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"Aha! No worries, friend! Just doing my part to be a light in the dark!" Her response to Vamon was almost automatic to her, and she found herself chuckling like a giddy schoolgirl, cheeks blushing and grinning from ear to ear. She waves him goodbye and lets out a contented sigh as he enters the barracks. "Well... there's my good deed for the day done...! Hehehe! Are you proud of me, mother?" The young woman made sure to move out of sight of the guard at the barracks (and away from any other prying eyes), before quickly revealing her sun stone and issuing a short prayer to her deceased parents. "Don't worry, mama, papa. I'll keep being a good person so long as I live. I promised you that, didn't I?"

Just as she felt herself about to shed a tear, however, Spencer noticed something strange as she stared at her sun stone:

It flickered.

She felt a chill run down her spine and instinctively looked toward the ceiling, where the faint glow of what little light made it to the ceiling was blocked, somehow. She tried her best to get a good look at the shadow, however it vanished as soon as it had come, a low whistle sounding out to signal it's disappearance. "Huh. Spooky shadows." Intrigued, Spencer tried to follow the sound that the shadow had made, as well as the direction it seemed to go, though that was hard to do without revealing her sun stone. "Huh? I wonder where it went...?"

@Dark Light: “I earned that medallion with my decisions, justice and strength. Blessing have nothing to do with it for it's an older title that's outside of the church for a reason.” Nevan replied and turned to the priest who seemed to finally take notice and doing a nice thing to keep the peace in her small protectorate.

“Easy, I first earned the position of head captain of the royal guard of Belizarius. I did everything to protect the peace and uphold the laws. I protected the peace, the innocent and those that I was required by obligation. I destroyed corruption everywhere I saw it. Then I was nominated for the church's inner tournament where the strongest of inquisitors take participation.” She replied as she walked over to pick up the body.” By ancient decree of the union, the Solaris was always supposed to be an external presence from the church, so I returned the title where it belonged when I defeated all of the best inquisitors.” She finished and picked up also the medallion also.

“You should ask your superiors why during the tournament it was fine for five inquisitors to gang up on me during the one on one matches...” She threw in as she started walking away.” For all the good it did them. Open your eyes, priest. Only those who see can survive.” She said as she started walking away and the light from her lantern vanished into the darkness of a side alley she took.

@Delta44 Following the shadow in the darkness is quite the hard hurdle even for a vampire, but for better or worse following the sound it made turned out easier as moments later the sound will appear again for a moment and again and again. It's easy to follow for the distance of a few buildings and turns, but eventually the sound was replaced by the clashing and scratching of metal in an alley nearby. Not to mention the light that was now dancing from that alley as if a fire was dancing there. She could go check what's going on.

@ONL@Sam12435: The tavern briefly got quiet again and then noisy once more when the alchemist stepped in. Some people were talking about the smell that filled the air around him, people wondering what a man of his stature and craft is doing in this forsaken place.

Others were now talking about the big dog that they finally noticed. Dogs were a rare breed now and the appearance of one was often seen as a great luck and a good omen. As was the case with most animals that were near extinct now.

By Vamon the innkeeper grunted something under his breath and then pulled some a bowl of mushroom stew, some salad and some roasted meat. Then he also filled a mug with Ale and placed them by the alchemist.” 15 copper.” The keeper stated, awaiting his money.

---

Sala & Vala

“Unrest will soon be upon this place... everywhere” The witches replied in unison without specifying anything more. They had no proof of this, but were sure the chaos of unrest and battle will soon fill every cavern around here, every tunnel and every settlement. If luck and sanity were the main moving force, maybe there was at least going to be survivors left.

The witches then blinked and looked at Guthrie in surprise before looking at each other, tiling their heads and looking at the man again. Their faces revealed a look clearly saying – 'Don't you find us attractive?'. Then they simply smiled and relaxed back in their seats as Theo showed up in their field of view.

“Awee, he's … Adorable!” Sala and Vala said as they left their seats and crouched by the dog, to pat and tickle him behind the ears.” Sure thing... we will heal him right up!” The witches then stated as Sala pulled a small potion from her bag. It was cyan on color. After opening it, she then pulled a small piece of bread from the table and dripped some of potion on it. Finally she closed the potion and put it away again and then taking a piece of meat to add to the bread.” Here, Theo.” She said slowly moving the piece towards his mouth while gently caressing his back.” This will make you feel a lot better.” She added while she was offering the piece of food just under his nose until the dog gets tempted by the meat and eats it.

“He's going to be fine. The infection or anything that's not a complete wound will be healed in a few minutes.” Sala stated, still playing with Theo. Then Vala looked up towards Guthrie.” So how will we proceed about this map?”

