Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

The incoming shield flying towards Ssarak deflected at an angle off of his own shield, just as planned. Although, his attempt to cripple the knight was not quite as successful. The knight’s reactions were quick, and Ssarak could not redirect his mace quite fast enough to meet his fist head-on. The knight delivered a heavy blow to Ssarak’s stomach, though so too did Ssarak’s mace slam at full force into the knight’s chestplate. Ssarak was knocked out of breath, and he expected the knight to at least have a broken rib or two.

Despite his lack of breath, Ssarak had h is guard up in an instant, and was starting to bring his mace around for another blow when he noticed that his opponent was oddly…still. He did not raise his guard, nor push the attack, but rather just stood, almost as if in shock. He coughed, then collapsed down to his knees. Slowly, blood started to pour from a razor-thin line at his neck before his seemingly lifeless body collapsed entirely to the ground.

Ssarak was not certain of what Meirin had done exactly, but it had evidently pierced through the weaker armor at his neck and slit his throat, or even partially beheaded him. With that threat eliminated, Ssarak wanted to just stop and embrace Meirin. To check on her well-being, and confirm to himself that she was safe, but unfortunately, the fight was not entirely over. Nearby, he could easily see that some of the others were still in trouble. A mage, evidently an herbamancer, was manipulating the trees themselves to attack them. He needed to give them help, and the best way he could see to do that quickly was to grab and keep the mage’s focus on himself. Ssarak turned to the herbamancer and let out a loud, animalistic roar to hopefully capture his attention. He stood in an aggressive, slightly hunched over posture with his boot pressed against the helmet of the herbamancer’s dead ally. At the same time, Ssarak telepathically probed into the mage’s mind to see if he had any wards to speak of.

Leith paused when the man noticed the venom and mistook it for water. As the trees got closer, Leith decided to just hurl the venom as if he was throwing it away at the man's leg. Leith turned his attention to Summer, who had just called out to him, and made a clenching motion with his hand, forcing the venom into whatever it had made contact with. His head was pounding and his muscles were cramping, but he managed a strained smile at Summer. "It's good to see you awake," he said briefly before turning his attention back to the mage and the trees.

He watched as E'nasha created a shield from trees that the mage didn't uproot. She made a suggestion of making the mage turn into a swarm so her plants could eat them. "That could work, I don't know if I managed to get him with the venom from the Naga, but a plan like that would be good just in case. Here." Leith held out Seraphim Sword and enlarged it to the size of a normal long-sword. "If you can make sure the seeds can't fall off the hilt, this could force him to swarm." Once that was done, Leith took aim and threw the sword at the man.

The sword would continue moving in the direction that it was thrown without losing any altitude or speed. It looked as if it would continue going until it hit something or was stopped. Luckily, Leith was able to stop it whenever as long as he could see it. The unfortunate part was that it was all he could do with the sword, and whenever he let go of the thing, it would start taking swipes at whoever was near it. Once it got close enough to the man, Leith stopped the sword. For a moment, the sword hovered in place. Then it was violently and clumsily taking swipes at the Herbamancer. It was around this time when Leith heard a roar coming from the direction of Ssarak and Meirin.

Knight's Brother

Time was moving slowly for some reason. He couldn't lift his arms from where they had fallen limply to his side to feel the wetness that was on his neck. There was a roaring sound off to his left, or perhaps that was merely the pounding in his ears. He couldn't tell. Everything was going fuzzy, blackness approaching on all sides of his vision. The trees, they were slowed down. Whether it was by his rapidly draining consciousness, or because of something his opponents did, he couldn't tell. He gave a strained chuckle. "The trees...they did whisper of death...they just didn't mention....whose..." The blackness consumed him and he collapsed to the ground, dead.

Mackendrick

The other man had to be an assassin. He had all the right body movements, the reflexes, and the weaponry. The only thing that was different from most assassins was his mouth. Snarky comments seemed to poor in an unending stream from him as he dodged out of the way every time, running away from him. It was irritating. Before he could try to kill the man once more, however, a roaring sound caught his attention. An esyire was standing on the corpse of one of his allies, and the other was collapsing to the ground, presumably dead. "Damn it. Mission failed. He's going to be pissed about this...."

Mackendrick pressed against his ribs, saying "Slade, I need to be extracted." He glared at Althalus. "I'll be back for you. For _all_ of you." A tendril of shadows rose up behind him and yanked him into his own shadows. He was gone. It was over.

Baulder

Baulder was lying on something. It wasn't soft but he could also tell he was sinking slightly. It was so dark, but he could barely tell that he was alive due to the rather dull pain in his forearms. Where have we gone poor Jhon, I can't seem to find the place. Baulder tried to sit up and open his eyes but his body refused both commands. His body he couldn't make out if he still had feet but his fingers, Baulder could still move those. Baulder's digits twitched defiantly at the darkness while he still struggled to open his eyes. It occured to him that everything was mute, all he could hear was the slow but steady beat of his heart in his ears. Baulder wanted to open his mouth and yell, but he found that it too was forbidden for his use. Baulder began screaming in his head calling out for Jhon and..... Baulder? The name was his but he was refering to someone else. This angered him greater but his body still refused any commands and he just kept screaming in his mind.

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak was ready to go on the attack. He had already started shifting his mace back into the form of a sword to better deal with the mage. But, just as he was about to take action, the man suddenly collapsed to the ground. He had not seen any of the others attack him, but yet he was seemingly lifeless on the ground, for no discernible reason. Ssarak supposed that one of the others could have harmed him in some way before he arrived, but he did not have enough information to go on for the moment.

Regardless, as Ssarak looked around the area, he saw no other threats. Whatever misfortune had befallen Lyn's hunt was, it seemed, over. Now that he could afford the time, Ssarak devoted his attention to Meirin. He put away his shield and sheathed his blade before walking up to her. Just moments prior, he had been a fearsome warrior, roaring like a ferocious animal to instill fear in his enemy, but in an instant, he had become gentle enough to place his armored hand on her shoulder with her hardly being able to feel its weight. With his free hand, he reached up, pulled off his helmet, and held it under his arm. "Are you alright, Mei? Were you harmed in the fight? What happened here?"

Keri Wolf Lyn's Hunt

Keri heard the familiar clang of her sword making contact with the assassin's leg, going into her new favorite dodge roll. So far everything was going good yet she wondered why there wasn't even a flicker of movement of some type of counter. Not that this freak needed to counter. There wasn't any pain telling the girl that he didn't attack, which was good and also bad in a way, meaning there was something else planned. Claws scratched and dug into the ground stoping the vampire within a short running distance. Her ears perked up as soon as the white masked assassin threatened every person there." I dare you to step foot within my home. I dare you to step near my family. Because when you do I'll be there to tear you limb from limb while draining you dry." she said with a hiss before Maverick vanished.

The girl waited for a bit, waiting for some sort of surprise attack, before digging her claws out. Keri walked towards Althalus while looking towards the injured bear. The thing looked like hell forcing a sigh." Looks like I'm going to have to find Lyn's bear up after tea with Khan. Schedule is going to be really tight but I'll make room for it." the vampire mumbled to herself while looking towards Althalus." Your knight in shining armor has rescued you once more. With this save my fee is a kiss from the damsel in distress. Though I'm hoping there won't be a third time miss. I also accept blood for my services for future reference." the girl said in a kidding manner before holding her hand out for the man to grab.

Rathel was busy shifting his vines, adjusting and twisting them about to transfer young Lyn into the bench end. His head turned to acknowledge Colette’s addressing him. For several moments he studied her, his black, iris less eyes stared back a ther with interest as he read the young vampire’s aura pouring off her. Most individuals wouldn’t have sensed a thing, but demons were another matter. It wasn’t hard for Rathel to tell she was a demonomancer but her experience was impossible to determine, at least without actually asking her, as he pulled about to face her. His root like tendrils within his mouth wiggling with each spoken reply that whistled past his odd shaped maw.

