Town Square – Rayvon Krayvitch

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Rayvon's eyes dart to Wayne worriedly and the fallen dagger-wielding protector, feeling a burning pain in her shoulder herself. She swallows and holds her sword defensively against the mage before her, “HOLD! WAIT! STAY YOUR MAGIC! We have to help them!” Rayvon pleads, stepping back. “I cannot bear arms against you while their lives are at stake, I plead with you, hold so we might save them!”

Jeremy shakes his head as the shadowy magic climbs across his form, wrapping around his torso snugly as he speaks with a hollow, demonic tone. "They are dead, and soon, so will you."

Rayvon furrows her brow, standing her ground now as she hefts her sword. “Stay your blade, I will give him my blood. IS HE NOT YOUR BROTHER?! We can save him at least!”

"Foolish woman." He scowled. "He is a blood brother, we are kin of the brood not real brothers." Still, even then, the concern was plain on his face. "Still." He points at Wayne, who was a few feet away from them after being knocked beside Andrea by him earlier. "He will have plenty when you are dead."

Rayvon glares, having heard enough, “There is no way to turn you from this path then. So be it. May the divine have mercy on you, lost soul.” With that, she shifts out of the way for the archer that had hit her once already to give them a clear shot. If he went after her, she would interpose herself once more to defend the archer.

---

West Watch Tower – Maeven Lucre

---

Fafnir, meanwhile, was roaring out still in pain. It would seem he had not for a long time felt such pain and it was near debilitating to him, halting him in his tracks. Maeven herself looses a squeek of shock as she suddenly sees a succubi mere inches away after it tore through Fafnir's wing. Swallowing back fear and near panicking at what these claws could do to her, she releases the blunderbuss still racked against Fafnir's neck and whips out her flintlock at her waist, raising it level and firing it at the succubus' face.

"You should have brought more of your atrocious militia to fight orcs." -Dirge, Page 1.

---

West Watch Tower

---

Draza's attempt to reveal Gustavo was an immediate and blatant success as sugary powder flooded the air, covering Gustavo's waist and chest as the stuffed Gahrul smacked into him and then fell lifelessly to the ground. Gustavo stood stunned for a moment in shock that his potent ability had just been countered by everyday cooking materials and a stuffed doll, then glared at Esyllt. "Clever..." He stated before spitting on the ground, pulling out both daggers he twirls them as he looks past Esyllt to Draza. The tension in his shoulders eased somewhat. "I'm not sure if I should be amused or impressed." He mutters, seemingly to himself, as the girl yells across the field to him. "IMPRESSED!"

Gustavo backs up from the duet and looks around the field. He didn't like what was going on, but couldn't retreat. He looks at the girl warily and shakes his head. Her response is to slip away from behind the megalith and dash across the field for Gustavo. A look of shock comes across his face as he bolts for her, meeting her halfway. Fafnir was only a few feet away on his left, and in front of him was where Esyllt had previously been standing (facing north), again only a few feet away. "Fine! We'll get the snacks together!" Gustavo could be seen visible trembling with rage, but there was nothing else he could do.

Maeven Lucre's attack against the succubus succeeded. At point blank range with a pistol, there was no such thing as dodging, nor could the succubi predict it, and so, the succubi took the bullet right between the eyes and fell backwards, dead. Just as it almost seemed like time for celebration, Fafnir's eyes would dim, and the machine's gears would cease to crank. The damage was too extensive, Fafnir would require repairs before he would be functioning again, though being a machine, death was only temporary so long as the core remained intact, and it did.

The rightmost skeleton fell immediately afterwards as Aëyr's rock finds its mark and hits it dead on. There was no chance of it being particularly useful anyway, seeing as how it seemed to be waiting for orders that were never given. The one on the left, meanwhile, attempts to block Abida's attack. Her mighty swing and elven heritage however is more than enough to cleave straight through the bones of the skeleton, chopping it cleanly in two, its bones scattering across the ground. Naream's two handed minion reaches the succubi and finishes it off, decapitating it and letting the head roll across the ground.

This left only the giant hooved demon. Which naturally responded with a loud roar and a charge: Towards Esyllt, Naream, and Draza. It was still slow enough however that even with the charge on its side, they could evade the attack in time. This time...

---

East Watch Tower

---

Zayn's attempt to fall back from danger was naturally successful as Dirge simply let him go without a fight, then inspected the bomb. Dirge whispered something unintelligible in Orcish, though the tone suggested a mixture of warning and gratitude. At this point as Zayn headed for town he had multiple options. He could move towards the lake where the Queens were last located, and from the looks of things, there was smoke coming from that direction. He could also head to the western side, central, or towards the Inn. Wherever he thought himself most useful.

Alicia Le’roux's attacks turn out fruitless as the half-orc steps back, and suddenly, without warning, flees back to Dirge's side. Dirge, in turn, was swinging a killing blow at Dread Fang, who had not moved since sustaining his significant injury. In one fell swoop, Alicia could see the thick, green-black blood intermix with the red blood on the end of the warhammer before he glared in her direction, and whispered telepathically to her. "Flee with your friend, the bomb is ruined, else I should kill you as well."

---

Town Square

---

Rayvon's quip with Jeremy lasted almost half a minute as Laenaia used her magic, Andrea healed herself and fed Wayne, and Ceann found and knocked her fire arrow. As Rayvon stepped aside to allow Ceann's shot clean access, Jeremy steps aside and lets it fly past his head. He had learned quickly from the first arrow to anticipate the second, but as he took a step towards Ceann, he caught the sight of his dead lover moving out of the corner of his eye. He hesitates, in time for Rayvon to easily attack and put him on the defensive as he summoned a shadowy mace, attempting to hold back Rayvon's counter-attack which was preventing him access to Ceann.

Ceann would notice from repeated attacks that Jeremy's entire method of approaching threats was to deal with them one by one. If he could be pinned down and attacked on multiple fronts, he wouldn't likely know how to deal with that...

Andrea's attempt to feed Wayne succeeded as he drank the blood from her hand greedily, a few seconds passed before his vocal chords had managed to regenerate enough to allow him hoarse speech. "Thank... You..." He manages to state, his voice sounding incomplete and unstable. Her self healing was also fairly effective, it closed the wounds but it didn't completely heal away the damage to her movement and breathing. Those would take more time and effort in a safer location than a battlefield.

Thailen would notice the crystals start to glow, the comical timer fade the numbers away, almost as if to tease her with not knowing how much time she had left. The crystals glowed further, and almost started to pulse. It seemed the explosive would go off very shortly if she did nothing, and so, she acted. Pulling the red crystal out first, the other two dimmed somewhat. The explosion would at least be contained if she was wrong, at least, according to James' message. With a sigh of relief, she pulls the purple crystal out.

The bomb explodes, sending chunks of stone and several metallic and crystalline shards hurtling in every direction. Smoke and dirt was immediately flung up into the air, and without any ability to scream in pain, several shards rip right through the valiant woman. One could almost swear they spotted a small smile on her lips before a metallic piece from the bomb's counter pierced and destroyed her lips, shunted itself through the top of her mouth, through her brain, and out the back end of her skull. She died near-instantly as her barely recognizable corpse falls back onto the stone behind her.

Andrea would feel herself pulled down onto the stone by Wayne, followed up with him covering her the moment Thailen had pulled the second crystal from the bomb. Two shards embed themselves into him, one large shard through his chest, punching through his left lung and a little ways out of his chest, the other embedding itself in his left leg. He saved her life.

Ceann would feel a large slab of stone slam into her side, knocking her off her feet and fracturing one of her hip bones. She would find herself unable to stand, but the wound could be mended.

Rayvon would have an unusual moment of deftness as she glanced back at the bomb, seeing a chunk of stone hurtling for her head she ducks just in time to see Jeremy's shocked face get hit with it. As it was hurtling at several dozen miles per hour and was a thick enough slab to be about the size of the chest of a grizzly bear, it simply took Jeremy's head clean off and kept going until it slammed into a house just behind him.

Lanaia, Mars, and Zin, by statistical miracle, would find themselves fairly untouched by anything significant. Instead, they were showered in the blood of their previous comrade, who had shielded them from the bomb the moment she noticed she had chosen incorrectly.

Altogether, a bitter end, though the only remaining foe--the spider under Andrea's control--had been hit with several pieces of debris. What shambles remained of its once noble skull were strewn across the dirt for several feet in the opposite direction of where the bomb used to be. The fountain as well, had been completely destroyed, leaving a small crater where it used to be. Dirt and dust choked the air, leaving nothing but the scent of fire and death around them.