Vamon

The smell of a warm meal was inviting to say the least. Vamon pulled out the copper pieces and presented them to the man with a bit of a bow, before moving himself and his food to a table away from the centre of the room. Eating could be somewhat of an exercise when you had to hide your face. But he started enjoying his meal none the less, only moving his scarf aside to take a mouthful and placing it back on his face between each one. He usually wasn’t one to drink ale, but from time to time it was acceptable. Especially considering this towns view on alchemists made him feel much safer than he had since he had started his exile. But as he ate, he found himself getting a little distracted by the table with the large dog. He couldn’t overhear their conversation, but he was a little interested as one of the girls pulled out a potion. She seemed to be giving some of it to the dog, which was a little odd to him. But perhaps it had been injured?

His interest soon faded though and he went back to focusing on his meal, though a thought did stick with him. As he had just found out, potions were far more expensive than a town like this would have in generous stock. It might even be fair to assume that most people in the town wouldn’t have any potions at their disposal. So that said, it raised a rather interesting question. Who were these girls?

“Perhaps they were travellers like me” He thought as he cautiously looked the girls over. Their clothes looked pretty odd so they defiantly weren’t locals, they even looked quite extravagant. They reminded him of clothes that noble women would wear in his days in Belizarius. They were quite different in design, but it had been a while since he had seen clothes of the sort. But that said, something else about the girls seemed to remind him of his time at home. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but something about them seemed familiar. He thought hard, but he defiantly hadn’t met them before, he would defiantly remember such a meeting. He soon realised though, that he had been staring. He put the thoughts aside for now, opting instead to return to his meal.

As he ate, he pulled out his book of secrets and began reading through his previous notes, deciding to distract himself from his previous thoughts. He found it to be a good way to keep his thoughts in order if he re-read his old notes on a regular basis. That way he could potentially spot anything he had missed, or perhaps even realise a previous mistake thanks to some new information. After a while he had become engrossed enough in reading that he had forgotten to replace the scarf over his face as he ate. Thankfully he had picked a table as removed as he could, but it was still a careless mistake on his part. A mistake that he wouldn’t become aware of until he finished his meal.

As he ate, he pulled out his book of secrets and began reading through his previous notes. He found it to be a good way to keep his thoughts in order if he re-read his old notes on a regular basis. That way he could potentially spot anything he had missed, or perhaps even realise a previous mistake thanks to some new information. After a while he had become engrossed enough in reading that he had forgotten to replace the scarf over his face as he ate. Thankfully he had picked a table as removed as he could, but it was still a careless mistake on his part. A mistake that he wouldn’t become fully aware of until he finished his meal.

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Spencer was intrigued, needless to say, and followed the curious sound throughout town. Though it's shadow was hard to keep track of in the darkness, even with her sun stone, Spencer found that she could follow the sound that it had made as it appeared, as the sound repeated over and over. Eventually, however, the sound could no longer be heard, replaced by the crashing and scratching of metal. It reminded Ira of clashing swords, a sound which she did not like to hear. A little concerned, Spencer tip-toed toward the alleyway, and poked her head around the corner to try and catch a glimpse of what was there.

On her approach, the young vampire gently wrapped her fingers around her blade's hilt, prepared for anything. As sapphire eyes poke around the corner, her other hand gently caresses her sun stone in an effort to keep her calm, her nerves beginning to set in. It does a satisfactory job, and clears Spencer's mind somewhat. 'It's probably just someone forging a blade or something, right...? Haha... Yeah, it's definitely that...! Eheeeee...' Quietly, carefully, she poked her head around the corner, anxious as to what she might see...

Judge

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"The light beckons you."
The lights flickered in the distance, calling to him like dancers in the night. He watched the lights, its luminescence growing and receding to the beat of his breath. He couldn't recall the light when he first came down this street and, while he was new to this town, his memory was sharp enough to recall such details. He began to move down the road, Were the lights meant for him? Perhaps another. It mattered not. He
made a career off of believing there were no such thing as coincidences.

Judge scratched the crow under his chin, the small creature rubbing his body against his nail, peeling a lose feather from its plumage. It cawed in a pathetic way as he approached and ultimately passed the street where they'd be finding rest and a meal, but stuck to its master's shoulder and watched the flickering lights with its blackened empty eyes. "We'll see what it is and get food in our bellies after," the arcanist reassured his pet. As the distance between themselves and the source of the light dwindled down, Judge's pace slowed accordingly. Caution had been as much a part of his career as anything else.
"Seekers are the first to find what they were never looking for."

Judge stopped, some distance before the lights and rose his left pointer finger at them. "Awaken," he commanded, drawing the smoldering ball of living flame from within his finger, "and show me what there is to be seen." The willowisp complied and drifted forward, casting a warm red light across all within arms length of it.

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Guthrie decided not to dwell further into whatever it was that the twins were so afraid of, preaching unrest and the gods knew what else soon to be upon this land. He had heard that kind of talk many a time before, and he was still alive, so doomsday prediction never fell into good taste. Then again, the twins seemed nice enough, so he simply let them talk of something else.