[color=palegeen] “A very unusual type really. I believe an off shot of a spriggan, trent, and another type of plant demon to be honest.”[/color] His eyes shifted down to note Atticus now nuzzling around her legs, his male figure stretched out in a much smaller form and curled into her lap. A bat like demon was sprawled across his spine, her figure lifeless save for the subtle breathing in her snoozing. “You might want to return them to the Inferno in order to allow them needed rest. We recover much faster within our own domain than on Tiien’s surface.”

It then that Khan entered into the office. His hand gripped his cane tightly and gait exhausted, his limp more obvious than it was when he left. It seemed the energy from his earlier rage seemed to have disappeared, leaving him weakened and utterly unable to stand for very long. Instinctively, Rathel’s magic caused a chair to pick up and travel toward the Headmaster. With a loud thump, Khan flopped into it with a heavy sigh before he gestured for something to drink. Rathel bowed his head then twisted about, his figure mindful of the surroundings, while he crept toward the kettle on the Esyire’s desk which was surprisingly still pipping hot.

His arm reach up and poured two cups, one for Colette and one for Khan. Promptly he quickly grinded up some blood root into the bottom to brew alongside the tea and shuffled them toward their respective destinations.

”Shall I take Lyn to her room while she recovers?” His eyes shifted to the youth curled into a ball and still dozing, her tragic day finally coming to an end.

Khan shook his horned head, his fingers gripping his cup and raised it halfway before he stopped. He paused there to answer his demon, letting the vapors linger in his nostrils. “No, but I do need you to address the team being sent out. I have a gut feeling those students are in serious trouble and need as much aid as possible.”

“Very well, I’ll get right too it.” Rathel turned to exit, his mind adding one last thing that was lingering on the Headmaster’s mind. “I’ll also keep you updated over Mar’s condition as well.”

Watching Rathel depart, the demon finally exited the room and leaving them alone, he turned toward Colette. His hand gently gestured for her to take the only remaining seat in front of him while he added encouragement. “Now, Colette, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

With Sam's help, Lucilia tried to get closer to Mar's wound. The first place she checked was the heart. She figured that the wound was worse there, since Mar's bones were much more vicious when Lucilia's hands got closer. But with Sam helping keep Mar's magic from going too wild, Lucilia took her scapel and tried to remove the flesh that grew over the wounds. A bone peirced Lucilia's hand and caused her to drop the scapel, but she simply grabbed another scapel with her free hand and continued, leaving her wounded hand out for Lidda to heal so she could continue.

Lidda paused from her manipulation of Mar, her body turned slightly then gently touched the Herbamancer master's hand. A tingling sensation brushed through it and in several seconds, the wound stitched itself up and formed back into its original state. All save for the blood stain upon the woman's palm. The vitamancer gestured towad Sam, who already was collecting one of several vials, then passed it to the stressed teacher. She popped the cork then downed it in one go.

It would take a bit to take affect and even then, the effects weren't going to be instant despite the extra strength and speed compared to the ones given to novices. Her eyes shifted to spy how many she had already drank, about six, as she let down her disguise into her half snow elf and orc form. Rarely anyone would've guessed it was her original shape, namely as she rarely showed it within the walls of the school.

"At this rate, we'll run out of elixers before we figure out what's wrong with her." Lidda said through her tusked mouth, her longer ears pulled back in worry.

Another bone blade lunched out and cut off Lucilia's pinky, but she did not deter. Once Lucilia had managed to open the wound over Mar's heart, she saw a glint of metal, but then her magic sealed the wound again. Picking up her pinky, Lucilia held her missing finger close to her stump and sighed. "Lidda, heal my wounds please? Also, I think I saw something in Mar's heart. But her magic keeps me from getting to it. We need to somehow stop the magic to get to the object. If we do that, we might be able to stop whatever is happening to Mar."

Lidda naturally caught the digit just before it fell upon the floor, her palms cradling it gently between them. Her mouth made a frown as well as it could through the tusks. She nodded then reattached the finger, focusing her energy on the tendons, bones, muscle then finally flesh until it was fully healed. Feeling more drained, she listened to Lucillia for a moment then asked. "Do you think that's what is causing this?"

Flexing her fingers Lucilia nodded. Then she shook her head. "No... I don't know what's causing this. I've always been aware that magic is capable of doing something like this, but... I don't know what is happening to Mar. But I've never seen that shard before, and I never knew about it until now. I don't know what is happening to her, but taking it out should help. Somehow." Lucilia picked up her tools, but then used her magic to create vines over her fingers and hand, creating an extention of her hands.

"Lidda, I hate to ask you to do this... But I need you to control Mar's body."

"I can, but I don't like to. I can bind her tendons and such to keep er bones from moving or move them as I like. Her mage blood isn't cooperating and I'm getting more exhausted attempting it," Lidda stated, calmly, as her hand reached out to touch Mar's body. "If it wasn't for the fact she's tearing not just herself up, but us as well, I wouldn't have even considered it."

She focused on the tendons, their thin string like appendages started to wiggle and sway then contrict abruptly. Mar's back ached in sudden reaction while her figure merely froze in the middle of it, her torso raised and bones held in place. Each time the ribs tried to move, they found muscle and tendons fastening them into place again. Lidda was pale with the effort but she helf fast to the task at hand.

Lucilia acted fast. The vines streched out and immediately started to operate on Mar's chest. They were far more agile and tougher than Lucilia's own hands, which were already pretty tough to begin with. Even if Mar's magic was still on the fritz, it'd take a lot more than a single blade to cut through them. Lucilia began to cut open Mar's chest, using hooks to keep the flesh parted. Thanks to Lidda controlling Mar's, her body didn't immediately seal up. That's when Lucilia could see some sort of metal shard in Mar's body. Obviously a foriegn object, she used a pair of forceps on the end of a vine to extract it.

"Found something! I don't want anyone to touch it, so give me something to put it in!"

Lidda wasn’t perfect or invulnerable.

With her mind so focus on stopping Mar’s body from maiming itself, the teacher was caught off guard when a fresh surge of foreign energy poured into the student’s body. It was...dark and twisted. The power was coursing with surprising strength and abruptly Lidda felt it trying to consume her back, Mar’s body jerked like a wild thing without warning. The Naga’s mouth trickled with blood as it crept along her corner then dripped downward. It stained her filthy skin while her spine started to crack, stretch and pull like a bony serpent from her ribs. Slowly it detangled from the nerves still connected to Mar’s skull, shaking them off like unwanted blue and red vines.

They pooled at the bottom causing Mar’s figured to start seizuring until it was completely free. The spine’s end slithered out like a living thing, pulling up through the hole created by Lucilia nearest the neck. In less than a minute, its ‘head’ narrowed into spike. It reared then shot out at Lidda’s throat intending on impaling her. With her mind and magic focused on Mar, all she could do was brace for the attack.

Meanwhile, the shard sank just when the forceps got close enough to grab it. It was located in the heart region when the ribs disconnected and the spine had surged forward. They wrapped about and encased the material, her lungs and the heart protectively, creating a solid mass of bone. It then shot off ‘liquid’ bone to create a thick, stringy webbing that quickly hardened, preventing it from being removed. In many ways it looked like a magnified version of the inside of a bone where the marrow was made save for the solid bone cocoon in the middle.

Despite its weak look, in order to break it there needed to be some serious force behind the attempt. Blood bubbled into acidity matter where the vines were slowly being eaten away the longer they touched… the scent creating a putrid smell that wafted from Mar’s body. What material that was melted oozed into the cavity where it would become a black, hot liquid seeping through the holes made through the skin in the back. It dripped down the table and burned everywhere, using the plant material as fuel for the burning.

Of course things weren’t going to be easy.

Just as Lucilia had managed to spot the shard, it sank deeper into Mar’s chest, and her mageblood went crazy. Lucilia was quite aware that her magic was acting up, trusting Lidda to take care of it, but when Mar’s body convulsed and her spine literally tore itself out of Mar’s mouth, Lucilia knew that this wasn’t merely her blood acting up. Someone was manipulating Mar’s body through the shard, and whoever it was didn’t want to lose control.