Still, as civilians peeked out of the Inn to see what happened, they cheered for their brave heroes and heroines. None of them were harmed, and the damage to the surrounding buildings was minimal in comparison to what it could have been.

---

Raven's Inn

---

Maher and Nadira's ball of water comes hurtling from the sky towards the sabre tooth cat. As it was focused on Muderok and Gryff, who were both quite threatening, it was immediately surprised and doused. Falling onto its belly, Murderok and Gryff both successfully reach it, along with Mikan who had caught up with them at an eerily fast pace. The three of them pin it down successfully, allowing Aslo to come from the side and slice open its leg in as minimalistic a way as possible. Poison seeped into the open wound, and the cat became sluggish, but still awake. Still, with one person holding him, he shouldn't go anywhere at this point. Mikan sighs in relief and then looks closer at the fur of the sabre tooth cat. Brushing her hand through the fur of its back she grabbed something glinting deep within its thick fur and pulled it out. A key! So it seemed that if they had tried to just avoid it, they would not have succeeded after all.

"Ha!" Mikan says with a smug grin. "I knew all of you big, handsome men wouldn't disappoint me." She says with a flirtatious giggle and a wink to Aslo, Murderok, and Gryff. She then looks back at the Adonai twins. "You two should get up to the top of the tower, quick, and get what's inside the chest. We need to move as fast as we can." She says softly as she tosses them the key. "I knew your mentor. If you're anything like her, you can easily deal with it... Just hope there's no spiders." She adds with a playful tone in her voice. Even with a giant saber tooth cat right there, she felt little in the way of fear. She then looks at Gryff and Murderok. "You two might want to go with them... Just to be sure. I can hold the cat down with Aslo here."

Town Square - Rayvon Krayvitch

---

Rayvon pants, a single hand moving back to grip the arrow through the piercing pain and ripping it out with a grunt. Adrenaline seizes her as hot blood begins to flow more freely from her wound at the remove of the projectile. She shudders and grips her sword numbly in her hands before moving over to the lover of Jeremy, seeing her only a few spaces away from the horribly crushed Jeremy. She watches the form twitch before gripping her greatsword tightly in her hands and going to execute her by severing her head. "I am sorry for this, but I shall give you peace," she murmurs, tears at the corners of her eyes. After doing this dirty deed, she would advance to Jeremy and do the same on the off-chance they might rise again. She could not be certain with vampires. The job done, she turns on her feet to the rest of the group, not without noticing the pillar of smoke towards the lake. "Those of you here able, I would ask you follow me to rescue the Queens. The rest of you, see to your wounds and the dead if you wish." She wipes her blade off on her cloak, murmuring a soft ritual of passing under her breath so that the fallen might find their ways peaceably into the next life and move on.

---

West Watch Tower - Maeven Lucre

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Maeven pants at the sight of the falling succubus before her and grips her weapon in one hand before swinging the blunderbuss under her arm and holding it tight there. Fafnir, for the first time in a long while was still and silent. She frowns and swings down from his neck, crouching down between his massive motionless legs and neck as she reaches out and grabs his soul stone tightly with one hand. She grunts as she gives it a heave and tears it from the construct for now to assure its safety as she shoves it in a pouch. That settled, she attempts to make herself small and hide as she takes out her powder horn and starts pouring it into her firearms and packing them with loads. She would not be caught off-guard without a blast ready to shoot into the face of whatever it was.

West Watch Tower
Draza, soothing aura and too innocent to kill, acrobatic, slippery, sharp

---

“Gahrul!” Draza shouted as she saw her doll fall to the ground, having successfully warded off the danger, making it visible to everyone with functioning eyes. She gave a quick look to the charging demon, then to Gahrul, then to Meryl and Gustavo, formulating a plan. Pirouetting to face Esyllt and Naream, “Unless you have a better plan, I’d suggest you,” she stood up on her tip toes as she leaned forward to emphasize the suggestion, “Move!”

Bouncing back to her feet and spinning about to face where Gahrul is, she began to take off in one direction, her arm waving behind to suggest them going the other, “And can you guys can handle cranky sweet Gustavo, please?” Her head turned from facing them and back to her destination, as she made sure to get the hell out of the bull lane and dodge that incoming behemoth, hoping that they could draw Gustavo after them if they took her suggested route. Partly so that the scary assassin man wouldn’t be after her any more, and partly so he’d chase them right in the way of the demon’s charge. It’s not like he wasn’t almost in the way as it was.

As Draza closed the gap between herself and Fafnir, she scooped up Gahrul and brushed him a bit cleaner of any remaining crumbs and sugar before clutching him to her little chest and sliding up near the broken down Fafnir. “Okay, Gahrul, your part of the plan is to help hold off Meryl, she wants to steal my snacks, and that’s not right. So if she sneaks up on me, you handle her.” Such childishness, definitely, but how else does one play with a child so powerful except as one too?

Alicia Le’roux, The Blood Duellist
East Watch Tower-Queen’s Lake

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When the Half-orc stepped away from Alicia, she thought it was the beginning of an elaborate feint or a clever ruse. As such, she didn’t follow up her desire to be the aggressor. She was quicker, he hit harder. The battle had already proven that often enough, so she didn’t want to make herself a slave to his combat manoeuvres.

Yet there were no combat manoeuvres. The Half-orc simply retreated back to the side of Dirge, who seemed to answer this recalled soldier with a crunching blow to the beetle that made even Alicia’s nose curl up in a light grimace. The sound alone was painful; the blow was most certainly fatal. She’d lose no sleep over a sneak who panicked upon being caught: he was clearly not as interesting as his appearance first indicated.

Dirge on the other hand, remained interesting and seemed to develop more so every second. The feel of his mental voice, asking her to retreat, was a new piece of intrigue that made the Alicia desire to fight the Orc more and more. Yet he was right in one regard, she wouldn’t win. The fight with the Half-orc had indicated that the sun would prove enough of an oppressor that she’d likely lose to Dirge, even without the fact that she’d have to keep one eye on the Half-orc.

Alicia took half a step back, before sheathing the rapier in its scabbard once more. She rested her hand on the blade’s pommel, before looking at the assailants from a distance. “I will honour your request, Dirge. Perhaps you should train your soldiers better, they were unable to beat a single member of this ‘atrocious member’ and either lost their lives or half of their stunning good looks.” She grinned at the bleeding half-orc, tempting him to besmirch Dirge’s honour and charge at Alicia. She doubted she’d best Dirge in the daylight, but this one was a fight she was sure she would have won: had the clock not been stopped. She had drawn first blood, after all.

Sadly though, the Half-orc was a well-trained dog. He did nothing more than grumble at Alicia’s cutting words, unflinching next to the Orc. Knowing that her efforts would be futile, she offered a delicate bow to Dirge, tensed and poised, yet as graceful as the dancer. “I hope to meet you again Dirge, perhaps under different circumstances.”

Turning her back on the two orcs and leaving the Eastern Watch Tower, Alicia pondered where to go. She had a few options, although none of them were immediately more delectable than the idea of seeing the Queens that this rabble had banded under. Would she be smitten by the pair that ended gods and rebirthed a nation? There was only one way to find out…

Alicia began to run towards the smoking lake, intent on at least standing out after the shoddy showing at the tower. She had disappointed herself, more than anything, and would see that the Queens be safe and at least as attractive as the rumours said.

[center]Town Square

Laenaia felt something hit her head from the resulting explosion, it was not hard enough to do anything harmful but the momentum alone left the vampiress dazed and the side where she was hit wet as a rain of blood splattered against her. She felt her stomach growl in protest. In her stupor, she skipped part of what Rayvon had said to them.

"I'll..... rest," she slowly whispered before swallowing. "I...don't think I'll be of .....much help on whatever ....that can stall the Queens."

Town Square

Smoke, blood and rubble. Mars wiped some blood off his face with his hand; the explosion had left him soaked in blood which was not his own. He was glad he had chosen to distance himself from the bomb. Smoke was still rolling from around the crater where the fountain had been, and water had pooled in the hole until it began to overflow to the ground around it. As the water swept around Thailen's corpse her blood turned the water a kind of cloudy crimson, and Mars found himself wading through a pool of blood as he approached the woman's corpse. The poor soul. Her body was mangled and a line of blood and entrails stretched from the body to the directions the stoney projectiles which pierced him had flown off to. One of the other blade's, a woman, requested that they push on to rescue the Queen's, then he saw her mutter a prayer.

