As he heard about Nawar wanting revenge, Imgor did a quick trace for him, just to make sure.
"I am somehow not surprised about this. Anyhow if you excuse me, I'll make us dinner now. I assume you'll want some too, Sapphire?"
Imgor disappeared into the kitchen after awaiting Sapphire's response, and started cooking. After such a fight, everyone had to be at least a littlebit hungry.
Due to his long time in the wild, he usually cooked and ate what he could find, so the food he prepares, while not tasting worse than most would expect, will taste a littlebit different than most people would expect, althought not being what would be called an "acquired taste". However, it was hard to find something edible Imgor couldn't prepare/cook somehow.

Alexander gave a sigh of relief as they finally arrived at the hideout and the bewildering fumes lost their effect. He lay on the couch and checked his wound. Luckily from what he could tell it wasn't anything major, it would probably heal in a couple of days. The unknown hunter's parting warning gave him some concern, apparently this Nawar wasn't just some random scoundrel. Alexander looked at Sapphire's cloak, now matted with blood regretfully. He pulled out his coin purse and emptied out enough to pay for it. Unfortunately he didn't have much of a nest egg so that was most of his money, oh well, he probably wouldn't need it. "Sapphire, I hope you stay with us. Even if you don't please take this to make up for your cloak, I'm sorry I ruined it." Alexander said hopefully. It was bad enough to lose one member but losing two would be insult to injury. Of course if Sapphire wanted to leave he was neither in the condition to or would stop her. Then again she wasn't looking so good since they'd made their way away from the fire. Alexander was glad Imgor seemed to know how to cook, Alexander could make meals but they were more eatible the delectable.

Sapphire frowned at what she considered to be a poor attempt at a pun on Arnolds part. However her expression quickly changed to a pained one. With one eye closed she took heavy steps, as they trekked all the way back to their hideout. As the rest entered it she considered forgoing her decision to return to the hideout anew. Yet she came to the same conclusion as before. She was in no shape of doing that right now. Rest and recovery was higher up on her list of priorities.

Once inside she could finally sit down and relax. However it seemed the world around her didn’t plan on giving her a break, even if just from a mental view point. As she felt like she was about to shut down mentally and possible doze off for a second, Arnold dropped the news on them. Nawar was now hunting them down. What had they gotten themselves into? Sapphire began suspecting that Arnold could have ties to Nawar despite him stating the opposite. She visibly grimaced as Arnold left. Nonetheless she actually hoped Arnold did have a link to Nawar. Because if he didn’t, the implications were far worse. If what Arnold said was true and he had come across the information by word of mouth, it indicated that Nawar was someone well known . . . and possibly more dangerous than he seemed at first.

Last time we took him off guard. If he manages to take us off guard and he might not be alo-, she though as a droplet of sweat rolled down her face only for her inference to be cut short by Imgors inquire. She stared at him dumbfounded as she refocused and processed what he had said as if having to change her thought pattern to accommodate for such a menial concept like eating.

“Oh, Uh, I’m . . . not really hungr-“ Sapphire didn’t even finish her sentence as a growling noise originating from her abdomen filling the room. She lowered her head partially hiding a light blush under her hood.

“I guess I won’t mind a light meal afterall.” She admitted, sighing in defeat.

Once Imgor left to prepare Alex offered to pay back the damage done to her cloak which she immediately refused.

“I didn’t really pay anything for it, since it was Joshua who actually payed for.” After that she pulled her knees up to her chest buried her face between them, disregarding the fact she hadn’t even take off her footwear, which were now resting on the couch. She pondered on the first thing Alex just told her. He hoped she’d stay with them. Sapphire wondered if he really meant it. She recalled her altercation with Nickolaus, and the fact that Arnold revealed he could possibly have ties to Nawar didn’t help with her trust issues. It would probably take some time before her faith in Alex, Imgor and other people she knew was restored.

But right now, that seemed to be one step closer.

“I’ll think about it.” She said quite a while later, not really making it clear that she was talking about her decision to leave.

