Initially, Tanda had meant to stay out of the way of the the business with the nobleman and his retinue. Really, she had. Even backward peasants like her had seen the way a nobleman- any nobleman- would act when they felt they needed something taken care of immediately. The High Patriarch relied on his religious dictates to seize sheep and goats for sacrifice to the Green God. And Tanda still remembered the time long ago when their current Lord's father came and demanded a tithe of crops for his men-at-arms in another of Taln's wars. All those times, the Hillfolk had bowed and offered up what they had in the name of the Green God.

Seeing a nobleman grabbed by his collar and carried about like a ragdoll in the hands of a giantess?

That had never happened before in the Holds.

So of course she stared like a dumbfounded idiot at the scene in front of her, subconsciously shuffling behind the shield offered by the man- Markus. She'd already reached into her bag for a stone to slip into her sling if things escalated, though she wasn't sure how much good it might do here. She'd only ever tossed stones at unarmored brigands and wild wolves. Everyone here seemed to be in a state of armament- any fight that broke out between the Knights and the Nobleman, Sunfield, would be short and bloody.

"Ah, Tanda," she said as the Nobleman continued to receive a verbal and physical thrashing at the hands of the Knights. "M'name's Tanda, m'lord. Just Tanda. The Priestess of Mayon told me I've no surname by the laws of Taln. I've come in from the Green Hills up north. Looking to reclaim some things of my family's here, and maybe squire for one of the Knights if ye'll take me." She paused, blinking as the nobleman was still being berated by yet ANOTHER Rose Knight and the Giantess dangling the Sunfield by one hand. "Does this... often happen here?"

@Saltwater Thief

"Ummmm... I thank you?"

She lowered Livius carefully to the floor before removing her helmet and facing down at Liliana.

"I am Salz, deposed princess of the Amarr kingdom come to follow in the footsteps of my lords youngest son and pledge myself to the service of the Iron Roses. I feel a great debt to the kingdom of Thaln for being a new home to my siblings."

The giantess thought that should easilly sum up who she was and why she was there. Salz then turned to Vizer, who seemed much more adept at dealing with other people.

"Is this a matter that requires the attention of the captain herself? Or is it that your master is the one that requires the captain?"

“Ah. Finally.” Livius huffs as Slav drops him, addressing Belwiss. “Someone of a house worth speaking to. Though I am going to elect to ignore the comment about my family's level of sense.” He says, dusting himself off. Vizer just rubs his eyes and takes out a rolled map, gently pinning it to a clear spot on the table. “Mi'lord...” He begins

“oh. Right. Well, I've no intention of leaving until I'm certain the captain will address this personally, Belwiss is reliable enough.” He says, walking over to the map, pushing pasted the cloaked trio. The map shows the boarders along Thaln's northern side, he points to the middle of Ithillin.

“Approximately four months ago I received a message from a long term trading partner that a shipment of materials I use for my research would be delayed a month or so due to what, at the time, was presumed a bandit raid on a village under her care.” He says, gently placing a pin into the location of the village in question. “The damage according to her report, was extensive. The village itself was naught but ash by the time her forces arrived, and the...what? Two? Three?”

Vizer sighs. “Two sir.” Livius waves a hand dismissively. “Right right. Two. Two survivors reported...lacking any polite way to put this. Ritualized mutilation, murder and sexual assault of almost all residents.” He adds bluntly.

“Two weeks later, a similar incident takes places in a larger township, under a neighboring lord lands. This one with a fortified barracks and a decently sized contingency of some of Ithillin's finest, seemingly decimated over night.” He says, placing another pin on the map.

“This pattern has continued along several villages and towns in the region, each increasingly skirting the Thaln boarder.” He adds five more pins to the map. “Given their trajectory, its likely this organization will move on to Thaln territory sooner rather than later.”

He pauses, looking at the grey haired knight, waiting to see if she or the others want to ask questions before he continues on.

As Livius continued explaining, the knight's expression grew more and more clouded, fists clenched as she impatiently waited for an opportunity to extricate herself from the conversation: one that, fortunately, presented itself sooner rather than later. "Please, wait a moment before continuing."