"I'll stay as well. I've done what they asked, and what they've paid for," Mars said as he knelt beside the corpse of the fallen Blade. Her whip was by some miracle still tied off to her torso, he placed a hand on her chin. Her head rested in a pool of blood and brains, her upper lip was completely gone revealing bloody gums and either missing or shattered teeth, but the rest of her face was fairly intact. She had been beautiful.

"Shame."

Mars attempted to untie the nine tails but it burnt his hand to the touch. He tried again with a layer of cloth wrapped around his hand, yet still the whip seared the cloth and burnt his thumb. He cursed and decided to let the whip rest where it was. A necklace of broken prayer beads was submerged in the blood by her side. They had no value, but he picked them up none the less, careful to not allow more of the beads to slip off. He retied the necklace and shoved the beads in one of his pockets. They wouldn't of been worth keeping, but she had saved his life, and so he preferred it this way. He gently rolled her body to the side, and as he did so the back of her head fell open, split into thirds. The longsword which rested on her back has shattered, one of the stones which had impaled her had did so at such a great velocity it shattered the steel. He let go and let her body roll back as it was. He removed from her corpse a small bag of coins and anything which may be of some value and then walked to the corpse of Jeremy. The man had a few pieces of jewelry and a small leather book with blood soaked pages, likely with nothing important written on the pages, but Mars took it all.

The spider which had been charred was useless, but the other was fairly intact except for the skull. He sat on a stone resting beside the spider and pulled out a carving knife. In some places spider meat was a rare delicacy, but more importantly people paid for the organs which produced silk and venom. Some people would place enchantments on the silk gland which would allow the organ to produce silk independent of the spider. Seamstresses and weavers would then spin the silk into fine clothes and bedding. In regions where large spiders were common spider silk was appreciated but hardly rare. However in the majority of regions spider silk was a treasured commodity, and with a spider so large Mars could fetch a hefty sum.

Ignoring the fact that one of his 'companions' was a Drow, Mars sunk the carving blade into the spider's abdomen and began cutting in a saw like motion. It was only an animal, and a shame to simply let it rot away.

Aëyr, selkie. Western Watch Tower.
Slippery, Stealthy, Endurance Training; running and aquatic conditions.

---

Softly sliding to a halt beside where Abida had just finished slaying the last skeleton, Aëyr turned to face the rest of their companion in the fight. With the behemoth charging down on them and their targets standing somewhere off to the side, they were going to have quite some work ahead of them.

Aëyr was having some difficulty deciding the best course of action. With her great speed, she'd be perhaps most useful in one of two tasks: she could lure out the behemoth, allowing her companions to capture the girl; or she could go for the girl herself, and hopefully evade any attacks. As it stood, she much preferred the latter option, though she was not looking forward to facing the child's guardian, who seemed more than capable in a fight and ready to kill in order to protect his charge. A noble sentiment, all things considered.

Perhaps our foes are not enemies, but merely obstacles. Perhaps they could be taken alive. Aëyr would certainly prefer not to kill any being of sentience. Demons and undead were one thing, but these were people, though misguided.

"Abida," she said to the fellow former slave beside her, again swinging her sling in circles beside her as she made her decision. "The creature is distracted, and the man unseen faces away from us." The whirr of her sling's orbit grew louder as its speed increased. "Shall we take the girl?"

Should she agree, she would charge towards the girl alongside the other woman, sling at the ready to strike Gustavo's legs from out beneath him should he notice them.

Otherwise, she'd perhaps need to do some more planning.

Zayn - Lakeside

---

Zayn grimaced as Dirge provided Dread Fang with a mercy killing. The telepath had hoped the scarab’s injuries would not be fatal; alas, recovery was not in Dread Fang’s future as its alien mind flickered into nothingness. Zayn had begun forming a rapport with the ex-scarab, and he had hoped that Dread Fang’s unique inborn telepathy would have given him some new insight into his own gifts. Zayn quietly mourned the loss of a potential friend and a brave comrade.

Zayn saw the thin finger of smoke reaching from the sky down towards the lake, and hoped they hadn’t taken too long to take care of the bomb at the eastern tower. Quen Kouri was a powerful pyromancer, and the smoke could have come from her. It could be something else, another threat, or another illusion. Regardless, the finger of smoke was another sign of danger present or yet to come. Zayn broke off into a run towards the lakeshore, eyes alert to his surroundings. He only hoped some idiot wouldn’t show up first and charge in with weapons drawn.

As the cat slumped down now peacefully slumbering Aslo made care that his blade didn't touch any of the nearby allies. From this point they needed all hands on deck, amd it wouldn't serve if one of them were accidentally cut. He ripped a small strip of fabric from his cloak and cleaned the blade of some of the excess tonic. With that finished he once again fetched the vial from his belt, and proceeded to lather the ragged strip in the liquid. From there he balled the strip up, and walked to the mouth of the beast.

Carefully testing to ensure the beast was sleeping by snapping clise to its ears, and petting it's nose lightly, Also motioned to tuck the ball inside the cat's mouth, between its gum and cheek. Rising to his feet he clapped his gloved hands together to dry them as much as possible.

With the extra dosage he had just provided the, the cat should be sleeping for a good amount of time. However Aslo agreed with Mikan that they should remain and ensure no funny business took place. Once again dawning his smile he gave a slight bow "Of course spymaster, the kitten is safely pacified, but watchers should be ever present."

Town Square
Andrea & Ceann,
Bomb aftermath.

She blinked, looking at the shallow breathing face of the vampire she had fed too heal him... she had no idea why she had done, wait she recalled, to make him fight the other vampire. But instead of doing that, this one had... body blocked her to the ground and protected her from the debris of the exploding bomb? What madness possessed him to do such a foolish thing to do. With a grunt she lifted him up, noting he was indeed still clinging to live, a fool but a stubborn one who wants to live at that, she could respect that.

Groaning she got to her feet and looked around, she saw Ceann, struggling to get up but seemingly unable to do so. Eventually her bodyguard propped herself up against something and decided to sit up, she was in pain Andrea could see and she snorted, good, where was she? Some vampire wasn't meant to protect her, that was supposed to be Ceann's job and she had failed to do so, perhaps this injury of hers would teach her a lesson. She glanced down at the vampire who had saved her and cocked her head, she had already saved him once, clearly he did not value the gift of life she had provided to squander it away to save someone else, so why save him again?

She turned around, smirking as she went looking for the spider she had convinced to release itself from the yoke of that cursed vampire. She froze, eyes widening, she saw it, the body of the noble arachnid at least and what was more... one of the other queens blades... taking a knife to it. She opened her mouth, shocked and surprised at this desecration of a aspect of her goddess. This only lasted for a moment however and she let out a enraged scream and hurled a ball of fire at the other queens blade while also drawing her whip.

Ceann saw this happening and groaned, she knew traveling with a priestess was going to be more trouble than she could handle, she could not stand but she could still nock an arrow on her bow and pull it back to let loose, so with some difficulty she did just that, nocking an arrow but did not shoot, merely waiting if her mistress was getting into more trouble than she could handle. She actually hoped that perhaps one of the more able bodied queens blades could stop this... before her mistress killed another blade.

Town Square
Rayvon, Andrea & Ceann

Rayvon listens to the replies so far with a faint nod. The loss and damage by tripping the bomb was indeed grave. She finishes her prayer with a gesture over her brow before beginning to walk towards the plume of smoke. Until one in her company so boldly moves forward and begins to frisk down the corpse of the fallen Jeremy. Her face contorts in rage and she turns about to address him but he had already moved on to further desecrate the other dead. Her face twists in rage at the dishonorable act and she finds herself drawing her blade once more, fully intending to address him.

It appears his sacrilege was not unnoticed by the others too. For before her eyes the drow priestess was sparking a spell between her hands. Gnashing her teeth at the lack of formality to addressing his sinful greed, she decides upon the only thing she could do yet. She releases her sword with one hand, holding it lax and out of the way as she rushes and bodychecks the priestess full on to interrupt her concentration on her spell. He would pay for his transgressions, but the scourge must first be given a chance at redemption.

She let out a yelp of surprise when she was bodychecked once more, growling, expecting that damnable vampire to have done it again, instead she found herself face to face with the Aasimar warrior who had made such a ruckus of making a challenge to fight the vampire. She growled, baring her teeth, "Get off me! He is desecrating a aspect of my goddess and must pay for it!" She hissed.

She glares down at the drow before plainly stating, “He has committed crimes against the fallen, that he will be addressed for. But not all are blessed enough to know the sins they commit. The rogue will learn, but he must first be given a chance to learn from his ignorance.” She does not get up yet and continues to pin down the priestess. “Stay your venom yet, priestess and allow me to address him. If he refuses to acknowledge his folly and amend his ways... Then you've my permission. Yet not a moment sooner. What better are we if we strike down an unsuspecting man who knows no better, hmm?”