Lucilia had her hands full, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t fight. As the spine went to go stab Lidda, Luclia had her own vines lash out and hold it back. She gave no mercy; it may have been Mar’s spine, but right now it was a threat. The vines tighten and began to crush the spine, though Lucilia was aware that it would likely grow harder or try to produce spikes to tear its way out, so more vines wrapped around the spine to break it.

Lidda recovered quickly enough to see Lucilia's vines curl and attempt to crush Mar's spine into powder, the bone cracking and crumbling. The vitamancer teacher's tusked mouth open in protest desptie the fact she was prevented from being nearly killed. "Lucilia! Stop crushing her spine or it will take days for me to rebuild it and you'll kill her. The more damage you do, outside vitamancy had already done, less I can fix. Lucillia... please. I'm already getting to my limit as it is."

With that said, Lidda poured more of her magic into the student causing the cracks that were made by Lucilia's plants to fill in then seal. Mar's skin glands started to secrete an enzyme that nulled the acidic nature of the blood, preventing it from eating through the skin. Sadly, she couldn't protect Lucilia's plant matter without it literally consuming through Mar's faster.

Next was the boney shield and the vicious fluids that prevented her vines from getting close to the shards. Lucilia could recognize that the bones were meant to provide a physical barrier to Lucilia’s vines, and the acidic blood would prevent her from just pulling it out. But Lucilia was also quite adept with acids and other alchemical concoctions.

”Uicle! I need your help! Use your magic to control this acid and use it to melt through the bones. The shard needs to be removed and that will save Mar!” With one of her vines Lucilia produced a special metal flask containing a powerful acid. Lucilia carried this for self-defense and never imagined that she would use such a volatile substance in surgery, but she had little choice in the matter. This substance would be strong enough to met through Mar’s boney armor, and strong enough that it won’t dilute easily even if all the blood in Mar’s body tried to fuse into it. But she needed Uicle to control the acid, otherwise it’ll indiscriminately eat through Mar’s torso and kill her.

"Lucilia," Lidda stated, calmly though looking sickly with her over use, "He can also likely alter the acidicity of the blood. Maybe nullify it since it's a liquid."

Though to be honest, Lucilia didn’t think Mar was going to make it even if they didn’t use the acid. Her own spine had been torn out of her body and was being reduced to powder, and her blood had become acidic. She was certain that given a few more minutes, the blood may end up burning through Mar’s flesh and bones, leaving nothing but slag behind. But until that happened, Lucilia wasn’t going to give up. It’d take more than dark magic to stop Lucilia from saving Mar’s life.

When Ucile finally changed the acidity, the blood ceased to burn and pooled in the lower part of her torso. Slowly the Naga relaxed as if her body had exhausted herself. Lidda looked at Lucilia giving her a serious and desperate look. It was clear Mar's body was collecting strength for another all out defense but it needed time, and this was their one and only shot to get whatever was within Mar out. Afterward, they would need to patch her up quick because whatever magical source was keeping her alive would be gone. This put her life in the greatest risk of being lost if they failed to get it out.

Lucilia struck fast. Uicle managed to nullify the acid for now, but there was only the issue of Mar's bones shielding the shard. She used her vines to pry the protective barrier aside, and Lucilia struck a gloved hand inside the opening. Her flesh and bones were far tougher than her vines could be, and if Mar's body reacted in an attempt to cut off her hand, they'd find it hard to slice through the master vampire's. Once Lucilia felt the metalic tip of the sharp poke her finger, Lucilia grabbed and it out.

For a split second, Lucilia saw the shard. A pure white blade, like the light reflecting off fresh snow. She quickly put it into a box for safe keeping, but the moment it left her fingers it shattered into dust. No - not even dust remained. It simply vanished into the air after breaking part in countless peices. Lucilia saw this with her own eyes and couldn't make sense of any of it. What was the shard? How could it have done this to Mar? Where did it go? These questions would haunt Lucilia for the time to come. But right now, she needed to focus on Saving Mar's life.

"Someone get me Mar's spine!"

"Working on it. Sam, can you get the thread and needles?" Lidda stated as she reached for the end then passed its end to Lucilia. Slowly she started to pour some energy into it and mend the fractures enough it was close to being functional. It would take hours to patch the student up but at least she was alive, and likely to fight another day. This made the exhausted master vitamancer relieved beyond words.

---

~spot saver~

Khan

Khan sat at his desk, his figure hunched over a series of paperwork, as he signed a few parchments then shifted it to the already dangerously high pile to his right. His tail swished in a lazy motion from behind him. The underside bounced subtly over the uneven stone flooring from right to left, the base pressed against the seat’s end through a masterfully made opening. His wings were folded against his spine and curled much like a leathery cloak over him as he mentally stressed over recent events from Lyn’s hunt.

It had only been a few weeks, but the results were too puzzling to ignore or forget. They managed to recover the corpses but there wasn’t a single, undeniable shred of evidence that provided a clue to who was responsible. Every single mage came from a variety of races from human to elf, their clothes having no single, similar aspect that provided answers. Their bodies revealing much less, Lucilia to Uicle being unable to differentiate anything different from the normal master mage, a fact that left all the teachers more and more confused. If it wasn’t for the fact Satori, or one of her students, determined their minds were completely fine then Khan would’ve thought they were all half mad when they described their foe’s abilities.

Khan paused in his work to lean his chin upon his folded hands, both tucked underneath his jawline for a prop. It bothered him greatly. Something was happening but they still too far behind to know it and even worse, they couldn’t protect the students that needed it when it counted. Since the sudden attack, several of the mercenaries provided by Grey had been hired then requested to search and patrol the area. They, much like the College, turned up nothing.

Thankfully all those involved, including Mar, had recovered from their experiences since both the Catacomb mission and Lyn’s Hunt’s tragic events. Among the Catacomb results included Tyrael and the Naga. The teacher had been suspended temporarily then pressed to resolve his issues in a manner suitable. Until they were solved, and he proved it, there was no tolerance for his actions. While on the College grounds he was monitored continually as he went about minor task.

It was milder compared to the Naga. They were confined to key areas of the grounds and continually watched, not for their safety but the other students. Khan recalled his first encounters with Mar’s aggression and brash actions in the past, a matter he took into account when he set up their arrangements. Lyn and Mar, especially, were given limited access due to the fact the Matriarch had mentioned what complications a hybrid child might’ve caused. Thankfully they were being moved today from the college into a new home outside of Yarsomere.

The consequences from Lyn’s hunt had just as much complications, through more positive results than negative. The two arrivals, Helena Axford and Sinys Luf’fino had been registered, thanks to Lucilia’s aid, and settled in, their classes started last week. This allowed them to recover from their experience and get familiar with the college layout as opposed to merely tossing them into stress after their ordeal. Devon Zoria and Jenna Fellrein were surprised to find their rooms in order as well as their class schedules adjusted to cover for their missing education months. Keri and Colette were fed plenty of blood to prevent them from going feral through apportate means.

From that disastrous situation, the worse event was Mar losing her tail. They had finally managed to stop her mageblood from killing her but the damage was already done. Lidda couldn’t reverse the legs back into a tail without risking the woman’s well being, her body too stressed from the rapid and unexpected changes happening repeatedly to her body. A master vitamancer could easily tolerate such an event, through they would’ve been had issues and this was the main reason their changes were limited. Lidda could alter her shape completely but larger changes happened much more slowly and carefully as without the attention to anatomy detail, her figure would’ve become stressed and worn, doing more harm than good.

Khan inhaled, his figure slowly rising from his desk as he pushed his chair out. His hand reached out for his cane then started to hobble out of his office into the direction of the courtyards where he would be supervising the event.

