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[h2]Sarah & John[/h2]
[color=gray]In collaboration with [@Legion02][/color]
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Sarah almost told Dale to keep that arrow nocked. She still didn’t trust the shadowy figure. It could all be a trap still. The man could’ve used the silence to draw them in. Then that fool of a priest announced the princess with the glories worthy of a throne room. They were standing in a ruined church though. [b]“Be quiet you pompous fool!”[/b] Sarah screamed out as she drew her blade and pushed it against Father Wyn’s neck.[b] “Any witch’s spy could’ve heard that!”[/b] Her eyes were wildly looking at her surroundings now. Looking for strange birds or the glowing eyes of a night crawling cat.

[color=silver]
Something feels very off with the party he’s facing. First, they accused him of being the one responsible for the whole mess. This part, John can understand. What he didn’t get, was that they then proceed to leave him alone for a few precious seconds. Excessive, you might say, but in the face of a supposed warlock with the ability to lay waste to a village overnight, ten seconds of uninterrupted silence are enough to get you killed, experienced hunter or not.

Worse still, the little girl in their party cluelessly approached him without taking precautions. And the two grown up men actually [/color][i][b]allowed[/b][/i][color=silver]  her to. Then she spewed some naive bullshit about him being not suspicious at all because he kept his silence, and the archer of the group [/color][i][b]let his guard down[/b][/i][color=silver]. A few exchange of words later, and the priest-like figure of the group announced that the little girl is indeed, a princess. Not something you want to say to a potential enemy, really.

Well, enough is enough.

“That lady with silver hair is right, you know,” John finally broke his silence. “No self-respecting bodyguard would out their master needlessly like you do.”

Finally having the group’s undivided attention to him, he used the opportunity to dish out the so-called “honesty” the group demanded.

“You’re an idiot,” said John to the priest, whose pride made him blurt out vital information to the face of potential threat.

“You’re a shameless glory hunter,” he continued while pointing towards the archer, who blindly followed the order of a girl who clearly had no on-site hunting experience, despite looking like a seasoned veteran himself.

“You’re way too trusting to be leading men to witch hunts, milady,” he then said to the oncoming princess as he lowered his face closer to hers, as if to inspect the face of someone who could very well doom her party to untimely death due to her naivete.

“And you,” he then raised his gaze towards Sarah, “has clearly demonstrated how uncoordinated this party is. How does it feel to be the only person trying to keep everybody alive?”
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He talked far too much. Sarah took the blade off the priest’s neck. No, she wasn’t convinced he was anything less than an utter fool but he could hardly swallow his words again. As for the stranger in the church, if he was a warlock he was a surprisingly chatty one. Though the fact he had some common sense elevated him above the rest of this increasingly shabby looking band of witch hunters. She was about to answer the stranger’s question though got annoyed at the belling tolling above them more and more. Then Tallia warning came. Sarah had just looked up to see what was making the heavy bell ring so much when it was coming down. Just in time, she could jump out of its way.

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The little spider clung to her new home with all her might. Unable to hear voices as a human do, she could feel the air vibrating ominously overhead. A tremor that grew closer and more intense with every reverberation, as if to swallow her world whole.

Thankfully her landowner was swift enough to avoid the falling mass of brass before they both get swatted to death. A few rolls later, she landed square on her foot, without as much as a cut or a bruise.

The other guy though, the one the Voice commanded to never take her eyes off of, did not seem to be as fortunate. As the bell fall, the little spider saw him pushed the other,smaller girl out of harm’s way and into the white-robed guy's arms. Then, his visage was obscured by the bell, the flying debris, and erupting dust.

What a mess. If he died, the Voice would be very. [/color][b]VERY[/b][color=lightSlateGray]. upset.

Speaking of the Voice.. Had she always been this.. Silent?
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As Tallia and Tera were talking through the rubble of the bell, Sarah walked up to it and knocked on its sides. [b]“For whom the bell tolls.”[/b] she said with a small laugh. She felt rather surprised that she jumped.

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“Oy. Tone it down will you?” a voice rung in answer to her messing with the bell. The owner of the voice? A rather shaken suspicious possibly-a-warlock guy from before. Apparently he had rolled away from the bell, and straight to a rock-solid pew on the other side of the church. He hurried to his feet after declaring that he's still there and very much alive, but a single glance is all it takes to see that he's not in as pristine a condition as the others are. Not as high and mighty as his speech now, is he?
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Sarah was about to tell the man she wasn’t talking about him but then the bone chilling scream echoed through the village. Next the hunters outside announced their threat.[b] “I checked the crypts. There were no latent necromancer traps!”[/b] She yelled as she joined the other hunters in barricading the main hall. After a few pews were put up as a makeshift defense she stopped. Undead were numerous but rather unathletic. Very few would come crawling over. Still, they had numbers. They always had the numbers.

She turned to the stranger. Clearly, this one had more sense than her own retinue.[b] “We need to get out of here.”[/b] She said as she heard more undead moving on the sides of the church. [b]“This isn’t a shelter, it’s a tomb.”[/b] She turned towards the altar. It was old and worn. Old enough, perhaps. Sarah rushed towards it and began to push the smooth stone on top of it away. [b]“I think I know a way out! Help me with this!”[/b]

[color=silver]
John was still dazed by the ringing bell right next to his ears and the direct impact to his skull from his earlier bravado. Seriously, meeting the princess’ team is nothing but bad luck for him. But there was no time to dwell on it.

If the shouting outside were to be believed, undeads were coming from all direction, and with the sun just about to set, they would not have enough stamina to fend them off. As it stand, the lady in silver is right. The only way for them to [/color][i][b]possibly[/b][/i][color=silver]  survive is to enter the hidden passage underneath the slightly cracked altar.

Having stretched his muscles, John joined the lady in her endeavour to push the not-quite-as-smooth stone off its resting place. It was in this timing that the princess started to ask questions that matters. You know, the usual stuff about how much he knows and if he’s hiding something from them or whatever. A tad bit on the sweet side, but an improvement nonetheless.

“Unfortunately, I know about just as much as you do. Which is next to nothing,” he answered halfheartedly, mind elsewhere at the moment. “Well, I know that there are traces of occult ritual performed right here at the altar, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re all going to die if we stay here.”

“[i]... Just pray that whatever lies beyond this slab of stone, is better than what’s lurking outside,[/i]” he continued under his breath.

Then, after what felt like infinite pushing and heaving, the altar’s surface ceded, and beyond it, lies a dark stairwell. It was not at all inviting, but someone’s got to enter it sooner or later. And given his equipment and his relative lack of relation with the rest of the team, it was apparent that the job would fall upon John, whether he like it or not.

“Right. I’ll go in first. Whoever comes next, better not stab me in the back.”
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Sarah grinned at his statement. Instead she quickly dropped an unlit torch down the stairs. [b]“That should help you out down there.”[/b] 

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“You know, that torch would help us much more if it’s [/color][i][b]actually lit[/b][/i][color=silver]  before you throw it. What am I to you? A dog?” was John’s final sarcasm before he descend into the pitch darkness of the stairwell.[/color]

On the outside she could hear the fighting resume. The undead were coming at them in waves. Though Sarah had hoped for more time. In reality, most of those outside the church were as good as dead. [b]“Princess you need to come with us or you’ll die too.”[/b] She told Tera. At first there was a myriad of noises coming from outside. Metal hitting metal, flesh hitting stone. Then there was only silence. [b]“We need to go, now!”[/b]