She growls, who did this aasimar think she was! And who she is addressing, she saw no way to get out from under her though, she did not have the strength to gain the upper hand, not without some kind of surprise on her side. She suddenly smirked, she knew something that might give her the element of surprise that might cause the Aasimar to be stunned long enough for her to get out under her hold. Without warning she suddenly pulled her head up and kissed the Aasimar, counting on her to be surprised and roughly turned her over so she would be on top of her and then get up to deal with the heretic her way...

Her eyes widen and she looses a surprised squeak as she freezes. Her mind begins to race to try and realize what exactly was going on. That is, until she is flipped over and she looses a grunt of pain as her injured shoulder thuds against the ground. That moment of searing pain tears her back into the moment and she draws back with a gasp and cries out in alarm. “Y-you! You dare steal a kiss from mine lips!?” Outrage floods her as she kicks out trying to throw the drow off her.

The Aasimar reacted quickly, damned warriors and their reflexes, she managed to think before she let out another yelp and fell on her back, letting out a groan as she felt the sting of her own injuries taking their toll. She couldn't help herself though as she groaned, lifting her head to look at the Aasimar, making a eye contact and openly licked her lips. "So I did, and I must say, it was much sweeter than I expected. Just be glad that is all I dared to do, at least for now." She got up with a snarl, "Now don't stop me." She slowly got to her feet to look for the damnable heretic and defiler. "I have to punish someone..."

Rayvon snarls and hefts herself up, drawing her sword up and angled at the drow. “How dare you!” she cries, tears lightly coming to her eyes. Her heart was racing and she was still unsure how to register what just happened. Her hands shake on the grip of her sword, all she could think is that this woman stole innocence from her just now and so rudely. Without her consent. And still she thought she would back down! “Childish, egotistical, self-serving, murderous wench! YOU WILL STOP NOW!”

She rose a white eyebrow, why by Lollth's tits was this aasimar overreacting like this? It distracted her from the spider desecration however as she winced and placed a hand on her wound, groaning as she felt unbalanced suddenly. "By Lollth, calm down woman, it's as if you have never been kissed before." She said with a snort.

Rayvon trembles in her armour, disgusted and seeing the drow seeming to back down she relaxes. Her hand leaves her greatsword, letting the end rest against the ground as she wipes her mouth with her gloves. Indignation floods her, but more so that she must defend her pride. She would not give the drow the satisfaction of knowing that it was just the case. With a huff she turns away from the drow and directs her next words at the rogue scavenging from the dead, “You, sir. Cease in your actions. The dead deserve more respect than you grant them. Return what you have stolen to their rightful owners that they be lain to rest with them. You know not what peace you may steal from them by such contemptible acts."

Her eyes widened, "That's it? That's all you do." She shook her head and turned to the other queens blade, eyes narrowed. "If you do not put back what you took from that noble spider, I will burn you alive." She ignited her hand to make the point, tempted to hurl a fireball but didn;t, she had no desire to be bodychecked again. Making sure to keep a eye on the rogue from the corner of her eye she turned to the aasimar and crossed her arms, studying her, she then widened her eyes. "You gotta be kidding me... that reaction... I was your first? How old are you!?"

She bristles at the words and grips her sword tight. “Two and twenty years,” she snaps, “Now leave me be, harlot. Your disrespect once today is more than enough.”

She blinked, two and twenty years and this was her first kiss!? These surfacers surprised her more and more with each day she stayed in this sunscorched madness. She blinked, no it had to be a other reason, she cocked her head, looking oddly at the Aasimar and then voiced her concern. "I... you are not... you are not... damaged... down there... right?" She vaguely gestured to between the Aasimar's legs

Her face blanches at the bold indecency of the drow and snarls back, “That is no business of yours!” She hefts her blade, bristling and fighting back every urge to strike out at the drow. “If you have not noticed, drow, there is still a battle waging about us and your own guard appears to have suffered severe injury and needs assistance. Do something useful. Your duty as a Blade, for example.”

She kept her head cocked, curious at the rather vicious defense the Aasimar was projecting, she frowned at the next thought but Ceann had insisted most sentients on the surface would act as such and that it was desirable to do so. She, inclined her head and uttered words from her mouth she had never said, "My... apologies. You are... wounded as well, do you require healing?"

She glowers at the drow, “No. Besides, I am unsure your magic would be fully effective on me. See to the more seriously injured. I believe the vampires in our midsts could use a token of blood to regenerate as well. I would assist, but I fear my blood may not be well for their consumption.”

She showed her arm, with the puncture marks of teeth, "I already donated." She suddenly smirked and gestured to the Rogue. "Perhaps to pay for his sins he should donate some blood... if you could arrange it, if he does that, I will be less inclined to burn him to a crisp."

She hesitates. The thought was indeed a good one and perhaps could result in holding away any potential death the injuries could incur upon their group. “Indeed...” She addresses Mars, “You heard the priestess. A selfless act such as that would certainly show your willingness to change. Assist your allies that we might be able to move forward, as a unit, to assist the rest of the town and the Queens of Renalta.” She pauses before lowering her voice, addressing the drow once more, “And you... See to your servant. She has done you well and your negligence of her service and injury is both cruel and unacceptable.”

She looked back at the Aasimar, a smile playing on her lips still. "Oh she knows her place and serves with dedication." She gestured for the Aasimar to look behind her.

Ceann had her arrow pulled back, clearly aiming at the Aasimar's back but as she turned around and the priestess signed to her all was well she lowered the bow and removed the arrow. Leaning back to lie on the ground and let out a sigh of relief.

Andrea kept smiling and looking at the Aasimar, "But you are correct, I should assist her." She walked forwards, standing beside the Aasimar and reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder and let out a brief surge of healing energies into the wound the Aasimar had received and she whispered to her. "I would like to converse with you some more, if you allow it. Fellow queens blades and all." She winked after saying those words and went for Ceann.

She shudders and draws away after the cool flow of energy knitting her injury inflicted by the drow archer. She frowns and continues to glower at the rogue, neither accepting or rejecting the future chance to talk as she holds her blade parallel with herself. Standing over the rogue, she waits to descend judgment if he fails to act upon her ultimatum.

West Watch Tower
Naraem & Esyllt

---

Naream cursed, hoping that beheading the succubus would not prove problematic if he decided to experiment his necromancy on a demon corpse, those thoughts vanished as he noticed the giant demon, charging right at him and some of the others in his path. He glanced at the mage who had summoned a golem of some kind. "You, what do you need for a golem to match that demon, quickly!"

Esyllt was surprised by Naream’s sudden question, but instantly understood his intent. “Something heavy for it’s body and a human soul!” She shouted back, although knowing summoning a golem powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with the hooved monstrosity would put her out of a fighting condition. Would it be worth it, she wondered, but if they didn’t stop the demon it would get behind them and everyone would be in a bad position if they were flanked…

When he heard the words human soul he forced the wight to turn around and spread it’s arms, with a grunt Naream reached inside the ribcage and tore out the soulstone of the fallen warrior that gave the wight it’s memories of how to be a warrior. As soon as he did that the wight collapsed, as it only became bones without the stone powering it. He tossed it the golemancer, “Use that!” He growled and then grabbed his amulet and opened the portal, sweat pouring down his forehead and the other wight collapsed as he no longer willed it to life. This time instead of opening the portal to a part of the extra-plana laboratory with wights or other undead already ready he opened it to the ‘waste’ area and out came various bones and skeletons that were not fit to be made into wights or undead beasts, along with corpses stinking of rot and decay. Naream stumbled, unbalanced as his vision blurred, yes, definitely too much magic, he gagged and spit out a pleghm of blood and tried to stumble out of the way. “Use it all!” He managed to shout as he fell to his hands and knees and started crawling out of the way as fast he could, hoping he’d be able to do it before he passed out.

Esyllt caught the stone, and it sent a chill down her spine. She never had been comfortable forging with human lives. The drow necromancer had supplied her with all she needed, but all the magic took it’s toll on Naream. “Leave it to me!” Esyllt assured Naream, hoping that her words would give the drow confidence in their survival. She then stared straight into the soul in her hand, and stretched her other out at the pile of flesh and bone.

“Rise!”

Mana surged from the soul stone through her body, as it’s magic shot through her veins like a burst of adrenaline. Esyllt felt the fallen warrior pass through her, as she channeled it towards her building blocks. The bones twirled into the air and stuck into a pile of meat that shaped into a horrific undead juggernaut to match the size of the charging demon. Spines wrapped around the meat to keep it in place, ribcases stuck out it’s chest and hands like blades, and skulls fortified it’s weak points.