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak was making his way back towards the living quarters, though it was not his own room he was going to. As usual after such stressful missions, it had taken a few days to get settled back in after the missions two weeks prior. Again, he had escaped with only some bruising, but others were not so lucky. He had not known until after the mission, but Mar had been terribly disfigured from an attack from a vitamancer. Thankfully, she had survived and was currently recovering, though he was not certain how long it would be before her body could be returned to normal. There were others on the hunt that had not made it back at all, sadly. As for Tyrael, he had heard that the Demonomancer had been temporarily suspended for his actions during the mission in the catacombs. As angered as Ssarak had been at him, Ssarak was, somewhat reluctantly, glad that he had not been ousted from the college entirely. Though unstable, Tyrael was unquestionably powerful, and Ssarak would not want to be forced to face down the college’s enemies without him.

At present, Ssarak was making his way to Meirin’s room. He had just made a stop by the garden and now had a cupid rose in hand. It was a simple gesture, but one he hoped she would appreciate. Today was something of a rare day, in that, to his knowledge, neither of them had anything in particular that they were required to do. They were both generally quite busy people, but his private lessons with Satori that day had to be rescheduled, so he now had the opportunity to surprise Meirin with some time to themselves.

Once at Meirin’s door, Ssarak put on a smile and started to knock. He had made himself get up early that day, so it was possible that he was waking her up, but it was late enough that she would be getting up on her own at any moment anyway, if she had not already.

The last few weeks felt a blur to her at this moment. Her arm was healing just fine, but it still seemed to bother her. She knew it was all in her head more or less, but she couldn't get over how easily she'd been hurt. That had never really been an issue for her before. She'd broken bones before of course she'd had scuffed knees, and bruises from rough housing as a child. But she'd never been hurt like that before.

And to add insult to injury, she spent her first few days feeling like a trapped and lost little child because she couldn't see anything without her glasses. Thankfully it wasn't too long before she had a new pair and she could wander the grounds without fear of walking into things she couldn't see. She still felt lost on occasion, even if everything was mostly logically planned out, but she'd never been to such a formal school as this. She'd hardly been to a school at all for that matter, and she wasn't used to the structure of it all.

The classes so far were nice, and little by little she was growing to accept that her father had been right and that she needed this. But it was still hard being away from home and all her family and friends and everything she'd ever known. She thought that she'd be so easy to adapt if she ever had to leave home, and she was right, but she ached some, thinking of everyone she'd left behind. Even if she was certain that she wasn’t the only one from Port Slaughter there.

And she had to admit, she missed the noise and bustle of home too. It was awfully quite here by comparison. She was currently enjoying that quite though, sitting under a tree in one of the little openings that naturally occurr when you cluster buildings together, reading a school book, even though she really didn't need to just then. She'd done all the required reading, but that didn't stop her from reading ahead just now. What else was she to do? She'd make friends eventually she knew, it just took time.

Annabeth parried a blow and thrusts her sword at Meirin, but she had retracted her blade quickly after the parry and used it to deflect Annabeth’s attack. Meirin then did a sweeping kick to Annabeth’s legs, knocking the warrior down. But as she fell she rolled away from meirin before she could bring her sword down onto her, putting distance between the two fighters once more.

After the botched hunt, Annabeth had felt the need to become better at her swordsmanship. All she was able to do that day was run away with Lyn, and by the time she came back most of her friends were hurt. Someone (She didn’t know the person personally) died. Sure protecting Lyn was important, but Annabeth felt that if running away wasn’t an option, she wouldn’t have been able to protect herself. Ever since then, Annabeth had been honing her swordplay. However, she was also aware that while she was decent enough with a common arming sword, her opponents aren’t always going to be rogues or bandits dressed in leathers. She needed to learn how to fight against faster or more heavily armored opponent, such as that vampire-hunting knight or the assassin who was able to keep up with Samson. Thus Annabeth had chosen to start training with an estoc; a thrusting sword capable of finding and peircing the weak points in armor. While longer than her usual longsword, an estoc was sturdier than a rapier and could even double as a shorten lance while on horseback.

Meirin also felt that since she started practicing her magic, she has neglected her martial training. While she has maintained her body by exercising with Ssarak, she knew that her skills at fighting had taken a hit. She knew because she never even once tried to fight the vampire hunter in melee; she had relied entirely on her own magic. She didn’t want to believe it, but she knew that she hasn’t had a proper fight in a long time, and thus her skills had waned. Not to mention that Meirin was simply not used to fighting armored opponents. Most of the bandits who attacked the caravans or travelers she used to guard were ragged men, perhaps wearing gambesons or at least chainmail. But she had little to no experience fighting a fully armored knight, another reason why she hesitated to take on the vampire hunter directly.

Since that fateful day the two girls vowed to improve themselves. They haven’t let up on their magic training, but right now they weren’t practicing their magic. They were sparing; no more jogging or weight lifting. Movement drills and aerobics had their uses, but no amount of exercises could make up for live fighting. If they were going to practice, they needed to spar.

Annabeth had her estoc and buckler, but also wore a coat of plates, complete with helmet, greaves, and gauntlets. Admittedly, Annabeth wasn’t used to wearing armor heavier than a chain shirt, but if she was expected to fight than she needed to get used to heavier equipment. That being said, she couldn’t fight like Grey or Ssarak, who were practically born into full armor. She had to settle with this armor because at the time, it was the lightest armor she felt like she had most of her mobility in, despite that it wasn’t as immensely protective as plate was. Mainly, Annabeth needed armor she could reliably deflect a blow with. She didn’t intend to simply stand there and take the full hit, but to use the armor on her body to deflect the attack away as if it were a shield.

Meirin still went without major body armor, though she did commission a set of steel vambraces. She still felt that speed and agility were far more protective than suits of metal were, but she couldn’t deny that her enemies may be fast enough to keep up with her movements. If that was the case, then she would need more protection. And while Meirin had learned of a Weaving move that could make parts of her body as hard iron, they weren't going to be useful if she didn't know how to block an attack. She also fought using a double-edged straight sword. While it didn't fare well against armor, Meirin was most comfortable with a familiar weapon. Not only that, but no armor was invincible. Meirin needed to learn how to pierce armor, either by finding their weak points or developing a technique that would allow even an edged weapon like her sword to penetrate metal plate.

The two girls had been sparring for ten minutes straight, and both were fairly winded. Annabeth was especially tired after doing so much in her heavy set of armor. Meirin breath was steady but her arms were shaky from deflecting so many blows with her armguards. Annabeth did not take her eyes off Meirin however, knowing that if she dropped her guard, Meirin could land a blow on her. Meirin was keeping an eye on Annabeth trying to figure out the weakness in her defense.

Suddenly, Meirin lunged. Holding the sword in her left hand, Meirin slashed at Annabeth’s right arm holding the estoc. Meirin was right-handed and sword fighting with her left felt awkward, but the change in hand made sure that Annabeth couldn’t utilize her buckler as effectively. Not to mention that after a while, Meirin was able to get a good idea of how Annabeth’s attacks were like since they were mostly thrusts. If she could just keep the hand pointed away from Meirin’s direction, then she could get a clean strike through Annabeth’s armor.

But Annabeth wasn’t going to be disarmed so easily. She could rely on her armor to protect herself from Meirin’s strikes, so Annabeth needed to maintain her offense. They both knew this, so Annabeth was ready to protect her swordhand with a swipe of her estoc. While mostly a piercing weapon, she can easily bludgeon her enemies with her estoc as if it was a rod. So Annabeth twisted her sword so that the guard of the estoc knocked Meirin’s blade off course, before slamming the tip right towards her nose.

Meirin barely was able to dodge the swipe, getting a slight cut on her cheek for her trouble. She should have figured Annabeth would just swing her sword like a brute, but Meirin had a few tricks too. She spun her body as if the estoc had given her a deep cut, but this was a feint so she could do a spinning back kick into Annabeth’s stomach.

The kick connected and Annabeth lost her breath when she felt Meirin’s foot slam into her gut, knocking her a fair bit away. Thankfully the armor cushioned the blow, but even so Annabeth could feel the blunt force behind the kick. Annabeth quickly resumed her defensive stance and watched Meirin carefully.