---

Back in Kiruth, two men had made their presence and intentions clear to the group. However the situation was about turn far worse than expected. The two men let their cloak drop, revealing themselves. The left one looked fairly old, possibly in his fifties and was completely bald. He carried one of the most common switch-weapons known. A pistol with a long blade folded underneath the barrel that could flip upwards taking the shape of a sword. However, his armor was anything but normal. It had a metallic silver appearance covered with black lines which were clearly runes. The long haired blonde individual next to him, on the other hand had common and thin leather armor. He also carried a normal sword, yet on closer inspection it revealed to be thicker than a normal sword and was covered with horizontal openings.

Ramone reached for his blades preparing to strike, yet his attention was caught by a thud on the side of the road. Aelar who had just stepped outside of the pub collapsed to the ground for no apparent reason. Drake let a thin grunt as he turned to take in the sight of one of his students on the ground, clearly not expecting that. The two assailants took the opportunity to strike while their opponents were distracted. The one with the unique sword stepped forward first and swung his sword, making the purpose of the openings evident. Ice shards the size of a pencil were launched from the sword which Drake barely managed to dodge. While doing so he also managed to grab three of the shards between the fingers of his left hand, which he immediately threw at the other assailant. He quickly deduced the nature of the runes as the shards impacted the attacker’s armor which in turn caused no damage, instead resulting in flames at the point of impact. The shards melted on contact. Both assailants paused for a moment.

“Elemental armor.” Drake said nonchalantly as if he already knew all their secrets.

“Ramone please check on Aelar and make sure he is safe.” To which he received a short nod, yet a disappointed look as well since Ramone still wished to launch his surprise attack when the enemy least expected it.

Drake’s attention then switched to Willo who was just leaving the pub aswell after the others.

“Willo!” He said in a louder tone than usual as if expecting her to already know what needed to be done, which wouldn’t have been that hard to deduce.

The first thing Willo heard was Lazarus barking her name, after which she quickly saw Aelar on the ground, Ramone helping him out, and her mentor squaring off against two shady-looking dudes. For a brief moment she stood still, processing, but ultimately Laz had been right, it wasn't very hard to deduce what was going on.

She dashes towards the assailants, trying to decide which one she should focus. The older fellow had a nifty old Switch, and was probably handy with it, while the younger guy held on to something that looked more like a catalyst for spells than a proper sword. Then of course she had to take her mentor into account, and considering she had no idea how he fought, that was tough to do. She could close the gap to the spell-slinger with relative ease, but then would Laz be able to handle the gunblade wielder? If she went for the older man, could he deal with the range of the younger?

In the end, she chose to let Laz decide. Willo yanked Cinderwill from its sheath and cranked its handle, extending it to staff-length and shooting the blade down like an ax's. The new height made striking the base of the handle against the ground much easier, and as she darted in between the two men, the blade had heated well.

"Pick your poison!" she called to her mentor. Then, pivoting on her heel and torquing her body around, she swung the heated ax in a wide circle around her, aiming not explicitly to injure, but more to separate the two assailants from each other.

The rest of the night for Imgor, Alexander, and Sapphire was effectively uneventful. Whatever else they did, it was not interrupted by outside forces. Indeed, the week of waiting for their switch-weapons to be properly forged was quite uneventful, but it was likely a welcome change of pace, allowing them to relax and think about things.

Before they knew it, it appears the date arrived. A friday, it was, and they could, for some strange reason, simply feel that their proper tools were finished. A long, fulfilling partnership between man and metal was just about to begin. Their mentor warned them about this odd emotion. As long as anybody could remember, it appears that something just clicks in a Hunters' mind when their proper armament is finally forged and tuned to their specifications and desires. Perhaps its just how the world works? Maybe the sprites and spirits that assist the Hunters ensure that it happens? Whatever the case, it was an odd, permeating sentiment.

They should acquire their things. Joshua-"Daddy's home!"

...Was already there. He kicked open the hideouts' door, a happy look on his old face, and a surprisingly large bag of items followed him. This was odd, especially considering it was barely morning! He quickly plopped his ass down in the foyer and started reviewing the contents of his bag. "Oh!", he alerted as everyone was likely getting up, and seeing what the commotion was about "We'll likely get visitors! The friendly kind though."