“And fight!”

Barely to completion, the undead golem dug it’s feet into the ground and prepared to meet the threat it was created to deal with, head-on. It would be a clash of titans, but Esyllt would not be able to see it. Like Naream, she had exhausted her mana. The lack of magic circling through her body made her muscles feel as if they were burning. She would wheeze if she tried to talk, so heavy was her breathing. The golem had better do it’s job, because she and Naream were clearly no longer in fighting shape… Esyllt’s body slowly collapsed towards the ground, unable to keep herself standing.

In one last attempt to contribute to the battle, Esyllt used her telepathy to warn Draza (for some reason, Esyllt didn’t trust she realised this charge was a forebode for two threats who would be coming after her) as well as to rely a message to the rest of the team… As her other golem had not yet been spotted and the hooved demon ran right past it; no longer being a wall between the walking piece of chessboard and Meryl.

“To those with ranged attacks.” Esyllt spoke directly to all their minds, “Pay attention to the girl, I’ve sent a small golem to hold her down. When it does; you have a clean shot. I plead you make it count. We must end this, the necromancer and I are no longer able to fight.”

And with that, Esyllt closed her eyes and lost consciousness. Whether they would win or lose, she wouldn’t be able to see it. Her and Naream’s fates were in the hands of their allies now...

Town Square - Zin

---

Zin slowly surfaced from the dazed state she'd been in since the bomb went off. She'd been sure she was about to die, with no chance for survival, and that had locked her up completely. They said that one's life flashed before their eyes in the moment before they died, but there had been none of that for Zin, just blank numbness. She'd passed through simple fear, onward through terror, and she had come out on the other side to find sheer absence of emotion and thought. It was coming back to her now, after some stretch of time that could have been hours for all she knew, though everything was dull and blurred like distant memories.

Someone mentioned giving blood to the vampires present to heal them, and that pulled Zin almost all the way back into the present. "I'm fine," she mumbled quietly to herself, and the arguing women were too far away to hear it. I'm fine. The thought was another jolt to her mind. She was okay. She wasn't dead after all. There was something on her face though, and that might be bad. Zin reached up to feel what it was, and she saw it was blood. Fearful panic flooded into her, renewed fear for her life, and that was enough to finally kick her mind back into proper working order. She felt around on her face, smearing the blood in search of the wound it came from, but she could find nothing. The source was obvious as soon as she took a moment to look where the bomb had been and saw Thailen's mangled corpse. She felt a pang of sorrow for the woman, but underneath that Zin was just happy that it wasn't her lying there dead.

Zin was back to her senses in time to see the archer slump into a relaxed state and the aasimar woman go to hold her sword ready over some man she didn't recognize who had apparently been carving up a spider corpse. She lacked the necessary information to know what was going on there, so she decided to let the warrior handle it. Instead of bothering with getting involved in that mess, Zin turned her attention to the remaining militiamen and the townsfolk looking on at the carnage. They seemed pleased by the events, despite the casualties, but things could get hairy again with... whatever was going on in the town square now. Someone needed to distract them and provide an orderly face to the people, to show them that the Queen's Blades still had everything under control.

"Thank you for your help." Zin addressed the militiamen first, not even a scrap of sarcasm in her voice. She had a pleasant smile on her face, unmindful of the bloody smears that made the expression less innocently pleased than it would normally be. "You've done good work today, but your town isn't safe yet. There are other bombs in other locations, and we can't be sure those have been disposed of yet. Please do what you can to keep the people of the town orderly and contained here in the area around the town square until we know everything is clear." Zin raised her voice and spoke up to the people in general to pass along the same message. "This threat has been eliminated, but there are others of the Queen's Blades still dealing with others in the town. Please remain where you are until those problems have been dealt with as well, for your own safety."

With that done Zin stayed where she was for the moment to be sure the guards and other people would heed her requests. She turned a bit, however, to also keep an eye on the strange scene unfolding near the remains of the fountain, though she did not intend to interfere with that no matter what happened.

---

East Watch Tower - Kasim

With his foe successfully dispatched, Kasim took his sweet time cleaning his sword, sheathing it, and retrieving his bow. There was still a bit of fighting going on, but he wasn't about to rush in there and start a fight in melee range. Rushing simply wasn't going to happen regardless of what he did, for if his companions could not hold their own and fell dead or wounded then he could swoop in and save the day in a far more valiant manner than just stabbing a distracted enemy in the back.

Such savior acts proved unnecessary, unfortunately. By the time Kasim had his bow and was ready to pull free another arrow, the duelist's opponent was backing off and there was only one other ally still standing nearby, though not for long. The chittery-skittery bug fellow took what looked to be a fatal blow from the big armored orc's hammer, so he would chitter and skitter no more.

The orcs didn't rush them, which was rather fortunate for them. The vampire duelist seemed to have trouble with a moderately armored opponent, so she'd be completely useless against the big bastard in full plate. Kasim didn't fancy his own chances against the fellow either. If he got lucky with the single arrow he might be able to shoot before the enemy was upon him he could possibly kill or incapacitate the orc, but if that failed and it came down to short sword versus warhammer it would certainly end with Kasim smashed into the ground. It simply wasn't worth the risk, and the enemies didn't seem eager to press the fight. The duelist was babbling some nonsense and also didn't seem to want to continue the fight, and then she turned to leave, so that pretty much settled it.

Kasim shrugged and gave the remaining enemies a lopsided smile. "Two on one fights aren't my style, especially when I'm the one. I'll leave you two in peace with your broken bomb and dead friend." He didn't bother with any formality like bowing, he simply turned round and headed away from the tower. Kasim hadn't been listening when the locations of the bombs had been given, but luckily for him there was a handy plume of smoke rising into the air. That was as good a target as anything, so far as he could tell, so he made his way there to see if there might be any opportunities for song-worthy heroic deeds at the source of the smoke.

Abida Qisaf - Western Watch Tower
Heavy Hitter, Acrobatic, Slippery, Elvish Strength, An Unnatural Vision

---

Abida looked the strange woman over. She was certainly fast, as her dash to Abida's side had shown. Faster than anyone Abida had seen in a long time. If there was any of the Blade's who could catch the little girl before this farce could get any worse, it would be her.

She gave a curt nod before replying. "You catch the girl, I'll protect us while we go." The invisible man was distracted for now, but she was sure he would return when his charge fell in danger of being caught.

Town Square
Rayvon, Mars, Andrea

The Templar stood overhead, sword drawn and ready to exact the justice she believed in. Mars had opted to ignore the duo of persecutors while they had been caught in their own altercations, although the attempted fireball admittedly startled him. Now the Templar stood overhead, ready to enforce her virtues. Mars sawed at the spider one more time, then let go of the blade, which was still sunk deep in the spiders abdomen.

"If the dead have need of jewelry and gold to rest peacefully in their next lives, I fear no poor man will ever find peace in a rich man's heaven... I know your kind Templar, perhaps all too well."

He rested his forearms on his thighs, his hands bloody from both the gore of the spider, the blade and the vampire. "I wonder, how much more sacred is death to you than life, that you would draw your blade for one but not the other. Are you willing to strike me down for the dead, but not her for a life?" Mars said as he pointed to the Drow and her servant. "I want you to say owning a man is a righteous thing. Say that and I will desist.""

Mars washed his hands in a small pool of clean water which had gathered at his feet, only a small patch of purity surrounded by a lake of blood tainted water. As he did so, the water turned a murky brown from the blood and dirt, "We're all defilers here Templar. The world has been brutal to us so we have become brutal in return.

Mars stood and faced Rayvon, eye to eye while he pulled out a silver ring and rolled it about in his hands, "Gold is my god and power is the virtue I hold sacred. I am whole because I know everything that I stand for and for a moment I thought we were on different pages you and I, but It appears I was only half wrong. You stand somewhere between me and the holy soldier you think yourself to be." Mars dropped the ring in the bloody water with a splash.

"It was on Jeremy's finger. Put it back and assure yourself that you fought for what was important when it mattered. You fought for a silver ring on a corpse as a master and her slave stood at your back. Do you know which virtues I have the most contempt for Templar? Those half followed."

Mars drew the carving knife and returned it to it's sheath. He then plunged his arm into the spider and removed a sizable soft pink sac. He rang his fist around one end and held it tightly before him as he turned to the Drow woman who was some distance away. The silk producing organ in hand, he spoke to her, "If this animal had been yours from the start, and not reered its fangs at us, you might be burying it whole."