While Meirin was glad her attack worked, her leg felt shaky. Kicks were one of her strongests attacks, as her legs were far stronger than her arms, but this would have been the first time she tried to kick through body armor. She has shattered trees, stones, and bricks before, but that was with time and focus to channel her energy into a precise strike into a weak point in the wall. That last kick was a wild shot right where most of Annabeth’s armor was, and Meirin could feel it. If she had reinforced her legs Meirin could have done more damage, but for now she just had to accept that she needs to be more careful about striking Annabeth’s chest now.

As the two stared each other down, Annabeth decided to taunt Meirin, to goad her into making a mistake. “You could probably wear real armor if you didn't have big floppy breasts!”

This surprised Meirin. She was used to people questioning her skills or being sexist, but she's never heard someone insult her breast. “What? You… Hmph! You certainly look more manly than Grey drilling the guardsmen.” Meirin rebuked, trying to copy Annabeth's tactic.

“And your hair is long enough to be a tail! Do you clean your ass with it too?”

“I'm sure blood isn't the only thing that gets sucked in Underhaven.”

“With all that jumping and spinning, you fight more like a clown than a warrior.”

“The only joke here is your skills with with a sword. You fight like a dairy farmer!”

“How appropriate, you fight like a cow.”

Meirin glared at Annabeth, but her snarl soon turned into a snicker. They weren't even putting up a defense right now. They were just making from of each other now. Though now Meirin didn't care so much about learning the weakness of armor. She just wanted to beat the shit out of Annabeth now. “Fists then?”

Annabeth dropped her sword and shield and took off her helmet and gauntlets for some good old bare knuckle boxing. “Sounds like your last night with Ssarak.”

Meirin sheathed and tossed her sword away, removing the shoulder guards on her vambraces and cracked her knuckles. “You'll be very close to my knuckles too. They want to meet you, face-to-fist.”

Annabeth threw off her coat of plates in a swift motion (Annabeth specifically ordered hers to be easy to don and remove) and charged at Meirin, fists raised. “I'm going to smack the bitch out of you!”

Annabeth rushed in with her guard up, expecting Meirin to try to dodge and strike her. Annabeth the was going to go into a take down and pound Meirin into the ground. Sure enough Meirin did dodge, but instead of moving back or to the side, she move forward. She reached out and hooked a hand behind Annabeth’s head and a foot in front of her feet. Then Meirin pushed her hand forward and swept her feet right to Annabeth's knees.

While Annabeth didn't know fancy attacks like Meirin, she had excellent control over her body. When Meirin stepped to the side, Annabeth stopped her movements dead in her track before redirecting her body to where Meirin was. Her arms weren't in any position to wrap around the warrior monk, but Annabeth could still slam and tackle into Meirin. She felt a sting on her head and one of her foot was kicked out from under her however, and Annabeth's tackle instead felt more like a shove.

Pushed back Meirin didn't hesitate to out distance between herself and Annabeth while also throwing a retreating round house to Annabeth’s leg. She needed to weaken her stance a bit and go for the decisive blow. Additionally Meirin learned a bit about Annabeth’s own strange form of mobility, so side stepping and throwing Annabeth wasn't going to work out so well. Meirin needed to take Annabeth head on and use that stench against her.

Annabeth immediately resumed her charge, this time instead of going for a tackle, she lunged with a jab. But this was a feint for Annabeth; she wanted Meirin to try to deflect her punch while Annabeth tried to grab Meirin’s leg and put her into a hold.

Sure enough Meirin was able to parry Annabeth's punch with ease with one hand, turning it into able fist to counter Annabeth. She didn't expect the grab however and Meirin felt herself getting lifted off the ground. Meirin tried to act fast: one of her legs were tightly locked by Annabeth so there was no sense in trying to save it. But with her leg so close to Annabeth's body, Meirin was in the perfect position to deliver a vicious knee strike to the side of Annabeth's head.
Feeling something bony and sharp smash into her skull, Annabeth winced, but still held onto Meirin’s leg with a deathgrip. She didn’t know how many more she could take however, so Annabeth did the simple thing and tucked in her chin and fall back, pulling Meirin over her shoulder so that when she fell, Meirin would hit the ground first. Meirin saw this coming and could only brace herself, pulling her legs and her arms up in so that when she fell she wouldn’t take as much damage. She felt herself crashing into the ground, but also Annabeths’ grip loosen, allowing Meirin to roll out of her grab. But Meirin was now bleeding from the head due to a nasty gash. Annabeth wasn’t much prettier with a blackened eye and a bloodied nose. Annabeth got up to her feet ready to fight. Meirin took a stance, solid and strong.

The estoc was at Annabeth’s foot. She could easily kick it up to her hand. Meirin’s sword was right behind her. She knew she could flip backwards, grab the blade, and have it drawn in one smooth motion. But Meirin wasn’t sure if she should draw her weapon. She did say they would fight with fists, and Meirin wasn’t as well armored as she was before. Annabeth also didn’t have her buckler, which was an important part of her fighting style. While she’d have better control and strength two-handing her estoc, that wasn’t the style she was used to using. She was still too new to using an estoc to reliably use it two-handed anyways. But Annabeth could tell that Meirin wanted her sword. They were both had just bashed each other and now wanted to draw blades.

”No, not yet. I don’t need my sword to beat her.”

”My fists will be more than enough for a barbarian like her.”

Meirin stepped away from her sword and circled Annabeth. Annabeth also stepped away, walking the same direction to keep the distance with Meirin equal. Meirin could read Annabeth’s stance and could tell that fisticuffs weren’t her forte. She had a very basic punching stance, only good enough to take a beating. On the other hand Meirin’s stance would allow her the advantage of reach, either to strike Annabeth or to intercept her punches. It was no wonder why the Eania girl had to keep charging head-first into Meirin if she hoped to have a chance at beating her.

Annabeth took the first strike and charged Meirin. Meirin jabbed at Annabeth’s head and shoulder. Annabeth blocked one of the jabs and let the ones on the shoulders hit her so Annabeth could get close enough to throw a straight cross into Meirin’s stomach. Meirin tried to block it, but only succeeded it getting the wind knocked out of her as she turned her body away to deflect the punch. Meirin stepped back and tried to sweep Annabeth’s feet, but this time Annabeth lifted up her leg to stomp Meirin. She missed, but followed up with more powerful swings at Meirin’s body.

Meirin was able to duck, dodge, and weave through Annabeth’s strikes and return with a few jabs herself, but her blows were too light to phase Annabeth, however Annabeth was starting to show injury as well. She just needed to weather the blows until Annabeth tired out again and Meirin can finish her off easily.

But one thing Meirin didn’t expect was for Annabeth to start learning her moves. After one too many punches to the face, Annabeth was able to dodge Meirin’s counter attacks and use her own jabs and straights, putting her whole body into the strikes to give it extra weight. And being so close to Meirin when Annabeth threw her punches, there was very little time to dodge or deflect them. Annabeth gave Meirin three solid uppercuts into the stomach, and she swears she could feel a rib crack. Meirin certainly felt those, but she wasn’t out of tricks yet. She stepped back, and when Annabeth tried to throw another punch at her, Meirin reached out and grabbed her arm, holding it close to her chest. In one fluid motion, Meirin kicked her legs up, one around Annabeth's head and another over her midsection, and brought the weight, as well as Annabeth, to the ground. This put Annabeth into a straight arm bar.

Annabeth fell to her knee, but didn't fall to the ground just yet. She knew if she ended up on her back it was going to be all over. But Meirin, despite her grace and agility, was heavy. Annabeth couldn't pick her up with just one arm, and she wasn't in a good position to leverage Meirin into a reversal. She could feel Meirin legs tighten around her neck and body, and her arms was on the verge of splitting. Even with the armored sleeves, Annabeth's shoulder was on the verge of giving out. Things were looking bleak and Annabeth could lose. But she wasn't going down without one last act of defiance.