Alexander woke up from his position on the couch and immediately snatched the shotgun at his feet and pointed it at the door before he realized who had broken in. "Ugh you scared me." Alexander complained as he yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He still hadn't forgotten that Nawar had it out for them, the shotgun he had was a constant reminder of it after all. He'd considered ditching it several times in case it could be traced but in the end had opted against it. Alexander then looked at the bag Joshua had with interest, "Did you bring presents for us?" he asked eagerly. The week of waiting for their weapons had left him slightly dissatisfied, like an itch he couldn't scratch. "And just what kind of visitors are we having" he inquired again, wondering who they could possibly have visit. Maybe Henry or some other old friends of Joshua. Larion merely laid at his feet, having passively glanced up at Joshua before laying his head back down on his front feet. After a lot of sniffing around the hideout Larion had quickly grown bored of the place and was eager for excitement. Alexander didn't like taking him out of the city either for fear of another encounter while he wasn't properly armed so Larion was cooped up in the hideout for most of the time spent waiting.

Joshua answered Alex's questions. "Yes, I pretty much brought presents! hehehe, you'll love them, I'm sure of it! On visitors, We're going to meet with an associate of mine on magic, get you juniors learning a few more tricks which is always good...". A few seconds of pause, "Oh! And we're going on a trip. Well, it's 'my' trip, but.. I think I'm going to need help with it."

The look on Joshua's usually carefree face was... interesting when he said that last part. He was being honest with that, which seemed to hurt him, just a little on some level. He quickly stopped, however, or at least masked it. "Genius fellow, that 'associate'. Very clever when it comes to Vitae and Exicus casting. Knows quite a few of magics' mysteries... In any case, I'll prep for all that here, you 'three' should talk to Harold and get your arms."

He called out to Amaryllis in particular, "Sapphire, we're going to have a conversation about what happened with Schulze as well. But that's for later.", for reasons obvious, somewhat angrily.

Now they'll get their Switch-weapons though! How exciting!

Sapphire just woke up and slowly crept out of the room as Joshua entered. She laid her hand on the couch as she listened intently to what Joshua had to say about the switch weapons and the visitors they were going to have. And then it happened again. Another person who stood in front of her just to point fingers at her. But she would have none of it. Her hold on the material which embraced the couch tightened and for a split second she considered just storming out, which she would have probably done if it was anyone else. But she had great respect for him, however not as much as before, and that made her stay for some reason.

She glared at Joshua. “No. No! Not this time! If you’re planning on standing there pointing fingers at me, just like Nickolaus did! Just like everyone else has! Then you can save it, because I’m leaving!” The yelling stopped. “So what’s it going to be. It’s your choice.”

It seemed so out of character. Sapphire had never been so confrontational before. She’d rather run than confront someone on a matter. But she could keep doing that for so long before she broke. And she knew it. This was her way of facing the problem.

---

In Kiruth an all-out fight between hunters had broken on the street, clearing out everyone who was standing outside the pub, while the people inside were still oblivious of what was happening, rather busy with their own still ongoing brawl.

Willo moved in and tried to separate the two with her ax which indeed worked in the case of the younger attacker who jumped back to avoid getting slashed apart. The older one however stood his ground and allowed the ax blade to strike his chest head on. The moment the heated blade impacted his armor, the exicus runes on his plating lit up and a large chunk of ice formed around the blade, causing it to remain stuck to his armor.

Indeed this opened an opportunity for Lazarus to attack, however he had other plans in mind.
“You will have to keep them busy.” Drake told her as he instead went to Ramone who was still tending to an unconscious Aelar.

Meanwhile the younger hunter moved in towards Willo’s back about to slash at her with his unique sword. At the same time the older one, unfazed by the axe stuck to his chest, raised his pistol and aimed at Willo. By now the Ice had begun melting due the high temperature of the blade, however she lacked the necessary time to pull it out before the blade struck her or she got shot.

"Woah--" Willo felt an unexpected resistance when she tried to yank the axe back, quickly realizing that the blade was more or less merged temporarily with the elder man's chest plate. She looked up to him, head hunching a bit as she mustered up an anxious chuckle. "Uh...sorry? Eheh..."