While he was looking for wherever Theo was, he managed to catch the look in the twins' eyes, subconsciously pondering on what they were meaning with their look - well, looks really, they were two after all. Awfully similar and unison, yet two. But he was thankful once their attention were instantaneously caught by Theo, for their questioning look was not something he'd wish to answer. Not that they weren't a fair sight to lay his eyes upon, for they truly were, but it was his past he'd rather not dig up.

"Great, because I was not planning on staying in this town for much longer either way. I am your in debt, which coincidentally evens out the issue with the map." Guthrie said with a smile to the twins, his eyes shifting from the one petting Theo up to the one speaking to him. Her hair was chestnut brown, her eyes grey as the cold mist in the deepest caves and something about them that spoke of desperation. It was perhaps because of this, beside their help with Theo, that he decided to lay down a piece of parchment.

"This is what you're looking for, miss..." Guthrie let his words hang in the air for a moment, waiting for her - and her sister's - name. "Well, part of it at least. I was planning on venturing beyond this point here and further into the cave systems. With only the map, which I wouldn't mind giving away as payment, you would get too far to simply returning to Shezze and not far enough to make it whatever lies down there. So if you two want the map, you can have it. But I'll be coming along for the journey to map out the rest. Maybe then you can repay the rest of the map, maybe even save my skin? Deal?"

Guthrie opened his previously closed palm, holding it for Vala to take and shake it. It mattered little to him if he ventured out there alone or with someone, but he had the nagging feeling that they wouldn't survive long out there alone. Not without someone to keep them safe.

Five inquisitors had saw the peril of the situation, the snake weaving through the system, the darkness clawing through the light, and even with their will combined it was too late to prevent the failings of sentimental customary gratitudes.

Because the church so generously shared the law with rabble like herself motions were put into play to appease the crowds and show a unified front. So tokens like the Solaris were born.
But now the very tool used to once unify and uphold the law now sat at opposing ends to their wishes and was being used to undermine their holiest of orders.

The people had to know fear and panic as to not repeat the mistakes of the past. To put purpose to the woman's death and bring her to the light one last time.
But perhaps the witches death had brought purpose after all. Azerus was given an insight greater than anyone would gain from witnessing a burning body. He was blessed to see the gods will in action. Their meeting had been no coincidence but fate instead, it was beautiful. An ending of one era, a purpose now filled, phase one of a greater plan complete.

His path was clear, he never looked back as the darkness engulfed him.
His breathes slow and steady, feet soft and silent, his direction true and confident as he returned to the church with the sole purpose to seek guidance and learn the correct method of removing the title of Solaris from the unworthy.

He reported to the priest what he had to and immediately after bathing sought what little holy books were available on tradition and the copies of history and titles that every church held and updated.

@Dark Light: The local priest of Shezze had turned sickly pale when he heard Azerus
‘s tale of his encounter with the Solaris. The issues between the Solaris and the Church were not a new thing, everyone of power knew the Solaris’s disdain for the way their holy order treated those of magic they didn’t control. In fact he had received a very specific orders from the higher ups, from their very leader in fact, to not engage into conflict with the Solaris under any circumstances. Truth was that even though she was exiled outside of Belizarius for her refusal to kill those heretics, the general populace and many soldiers still held her into very high regard. If the Solaris chose to declare war on the church, many would follow her example and the church was not yet ready to declare open battle on all those heretics.

Still he had seen the fires in Azerus’s eyes so he naturally allowed him to pursue his investigation in how to take care of the title of Solaris, while in secret drafting a letter to be delivered to the high temple in Belizarius about the event that had transpired. Hoping that the ‘discrete dealings’ he had made would solve that problem before a message from Belizarius returns.

Back to Azerus, in his search he came across many different facts and information about the title of Solaris. It’s origins were mostly ‘lost’ to time, but it was clear the title was as old as the church itself. Many of it’s holders were affiliated with the church, but equally as many were from the outside. In his study he discovered only 3 ways for a Solaris to lose his or her title. First was to be proven in taking part of grave injustice towards innocents. Second was to lose an official combat challenge of fire. The third way’s to be proven the Solaris can use demonic magics.

@ONL@Sam12435: After the initial commotion caused by the new arrivals in the face of Guthrie and Vamon, the tavern’s situation returned to normal with people returning to their chats only to occasionally throw glances of the travelers and the two extremely beautiful women that now were present. Still people did not really engage into conversations or anything of the sort with them. Maybe it was concern, maybe it was fear or maybe they simply were tired and just wanted to have a nice time with only their closest friends whom they knew for sure wouldn’t stab them in the back.

@Marx@Delta44: Both of Spencer and Judge are carefully approaching upon the source of flickering light and sounds of metal scratching against metal. Each with his own way looks around the corner into the event that’s transpiring on alleyway.