Standing to her feet, Annabeth hoped into the air and used all her strength to slam Meirin onto Annabeth's knee. At her angle the best Annabeth could do was hit Meirin lower leg, but maybe they would do something.

Meirin felt Annabeth's knee dig into her leg am cracking something. The pain was almost unbearable. But not enough to beat her. As Annabeth landed Meirin threw her weight back and made Annabeth fall to the ground, where she dislocated Annabeth's shoulder with a snap. Meirin rolled out and watched Annabeth squirm, only to see a bit of wincing as she stood up. Meirin could hardly believe it. ”You can’t win. You can barely stand and you can’t hit me. Just give up!”

After the hunt things were different for everyone. The assassin was gone without a trace and the guards seemed to double in numbers. Each person had their own coping mechanism which they all seemed to do right away leaving little time for talking. Keri was no different. She had decided to vanish to the forge only coming up for certain things like training with Lucilia or classes with Uicle though once in a blue moon she would be seen gathering wood. All the vampire's free time was placed down in the forge just fixing Lyn's teddy bear while nearly ignoring her job entirely. Once that was done the young women decided to do something she should have years ago before coming to the college which was what she needed Annabeth's help with now. Though after running around the Underhaven and school Keri had learned that her friend was in the courtyard the whole time. The vampire walked outside wearing a short sleeved tunic and breeches with a water pouch around her waist, something she had started to carry around now. Her necklace was out in the open for everyone to admire than being hidden away and her stealth ring was on the finger underneath her family crest.

The one thing that would have received dirty looks was the deceased Knight's shield which Keri had grabbed for two reasons. One was for protection and another weapon during a fight to help prevent damage. The second was the scent. This would help the vampire remember that there were those who hated her kind and would do anything to kill them. Something the young woman would gladly prevent though in the white masked assassin’s case she would just rather drain him dry instead of a quick and easy death. Once this thought crept into the vampire's head a small smile crept on her lips. Usually she didn't want to attack humans without reason but this one had threatened everyone in the mission, which in her book was an all bets off the table kind of thing, allowing the young woman to attack without reason. Better to attack first instead of waiting to see if the guys would carried out the threat and lose friends who would most likely rather die of old age.

A sudden scent of blood caught the vampire's full attention causing her to run toward it. Once there Keri felt rather silly seeing Annabeth and her partner practicing. She kept quiet and watched closely noting each attack, parry, and dodge. Then the words come making the young woman question what they were doing now as her head went back and forth between the two women. Keri watched as both threw down their arm and weapons knowing where this was heading from experience yet still she kept quiet mainly want to see who would win. It was clear that both knew what they were doing yet neither seemed to want to back down. With each hit the women receive the vampire would flinch at as if she herself was receiving the beating. Then the young woman hear something give and then something popping letting her know that it was time to interrupt. Before she said anything Annabeth's partner spoke up." Actually I don't think either one can continue. At least to my ears ladies. I vote you both chalk it up as a draw. Or else I'll carry both parties to their rooms for a time out like my brothers and I got when we fought."

Meirin looked at Keri when she arrived. Suddenly Meirin felt very embarrassed going this far with Annabeth. So she went to pick up their swords, handing Annabeth her estoc. "Good fight. Maybe next time you'll even win." Meirin walked away, cocky, but as soon as she was out of sight she sat down. With the adrenaline dying down she could feel the full extent of her injuries, and she was fairly certain she had a few cracked ribs. She took off her bracer and noticed how bruised it was, and looking at her torso showed it was just as blacken and beaten. This actually made Meirin laugh a little. "Not bad."

Getting a slight patch up by the vitamancer at the sparring grounds, Meirin was still sore, but bandaged up. As long as she didn't get into another fight anytime soon, she would recover. Meirin walked back to her dorm to put her gear away when she noticed Ssarak standing outside. She ducked into a corner and tried to fix her appearance. She noticed that much of her clothes were torn and cut at various spots due to Annabeth's blade, most notably a cut cleave through the cloth that would have covered her cleavage. The best she could do was hold her belongings in front of her chest, which would help hide the her damaged wardrobe. Once she felt that she was decent she turned around the corner.

"S-Ssarak? Hello! I didn't expect you to be here. How are you?"

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak realized after about a minute that Meirin was likely not in her room. He was about to leave to see if he could find her elsewhere when he heard footsteps approaching. He smiled as soon as he turned to see Meirin nearby, though it was not difficult for him to see that she had been through something. He saw the bandages, scruffed up clothing, and bruises, so it was not difficult to guess that she had been in a fight. With all his years as a warrior, he was more than familiar with all the injuries different types of fighting could bring. But, based on her apparent mood, he surmised that it was nothing serious. Though, the marks he could see did not let on completely to how intense Meirin's sparring match had been.

"Well, I just learned today that my private lessons conflicted with another obligation of Satori's so we had to reschedule. Since I had no other plans, it means I am free for the entire day." He explained. Walking up to her, he offered her the rose he was carrying. "So, I was hoping to surprise you. Though, it seems you have been through some excitement yourself. Unless bandages are a part of Human fashion that I never knew about. I trust that whoever gave you those bruises received just as many?" Ssarak asked. He cautiously gave her a light hug, since he was not certain how sore she was at the moment.

Lyn, Orchard

Lyn stared at her new Assimilation Ring. She twisted the branching band, the texture made of some type of hardened rock, and admiring the ruby red gem on her forefinger as it spun around. Her thoughts were lingering on her hunt a few weeks ago and the result of it. Her teeth bit her lower teeth in anxiety over the scene playing out, her mother screaming and being torn from the inside out causing her to shudder thanks to her own imagination. She leaned against the thick trunk of the mulberry, her arms pulling her basket closer and rested it against her pelvis. Her legs hung down while she swayed them back and forth in through. Anyone could easily see something was bothering.

She caught a delicate little branch, her boot toe dislodging a small, fresh leaf. It floated down from the air in a lazy way, coming closer and closer to the red haired woman below. It landed upon her page that she was reading, likely distracting as it had covered over her current reading spot. Another delicate crackle and the next thing that Helena knew, a big, fat mulberry fell right on top of her head. It went splat with its juice straining her scalp and locks, Lyn obvious to it until the woman reacted. Naturally it caused the almost sixteen year old child to cautiously glance downward, her arm stretched out and firmly clasping one of the whippy branches.

Annabeth got herself patched up by the healer on duty, fixing the worse of her wounds. Annabeth was still bloodied and sore but that wasn't anything unusual. She and Meirin had been going at it for a few days and it's probably good for them, though they really need to focus on their swordsmanship. Too often it just ends up in a fist fight, which while fun, isn't what they're suppose to be learning. Once she packed up all her gear Annabeth turned over to Keri with a smile. "Hello Ker-bear. What are you doing out here? Or did you want to train?"

The girl had noticed Keri carrying around that wicked shield. Annabeth couldn't say she liked it; it was looted from that vampire hunter knight, and Annabeth like the idea of using the equipment from scum like him. Annabeth already suggested that Keri just get it melted down and reforged into something else, but Keri wants to hold onto it. Since then Annabeth hasn't really said anything about it, but she still thinks Keri should replace or get rid of it. "I'd love to show you a thing or two, but I'm still a bit sore from sparring Meirin. Wanna go for a walk, or maybe get something to eat?"



It's been two weeks since Tyrael was barred from class. All things considered, his punishment was merciful. Despite threatening, and nearly succeeding, in killing the students in the Catacombs, his only punishment was that he was barred from teaching class until he was deemed fit to resume his job. Well, perhaps not his only punishment. While Khan and the teachers have only prevented him from teaching, most of the punishment came from Tyrael himself. At first he simply holed himself up in the forge, trying to resume orders he had from clients looking for his weapons. But a few days later he started to have a breakdown (Possibly due to smoke inhalation) and had to leave. Then he tried to spend time hunting in the Ravine, but instead of being the silent stalker, he simply vented his rage against the environment and any creature unfortunate enough to not run away from him. He would have tried to see Mar and Lyn to sooth his anger, however...