It might have been foolish to be making enemies with those who would supposedly be his allies, but Mars supposed conflict was inevitable, as it often was between him and Zealots.

Andrea had just arrived at Ceann's side, pouring some healing magic into her when she heard the words being spoken faintly, turning around to glare with utter hatred at the heretic and defiler and as he produced the organ after desecrating that noble spider she had to fall back to some of her mental exercises to remain calm. She marched back, one fist clenched, the other painfully tightening around her whip. "That spider was mine heretic. I had persuaded it to ignore it's false master and accept me. I will not accept a defiler like you to get away with this, so you either hand that to me." She gestured to the silk making organ in his hand with her whip.

"Or I will forget what I said to the Aasimar here and resort to the punishment of my homeland for people like you." She said with narrowed eyes, "I do not care for what trinkets you steal from the dead or the dying, but to mutilate that spider, before my eyes. That deserves death." She said that through gritted teeth, her words laden with promise.

"Really? You would punish me for your laws, in a land that is not your own, where your laws do not apply?" Mars gave the Drow a wry smirk, "Looks like we're both criminals."

"I won't fight you over a spider, but I will fight you over gold, and this is as good as gold," He then held the spider organ a little higher. Mars then looked at the Drow and then over to her slave. "Of course maybe we can reach a settlement. You're a priestess? Part of the Drow upper-class? So pay me. Pay me the price this would fetch and I'll do as you want, a price you could probably afford a thousand times over. "

Mars motioned the amount with his fingers.

Rayvon, after Mars dropped the ring removed her gloves and fished it from the murky water. Closing her eyes she tries to think about what he said. In some ways, it made sense. Yet, he was still a man of greed. She gnashes her teeth and stands with the ring, water and blood intermixed dripping from her drenched arm. She stares at the two, unsure of their tension before speaking up. "Priestess. Cease this nonsense. Enough lives have been lost. This issue I will bring it up with those in charge of the Blades." She pauses and adds, "Leave it be for now, and I will grant you conversation later, when there is time."

With that said, she moves over to Wayne, shaking off the water before she kneels beside him. She looks at his eyes and nods, "Malaki's brood... Perhaps then I can do some good..." She takes his hand and drops the ring into it, "It was apparently your brother's, perhaps it will do you some good as a token... Now, hold still." With that, she places one hand on his chest before tearing free the shrapnel impaling him. With a grunt, she slices her hand upon the piece. "Drink. But the moment I feel fangs, you feel steel," she holds her hand over the vampire and allows blood to drip into his mouth, hesitant to allow him to latch on less he potentially taint her with his curse.

Andrea glared at the defiler, gnashing her teeth and after the Aasimar had her words the drow priestess just huffed and turned around needing to attend to her servant, she would definitely not forget this...

Maher & Nadira Adonai
Ravens Inn

Nadira caught the key and smiled, Teila had told her what she could remember of her encounter with the shape-shifter/giant spider. "Leave it to us" she started up the staircase with her brother close behind her

"Be wary sister," Maher said as he hoisted his staff a little to prevent it banging on the stairs. "I suspect we will find more than we expect at the top of these stairs." He added before looking back over his shoulder before the two mercenaries disappeared from view for a time. "And I suspect those two will have some difficulty following us up there quickly." He added with a smile.

Nadira stopped for a moment "always slowing me down brother dearest" she grinned "those two lumbering mercenaries could come in handy they are not as squishy as us"

Maher raised an eyebrow and a feeling of amusement spread through their link. "I simply prefer to be prepared, the same goal may be reached through speed or preparation, the difference is in the outcome." He felt a little hypocritical saying that after his outburst at James earlier, but one had to live in the moment and not dwell on past mistakes. "The bunny and the turtle I believe is the parable that explains it." He then added, grinning this time. "And while those two are bigger and stronger than us in close quarters we are by far more nimble."

"Your are the wiser of us it seems brother, our mother coming out in you I believe, I always have been out fathers daughter" she grinned before adding "Now let's go see what beasties await us" Nadira took off once again only slowly down as she felt her brothers wariness in her thoughts.

The twins reached the top floor that contained the chest and Maher held up a hand as he strained his mage trained senses to try and discern if there were any other illusions at work aside from the obvious that may conceal a trap if they were to simply approach and open the chest with the key Nadira held. It really had felt too easy so far.

"Then have the rules be changed in your favour. I do not plan on dying from the failings of others." -Abida Qisaf, Page 2.

---

West Watch Tower

---

As Maeven reloaded her gun she would notice oil and other chemical substances rolling down from Fafnir's wing, past his belly, and dripping down onto her. The spirit within the crystal shuddered with an incomprehensible amount of rage, but it at least seemed as though nobody was paying them any mind. Even as Draza hopped over, and began to talk to herself, the two of them didn't particularly make for an intimidating combo at the moment.

Naream & Esyllt would be unpleasant surprised by their attempted summoning of the golem, assuming they were still conscious to see the hooved demon simply cleave it in two as it was still forming. They hadn't accounted for the fact that, indeed, the hooved demon had been charging at them, and with its larger form, it required fewer footsteps to reach them. Destroyed before it could even form, the golem's upper half parasails over Esyllt, showering her unconscious form in a spray of blood. The hooved demon chuckled grotesquely, sounding more like a pair of teeth grinding themselves on a sawblade, as it grew closer to Naream, who continued to try and drag himself away...

Aëyr & Abida on the other hand move for Gustavo and Meryl. Aëyr's charge was quick and as her hand reaches out for Meryl, she comes up only inches short as Gustavo shoves Meryl out of the way. Aëyr then receives a rather nasty kick to the side as Abida closes the gap. Both of his daggers go up to block but the blow from Abida--between her strength training and biological heritage--was sufficient to knock Gustavo down onto his back, rendering him unable to stop Meryl from committing her next act...

...Which was to immediately dart over to Draza and grab her backpack. With a simple poke from both Draza and Maeven, the illusion ends, just mere moments before the hooved demon was about to cleave a panicked looking Naream in two. Even the bodies disappeared, leaving just Gustavo and Meryl. With a shrug, Meryl shoves the detonator into Draza's hands, then rifles out of Draza's backpack a cupcake, which she nibbles on contendedly while Gustavo merely stares. "... Wh... What... Really..." Gustavo says with just a slight tone of irritation. Meryl shrugs. "The game isn't fun on an empty stomach!"

The remaining ravens in the area take off and flee, as smoke continues to rise in the distance near the lakeside part of the town. Gustavo glares at Abida and Aëyr, and sighs as he drops his daggers and raises his hands. "We surrender." He states plainly. Meryl continues to munch away on the cupcake, not paying any heed to whatever others might be doing around her.

At least this part of the town was safe, now. Confirmed, in fact, by the sights of the civilians who had been held hostage, sighing in relief, hugging each other, and looking with great joy and gratitude towards their saviours. One man, with short blonde hair, approaches Esyllt and Naream, quickly pulling out a doctor's kit and treating them, to wake up Esyllt and stabilize Naream. He doesn't introduce himself, and judging by the scar across his neck, he likely couldn't.

---

East Watch Tower

---

As the party left the East Watch Tower, they might catch the sight of Dirge returning to pick up the corpse of the fallen half-orc, and then march off solemnly, leaving the defused bomb and destroyed dummies behind him. There was nothing more to really be said here, save that the area was now safe, though unlike the Western Watch Tower, if anyone was alive here, they had no intentions of revealing themselves quite yet.

Mission Complete.

---

Town Square

---

Rayvon's orders were heeded by the civilians in the area, with the adults gathering the children and keeping them indoors. A few dashed out to deal with the small fire that had started, gathering the mixture of water and blood at the broken open well and repressing their gag reflex to toss it up onto the burning building, though steered clear of the small fight breaking out amongst them. As Wayne laid dying at the well, a couple of civilians came to him and began to offer him their blood, attempting to keep him going until the town doctor could reach him to sew the wounds closed. A strange sight likely for any foreigners to see regular people trying to save a vampire of all things.