3 different figures are entwined into a dance of light and darkness. The light that had drawn both of them in turns out to be a pair of long elegant swords covered in bright almost white fire. Their user’s appearance was largely hidden from the strong light released by the burning swords and the two shadowy figures that were locked into mortal dance with the warrior. From this distance, illuminated from the fires, Spencer and Judge could both make out the shapes of the shadows… they are just that beasts made out of shadows and smoke. Cursed creatures, summoned to do the bidding of magicians and anyone else with the resources to complete the rituals.


The ground gives in to the impacts of magical claws and steel, the stone is being scratched as the destruction around the alley increases. Suddenly a door opens behind Spencer and a man with tired expressions shows up.” WHAT’S ALL THIS BLOODY NOISE!?” He shouts before a one of the shadow creatures disengages it’s adversary and pounces towards the man, passing right by Spencer.

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Sala & Vala

The witches carefully studied Guthrie as he spoke. Sala and Vala observed his every movement, the way his body reacted, his small changes in posture. He was speaking the truth or at least they thought so. He didn’t have the look of a liar about him and his hound was such a nice ‘little’ adorable thing! The looked at each other and nodded before, returning their gazes at him once more with a smile.

“Pleasure to meet you, Guthrie Jean Harlanson.” They said in unison and did a courtesy.” My name is Sala Falere.” The dark haired twin replied.” My name is Vala Falere.” Her sister added before their courtesy ended and then looked up again.” It will be a pleasure to travel with you… We suspect the safety in numbers will be our greatest ally out there.” The finally started talking in unison once more as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world.

“We shall repay you… for the help one way or another.” They said and looked around before sitting on their chairs once more to return to their drinks.” We propose to ask around. If there are other people who wish to venture out, it would be best to gather up a small group before we leave.” Sala stated and looked at her sister and then at the big huggable dog.

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'W-what the...?'

Spencer stares upon the scene with horrific fascination. Her eyes dart about between the darkness and the light, trying to make out different shapes and tie them to persons, however with such differing extremes in light and shadow, it was hard to make out such details. Ears grating from the loud commotion, Spencer couldn't help but wince as the bright lights and loud noises temporarily flooded her senses, and she had to take a step back to let her vision and hearing adjust. 'Fighting... way too loud... too bright...' Her senses gently lower from their explosive spike, gradually allowing Spencer a greater insight into the situation, though not by much. She could at least make out that the ground was giving way from the heavy strikes - she thought it better if she didn't get involved.

Unfortunately for her, things didn't look like they would be going Ira's way. Due to one of the locals running outside and shouting, it drew the attention of one of the shadow creatures, whom rushed right past Spencer and likely tore the man to shreds. Spencer could only watch in terror. She backed up slowly against the wall, only making quiet, panicked noises to signify her existence, as well as resting her hand on her sword in self defence. Sweat drops from her brow as she watches the dark creature as best she can within the darkened space, fumbling with her free to reveal her sun stone. As it is revealed, a gentle, orange glow falls over the area, though it's less for seeing the dark creature and more-so for her own comfort.

'Oh god... Oh god, no...! P-please go away...! Please don't h-hurt more people!'

Spencer prayed with all her might that the creature before her would not continue on...

Vamon

Vamon’s meal was finished rather quickly, the allure of a freshly made meal was enough to cause him to disregard his manners a little. He wiped his face before something occurred to him. Pulling up his scarf, he glanced around the room for anyone that might have seen him. It seemed like he had been quite lucky, perhaps the men were more interested in other things. He glanced over the two women again for a moment, making a mental note of their faces. He was determined to discover why they seemed so familiar to him, but his scent may have been bothering patrons so he decided to leave for now. He left the bowl and cup on the table as he stood and made his way out of the tavern.

He stepped back into the square and stretched before looking around. He wasn’t sure what to do next, he had made some money and gotten a meal, so study seemed like the option for the rest of the day. He began making his way towards the Inn before he heard what sounded like scraping metal. It was fairly close by; he could make it to the source without a lot of trouble. He wondered for a second whether it would be worth going, he had no idea what the sound even was. But he eventually decided it was at least worth checking out.

“What’s the worst that could happen, I spend a few minutes wandering for no reason He started walking towards where he heard the noise. “On the other hand, I could find some kind of treasure. Like a Sunshard or a bag of gold. Maybe the secrets of the universe will be revealed to me simply because I chose to follow a noise” He chuckled a little as he strolled down the street. Despite his scepticism of the situation, his interest began to grow as the sound grew louder and louder. He wondered for a moment what it could be, but he never even considered that it might be a fight. Turning the corner, he was met with a sickening sight. A large, shadowy beast pounced out of an alley and began attacking a man.