When Tyrael had heard of what happened at Lyn's Hunt, that truly broke the demon. Lyn's hunt was suppose to be an important and wonderful time for her. While he understood that the sweet and innocent girl may be adverse to killing even an animal, he trusted Mar and even Athalus to teach her how to handle the act of hunting. But to hear that they were attacked by powerful mages, and to see what they did to Mar... Rage was not what Tyrael felt. It was despair. Because despite all his power, all his strength, everything he has worked so hard to obtain, he failed to do the one thing he really wanted: To protect his family.

Nowadays Tyrael isn't even seen roaming the college. He's been drowning his sorrows in Underhaven, drinking watered down Mosswine in a futile attempt to waste away. Normally he never drank so heavily, and his demonic resistance ensured that it took a large surplus of the poison to even get him buzzed. Even now after draining three barrels of the stuff, he was only slightly dizzy. But this was all he felt he could do now. Aside from students occasionally finding him to ask him to forge something, he hasn't really done anything productive with his time. Mostly he's been loathing in self-pity. At least his demons have been leaving him alone. Granted, demons being quiet were normally cause for alarm for Tyrael, but now he just didn't care. He wasn't even certain he would be capable of doing anything about it if they were up to something, considering his past track record.

"Barkeep! Another!"

Althalus

He entered the room and sat down next to Mar, unannounced and moving quietly. For a few moments he just sat next to her, idly watching. Then he took out his old familiar coin, beginning to flip it between his fingers as he hummed a slight tune. It had been two weeks since the operation and Mar's recovery, if one could call it that. She had been sleeping for much of the past week, and when she hadn't been sleeping she had been silently depressed, obviously about her tail and the events that happened before it. She claimed not to remember what happened in her mind, and Satori remembered nothing as well. It struck Althalus as odd and worried him as well. Who, or what, was powerful enough to wipe Satori's memory and what do they want with Mar? It was yet again something he couldn't defend Mar against. But he could prepare to fight to defend her.

"You know. Legs aren't that bad. You can finally climb trees, balance properly, kick things, wall run, jump, all kinds of things. And if you're worried about being stabbed and taken out, welcome to the club. Everyone in the college has been stabbed by surprise, me more so than others." He flicked his coin through the air, catching it in his other fingers and beginning to flip it almost immediately. He smiled childishly. "Been practicing that with Lyn for a while. That reminds me. Alaira's still very upset about being knocked out and having her jaw broke by her one opponent, and only getting lucky when she killed him. If she hadn't hit him just right in the skull, he would have only been very angry and hurting rather than dead from electric shock to the brain. I mentioned it, and she threw bottles at me. With terrifying accuracy. I'm not even sure where she got most of them from. "

Uicle

CLANG!

"Gods damn it!" Uicle cursed as he was picking himself up from the ground where he had slipped. "So much for my dramatic entrance." He grumbled, making his way over to where Tyrael was. "So. This is what the mighty Demonomancy teacher does when he screws up. Wallows in self-pity. Impressive, truly." Uicle sat down on the stool next to Tyrael, only to crash to the ground as it broke. He sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll remain standing for this talk." He picked himself up yet again, before turning to face the half-demon. "Alright. You've had enough time to wallow in self-pity about how you screwed up in the Catacombs. You made mistake. So do we all. You're not teaching but that doesn't mean you can't be helping yourself or the College. We're at war, in case you haven't noticed. Something sent those mages. Something attacked our students and nearly succeeded in making you do a terrible thing. I want to see them defeated before they see us defeated. But we can't do it while you wallow here. You can either sit here like a failure, or you can do something about it."

Helena had heard the sound of footsteps approaching, but she'd not bothered looking up at them. It could be anyone, and since she didn't really know too many people, she doubted that it was someone who would want to talk with her. So she went on reading, subconsciously ignoring the sound of someone or something climbing the tree she sat under. Might be a stray cat for all she knew.

And then there was a leaf on her page. The green a sharp contrast to the off white of the pages below it. She looked at it with something like surprise before she reached a hand up to brush it away. It was to be expected when sitting under a tree that leaves would fall down on you. She was just happy it wasn't any of the juicy looking berries that she'd glimpsed before flopping down.

Splat

“Ugh!”

“Shit,” came the signal hiss of a curse when she realized what had happened. She had spoken too soon as it were. She could feel the juice running down through her red hair that she'd thought would be a fine time to wear down. She supposed that was better than getting all over her shirt, though. Her hair at least was easier to wash. Shifting, she turned to look up at the reason she was now sporting more than one color in her hair.

“Hey,” she called up, looking into the face of a young woman. She hardly looked older than her, but there was something different about her, that was certain. “You might wanna be cautious when sitting in a tree full of berries when there's someone else under it.” She reached up to pull the mess of mulberry out of her hair after closing her book. Her tone was flustered, but she didn't look angry or anything like that. Just annoyed at the sticky mess of her hair.

"Gamey, bit stringy, and...... tough this one." Baulder said as he contemplated eating another chunk of the fresh Elk. Baulder played with the piece of flank steak for a second before looking down at John Cena who was still shoving chunks into his mouth and chewing with new teeth. For the past two weeks since Tyrael's teaching ban Baulder had a lighter class load than usual. So he had decided hunting with John would be a better way to fill the time then trying to keep up with Tyrael's working pace in the forges. "Repeat."

"Gaaamey, bi...it string, an-nd tough t-this one." John stammered out with his mouthful. John had become nearly a spitting image of Baulder himself. Other than some skin tone issues and his teeth becoming sharper than his own John could pass as Baulder, as long as he didn't talk anyways. Baulder was pleased at the progress his demon had made, he wondered what he would do after he got him to speak correctly. But he wasn't alone anymore, the facsimile was close enough that he felt as if he had a companion in this world now.

"Finish up, we've got reading to do." Baulder said. He then devoured the piece of meat he was holding as John picked through the innards eating the liver and stomach of the dead animal. He had begun to notice John preferred the organs over the muscle and fat of things that they killed. While it seemed odd to him he wasn't complaining, more for him.

Baulder had cleaned himself up and sent John back to the Inferno where he belonged. Having put on clean white linen Baulder took a seat in the Underhaven at one of the booths pressed against the wall he had a thick tome in front of him he had yet to open, something to do with demon transfiguration. He had learned not to long ago that John was likely some sort of Vitamancer given that he was able to adapt to a new form so quickly. But he wasn't reading at that moment, he was watching master Tyrael who was at the bar. He had watched him down an amount of alcohol that likely would have killed Baulder. He couldn't help but think that such an ability would be... useful. But that wasn't why he was there. While the fact that the underground bar was cooler and damper than the rest of the college he found that Tyrael had been spending quite a bit of time here. After he had cranked out a massive amount of client orders recently and given Baulder a suit of ironwood armor Tyrael would spend the rest of his day in the Underhaven or the Inferno. Baulder could only follow him to one of those places. So Baulder sat quietly watching his master and reading whatever book they were given in class by one of the other demonmancy teachers. Waiting for Tyrael to teach him something.

The only interesting thing that had happened so far was Uicle coming in and immediately being struck by a piece of falling debris. Baulder grinned and stifled a laugh. The suit of armor Baulder had found to be a source of constant entertainment with all the absolutely ridiculous things that had a habit of falling on him. Baulder turned back to his book and opened it up to where he had left off, seeing as he was too far away to ease drop on the two teachers.

Keri watched both fighters part from each other, nodding her head at the retreating Meirin, before turning her attention back at Annabeth. The vampire was glad her friend went to the healer since she was rather beaten on. The young woman stayed near the scattered gear patiently waiting for the human to return. When the woman returned she began gathering her things though there was still blood showing from the least major injuries. A familiar smile was produced after all the gear was gather forcing Keri to chuckle. It was just like Annabeth to get hurt and still be able to smile afterwards."Hello Ker-bear. What are you doing out here? Or did you want to train?" the vampire raised an eyebrow wondering when the woman had come up with that one, not that she hated the nickname.