Lilianna made an about turn, crossing to the tables at a measured pace and saying something to one of the knights seated there, a message that rippled through the hall as the fencer returned to the Sunfield. The tightness in her fists was gone, though not the frown. "I have asked those stationed here to prepare to move out. If there is trouble as you say, then we cannot afford to wait on the captain's return to protect our borders. Nor can we reject assistance, though formally joining must be put off until this matter is resolved."

There was a reason for half the knights' staying behind even when there was a fort under imminent attack, and it wasn't because of laziness. This way, unless too many resisted the idea, it would be easy for them to respond to suitable threats even in the absence of a clear chain of command... and ritual murder on Thaeln's border was a better cause for immediate reaction than most.

“....while your enthusiasm is commendable, charging broadsword first has already been tried. To no good results.” Livius says, cleaning the underside of a nail while the grey knight moves through the hall. “That and I would not waste your or my valuable time by coming here to throw you at an enemy without a plan. Vizer, if you please.” He says, giving the other man the floor.

“Yes mi'lord. Thanks to the efforts of the Royal Scouting Guild we've been able to determine the purposes behind these attacks.” He produces a small booklet, the image of a nude goblin like creature with a large...uh....sword emblazoned on the front. “They call themselves the Branches of B'vitol, some old local god of fertility and the harvest. Long since relegated to a piece of local color to be honest with you.”

He continues. “These men and women seem to think their leader, who've we've yet to identify, is the reincarnation of their god, one with a particular hard on for destroying all known varieties of mage craft. See's it as an abomination against nature or the like. The manifesto is theirs, recovered from the third site.”

“They also have some rather unflattering predictions on Reon and Mayon which I wont go into.” He continues. “We estimate their numbers to be around ten or so cells totaling 100 individuals, operating semi-independently across the wilds of Ithillin, only coming together for raiding. We also strongly suspect they've received some degree of military training, as their grasp of guerrilla tactics is well beyond your average bandit group.”

“If we were to go in, we'd be fighting a highly distributed group on their own territory. And given the lack of success on Ithillin's part, I doubt you'd fair much better. Thus, in conjunction with a few select members of foreign nobles in Velt and Thaln, we've devised a strategy that should hopefully allow you to slaughter them in one stroke.”

He places a new pin on the map, as well as drawing three lines forming a tight triangle between the three boarders. “We've taken the liberty of evacuating a near by village predicted to be along their path to a lords strong hold. After some length negotiations, the inhabitants have agree to resettle in Velt territory provided that Thaln will provide protection as they move through our lands.”

“Officially speaking, the only members of the Iron Roses expected to participate is the good Captain as a sign of good faith. The rest of the provided guard will be...” he pauses to provide air quotes. “ 'mercenaries generously provided by the houses of Thaln'.”

“The hope is that given their recent strings of victories combined with the prospect of killing mages and a figure head of a rival religion will draw them out. As they cross the border to engage your forces, who they will believe to be an easy target, both Ithillin and Velt will heavily fortify their boarders, trapping them between yourselves and our allies. If all goes well, the lot of them will be dealt with with only one operation. After they've been dealt with, the remaining villagers are to be transported across the Velt boarder as planned.”

There was rather a lot that happened immediately after the arrival at the shrine. Umbra had to leave... due to the death of her father. She could hardly protest that, and now was quite simply not the time to. What could have killed an elven lord like that? Fanilly took a deep breath. For the moment, now was the time to investigate the shrine itself. While any death such as that was sad news, she had never met the elf. Perhaps, at the very least, they could discover some sign of what had occurred here. The small blonde gave a short prayer as she circled the shrine, slowly. She had been to the shrine three times prior, once on her first birthday, once again on her sister's first birthday, and finally when it was decided she would be the next Captain of the Iron Roses. Largely, it was a place of pleasant memories. And yet, the thieves and those who were using the symbol of Phoran Cal's Rebellion had met here?

"Search the area for any signs of what may have occurred here, anything at all," she began, as she strode forward... and stopped dead in her tracks.

Bones. Pure white bones. They had not, it seemed, been here for long. There was no sign of weathering, and yet they were picked clean. The skeleton grin of a skull stared up at her.