At first he could hardly believe it was real, it seemed more like something from a dream. But as reality started to sink in, Vamon felt the fear crawl up his spine. “I need to run. I need to run or I will die. I will go get help at the barracks, they can do something. I can’t fight something like this, it’s a… monster… but…” His thoughts all pointed to one solution, to leave and get help. But if he left now, it’s likely that people would die. After just a moments consideration, he drew an acid bomb from his bag and threw it at the creature. He proceeded to draw his rapier and inch closer to the creature. He wasn’t sure if the man was still alive, or if anyone would even be close enough to help him. He whistled as loud as he could, both to try and draw attention from anyone in the area, and to direct the beast towards him.

“Whats the worst that could happen…” He muttered with a somewhat frustrated tone as he entered his duelling stance. This was about as far from a duel as one could get, but it was the only real combat experience he had, so he hoped it would serve him well.

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"Pleasure to meet you two...too." Guthrie couldn't help but smile, perhaps a tad grinningly at his well-placed choice of words. Laughing at his own jokes - if one could call it that - was not something he used to, so the grin quickly turned into a hastened sound of him swallowing. And then he remembered that he was supposed to protect the sisters, and his posture returned to his usual one; one of a warrior, afraid of little to nothing.

"An fair observation...Vala and Sala. Though, no offense meant, I would prefer to have someone beside me who can wield another sword. You two look...well, capable in your own ways, but you probably understand what might await us down there. You know how to protect yourselves?"

All the while the trio was talking along, Theo's attention was suddenly caught by something. A sound, or more, coming from outside the tavern. His ears straightened up, his face pointed towards the door as he intently listened to whatever it was he was hearing. Within seconds, Guthrie caught the sound of his canine companion bark, much to the annoyance of the tavern's patrons. Guthrie caught off his conversation witht the sisters, beautiful as they were to behold, Theo was signalling that something was wrong.

"Theo's heard something. Perhaps our people have found us. Or more likely, trouble." Guthrie said quickly to Sala and Vala. Before the bar keep knew it, Guthrie was already halfway out the door, just behind Theo who was listening intently to where the sound was coming from. Somewhere further down the street, the faintest sound of something...Theo was right, something was very odd. "Search, Theo, search! I'm right behind you, boy!"

---

Pleased with his findings Azerus retreated into the familiarities of ritual. Readings from the holy books, prayers, exercise, a basic meal of mushroom and rice, meditation, cleaning/church chores, bathing, more prayers, sleep.

When he awoke his plan was to sift through the town gathering information and rumours. His two points of interest would be the barracks and the tavern. While it was important to stay on top of the happenings of the town, he really wanted to start his investigation into the solaris.
In truth he didn't know where to start, so like so many times before he left his fate to the light and walked aimlessly through the streets without thought, guided only by faith that he would be led to where he needs to be.

@Dark Light

@Delta44@Sam12435@Marx: The situation by the shadow creature that broke off quickly turned from bad to worse indeed. The local who had the bad luck to draw the beast's attention was quickly torn into. Long magical claws of darkness shredded through his chest, splattering blood all around and the creature continued to claw at the body. The only solace was that the man had died from the first attack.

As the glow from Spencer's shard started to spread around her, the beast noticed it right away and let out an enraged growl at her, turning it's head towards the girl. It was a being of darkness so naturally everything light and fire had effect on it and it didn't like it. As the beast was about to jump at her, an object came flying and impacted into it. It shattered and liquid substance of sorts showered the being and the area around it.

It was the acid bomb thrown by Vamon. For his bad luck, his decision to throw it at the creature wasn't of his smartest ones. The creature while partially corporeal, wasn't really a living physical entity. It was sort of magical apparition, an evil spirit and as such physical attacks barely affected it if at all. The acid drops slid across it's form and onto the stone with sizzling sound and now he had attracted the attention of the beast instead of Spencer. It turned towards him, spreading it's claws and letting out what sounded like angry roars at him, before jumping at him.

@ONL: Guthrie was quickly followed by Sala and Vala as they chased after the hound. The trusty canine companion had indeed picked up a sound worthy of checking out. Theo led them with haste through the streets and small narrow alleys before they reached the alleyway where the complete madness was currently happening. They arrived by Spencer and currently at the back of the shadow creature that was currently jumping to attack Vamon.

@Dark Light: Azerus's decision to walk the streets and search for information has provided most correct, but not the in way he expect it to. While walking down the alleys aimlessly, he suddenly would hear the sound of battle and some really grotesque sounds of a creature that's certainly not a normal thing to be in town. The sounds of battle aren't too far and even from his position, he could hear a female voice shouting about something, but cannot make out the words. Is this his sign? The lead he needs in his search of truth of the Solaris?

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Sala & Vala

The witches followed their newly gained companions with silent agreement. They were going to help him to help themselves. After all if they helped him to survive and accompany them into the tunnels, they'd have a trusty protector against physical attackers. Also they liked him because they liked Theo. The canine was currently their most favorite creature ever, after each other of course.