She heard Lazarus hang her out to dry, but before she could complain the angry hunters began their assault once again. The one behind aimed to slash, the man before aimed to shoot. The axe was stuck, there was no point in trying to wrench it free, and even if she did the weight of the ice would throw off her swings. So instead she took advantage of the fact that it was fixed to the elder hunter, vaulting up and standing atop the protruding handle before leaping up and over the man's head. Surely this would avoid the younger hunter, but she still had to worry about the pistol, and tried to swat down at it in an attempt to throw off the older man's aim.

If all went well, she'd land behind him with a moment to breath and consider her next move.

The older man grinned at Willo's realization that her weapon was now stuck and was clearly about to fire, however Willo was quick on her feet and with an elegant vault, then leap, landed behind the old man. He tried to follow her movements with his pistol, however she had quickly shoved it out of the way mid jump. The man fired regardless and to his horror the bullet pierced the younger assailants shoulder mid attack, causing him to fall on his back due to the force of the shot while at the same time losing grip of his sword.

"Damn it! You moron!" The younger one yelled at the other with a pained look on his face.

The old one now angered flicked the pistol causing the lowered blade to align with the barrel, turning it into it's sword mode and blindly swung around where he assumed Willo was standing trying to hack her apart. Fortunately for Willo, her weapon, which was still stuck to his chest, further encumbered him. She had plenty of time to act before he turned around.

Meanwhile, Lazarus now next to Aelar pulled out a small knife out of the inner of his coat and started carving something into Aelar's arm, cutting not too deeply into his flesh. "Hey what are you-" Ramone question before being interrupted by Drake simply raising his free hand at him. It soon became apparent he was carving some kind of exicus rune into his arm.

"Take him back to the dock and take a ship back home. He will need a lot of rest after this. I'll explain once we're back as well." Implying that he and Willo would continue with the assignment he stood up just in time to see Willo vault over one of the assailants.

"Very good." He mumbled before starting a sprint towards the younger hunter who was now on his knees and still clutching the gun wound.

Alex raised his hands in protest and attempted to talk the situation down. "Nobody's pointing fingers at anybody, I'm sure he didn't mean it like that. Joshua probably just wants to know whats happened so no one needs to leave okay?" Alex asked pleadingly. He felt Sapphire had been cheated out of too many opportunities to miss this one as well. Besides three heads were better than two right? Still Alexander wasn't sure why he was intent that she stay with them. If she felt the need to leave she could, he just didn't want her to.

Imgor didn't notice Joshua entering at all, he was still asleep, but the yelling quickly changed that.
"Is it even impossible to sleep for the last night of the wait?" He remarked, but he quickly fell silent as he noticed the situation.

The moment he noticed the strange feeling of the switch-weapon being ready, Imgor quickly confirmed, that it was not an illusion, by looking for his switch-weapon with his tracking spell, and it was indeed at Harold's workshop.
As the fight with the scorpion a few days ago had shown, he wasn't well prepared to fight beasts with exosceletons or hard skins, so Imgor's eagerness to finally obtain his new weapon was enough to made him immedeatly get up and leap out a window, making his way towards Harold's workshop.

Joshua took something seriously, for once. "You're really going to stand up to me? I've fed you, I've clothed you, I taught you what I know, and this is how I'm repaid? I've sacrificed plenty to bring you to this point, you do know that?". He waited a few seconds, but not long enough for a reply. "...Well, considering you... I honestly do hope you feel proud of yourself! You're not exactly running away from me. I'd give you a cookie, but you're not eight years old or anything."

That's.. weird to hear. "Well, if you honestly want to acquire your switchy by your lonesome, be my guest. You can't do everything by yourself, however.", he tried to move in closer and give her a pat on the back, "In this business, not helping each other out at least sometimes is going to get you killed, alright? I never meant to 'point' at you either. I just want to hear why Schulze left. It's not like you forced him to leave, right?"

"It's not a crime to simply want to hear every side of the story possible, is it? ... Well, in any case... We really shouldn't do it now, we'll have to save that little talk for later. If you don't want to do it at all, that's fine too. I think I know the answer already, but I just want to make sure. You three should really get your proper Hunter-tools as soon as possible, in any case."

