will take your warnings to heart, and I would welcome your assistance. When I was a young girl one of the first lessons Mistress Thalia taught me about magic was that it was like a finely honed blade. A useful tool in the hands of a skilled user, but liable to cause harm if handled poorly…”[/colour] -- Standing back while Alm spoke, she watched his own display with open, and muted, interest. [colour=6A5ACD][i]Another beastmaster of sorts? How fascinating…though perhaps I shall wait a while more before I ask the same as I did of Miss Kahn. Perhaps my own talents may have the answers Master Saito seeks.[/i][/colour] [i]That[/i] of course would add a whole new layer of complications to things, because as far as she could figure there would be no way for her to broach the subject without revealing what her true skills were. She gave a polite nod as Alm left, though her eyes followed him intensely; even though he’d seemed to return to normal, something still seemed to be dragging at him. [colour=6A5ACD][i]Two beastmasters of sorts, and that young one-eyed woman with the dark aura; this is a [/i][b]MOST[/b][i] interesting Company.[/i][/colour] [centre][h3]Later That Night[/h3][/centre] Ever since her transformation in the desert all those years ago, Isbeil had found she required far less sleep than she’d once did; so while the rest of the Irregulars settled in for the night, she’d gotten herself a pot of tea and sat in her room with her grimoire, watching at a most basic level, the interplay of Ehri’s magic between her life-force and the life-force of her companions even as they rested. Her observations however were cut short by the clangor of bells and a sudden prickling in the back of her mind. When she’d first arrived in the city, before she’d even made contact with the Irregular’s recruiter, she’d taken a day or two to set up and cast [b]’Greater Life Leech’[/b] over the place. In its original form such a spell [i]would[/i] have wiped out much of the life in the city, but such action were barbaric and a grotesque abuse of power; instead, she had modified her version of the spell to be much weaker, but also much longer lasting. Instead of killing anyone it came in contact with, it instead just siphoned off a small part of the life-force of a recently deceased and channelled it to Isbeil. Every chicken or hog killed by a butcher, every rat caught by a cat; a tiny amount of [i]every[/i] death was sent her way. Now she could actually [i]feel[/i] the surge in power flowing to her as the Orcs slaughtered their wat into the city. [colour=6A5ACD][i]Through me the dead will have their retribution.[/i][/colour] She thought as she hurried down stairs, her bright red hair spilled out behind her; she’d removed her head scarf when she’d sat to relax and in her haste, she’d forgotten to re-wrap it. While Jing gave them what little information they had and began to issue orders, she quickly got herself ready. Soon she found herself in the company of one of the young female warriors that had signed on when Isbeil herself had, and the one-eyed woman; Jing mentioned that they were to be accompanied by another, but so far they’d yet to appear. She hoped that whoever ‘Pox’ was, they’d not gotten caught in the attack. [colour=6A5ACD]”Come,”[/colour] She said, heading for the door. [colour=6A5ACD]”Let us see what we can do to help.”[/colour] - It was calm so far, but Isbeil had little hope that it would stay that way. [colour=6A5ACD]”Isbeil Camshron.”[/colour] he replied as Octavia broke the group’s silence. [colour=6A5ACD]”Forgive me, but I prefer to no shake hands.”[/colour] She added with a bow; raising her right arm, she briefly showed her ‘withered’ gloved right hand. [colour=6A5ACD]”The result of an illness as a child.”[/colour] She explained, the lie an old and easy one. [colour=6A5ACD]”It moves well enough, and I can still hold a pen or the like, but it lacks much strength.”[/colour] The tense quiet evaporated into panicked screams as four goblins on spiderback came into view, one of them running down a civilian and impaling her with its spear. Isbeil [i]felt[/i] the woman’s death as her previously prepared and implemented spell, functioned true to her design, and channelled a small portion of the victim’s life force to her. The power tickled almost imperceptibly at her nerves as Isbeil’s lips moved with a silent ease as she invoked her native born magics. A flick of her left hand in a short slashing motion, sent a nigh invisible ‘blade’ of force against the rider’s mount. It lacked the raw strength to cut right through the spider’s carapace, but it did score it heavily; more damaging though was the fact that her attack got through enough to reach the spider’s [i]eyes[/i]. Suddenly blind, the creature seemed to panic, tossing its rider and turning to run; which let it to slam hard into an abandoned fruit seller’s cart. Cursing the goblin staggered to its feet, and enraged by being thrown, stabbed its mount while it lay dazed on the street. Turning to fix its glare on Isbeil, it hollered a war cry and charged at her, but sadly for it, [i]she[/i] had not been idle. Reaching into one of the many pockets in her robes, she came out with the same small stone that she’d shown Jing when they’d first met. Now with another invocation it flicked from her hand like a sharpshooter’s bullet. The stone was a rough pieced of granite no larger than a peach pit, and with the speed Isbeil accelerated it to, it hit with spectacular result. There was a sharp [i]crack[/i] as it punched through the shield, followed shortly by a high pitched howl from the goblin as the stone continued on its way, through its midsection and out its back, shattering its spine on the way. The goblin slammed into the street and skidded to a halt writhing in agony still well short of the small band of Irregulars.