When they arrived at the location, the twins halted in shock when seeing the shadowy figure. They remembered reading about these things, but they were so rare that any information on them was sparse, especially since they were supposed to be main target specialty of the church and they liked to keep their secrets as much as possible. Still they knew full enough how dangerous this thing was.” PHYSICAL ATTACKS ARE USELESS AGAINST THIS!” The witches called in unison.” USE MAGIC, FIRE OR SOME KIND OF LIGHT ATTRIBUTE ATTACK!” They explained and quickly took their light potions in hands, making them shine as bright as possible to provide vision, and negative effect on the beast. They had hteir magic, but these creatures were of hte type that the witches' magic was less than effective on.

The beast had now jumped at Vamon, but luckily for the man, a burning sword came flying as the figure fighting the shadows alone earlier, had thrown one of it's burning weapons to stop the fiend from hurting Vamon with it's leap.

Vamon

“Yes!” Vamon thought as the acid bomb shattered against the creature. But his excitement quickly faded as it turned its attention towards him. The beast seemed almost entirely unaffected by the acid, shaking it odd and growling at him. The beast suddenly lunged at him, and for a moment Vamon thought he was going to meet a similar fate as the beasts first victim. But all of a sudden, a burning blade came flying and struck the creature in the side. It seemed distracted for a moment, and Vamon used the small window to sidestep most of the attack. A claw caught itself on his cloak, tearing it from his back. He felt his stomach drop for a moment, the reality starting to sink in. If he wasn’t careful here, he was going to die. But he was surprised to hear a voice giving him some advice.

“WELL I DON’T THINK I HAVE ANY OF THOSE KINDS OF ATTACKS SO IF YOU DO THAT WOULD BE GREAT! He yelled, glancing over to see the girls from the tavern, joined by the large man and his dog. He felt a little relived to see the man here, he seemed like a much more capable warrior. The girls less so, but they were holding potions producing light, which was useful. Once Vamon was able to get a good look at the creature, he realised that he had no idea what the creature was. He usually prided himself on knowing a lot about everything, but it seemed that this was something beyond his area of study. He made a mental note to research into this thing if he managed to survive. But he was a little confused, the flaming sword was a lifesaver but who had thrown it? And that was helpful, but he was still in a pretty bad situation, especially without any fire…

“Wait, fire attacks…” He reached into his bag and rifled through his objects, hoping he still had some left. He pulled out a small jar that he had been using to keep the oil for his burners and his lamps. There was a small amount left in the bottom, but it might be enough. He opened it, being careful to keep an eye on the creature, before throwing the oil at it. Sadly, the sword hadn’t stuck into the creature or it might have already lit the oil. But now all they needed was a little spark.

“Any fire would be greatly appreciated!! He yelled to the others, not taking his eye off the creature. If he could grab the burning blade it would be much easier, but it was closer to the beast than he would care to get. He simply kept his guard up and hoped that the new arrivals might be able to produce a spark or something. He did see some light coming from the nearby alley, but it didn’t seem like torchlight. He was curious, but a little too distracted to think about it at the moment.

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Guthrie was never far behind Theo as they made their way through Shezze, until they reached what had to be just an ordinary alleyway. Well, almost ordinary, except for the sounds coming from just around the corner, and then the sight of something large and black further down the alley. At the sight of the dark thing - or whatever it was - Theo's barking ceased, while a low growling could be heard as he lowered his head, ready to strike.

"Down Theo, down...what the...what is that?" Guthrie whispered to himself while the twins ran past him, shouting at the now visible man further down that only magic or fire could harm it. Great, something a normal blade couldn't do anything about. Oh how Guthrie loved that.

Suddenly, like the flash of an explosion down in the tunnels he once mined in, a fiery light flew right in front of them to strike the shadowry beast about to attack the man; the man Guthrie now recoginzed as the alchemist he had met briefly at the shop. No, he was not about to let this...beast of darkness kill this man. But if it could only be slain by fire or magic, how could...

Guthrie's question was answered when he heard from the alchemist's plea for a fire. In an instant, he had - seemingly - poured some kind of liqued onto the creature, probably oil now that Guthrie thougth about it; that would be something an alchemist would have. And in front of him lay the next best thing to a torch. In the blink of an eye, Guthrie had rushed forward, jumping down to grab the sword and roll up onto his feet and continued to run. The beast was now only feet away from him, and the reflective glow of the burning sword in his hand from the oil shined up brightly. "Begone you foul beast, back to the shadows with you!"

The burning sword cut down at the shadow, the fire igniting the oil and illuminating the whole alley. Guthrie only hoped that this did something, because he was out of plans.

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Spencer feared for her life when the creature trudged in her direction. The sheer levels of terror the creature seemed to inflict were similar to other trials she had faced before. And, much like in those trials, Spencer herself found that she didn't have the courage to do anything.