The human still seemed disappointed that the shield was still in one piece instead of being reforged into something else. It was a good suggestion yet it didn't feel right in a way. Not after recent events. The shield was more of a reminder that Keri was no longer alone. That there were other's there to help when she herself was unable to keep going by herself. The excuse the vampire had said was that there was no point in changing something that wasn't broken."I'd love to show you a thing or two, but I'm still a bit sore from sparring Meirin. Wanna go for a walk, or maybe get something to eat?" Annabeth asked." Lunch sounds good. Afterwards I would like to stop at the forge to get some stuff. I would also like your help too."

Annabeth Gulch

Annabeth tilted her head at Keri's request for Annabeth's help. She wondered if Keri meant help at the forge; while Annabeth has been to a forge before and has a few uncles who were blacksmith, she never used a hammer and tong before. The closest thing to smithing she ever did was sharpening her blades. But regardless she'll see what she can do. "Sure. I think I might have some Blood Root back at the kitchen. Underhaven is a bit... Crowded around this time, so maybe we could just head to the mess hall?" Truth is, ever since the catacomb mission, Tyrael had been coming to Underhaven a lot. At first Annabeth simply went about her business as usual, but more and more he just comes in, drinks all the mosswine and strong alcohol, and occasionally yells at a demon or vampire. She even got the misfortune of having to serve him a drink, where he nearly exploded at Annabeth because she had only filled his mug half-way. She tried to be understanding of him at first, but now Annabeth just wishes that he would leave.

"I've been meaning to ask you, what have you been up to at the forge? I see you there sometimes, but you don't look like you're just browsing. Are you making something?" Annabeth couldn't say she knew all of Keri's skills so for all she knew Keri may actually be a skilled smith. Though it only made Annabeth wonder even more why Keri doesn't dismantle that shield, but she tried her best to ignore it and simply accept it for what it is. "I tried my hand at smithing once, but I just didn't have the patience for it. Melting ingots into molten metal, hammering away at them in extreme temperatures while wearing so many layers of clothes, days spent grinding and treating the metal, and all just for a little knife? I've decided to spend by time on more immediate things."

Lucilia Riovas

It’s been business as usual for Lucilia. Always busy, always a new problem, and always Lucilia was on-hands to deal with it personally. The new mercenaries, colorful characters, needed to be properly housed and controlled. While she largely left the face-to-face interaction to Darius or Grey, she still managed their finances and made sure to investigate any disruptions they were causing. Fortunately they were on their best behavior, though that didn’t mean she didn’t hire a few of her vampires to oversee their conduct.

Then there was that mess with the Catacombs. Lucilia did not get involved with Tyrael’s trial; she made it obviously known that she thinks that he needs to be removed from the college. A horrible teacher and a nut case. Of course she was being prejudice so she didn’t think her opinion mattered, and beside that she had more important things to be concerned about than the demonic orc. Namely the purpose of the mission was to fetch much needed materials for Ovak’s medicine, which was completely forgotten the moment the naga arrived.

Lucilia had to divert much of her time and resources into getting the materials to treat Ovak that she narry had the time to speak to the naga. While she was present on the meeting concerning where to relocate them, she never got the chance to speak to them personally, despite her interest with them. She especially wanted to speak to the matriarch in order to foster better relationships with the naga, but unfortunately Lucilia’s own business in the Ravine had to come first.

Indeed, the Ravine proved so treacherous that she could not even rely on her vampires to venture deep enough. While she had skilled warriors in her employ, the Ravine could not be defeated simply through skill at arms. After the first party she sent came back with only one survivor, Lucilia had to dedicate two days venturing into the hellhole. And while she ultimately triumphed, she made a very important note that next time, she needs to prepare a specialized team solely to venture into those deep roads. She was prepared for everything, and she had ten too many close calls.

Right now, Lucilia had one more duty on top of everything else. She had spent a better part of her day cleaning up her office to the point it looked like she was moving out. Indeed, she had just about everything from cabinets to her desk, even the window was removed. Now while it made sense for a vampire to want as little contact with the sun (Lucilia always made sure to feed so that the sun doesn’t bother her), this change wasn’t for Lucilia. It was for Satori.

There was a knock on the door. Lucilia went to answer and found the pink-haired psychic. They greeted each other with a friendly embrace before walking into Lucilia’s bare-bones office.

”Thank you for taking your time out for help me.”

”Think nothing of it, Satori. I may be a busy woman, but I’m never too busy for a friend.”

The two women sat across from each other on two separate couches, with a table between them. On the table were ten six-sided die. The perfect setup for a game of Five Die. It was the game that Satori played to gamble for Mar’s soul, that much she knew. But everything else was blank. Ever since Satori woke up from her coma, her memory of what happened in Mar’s mind was gone. While she was able to extract Mar’s own coherent memories, discovering who attacked her and how, everything else after that was nonexistent. This troubled Satori greatly as she was perhaps the most powerful Psychomancer of their time, yet somehow someone was able to force her to forget something. Satori didn’t even know what she had forgotten, but the fact that she did was a big sign that whatever she saw, it was important. And whoever took those memories away from her was powerful.

Satori had spent a large part of her time trying to remember what happened but to no avail. The game of Five Die was all she could remember, so using her own deductive skills, she figured that she must have gambled Mar’s mind and soul against an opponent in her head. That was speculation of course, but Satori felt if she could replicate the scene, her mind might be able to piece together at least some facsimile of what had happened. A trace of the truth that would allow Satori a picture of what went down. Satori had to cancel her extra classes for today, but that was an unfortunate necessity if she intends to somehow prepare herself and the others against this mysterious opponent.

"Good enough. Let's play."

Tyrael Marcrosias

The demon sighed as Uicle made his entrance. He didn’t even need to look to know it was him; the sound of everything falling apart was essentially Uicle’s theme song. Tyrael continued to drink as the necromancy teacher gave him a small speech, and once he was finished Tyrael simply held his mug out to be refilled. While it was being filled he spoke quietly. ”You think I have not noticed? You think that I am not prepared for war? You think that if I knew who sent those mages, who attacked Lyn and mutilated Mar, I would be here drinking?” Once his mug was filled up Tyrael drank, draining the cup in a single gulp.

”I have nothing to follow. No scent, no evidence, and no one can tell me what they saw. Even Satori cannot remember what happened. Satori. Someone, something, wiped her memory. And with nothing, all I can do is be prepared.” Tyrael stood up and faced Uicle, his hulking body dwarfing the walking suit of armor. Anger was apparent, but also a touch of depression. ”I nearly killed everyone in the catacomb because I was reckless. If you want me to act now, first I would do is accuse someone of the college of being responsible. Then I would accuse the nagas. Then I would accuse Kudd, go into the Inferno, and never come back. Though we both know I am wrong. So for the sake of everyone else I have done nothing.”

It wasn’t as if Tyrael didn’t want to find out who was responsible and kill them. But he had nothing to find them with. If Kudd was responsible, he had already started looking for Kudd and a way to stop him months ago. But if it was someone else, someone who could be more powerful than Kudd? Tyrael needed something. Anything. Even if it was just a sliver, it would be something that Tyrael could use so he could follow it back to it’s source. Hell, if he had the corpses on hand he could use them to find their masters. But he had nothing. So there was nothing he could do.

It seemed to be a reoccurring theme.

”I am leaving.” Tyrael created a portal to the Inferno, taking out a solid chunk of silver. He left it on the counter to pay for the drinks as Tyrael walked out of Underhaven. He didn’t really know where he was going, but right now he just wanted to not be here. He felt like he was losing a grip on things, no control over anything happening in his life. Everything he touches only get worse; he can’t even destroy them. They simply get worse. He needed to find something he knows he can deal with.

Maybe he’ll go to the ocean. He had some business he needed to settle.