Although Sapphire was still in complete turmoil on the inside, she didn't show any of it. Her expression remained the same, a slightly angered one and she tried her best not to flinch as Joshua initially spoke harshly to her. But all that he said meant nothing. Lots of people had fed her before, clothed her before, taught her before. All she cared about was how people treated her. And she didn't have pleasant memories of that, regarding the said people who fed, clothed and taught her what she knew so far.

She could only raise her eyebrows in surprise at what came next and all that turmoil went away leaving her mind blank. A cookie, is all that popped up in her mind once Joshua finished. Joshua had his way of clearing her mind like that, whether or not he knew it.

"For the record, I did earn part of the starmetal for my switch weapon." She said, in a silly attempt to still one-up Joshua, while she didn't put any resistance to Joshua's pat on the back.

Now to their armaments. To say Sapphire was excited to get her well thought-out weapon of annihilation was an understatement. However, as per her usually mind-set she wasn't going show that by rushing ahead to be the first one to take it. She waited until at least someone else went first.

Willo couldn't contain the giggle of excitement as the battle picked up its pace. The older man opted for a more melee-oriented assault and she was happy to enter it with him, blades were far easier to dodge than bullets after all. When the wild swing came she ducked again, snatching onto the handle of her axe and letting his momentum carry her around with him. At the end of his strike, she swooped up and once again ended crouched upon the axe handle, eye-level with him.

"Ey look, buddy, chill for a second aye?" she said, and steadied her footing. "You read, right? You know how stories like these end? You're the bad guys, bad guys die, do you wanna die?"

The old man's face contorted even more in anger as Willo taunted him. He raised his weapon wanting to take another shot at her. "Too bad this isn't a story!" He barked.

Meanwhile the younger one was just about to stand up right after he picked up his sword only to be struck down as Lazarus spun on his heel and smashing his other boot into his face. He went flying onto his back yet rolled as he did ending up back on his feet. As soon as he did he immediately clutched at his shoulder obviously in pain.

She dropped back, laying flat on the handle, which might have actually put some weight on it had it not been attached to the man. She struck a foot out to kick his arm up and away from her, hoping to again avoid a shot to the face. Of course, that was something of a shot in the dark, since the force applied would likely be something he could push against easily. So, in tandem, she rolled off and to the ground, where she swooped up again to be face-to-face with him.

"Woah man, personal space!" she chimed, and did her best to stay as physically close to him as possible. That was how she learned to deal with her disadvantages, if range was her crux, and being out-armed was easy, then trying to make it as hard for the opponent to maneuver as possible was one of the few solutions she'd have.

Willo's kick diverted his arm upwards causing him to miss again. Right after she finished her roll the ice that kept her weapon attached to the man's armor melted, thanks to the heated blade, and made a metallic sound as it fell to the ground. The old man grinned at the sight as he pushed off the weapon to the side with his foot and aimed at Willo again.

"What now?" he said.

Willo put her hands up, eyes wide but she couldn't shake the hinting smile on her face. She flicked a glance Laz's way just to make sure he was doing fine. Of course he was, Laz was always fine.

"Well...uh..." she blinked, and when her eyes met the old man's again he'd find they were void of color. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, perhaps his vision was messing with him, but it would almost be impossible to deny that she looked almost...blurry.

Then she moved, and the action was unreal. Her entire form must have turned to smoke, an intangiable flitter of black air that move towards the axe, scooping it up as it too vanished with her. She appeared back across from the man, same distance, and smiled wider.

Striking the handle's base against the ground again, the blade lost its heat, and with a twist it quickly reverted to its sword form. "Alright how about round two?"

"Impressive, but it won't be enough." He said he switched his weapon back to it's sword form. As he did so he pulled out a small paper out of a back pocket and slapped it onto the blade. It stuck to it and a rune immediately lit up yet nothing obvious happened. Dashing forwards at surprising speed considering how bulky his armor was did an upwards slash with his blade.