A skeleton with not a scrap of flesh on it lay on the ground, near the shrine.

"... Th... that's..."

Someone had died here? Surely, someone would have seen a body rotting away, it wasn't as if this shrine was an unknown location that no-one had visited... and there was no weathering to that skeleton. Those bones were pure white.

"... How..."

Fanilly approached the remains. There wasn't even a fracture, no signs of violence on the body... Fanilly couldn't say she was an expert, but she could at least recognize broken or shattered bone.

Meanwhile, Veileena Cal simply stood beside Haelstadt, looking rather annoyed at having to come along.

Tiral followed silently along as the rest of the Knights rode forward, remaining as such as the group scouted out the area... Save for Tyaethe, who seemed to be following some sort of routine. The mage didn't much mind it, though he didn't much care for it, either; religion had always been something respected but not followed for him, after all, and he had no reason to change any time soon.

The elf taking her leave from the group, though, was well appreciated by the knight, who still had the recent incidents of insubordination fresh in his mind. In a way, she snuck out of punishment, but if that sort of reaction actually meant anything, it was probably best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Not like it mattered all that much anyhow.

The Captain's prompt order to start searching for clues was, while a bit delayed, expected enough for him to already be slowly combing over the area for any evidence of anything notable. When she stopped and began to stutter, though, the mage quickly moved over to see what the reason for it all was.

His own reaction, of course, was a sigh as he massaged his forehead.

"...It's necromancy. Bones picked clean of flesh and blood like this are only seen in that line of magic. Another goddamn necromancer," he swore, encasing the bones in ice to make sure they wouldn't spontaneously reanimate. Never hurt to be safe, after all.

"...Well, this is some heresy if I've ever seen one. Raising the dead in a shrine to the goddesses. That's one way to piss off the clergy."

Markus Peregris

"You mean people coming in and demanding an audience with the Captain?" Markus asked in response, "More often than we'd like it to, in any case. Though most of them aren't quite so... forceful. The risk for violence, however, honestly depends on who receives them. Though to my knowledge we've never had a serious incident come of it. Upper nobles talk loudly, but most of them aren't all that keen on crossing the Order," he said with a smile.
"Regardless, Miss Tanda, I can't think of any reason you'd be barred from your request once the right people hear of it. And I'm sure someone around here wouldn't mind taking a squire either. But for now..."
He stopped mid sentence as the nobleman began to explain the reason for being there. He couldn't quite make out all of what was said, but the words "Ritualized mutilation, murder and sexual assault" stood out as clear as the sunrise. "If you'll excuse me for a moment," he said to Tanda as he stood up and made his way closer to the discussion. He listened as the man went into detail of their findings, and detailed the planning behind the intended operation.
"Well," Markus began, "I must wonder how necessary Captain Danbalion's presence is in that regard. If these Branches intend to target that town regardless, it seems to me they wouldn't need more enticing. That is, if you don't expect them to send less than their full numbers without her there, but that seems unlikely to me given their numbers. It certainly strikes me that setting the trap in time is more pertinent than making sure the bait is roasted to a golden brown. Since we've little bearing on when the Captain will return and what condition she'll be in when she does, I might suggest mobilizing without her. Unless of course you think the rest of us incapable?"

@ghastlyInc@TheFake@Feisty-Pants@Aleranicus@Raineh Daze

Livius regards Markus politely, listening intently as he explained his position on the plan. “Hmm. You certainly are an astute young man for someone in the order. Surprised someone like yourself has even managed to be dragged down with this lot.” He says, flashing the man a warm smile as he gently removes and cleans his glasses.

“I believe your assessment is wholly correct. I do think the vast majority of your order are incompetent to the point of hilarity. Present company excluded of course Miss Belwiss.” He says pleasantly. Vizer, meanwhile, has began examining the map as intently as possible, not wanting any part of this conversation.

