and
Interactions and possible interactions with @Aerandir@Ellion@blackdragon@ghastlyInc@Kitty@Cryptek12@Fetzen@hotsyrup

While Bartolomeo didn't get an immediate answer about if anyone knew about witches, after a few moments at least two voices had risen to either question him about it... or offer a point that would help explain why he had asked the question he had. Deciding to answer two questions at once, Bartolomeo gestured towards the woman who was hanging rather close to the bar whom had mentioned the idea of rituals as he answered the tavern owner "See, that's what I was thinking. This wasn't just some mindless beast slaughtering everyone, this was done with some dark goal in mind. Personally, I don't know enough about these kinds of things to judge what that goal was, but I'm worried that it might have been some kind of demonic summoning. Having a demonic entity running around slaughtering villages seems like something that's above a lot of our abilities..."

Looking somewhat nervous at his own idea, the young hunter took a moment to down the rest of his glass and waited until he had swallowed before attempting to speak again. "As much as I hate to suggest this, did we actually confirm that all the residents of Goldencrest were accounted for? While some of the advice I've read about those who convert with demons is... questionable at best, the threat betrayal from within does make some sense. I mean, all it would take is some poor bugger coming across something in the woods that man wasn't meant to know about and suddenly he's got voices in his head telling him that all he needs to achieve everything he ever wanted and could dream of is to gut the local priest and nail him to a cross..."

........................................

While much of Draco's face was covered by his mask, his eyes betrayed a degree of sorrow as he heard the grim tidings from Bobby. Reaching up to remove his hat and place it against his chest in a moment of silent respect, he didn't say anything as the tavern seemed to fill with snippets of information about what had trespassed and theories of what it could mean. Removing his hat from his chest, he placed it on the bar itself as he watched the large wolf like dog get nudged by Bobby to go find a new spot to rest at.

"I am sorry for your loss Bobby. I'm not sure how well you knew them, but with how close they were to Seren's Folly I'm sure you knew a couple of faces from Goldencrest that will no longer be visiting. I'm more then happy to throw in my hat to find out what the hell happened, there is something I need to ask you about first." While sympathetic, Draco still had business he came to the village to attend to of his own after all.

"Has anyone in Seren's Folly or the surrounding area encountered a chimera like beast? Some kind of creature that's made up of several creatures that shouldn't naturally exist? While it sounds like whatever happened in Goldencrest isn't a beast attack... I'm not going to rule out what brought me here as unrelated just yet..."

Reply to Draco @Bright_Ops

---

The young Hunter was taking off his armor when he heard the incredibly tall man ask the question. Wasn’t there a... thing? The one that ate the werewolf? It didn’t feel like any monster he had seen before, now that he thought about it. All mixed energies...

Without thinking, the young man raised an uncovered hand, one riddled with bruises and dried blood. He gave it a quick glance and found no bleeding injuries. He winced when people found their attention drawn to his arm though, and then the dented frying pans on one hip, but he had to say.

”I’m Sheffield,” he shouted, then spoke softly. ”Sheffield Duster, Hunter. I don’t know what’s going on—I just arrived minutes ago—but I saw something like it in the woods earlier before I walked on the main road to this town. I didn’t take a closer look at it, but I could’ve sworn it was a human with scales. Like a snake, I think.

”I was being chased by a couple of zombies, ghosts, and a werewolf; I took the former two groups out and was about to finish off the walking wolf when something rushed into it. I just took my chance to get out of there.”

Sheffield felt that reporting like this should have made him tremble a little at the memory, but now it was like... normal. Especially so, given his ‘misfortune’. Was this really how most Hunters got used to it? Blood and guts and survival every day?

But it was out now. He let his hand down, trying not to stare back at all those who did.

As Andvari was waiting for his drink the tavern seemed to fill up rapidly. Frankly speaking he got the feeling of not wanting to be the place's owner for the amount of work the job must have posed, but on the other hand one could probably earn a significant amount of money here. This seemed not only to be a simple tavern where drinks and foods were sold and rooms were rented, but this looked like the primary gathering place for every hunter in the area before and after any major activity. Wounds were treated, information exchanged... and strange acquaintances made.