She issued prayer and waited, as the beast drew closer and closer, tightly gripping her sun stone as though the tighter she gripped the object, the beast was more likely to go away. Much to her surprise, and perhaps luck, it shifted it's attention to another before it got too close, the sweet, gentle sizzle of acid burning into the ground, dripping from the creature. Though it didn't hold much of an effect, it was enough for the creature's rage be issued at another. Perhaps it was her also withholding the light of her sun stone, which now produced a mere warm glow in her hands, spitting out fire in itself from the cracks in her fingers. Whatever the reason for it switching attention, Spencer was glad...

... Wait. No she wasn't!

The merchant twisted her head to see whom had gotten the attention of the beast. Funnily enough, it was the strange man she'd seen walking by The Square during the morning hours of the day. He stood ready with a sword in hand, elegant and almost regal, though she could sense the fear in him. The heightened breathing, the sweat on his brow, the distinct smell of... sulfur? Whatever he smelled like, he certainly looked and sounded to be afraid. It brought the attention back towards herself. She was afraid, and what was she doing?

Put simply, it was nothing. Despite the both of them probably being the least of able fighters, she was the one who wasn't doing anything, despite her wanting nobody else to get hurt. This stranger on the street was likely doing what he had to for similar reasons. He didn't seem like the type to go hunting shadow monsters, after all.

That was when she remembered the person on the other side!

She was about to go check, however didn't want to leave the poor young man to himself. As it so happened, however, he had company. A few other figures made their way into the alley after the young man dodged an attack which may have otherwise been fatal, one clearly built for fighting. The other two, whom looked remarkably similar, gave advice on how to defeat the beast, and they began coordinating an assault which could defeat the shadow creature. Feeling that the young man may be in good hands, Spencer apologised to them silently and looked around the corner once more to see if the mysterious, fire-wielding warrior was still OK. If he (or she) was in the midst of combat still, Spencer would shine her light to try and distract the beast in which she fought, seeing as it had an odd attraction to her sun stone before. If not, however, she would state: "P-please, one of them went over h-here! Around this c-corner!"

A loud booming voice suddenly exploded over the commotion, demanding attention as it roared down the alley, echoing along the walls.

"Although our world may not be bathed in the blessings it once was, by the will of the light it is still ours to atone for. No demon of darkness has a say to any soul born from the glory of light. Now darkness be gone!"

The priests words tore at their limit as he conjured as much sound as his lungs could muster. He stood at the end of the alley. Tall, intimidating and unafraid with eyes literally glowing with a judging vengeance. He beckoned at the creatures to come at him, challenging them on a primal level. Disdain clearly painted his face as his lips curled in disgust.

Azerus continued to slowly move down the alley, his eyes fixated on the beasts of darkness. He sporadically slapped the alley walls or kicked over amassing clutter, even pausing his mumbling preyer to lash out with a shout at the creatures as he grew nearer.
He was telling them one thing.
I am coming for you and if you don't give me your undivided attention I will get you!

-His mumbling rant for those nearby-

_{"The Lord I worship will lighten my darkness and make me to shine as bright as the old blessings once above.
For by thee I have run through a troop, by the light I have leaped over the wall..light empower me to run through the darkness of this world standing against my blessings as well as leap over the walls of hindrances and obstacles the heretics have erected on my way in the mighty name of all that is good.} "

@Sam12435@Dark Light@Delta44@ONL@Marx: Well, well, things have taken quite the interesting turn! Vamon's oil hit true, basically covering the entire shadow creature in oil as it was slowly making it's way through the thing's partial physical body. The light emitted from the witches' potions was strong and it easily reached the shadows, making the creature feel and act more sluggish from it's earlier appearance.

At that point it was Guthrie's time to shine! With display of athletics worthy of praise he easily does indeed jumps down, rolls and grabs the flaming sword in motion before continuing towards their enemy. The sword's cuts into the magical creature deeply, the oil igniting in but a moment, turning the entire thing into huge burning torch!

A blinding light fills their alley as the creature starts vanishing with mind numbing shrieks! One fiend down! At the next moment just as the other creature is about to jump towards Guthrie, leaving it's initial target alone to take vengeance, a loud shout fills the alleys. Guthrie's hands were now burned from both the fiery sword and the intense flames released by the death of the first creature.

Azerus appears on the scene. The creature freezes for a moment, taking looks around with it's shadowy form that resembles a head. People who saw it would swear it was showing completely confused expression right now. Finally with another shriek it jumps upwards, towards the cave's ceiling tall above the village as it vanishes into the shadows and from sight.

It left, be it for being too outnumbered or something else it is not know. Now on the location is only left the figure holding the blinding burning torch. The warrior's fiery swords quickly begin to dim as the flames stop. Now the area is only lit by the potions of Sala and Vala.