Meanwhile Drake stood in front of the younger one and eyed him down. "I'll make it quick." He said with a straight face. The man standing in front of him was obviously angered by this rose his sword, pointing it a Drake's face and thrusted forwards shouting nonesense while doing so. Drake simply side-stepped the attack to the right with amzing speed and spun sideways, his back now facing the sword. A kick to the young one's leg caused it to unnaturally bend backwards while the man fell forwards. His yelp was cut short as Lazarus streamlined his kick resulting with his knee colliding with the other one's jaw. This sent him flying on his back. Mid fall, Lazarus grabbed the sword out of his hand, as his grip on it was unremarkable. He spun it around in his hand a few times before the blade bore into the man's chest resulting in another pained scream. Lazarus then finished his assault by striking the handle of the sword, causing the blade to break in half also resulting in it's potential exicus capability being released all at once. Massive ice spikes ripped the hunter's chest appart killing him instantly.

Lazarus then turned to Willo and her foe indifferently of the bloody scene now at his back and crossed his arms as he observed the battle unfolding.

Willo side-stepped the first swing, though remained close enough as to try and see what was up with the runic paper. However, the man's admittedly impressive speed coupled with the power of his swing didn't leave her much time to do so. Instead, she swung her own blade up, following the momentum of his and aiming to push it further away from its original trajectory. If she could throw him off-balance it would be far easier to deal with him, of course, given his apparent experience, she knew better than to expect such a simple outcome.

While parrying Willo managed to glance at the rune. Considering the fact that thousands existed all with various effects it came as no surprise that she couldn't identify it but it did have telltale markings of air based runes.

The cry of pain caught her off guard, and she whirled around. Was that Lazarus? Ramone? She'd never heard any of them in real distress, and even if it was young, terror and agony tended to lend youth to oneself.

But no, it was in fact the younger hunter, and while Willo might have felt guilt for suspecting her master might be beaten so easily, she was more upset by the fact she'd missed seeing him fight.

The old man also turned also turned as he heard the scream only to see his fellow hunter in a pool of blood. He grit his teeth at the scene, obviously not mourning the loss of his partner, which meant they probably weren't too close to begin with, but the fact that he had lost an advantage over the group didn't escape him.

"Aw man!" she whined, taking another quick-step back. Before she could continue her complaint however, she saw Lazarus was back into his old mode of observation. Meeting his eyes wasn't something she was particularly fond of, especially since they always seemed expectant. She turned her attention back to the man, then twirled the sword in her hand so that she held it reversed, then beckoned him forward.

Her eyes once more lost their shade. "Let's get on, then."

Only then did she sense the stinging pain in her cheek and chest. A streak of blood lead to her chin as dropplets dripped onto the pavement. She could feel more slowly trailing down her abdomen from a similar gash to her lower chest. The old man's blade certainly did not strike her during the previous scuffle. So how did he wound her?

"The hell...?" she touched her cheek, then the gash in her vestments and winced at the twinge of parted flesh. Crafty bastard, it seemed, she'd have to figure out his tricks on-the-fly.

Focusing on him again, Willo dashed forward trying to bait out another attack. The man in turn threw his hand out trying to grab Willo by her face while having his sword raised at her in the other hand. Before he could get a grip however, she slid down, carrying on past until she was on his other side before throwing out a slash of her own, more to test the waters than to actually harm. He turned as fast as he could and Willo's blade hit the hunter's armor as he threw himself forward allowing the slash to make contact on purpose. The runes lit up again and another chunck of ice locked Willo's blade in place on his armor. He then proceeded to with another sword strike of his own aimed at Willo's general direction.

She twisted the handle, and the axe extended just in time to carry her out of a possibly fatal strike. A gap now between them, she stayed at one end of the axe and saw that the newly formed ice had stopped it from completing its transformation.

The momentum was enough for her to avoid the blade, however she could once again feel small, seemingly phantom slashes on her legs and abdomen this time, accompanied by a small breeze emanating from the blade.

"You really like my axe, huh?" she asked, and hopped on top of the long handle once again, omly to nearly falter off when the new pain spread. Her playful demeanor too flickered, and she gave the man a small scowl. "You need'a stop doin' whatever that is."