Two of the remaining militia stared on at the fight in a slight stupor. They stayed back and started talking to each other. "Shouldn't we do somethin' Jim?" Asks the shorter of the two. "I mean, they're fightin' over nothin'." Jim, the taller of the two, shook his head. "Nah Thomas, that'd be a shit for brains move. Look at em'. They're heroes, solvin' the worlds most complex shit, we're just a couple of guys who are lucky to have lived." Thomas looks up at Jim. "...You don't really believe in fate, do you?" Thomas looks back down at Jim. "O'course I do! I swear I remember like it was yesterday, bits o' pieces o' this town were blown to bits cuz' a couple o' incompetent brothers tried to save us instead of this scary lot!... N' then I heard some scribbles, like with a quill, and I woke up, and it was today... Again!" Thomas shook his head and slapped the back of Jim's head, though he had to stand on his tippy toes to do it. "That's dumb! You're dumb!... Ah lets just go help put out the fire now." Jim nods. "Yeah, yeah, okay... Gotta admit though... The black one's got a nice, round arse." Thomas blinks in confusion. "Which un'?" Jim points at Andrea, who was bent over taking care of Ceann. "The un' wavin' at us, obviously, you daft, short fool." Thomas chuckles. "Yeah, that she do, Jim, that she do..." An older woman then screeches at them both from across the plaza, waving and pointing at the fire. "GO AND DEAL WITH THAT FIRST YOU DIMWITTED INBRED MORONS!" Jim and Thomas immediately hustle into action at that point, obviously terrified of the rather sharp looking woman, who glared at the Queen's Blades. "An' next time you wanna spat, at least 'ave a go at it so the customers in me Inn can 'ave a few bets at the expense o' yer' health, dammit." She mutters as she goes back inside of her small Inn.

As for Laenaia, she would see a couple of curious civilians walk over to her, and cautiously offer her their blood to help her get better. Again, the generosity towards vampires was staggering for one not accustomed to such a place.

Overall, it seemed that whatever usefulness that the Queen's Blades had here, was at a close. The civilians were safe, and though they paid a high price for it, those civilians would remember them, at least.

Mission Complete.

---

Raven's Inn

---

Aslo's bow is followed up with the cat growling lowly. It seemed the sedative was having a limited effect. Probably due to it being designed for people, and it was being used against a "kitten" that was easily almost ten times the sheer mass of a person. Mikan giggles nervously and starts petting the cat. "... Nice and calm kitty..." She looks up to Aslo and points to the tower. "... You should probably get inside."

As Nadira and Maher reach the top, they would see cobwebs and dust across the ceiling of the tower, along with the chest on the floor just a few feet away. On the opposite end of the chest was the open window they saw it from. They could both feel the magic emanating from the chest, and atop the chest was a note, scrawled in common tongue. It read as such: "The bomb is in here! Along with a riddle. Solve the riddle, and the bomb doesn't explode. Fail to solve it properly, and everyone in and around the tower will die... If you run now, then you might make it out, but all the civilians will die instead!"

Opening the chest they would see a bomb with three crystals. (Identical to the configuration of the bomb in Town Square). The crystals each glowed, the first was transparent, the second white, and the third black. On the transparent crystal was the shape of an eye. On the white crystal, the shape of a book. The black crystal, the shape of a circular object, likely a planet. The note continued to the riddle the moment they opened the chest: "What is the cycle of knowledge to a man?"

---

Lakeside Rendezvous

---

As Zayn moves closer and closer towards the Lakeside where the smoke was rising from he could feel a potent magical force nearby. It would be familiar, one he has seen at least once before as he burst into the clearing, panting as he did. The sight that would greet him would be one that codified the stories told by the world of the legends that came after Renalta's rise back to power. Everywhere littering the ground there were the corpses of various men and a few animals, one could guess they were once part of the Carnival of Chaos, though only barely, as the occasional flame still licked one corpse or another. Standing scattered amongst this corpse filled field was a few scattered militia, who were mostly in awe of the whirlwind going on around them, almost entirely unnecessary, in fact.

Queen Kouri stood in the middle of the carnage, panting, her blue hair a little messy but having suffered no wounds. Fire still wreathed her hands up to her arms, so hot it had turned to a bright blue, the heat which Zayn could feel hints of even several feet away. Her equally blue eyes look towards Zayn, nodding in approval at his arrival. She was just as beautiful as the legends put it, too, even in this battle frenzied state. Speaking of, as a large wolf growled behind Kouri, she smiled a little, hearing the all too familiar howl of another, more powerful canine. Leaping several feet from a rooftop and throwing the upper torso of a man away, a grey-black furry blur flew through the air at the wolf. Hitting it before it could even reasonable react, it became clear what the blur was: A werewolf wearing a leather collar, which viciously and mercilessly tore the wolf into several, much smaller chunks with her claws that could likely rip their way through plate mail like a knife through hot butter.

At this point, Alicia and Kasim finally caught up to Zayn, who had a head start on them.

The lycanthrope moved on all fours quickly to Kouri, who smiled softly. With a quiet, soft whimper, she nuzzles her head against Kouri's leg, and Kouri kneels down and runs her hand through the werewolf's fur gently, scratching behind the ears and making sure to avoid the blood-soaked claws and underbelly. She then looks over to Zayn, Kasim, and Alicia, and speaks with an authoritative tone of voice. "Ah, there you are. Glad to see you three are alright... Meet your other queen. Alexandria." Alex almost seemed to have a smug expression towards Kasim especially with the way that Kouri fawned over her. "We'll wait here for a minute or so while we wait for--" She is interrupted by the sound of someone dragging something along the dirt towards them. From around the corner of a building behind Kouri and ahead of the trio, came a tall, noble looking man who immediately inspired salutes from the militia. Dean Hansen, carrying a very bloodied one handed warhammer called Godsplitter, was dragging a kobold over to the group. Tossing him to the ground he points at the two queens. "Talk." The Kobold scrambles to its feet. "BUTIFIDOJAMESWILL~" Dean swings his warhammer and slams it into the ground at the kobold's feet, causing it to shriek in terror as a small crater is left behind. "Talk or I will send you into orbit." The kobold nods rapidly and scrambles over to Kouri. "MISS QUEENIE QUEEN MADAME MISTRESS MA'AM! Jameses rans away, most of the boomy kegs are done for! I is sorry for hurtings yous! There's a big biiig big tent though! I-I-I can tell you all about Jameseseseses home! Ohhh... Oh, yes yes, aaand..." He pulls out a small gem from his pocket. "I gots a soul gem from the place the big tent filled place is! You can use it to tracks his homey cozy place! Yes!" He then looks back at Dean and whimpers. "Me can not go to big cheese ball in orbit now?" Dean nods, with a small grin on his face.

Kouri then looks back at the trio, sighing softly. "What is going on outside?... We have been tied up here holding off the main advance." Kouri then stands up slowly, and looks over the trio for injuries. Not spotting any, she looks around the area, awaiting their response.

Town Square - Zin

---

Seeing the citizens working together to help the wounded and put out the fires, and that they were following her suggestion to stay safe in this area, Zin decided there wasn't anything more for her to do there. She could do nothing to help the wounded, aside from offering blood to her fellow vampires, but those needs were already being taken care of by the townsfolk. The fire was being dealt with by them as well, and everyone seemed relatively calm and orderly already. Perhaps she could have stepped into the confrontation between her fellow Queen's Blades, but that was not something that appealed to her at the moment.

Zin quietly headed off away from the town square, making for the lakeside and the queens to see if there was anything else that must be done.

---

Lakeside - Kasim

---

Kasim could feel his heart beating quickly, just as insistent as it had been during the brief combat with the orc. It had started upon seeing Queen Kouri and admiring her delectable assets, and he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of jealousy toward the lycanthrope woman who seemed to know exactly what was on his mind given the smugness on her fact. Well, it wasn't quite jealousy for Queen Alexandria's situation exactly, because Kasim was not one to be treated as a pet, but the idea of having Kouri in such a position instead...

However, the one thing stronger than Kasim's libido also came into play here: his desire to be known as a hero. Here was his opportunity, a chance to regale the queens of Renalta with his heroic deeds. Dean had provided a great avenue to move forward as well, with the news of the foul mage's whereabouts. Kasim could make a doubly heroic maneuver here, both boasting of deeds done and declaring deeds to be done in the future, and this with a grand audience the likes of which he'd never been privileged to address before. That was what kept his blood pumping at its frantic pace after the initial rush of lust had passed.

Kasim was, of course, the first of the group to step forward and respond to Queen Kouri's question. He did not bother with any nonsense formality like bowing or kneeling, instead getting right into it. "The eastern watch tower was guarded by three fearsome orcs. I slew one of them in single combat, while the others struggled in their own fights. Two died to the leader's warhammer, but the bomb was disabled in the fray. The enemy let us leave unharmed after that, likely too afraid to face me after seeing my sword tear out the throat of one of their companions." Kasim paused to flash the lovely queen a grin, a cocky and prideful expression. "I will hunt down the evil mage now, by your leave. An arrow through the heart should be fair payment for his horrible deeds this day."