“If your concern is the potential for civilian deaths while we wait for the captain to return, I wouldn't bother. Its more likely they will pick off Ithillin villagers or travelers in the interim. So Thaln, for the time being, stands to lose nothing if we delay. And since we will likely only have one chance to execute this operation, I want to ensure we get the greatest result. With the captain as additional bait, that is more than assured.” He adds, walking over to an empty chair and taking a seat. “So, with that said. We shall wait for the captain. Now be a champion of the people and kindly bring me one of the help. I will need some things from my home if I'm to stay in this fort long enough to appraise the captain of the situation.” He gives Markus a dismissive wave before taking out a small book, reading as if the last few minutes had not even transpired.

((OOC: To be clear, there are some people in the other party that are needed for the next arc (more than just Fanlily), thus why Livius is saying to hold off....in his own dickish way anyway.))



“Anyway to tell how long ago our calcium rich friend was brought up?” Gill asks, watching as Tiral seal the skeleton in ice. “And these are folks looking for a shard of one of the most evil men to walk the lands. Pretty sure they'd start their day with casual heresy like this if possible. Right after the morning coffee.” He begins scanning the tree line, looking for any signs of life....er. Movement.

“Perhaps they were alerted to the failure of their hired help?” Nori says, poking the ice block and the curious bone pile within. “Or this was maybe meant as a distraction for us. We are dealing with an enemy smart enough to engineer an ambush at one of your forts.” the rabbit adds, ear twitching in thought.

"Use the skin to disguise themselves. Ingredients in some foul ritual. Or just destroy their identity. The Roses don't attract those who deal with any form of necromancy," Tyaethe stated, voice monotone as she rose, "We need to return the body to Aimlenn for that."

The paladin was far more composed than she had been on the revelation that Cal's rebellion was still trying to destroy the land. Her anger against necromancers in general had burnt down a long time ago--but not the hatred. And from her reaction in the Cal Family mausoleum, there was no question of what would happen as soon as they worked out where the necromancer must have gone.

Without rest or sleep, they would be hunted down.

---

It was the presumptuousness of the nobility all over again. Simply because of the circumstances of his birth, this young man seemed to cleave to the notion that the plan he had worked out before even coming here was superior to anything that the knights could come up with--even though, as a magic user, he hardly had the time to devote to the arts of war that an organisation such as the Iron Roses was founded around. Even with the requirements of religion and ceremony, they still had more of their lives to spend on the finer points of warfare and tactics.

Unfortunately, most people didn't have the authority or prestige needed to simply tell these sorts of people how cocky they were being--directly, at least.

"There seem to be two points of failure to your plan that haven't been considered. The foremost is that Fanilly has every ability to refuse to a role that uses her as bait--particularly when this was constructed without any input despite her critical role. The second is attributing a level of gullibility to these cultists that assumes a force of size equal to the knights, travelling with the captain, could ever be mistaken for a mercenary band," the grey-haired woman replied, keeping other objections to herself--the pointlessness of trying to disguise an entire order with some distinctive equipment. Or questioning why he, who underestimated them significantly, thought that they would be able to take on the entire force harassing Thaeln when half their number couldn't simply hunt them down.

Let alone how distasteful his views on letting them run rampant over the countryside whilst waiting to put this plan into action...

Klaus felt rather annoyed to hear a warning from her captain. That's just a mere bandit, and its not as if kidnapping isn't serious either... She cursed to herself, puffing up her cheeks as she followed the group to the ancient Shrine.

Her pair of eyes narrowed at the sight of the pile of bones in the Shrine. Storing dead bodies in a sacred ground is bad enough, but Necromancy? "Huh... not even a thousand lives would be enough pay for such desecration..." Klaus muttered. Even a reckless girl like Klaus would know that this place deserve more respect than this.

He looked down at the bones, now encased in ice. The sooner this situation was resolved, the better. After a moment, he was struck with a thought.

"I shudder to think where this may lead, but how was Phoran Cal disposed of after the rebellion? I can't imagine that he was simply buried in an unmarked grave."

Indrau shook his head.

"I think it would be wise to scout out the other shrine. Perhaps a surprise attack may be best to take care of things."





"Why not employ trackers and simply hunt them down? A massed force engaging and destroying each cell would be safer than a complicated ambush."