This time she did not wait idly, and instead lunged to kick at him. Even if the attack wouldn't have much force behind it, if she could keep his eyes open for whatever the hell he was up to, it would be better than getting caught off-gaurd again.

The old man's face contorted as the kick sent him stumbling backwards. This also caused Willo's ax to wobble in the ice which in turn shattered. The man slashed blindly in the air with his sword. Seemingly invisible attacks were launched towards Willo, the only visible sign of them was the gash they left in the ground as they approached. At the point it also became apparent what the rune on the blade was supposed to do. It subtly manipulated the air around it to cause blade like disturbances in the air that could cut their target apart.

"Shit that's cool," she mumbled, doing her best to predict the after-shock strikes as she snatched her axe back up. Hitting the armor was no good, they could play "stick the blade to the bad guy" all day until either the enchantment wore out or one of his ghost strikes cut her in two, and she wasn't too fond of either.

Form blurred again, she flitted in zig-zag patterns, enhanced speed making her dodging maneuvers much easier. When she drew close, she struck out in a long, quick strike for his sword, trying to clear a path for his neck, or the first unnarmored place she could find.

His sword bounced off to the side leaving him fairly open, however she could still feel the after affect of the blade as more gashes formed on Willo's arm that was closest to the blade. As she approached for a finishing strike he also attempted to grab her again with his free hand, by the neck this time.

The sudden slash on her arm would weaken her strike, and with the blade unheated there was no way the attack would be clean. But Willo swung for the neck, now a race against both his attacking hand, and whatever ghost-strike was coming next.

The old man grabbed Willo by the neck, letting his sword drop for some reason, smacking Willo painfully into the ground. Before she could even start struggling to escape, blood began dripping on her face and a few moments later the old man slumped over to the side next to her . . . with Willo's ax lodged in his neck.

Lazarus finally let his hands drop to the side as he 'exited' his observation mode and made his way to Willo. He put his weight on one knee as he bowed over her and began bandaging her arm and leg wounds with some sort of rune covered scroll that served as a bandage as well. One could only wonder from where he kept pulling out exactly what he needed when he needed.

"I'll let you take care of the rest," he said as he gave her the scroll and shifted his attention to dead person next to her.

She graciously took it from him and went about wrapping her chest and abdomen wounds. Damn things would hurt, but at least they weren't deep enough to make mobility too difficult. Casting a glance towards Lazarus and the dead fellow, she could help but smile proudly to herself.

After a quick search of the body, Lazarus pulled out a sheet of papar from one of the old man's pocket. He read the note before flicking it, causing a rune it's back to ignite the paper.
"As expected." he said to himself, then turning to Willo.

"Man am I good or am I good?" she cooed, rolling her neck and pulling herself back up to her feet.

"We should get going. Are you done?" He asked her, apparently disregarding her self-praise in the process.

"Yessir," she said, tossing what was left of the scroll back to him. "Much obliged."

Prying her axe free, then sheathing it, she glanced to the other dead fellow. A sudden urgency overtook her, and as she followed Lazarus she asked: ""Hey what'd you do to the other guy, huh? I missed it, do you have a weapon on you? What's it like? How do you fight? I bet you really fucked him up!"

"The best weapon is the enemy's weapon. He will never expect it to be used against him," he responded without further clarifying how the young hunter ended up with ice spikes in his chest, though their origin would now be easily deduced.

Alexander gave a quiet sigh of relief. Situation defused, group, still intact. He got to his feet and walked to the door holding it open for everyone else, "If that's all then we can get going right?" Alex asked eagerly, excited to finally get his switch weapon. If it worked as well as he expected than he would become a much more capable fighter. Larion chased after Alex and waited by his feet patiently, every walk through the city was a new adventure.

Joshua seemed to sense something was amiss. He opened the door back-up and looked, seeing Imgor prodding along. "There is no time to be lost!", the senior-most hunter yelled while bolting for his (apparently) most eager disciple. The triplet of students, alongside their mentor, soon found themselves knocking on Harolds' door. A muffled "Great Timing.." was heard, until the dirtied, eye-patched smith was in view. "Come in, I was just tweaking their hilts."