West Watch Tower
Draza, soothing aura and too innocent to kill, acrobatic, slippery, sharp

Featuring tonnes of writing from Maeven Lucre and Meryl Slothychild

---

Sweet mother of Lada, it worked. Draza could almost feel her heart stop as she was able to touch Meryl and win this game. They had done it, Gustavo was stopped just long enough for Meryl to do something silly and childish, and the fear of doom was gone. Everything was going to be okay.

Seeing the fight was over, Maeven sighs in relief and puts away her guns. She stands up, brushing herself off and grabs Draza's bag, filching a few cookies for herself. Chewing them absentmindedly, the mechanist woman strolls casually to the golem and plucks out its soulstone after hearing the drow and golemancer make a big deal about needing one. She grins to herself and pockets it alongside her other stuff as she stretches. She surveys over the damage to Fafnir and grimaces. Sure enough, the dragon needed some big repairs. Chances were, this small town would not be offering metal cheap. Maybe leathers would patch the wings well. The leg, she'd have to do some patch jobs. If she was lucky, she'd find some oil to replace his stores.

Wrinkling her nose, she goes back and starts clamping down the lines to cease the flood. All the while, she was feeling anger pouring out of the soulstone. The dragon, as much as he despised his body, did not like being out of it for long. She looks at Meryl, a cookie in her own mouth before she chomps it down wipes her hands off. She goes to wipe her brow of sweat and manages to just streak the oil across her face. “Hey kid, want to meet a dragon? He's a bit of a whiner, though.” Her every instinct was telling her to clock this kid now, but she was making a new start now. It wouldn't look good to start up old habits. Even if she had a stone to fill. That, and given how much damage her guardian wrecked on Faf, she did not want to be on the receiving end herself.

“Gahrul,” Draza said, giving Meryl a look before turning to her plushy, “You did a terrible job of defending me. She got a sweet.” Draza tries to keep up the act of pleasantries, even though she now holds something in her hand that’s far too large for her to be safely fumbling with. Turning back to Meryl, she gave a quick look at the stolen sweet, “Oh, and she got a good one at that. Was going to give that one to the Queens.” She goes to cross her arms, but realizes that doing so may cause her to accidentally press the button and blow everyone up.

That would be bad, so she doesn’t. Instead she looks at her assortment of companions, in various states of unpleasantness, before her eyes catch on to Maeven. The woman had machines, knowledge of technology probably. This thing was technology. Perhaps it’d be best to let her hold it. Heck, maybe she could even do something with the bomb for later? Do something with the bomb involving far fewer civilian casualties. Hopefully.

"Oooh, a dragon?" She asks curiously. "... Giant lizard, squinty eyed people are terrified of it, shoots fire breath?"

She snorts and taps the rust bucket behind her, “He's big alright, and somehow manages to glare without proper eyes. Scares people often enough too. Course, I'm the one that coughs fire.” She winks and pats Blunderbuster. “I was thinking about getting him to fly again. I could even give you a ride if you think you can stop picking on poor townspeople. I have to pick up the supplies from them to wake Faf up, after all.”

She blinks in curiosity. "Fly?" It was pretty blatant she was quite naive at this point. "...And... Picking on?"

She arches her brow, looking at the townsfolk around them still getting their bearings, “Yeah, kid, you gave them a real fright. Its not really nice. They aren't as tough as some of us.” She crouches down to get on the girl's level. “And yes, fly. Up in the skies. Not sure if you can manage that yourself, but on a beast like Faf here, its got to be a whole new experience.” She offers her hand out, messed as it may be. “I'm Maeven, by the way.”

"Fear?..." She says, as though lacking comprehension on what that is. "Well, you know who I am!... What are you doing?" Meryl stares at the extended hand, not knowing what to do with it except to poke it curiously.

She chuckles and pokes Meryl's hand back, “Its a handshake, people do it sometimes when they meet.” To make a point, she clasps her hands together and shakes them with a goofy grin. “And fear is... Its when you get real scared, stuff you don't understand that just makes you want to run and hide. These people thought they were going to die...” She furrows her brow, giving Meryl a seriously look for a moment, “You know what dying is, right? When people never wake up again?...”

"Uhh..." She scratches the back of her head. "Well..." She coughs nervously. "...They do when Sloth tells them to! So... This... Die, isn't so bad!" Meryl grins innocently, shaking both of her hands in front of herself. "Handshake... You mortals are so weeeeird!"

She frowns and lightly takes Meryl's hand in her own, “Like this... This is a hand shake.” She gives a gentle shake before letting her hand drop. “And dying, its real bad... A lot of people go their whole lives trying to find out how to avoid it. Even Faf, my dragon. Cuz once you die, you're gone... You can never wake up, never dream, never see the people or things you love.”

"... Of course you can! Loads of people wake up where I come from after they leave where they once were!... Mostly bad people though..." She says softly as she looks down at her feet and kicks at the dirt. "But it's okay, no matter how many times they fall down Sloth said we could bring them back up."

“Erm, Maeven? Do you think you could hold this for me? It’s like, half my size, I don’t think I should be holding it,” she said, interrupting the conversation of death.

Maeven looks to Draza and takes the device, giving it a quick look over. Oh it was tempting to press that button. But better not. She looks at Meryl and shakes her head, “Its not the same here, Meryl. When you hurt people. They can stay hurt for a long time, or could die and never wake up. I don't know who Sloth is, and he sounds like an alright guy, but here in the mortal realm... Its not the same.” She blinks for a moment before gently setting the control device down. “But we can talk about this later, and a lot of other things. For now...” Maeven swipes three fingers over her own cheeks, smearing oil and grease before dotting her nose with her thumb. “I'm a kitty, meow.” She felt bad for the kid, it seemed like she didn't know much of anything but what this Sloth told her. A shudder goes down her spine. Hopefully, she was not talking about THE Sloth, at least.

"... Kitty?" She asks curiously, yet again belying her complete ignorance of the mortal realm.

Draza tried to quickly pick up on the conversation going on around her. Death, kitties, sleeping, jazz hands. All of which Meryl seemed completely ignorant of. Also, the persistent mention of Sloth. However, at her query about kitties, Draza stepped in with her words once more, "Kitty, it's small, young, furry animal, cute and playful. I'm sure that we can show you one when we're done here. That is," she cranes her head, having to stand on one leg to properly peer around and give Gustavo a look, "If your sugary friend doesn't mind." She rights herself back to her present company, "They're harmless, unless you're allergic. In which case," she took a breath in and fake sneezed in a high pitch, pretended to sniffle, and rubbed her nose, "Not as fun."

Gustavo remained on his back, staring up at Aeyr and Abida. "Yeah... Right... Fun..." He remarks with a snide tone of voice as his eyes watch for any potential attempt on his life. Meryl on the other hand continues to be fascinated with the idea of a kitten, and seems to try to make an illusory figure of one. She gets a ball of fur. With a sigh she lets the image go, and it vanishes. "Argh."

"Don't worry about making a fake one. Real kitties are better than fake ones. Just like real sweets are better than fake ones. Speaking of I'm going to have to make some more real ones..." Draza said.

Maeven blinks at the girl, crooking her head to he side before reaching into her own bag and drawing out a simple wind-up toy. She winds the gears in her hand before dropping it on the ground. The ball of metal shudders for a moment before beginning to unfurl itself slowly into the figure of a cat, stumbling about and and making staggering mewling gestures. At the end, it begins to shudder once more before returning to its balled state. “They look a little like that...” She looks at Draza before sighing. “I'll figure out something with the device. Maybe I can disable it for good...”

"Disable it for good?" Draza asked, curious. "Erm, while that's certainly better than blowing it up here, we may need a big boom in the future. Either to blow up some big jerk, or maybe just to celebrate. Explosions are great for parties... at a distance. Speaking of," she turns to Meryl, "How big of a boom is it?"

Maeven shakes her head, “Not important, Draza. I'm shutting it down. We don't need something like that laying around active in the middle of a town.” She stands up, scooping up the device once more before drawing out her toolkit to start working on the remote device herself. “Here's hoping I don't trigger it... Otherwise your question will be answered before we get extra crispy.”

"Eep!" Draza steps back and quickly twirls around to those around them, "Erm, guys?" her voice is certainly far too quiet to get the attention of everyone at first, but that wouldn't stop her from trying. "Guys!" she flailed her arms before stopping, and pulling out her lute. This thing would make people pay attention to her, darn it. She strummed her fingers along the strings and quickly sang a little diddy, "Maeven tinkers with, the detonator, fare we give wide breadth, leave now not later!" That sung, she swung the lute around her back, grabbed Meryl's hand, and tried to go off running with the girl to a hopefully safe distance.