That was how bandits had been dealt with in her homeland. swift retribution and total destruction took care of any kind of organized preying upon the citizens easily enough. She moved closer to Vizer.

"What is your lords stake on this? He doesn't seem the type to care for common folk."

Nero eyed Sult, as she kept kneeling before the shrine of Reon, a silent prayer escaping the lips of the youngest of all Sunfiels. In front of her, a small burning flower. She had one in front of hers aswell. Her lips were moving aswell, following her younger sister's lead. Heh. I suppose that your intentions this time were genuine. There's so much one can fool around isn't it. The elder of the twins let out a thin smile as she redoubled her efforts in praying.

Well, I am glad you have got my back. We will probably need it. Nero thought to herself, after recapping all the ruckus up until this point. Some of the darkest ghosts of the Kingdom were refusing to give up, and still haunt peace after the ages. And on top of that, there was the ruckus with the elf knight. Even if she was quite the unruly one, losing veteran talent always hurt before the battle.

I may have to call for that demon armor if things get really tight. But I'd rather learn this kind of magic and stand on my own. She added as both of them finished at the same time. Which prompted an smile from both. Almost as if they were one, both looked to each side, eyeing up the shrine for cues before returning.

“Had you bothered to listen…” Livius says with a sigh, still waiting for a servant paitently. “You’d know that is among the first thing the Ithillin army tried. These aren’t bandits with the goal of simply terrorizing the country side for spoils. They’ve an agenda, and the training to see it through from what we can tell. From what loose reports I’ve been able to get from my own contacts, most of the tracking parties have walked straight into ambushes and were slaughtered to a man. To borrow a term, they show up just long enough to destroy their target and then…” he pauses, throwing up air quotes, “ ‘disappear like a fart in the wind’. Though how much of that is the truth I cant say with one hundred percent confidence. For obvious reasons, the noble houses of Ithillin are somewhat hesitant to report in detail their military actions to a foreign noble, friendly terms or not.”

"And as for you Belwiss. I'll be more than happy to furnish your people with equipment and the colors of other organizations. As for your more recognizable members, I suggest all of you to take a page from Lady Tyathe's book. And wear a damn helmet. Somewhat hard to identify someone at several yards when they actually bother to wear equipment specifically designed to cover their face. Odd the way that works out."

Vizer regards Salz as she asks her question, flashing her a mischievous smile. “ Don’t know if I’d agree with that entirely.” He answers in a low voice. “The Sunfield family for all its failings, is not one that leaves their charges in Thaln at risk. Even if every single one of their spawn is up their own arse.”

“But you are right to assume there is more to this than just dealing with killers. Confidence in the Iron Roses, specifically the new captain, is not up to his standard. While he doesn’t hold you in high regard, you’re still the elites of our military organizations. If our own nobles sense weakness in you, the more ambitious of them might decide this is the time to move in a direction that is less….in the crowns interest let us say.”

He pauses, watching as Livius attempts to wave a maid over himself, evidentially tired of waiting on Markus to do it for him. “This is not even getting into what foreign powers may think of that weakness. But if the captain were to accomplish a total victory with what the public assumes to be a group of rag tag mercs, it makes her a much more credible threat. And if we can do that while dressing it up as a favor to our allies, that is all the better.”

He continues once he’s satisfied that the young Sunfield is at least behaving himself with the help. “Then there is the matter of these killers heavy anti-mage sentiment. No shortage of mages in the border towns, far from the ‘careful’ eye of the college who think they can do whatever they please.“ he adds obvious venom. “ If this little cult gained traction in Thaln and kept up with their current level of proficiency, even the Roses would be hard pressed to keep them in check.”

In the end, there was little more to be found at the shrines. There were, after further investigating, signs of footprints in the soft soil... one set of which ended at the skeleton. But right now there was no real indication of what had happened here. Fanilly couldn't help but be disturbed. A necromantic spell performed so close to a shrine to Mayon? And to what end? Regardless, she eventually made the decision to take the skeleton with them, back to Aimlenn. It looked as though all the flesh had been pulled off of it... but that couldn't be the case, could it?

Could it?