When they came into the small forge, all their eyes were set on the prize; a trio of custom switch-weapons, each mounted on the wall. Their metal blades were tinted with the slightest hint of blue, easy on the eyes, but they were obviously meant to kill. They appeared to be so sharp and well-made, resting a hand on them would've resulted in a quick dismemberment. "Heh, admiring them? I admit, they're easily the best things I've created in a very long time. Quite educational."

Joshua clapped a single time. "Lovely work, Harold. I'm sure they're the best pieces of work this side of the Divider."
The uniquely crafted and tuned armaments, a two-headed Scythe, Crossbow-pickaxe hybrid, and a 'Shard-Naginata', simply begged to be tested out.
"In any case... Students!", Joshua ordered, "We're going to get used to these, then we're going to hunt some chaff on the way to my destination. Any objections? Too bad."

"Meet me outside the city when you all get done marveling at your new 'friends'. Feel free to take your time, I know I needed to!. Joshua walked to the outside of the building, then jogged to the exit of the city itself.

Harold shrugged. "Don't drool on them?"

Alexander spent a few seconds gazing at his weapon. It had that same shine his mother's blade'd had. After a moment or two he stepped forward grabbing his weapon eagerly and walked to an open space. Larion obediently waited at the door sensing his master's intention. Alexander ran his hands over the weapon, feeling the small irregularity that allowed the weapon to shatter. He swung and twirled it experimentally, even lighter than he thought it would be, the weapon cut through the air effortlessly. It was a whole new experience, though he couldn't test out the feature in the shop, that would be inconsiderate. Nodding in satisfaction he bowed to the blacksmith, "Thank you Harold, I'll be sure to do your work proud!" he said confidently then walked outside and waited for the others to follow him. Alexander was eager to test it against an opponent, though on the other hand he wasn't eager to fight something as ferocious as that scorpion monster thing again. His wound still hurt every now and then though it didn't impede his capabilities anymore.

Imgor slowly took his new weapon off the wall, it was just like he had imagined it. It was heavy enough to have great momentum when swung, but also was just light enough to properly aim it, when in crossbow mode. The chain was actually long enough to use the weapon a short grappling hook, if it didn't hit the target ledge sideways.
For the only check he would perform in harold's shop, he switched it into crossbow mode, and attempted to cock the bow barehanded. Imgor failed to do so, mainly because the string started cutting into his fingers.
The second time he used one of the 24 starmetal bolts made from the remainder of the starmetal used to craft the weapons from to hold the string instead of his bare fingers. With all his strength he just barely managed to get the string into place.
Imgor didn't load any sort of bolt, he didn'T want it to fly around the workshop, much less punch through a wall or the roof, so he just fired this empty shot. The hissing sound of the string rapidly cutting through the air was all he needed to hear.
"Perfect."

"So, what are we going to test these new weapons on?"

Joshua initiated another of his iconic sessions of "Old-Man-Ramblings". "We'll be travelling to the ancient fortress of Bloodleaves, to meet a buddy of mine, and since I need to check in on it anyway. You all, I might station you there, I'm not too sure... In any case, We're just going to murder your standard dangerous wildlife on the way there. Take a detour through trouble spots I've heard about, put to sleep anything that jumps us. Sound fine?", he got into a bit more detail on what they might encounter.

"Hmm.", he rubbed his chin, resting on the doorframe. "I think there were reports of mountain lions, smaller beasts, bears, that sort of thing. There's a rumor that a Wyvern has taken residence in an old sawmill too. If you're all up for it, we could try and find out if that's true or not. It'd be fun, and Wyvern scales are great for damage-resistant clothes. Not as good as the ancient proper Dragons' scales, but still a mighty fine choice of material!

"Of course...", Joshua mentioned, [color=8882be"I suppose it isn't required for us to hunt anything that isn't a proper Scourged Beast anyway, right? We're 'Hunters', with a capital H. If you are all getting impatient and want to test it on a proper beast first thing, I'd be fine with just high-tailing it to the aforementioned bestial prison that is Bloodleaves."[/color]

He looks outside, at the sun. "Oh, but yes, as I said, meet me at the town's gate.". Joshua added, jokingly,"Don't get lost!", before bolting off.