“You have my thanks for your assistance.” A female voice fills the area as now you can see the warrior. It's a woman wearing black leathers and chainmail, but her shoulders are left bare. Her face is hidden by a hood and mask, but there is one distinct feature that could be seen on her shoulders. A black tattoo that marks each of her shoulders. It depicts a black sun as if mocking the very nature of the church itself.” Strange those things do not leave even if they are mortally wounded, outnumbered or anything really...” The figure states as she looks at Azerus.” Fancy seeing a clergy here... Especially since the creature left when it saw you, why is that?”

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Sala & Vala

Things happened so fast that the twins couldn't believe it was possible. The shadow creature as far as they knew was a merciless killer with few vulnerable points. They got lucky that Vamon had oil on him, otherwise things could have gone horribly wrong before they were able to put it down. The fact that the second one left was also another thing that they couldn't think of a reason for. This was completely unnatural for these types of existences. The presence of the clergy could have been the reason. People of faith and powers of light sometimes could repel these things, but this didn't seem like it was repelled, more like simply left for some reason.

“Guthrie, are … you alright?” The twins asked as the ran by the warrior, looking at his hands that now showed signs of burns... severe burns.” The twins smiled and quickly took his burned hands each and unleashed their healing magic, his hands returning to their original state quite fast, though it certainly would itch for him!

“Are you alright too?” The asked Vamon, before throwing a look towards where they had heard a voice from earlier. They saw the tiny Spencer there. The witches found it curious to see a childlike figure here.” Are you injured, little one?” They asked in unison also.

For the moment, the witches completely ignored Azerus's presence, hoping he wouldn't be causing problem for them too.

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After Spencer had spoken and she turned back to the scene, the shadow creature had jumped up towards the ceiling and disappeared. She found that even with her advanced senses, she couldn't make out anything but shadows and burnt flesh, so it was pointless to continue looking. Even so, she found herself glancing up toward the ceiling every now and then...

And also towards the priest whom had made his presence known...

Spencer tucked herself back into the wall of the alleyway, her heart thumping. Just as one threat had made itself apparent, another had appeared, this one perhaps worse than the last. Ira knew that she had to avoid the Church at all costs, knowing that exposing herself to them could spell disaster. Though there were certain members of the Church who were OK to be around, Spencer had never laid eyes upon this one before, and thus had to take the utmost caution. For all she knew he'd come from Zalu, and that wouldn't do her any favours at all, knowing how well-known she was there.

Thankfully, Ira-Anne was given an escape route.

Though the alley had become somewhat more crowded compared to when she arrived, Spencer made out the voices to the unison twins without a problem. With all the shouting and fighting ceasing finally, she made her way over towards the two, opting not to hide her appearance just yet. If she happened to be called out by the priest, she could always lift her hood and run for it, after all. Perhaps even cut his arm off should he attempt to grab her. The twins themselves made Spencer feel somewhat uneasy, though their healing magic of the strong man's wounds made her feel a little more at-ease. They certainly didn't look like healers, though...

"I'm OK! Just about to pass out from a heart attack, that's all." She commented nonchalantly, her gaze looking upward toward the two witches. Though she didn't sound like it, Spencer still felt down about being unable to help Vamon, or even the man who had complained earlier. She didn't even want to think about looking back at the man, though her mind kept focusing on it. It made her feel sick. "Everyone else here needs more help than I. I only wish I could have helped... him... Her hand pointed back into the alleyway, toward where the man from earlier had his chest torn out. The young vampire forced herself to gulp - she didn't want to be reminded of death or blood at a time like this...

Especially not the blood...

Thankfully the iron-rich stench was overridden by an even more prominent and familiar smell: sulfur. Spencer's gaze quickly turned to Vamon and studied him quickly, as though checking him for wounds. There was nothing she could see wrong with him, and so quickly returned her gaze to the twins before her.

Azerus let out a long deep pained sigh. For a moment he looked as a withered old man in the shadows of his hood. With tired eyes he gazed over the people before him. His fierce composure slipping away to something more of sorrow as he deflated.

His attention hung on the twins and their shameless display of magic.
Without thought, intention or hesitation his mind instinctively raced to analyse and calculate his surroundings and possible opponents. But truthfully he didn't want to fight, he didn't want to have to kill more women, or the innocent bystanders, especially in front of a child.

Luckily he had an out. Healing was a gift of light. Often the church helped these children discover such a gift but sometimes, just sometimes, due to no fault of their own, they would be late to find the holy path and develop it on their own. No one could truly say they understood the will or the workings of the God of light but as humble followers it was the churches job to see that such a gift was put to the correct use. It was their job to decide if the magic was a pure blessing and if so to bring it into servitude of the light.

This was not something Azerus could decide on alone, he had to present the witches before a bishop. It was now his duty to see that they were escorted there.

Slowly and calmly he walks down the alley towards the twin witches. The only sound is that of his feet displacing sand as he steps barefooted down the path. Beyond his gentle movements he subtly remains alert and cautious, all his senses at the ready.