No matter how much searching was done, there was no way to discern where the shard had been taken. It was dark by the time Fanilly finally relented, realizing there was no way that they could discover where it had been taken like this. She desperately wanted to keep trying, but there was no way to pick up a trail in the dark. In fact, there was no trail to pick up at all. Even though a few prints remained at the shrine, there was little to no sign of anything else.

The skeleton was loaded onto a cart to be returned to Aimlenn. The trek back was largely uneventful. Nothing in particular, beyond complaints from Veileena Cal about how the situation had turned out.

Fanilly felt like she had failed. They hadn't recovered the shard, they hadn't even found any signs of where it had gone. Their only lead was a skeleton, and the fact that some remnants of Phoran Cal's rebellion were involved. That was all that they had.

When they reached Aimlenn, the skeleton was prepared for investigation and further research into the Nercomancy. Veileena Cal was escorted to her mansion, much to her consternation. The church immediately dispatched two priests and several paladins to construct a divine barrier around the shrines to prevent further heretical intrusions into their grounds. Doubtlessly the news they returned with would cause quite a stir.

The doors of Candaeln opened, and Fanilly lead the rest of the Roses into the entrance hall.

She couldn't shake the feeling that they had failed.

Tiral let out a sigh of disappointment as the rest of their search led to absolutely no other results. While the discovery of necromancy was good enough with respect to prevention of any further shady efforts on part of whatever conspirators caused this entire ordeal, the fact that the Shard was now floating around somewhere unknown now was quite troublesome. Given that the Roses on the mission (as well as the heir to the Cal name) knew about the entire matter now, the mage felt as if there was now a giant target painted on his back.

"...Honestly, I really hope those old mages don't try anything stupid to silence me or something," he complained, rubbing his shoulders in exasperation as the group arrived at Candaeln. "Knowing my luck, though, they're probably already working on something..."

The somber mood of the knights was not something he much cared for, but as things were, he couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy himself. Locating the culprits was a matter entirely its own, and though he (along with everyone else) was loath to admit it, there was no more to be done at the moment.

Given what the Shard was, though, the mage had confidence that it would reappear sooner rather than later. The question then, though, what when. At least they could be prepared for it now.

"Captain, I'm going to head off to my room if you need me. I have a bit of a headache from today's... Mess," he commented, bowing as he left to go stew in his own thoughts for a while.

And maybe sleep. Sleep was sounding good right about now.

Markus forced his demeanor to remain amicable. The last time he'd someone this arrogant and tactless, it had been his own parents- a memory he fought quite hard to not dwell on, lest he lose himself in it. He was known to be polite at all times, but by the goddesses even he had limits, and this noble brat was testing them. And now he seemed to think he could simply order Markus around. Markus would never understand some nobility's compulsive need to do that, and in truth he found it quite ridiculous... but there was no particular reason to let this particular noble know that. So, rather than call a maid, Markus simply ignored the request in favor of listening more on the conversation.
If the man had any tact or esteem for any of them, it was indiscernible. He simply hand waved any objections to his grand master plan as if the objectors were ignorant schoolchildren. The attendant at least had some civility, but it was a small port in a very frustrating storm. "It would seem to me," Markus interjected, "That perhaps part of the lack of confidence stems from certain Lords who seem to carry nought but contempt from the Order. To the point where they value only Captain Danbalion in a critical operation, and only as a figurehead."
He furrowed his brow in thought for a moment. Something else was at play here. There was no reason in his mind to try and disguise them all as a mere mercenary band, especially if Fanilly herself was going to be in plain sight. It was almost as if- ah, he thought suddenly, of course. "If the goal is to paint the Order as a credible force, I would think having us in full colors would be more effective rather than disguised as mercenaries. But then I suppose that would paint a picture of a unit that is considered to be, how was it? 'Incompetent to the point of hilarity' I believe, doing what a local Lord's forces were unable to accomplish. I can see how that would be quite unacceptable to some."
A commotion from the front of the hall drew his attention, and he knew that could only mean one thing. One look at the entering party, however, put him on alert. "It seems," he said to Vizer in a lower tone so Livius couldn't hear, "That the decision will shortly be out of our hands. It doesn't look like the Captain's in sorts to be, ah... entertaining the likes of your charge just right now, so if you've a way to convince him to give her a minute, I'd kindly request you make use of it."

He followed along with the party moving the skeleton to the mages college. Given the colleges recent record, he didn't entirely trust them to take care of things if it decided to rise. Indrau didn't trust them to report all of what they found out, especially if one of their own were involved as well. He also wanted to be on hand if Lady Tyeathe had any interesting observations.

As he walked the halls, spells in progress inexplicably became more difficult or even outright failed nearby him.




She nodded and replied with a firm tone. "I may have missed that, this is not my native language."

Salz liked this 'Vizer' and his very candid attitude.

As the Captain entered, Salz dropped to one knee and placed her helmet on the ground. Even so, her eyes were level with Fanilly's. She recognized her from descriptions in the letters she had received over the last several years. She waited, considered the issue brought by Livius to be more important than herself.

The return to Candaeln was made in silence. Clerical matters aside, Nero couldn't shake the ominous events that had trascended in her head, as well as her failure to grasp the why and how. The revelation of the ghastly secret that the mages of Thaln kept such a dangerous artifact was bad enough, but the desecration of the shrine with a skeleton was but the last macabre touch. She didn't really considered the departure of the elf as related, but still losing a veteran could mean trouble in the long run. The eldest of the Sunfield twins exchanged looks with that of her sister, whom, at times, sported a sombre expression not unlike the one she was having. Even if she was making jokes and eyeing the captain in an impish way, she could feel it.

She was concerned too. Who wouldn't? And besides, both of them thought alike. As both crossed the doors, Sult frowned upon seeing Tiral wanting to go to his room. Mage-boy always wanted to play it cool and not care about how their peers were after the travel, weren't they? Mages...

But the assorted meeting of other knights caught her the attention. Some veterans, some new faces. And Nero herself couldn't smirk that the roses had a half giant aswell. She did look a little more... sharp than her own protegeé in the ravens. Well not that was difficult. Mariah was a nice girl, but she wasn't exactly the sharpest knife. However, it was another figure that caught her attention. Her eyes widened in shock.

"No way, what is he doing here of all things?" Nero whispered to herself, trying to find corroboration in her younger twin, than in fact that wasn't a play on her eyes.

Livius Sunfield.

It seemed to be true, as Sult had begun to walk in a hurried pace towards the elder sibling, Nero following short after.

"Brother~!" The youngest twin said, words lingering in her mouth in a sweet, affectionate way as she deftly latched on his chest, performing a sisterly hug. "What brings you here? I have not seen you in years!" She added, her voice loud.

Nero wasn't fooled. Sult was up to something. And she was pretty much sure that she knew what she was going to do. She just smiled, aside, as Sult Sunfield let out a giggle, still clinging to her brother.

"...and you left us to fend on our own for a decade." She added, her sweet singsong voice becoming icy all of a sudden, as the hug tightened. That wasn't a hug. It was a throw. Using all her might and sisterly scorn, she hoisted the taller but definitely scrawny youth in the air as she bent backward, essentially throwing him headfirst in the ground as she bent backwards.

Well that's my cue. Nero grimaced, as she stepped in, and tried to help her brother. "Sult, that is enough. Behave." She added. But well done. He's a dummy.

Klaus was frustrated, from the lack of significant progress despite the whole day of scouting and searching. "Tsk..." Lying on the back of her horse Alexander, her eyes narrowed under the thought of her captain having a 'very nice talk' with her. Seriously... the bandit is evil, torture would be a mere taste of her own medicine which she deserves... She crunched on her last piece of potato, which doesn't taste so well when they were about to return to Candaeln. Her way of thinking is a bit warped in a sense, from having stained her hands before an age where she could only comprehend stuffs, she had completely no sympathy to her enemies. Her idea of 'mercy' is to chop off the bandit's hands. Kills two birds in one stone, I spare someone, and that bandit wouldn't steal for the rest of her life, just like the one last time...

The air felt heavy to Klaus as she entered the hall. That elf had things easy, getting away with a handsome 'old man'.... She hoped that her captain would completely forget about her inconsiderate statement back then.