He watched Emiliah, whose name he didn't even know, come closer to him, and address the man behind the counter with 'Bobby'. So this was Bobby, the most famous of them all his father had told him stories about ? Good to know - so he wouldn't make a mock out of himself when trying to get into conversation with the man in front of all the hunters without even being sure about his name. Yet now was not the time for this as the attractive woman decided to turn towards him.

"Erm... yes ?" A not only slightly confused answer in full spite of the fact that the issue stated was a very simple one. "I would think so, and so does the vast majority of people." He stretched out his open hand which looked as if it could just swallow up half of Emiliah's arm in one go, but given the gentle smile he tried to put on this was more meant as a nice gesture of greeting each other. "I'm Andvari. And you ?"

He could hear the sound of a tankard being put down on the table next to him and gave Bobby a thankful nod. Andvari was still looking towards Emiliah, but actually was thirsty enough to reach for the beverage with his unused arm while still offering her his hand. He still focused on her so did not look at what was inside the tankard, but he expected beer anyway. The taste of honey came as a surprise and it was good. And strong that stuff was! It didn't take long for the tankard to become halfway emptied and Andvari turned towards Bobby: "Hey! How could you know I would like this stuff even more ? It's great!" With his still free hand he reached into the depths of his pockets in search of some coins which subsequently clattered onto the counter. "One more after this one, please!"


Andvari really tried not to do it, but his instincts beat him and he actually inspected the strange newcomer from top to bottom. However, even if taking all of his clothes and accessories into account, the strangeness Sanjin's outer appearance did not come even close to that of his behavior. Now it could be that this man had just come back from a hunt, seen something terrible and thus was thrilled and overly nervous, causing him to dance around on the floor as if the latter was comprised of a thin layer of solidified lava with much of the liquid stuff still directly underneath it. Maybe this kind of disorder had already become chronic with the poor lad, but this still didn't explain why he was saying what he was saying. Couldn't that guy see that he was already talking to someone else ?

"Work ? Yeah... you could tell me where the nearest place for a good bath is. A creek or something maybe ? And getting noticed by one's prey can't be that much of a bad idea if you're so excellently trained in... massaging the floor ? Aside from this stinking of the road while actually being on the road is a pretty good obfuscation technique, isn't it ?" Andvari reached for the mead again, consuming the majority of the remainder.

Interactions and possible interactions with @Cryptek12, @ghastlyInc,@Aerandir

Having had his conversation with Bobby interrupted, Draco turned his head to look at the younger man whom had claimed to have seen the kind of creature that he was looking for. At first, he had looked at the kid with respectful interest... but it quickly became clear that the more he talked, the less that the masked hunter was trying to maintain either respect or interest. The turning point was easy enough to see; He had opened his mouth to ask questions about the 'scaled human' but the boy had kept talking and... well, he was either trying to brag and make himself look like a 'big bad hunter'... or he was insane. Considering the fact that he appeared to be wielding a pair of frying pans and the story he was telling (as well as the boy himself) grew less and less believable.

Without a word and a clear look of disbelief in his eyes, Draco turned back to Bobby. However, before he could pick the conversation back up with big B himself, a new contender caught Draco's attention for... much different reasons then the boy from before. Slowly turning his head towards the man who was sniffing people and acting in an animal like way, he couldn't but stare at him blankly for a few moments as the gears in his brain turned in circles trying to work out just what the hell it was witnessing with his own eyes.

Finally turning back to look at Bobby, he honestly looked confused as he asked "...Bobby, did you hire some entertainers or something to pretend to be parodies of common things that hunters would encounter for the sake of moral? Because I'm struggling to comprehend a world where an actual werewolf would be stupid enough to come in here and act like that."

---

Sarah was following the princess’ carriage as part of the hunter retinue. In her own mind, it felt foolish to just march into Castle Bloodrose. The coven might be inactive for years now but that didn’t mean there weren’t any more witches abound. When the caravan stopped she put away her flask and spurred her horse to go towards the front. She hoped something exciting was happening. Instead of that, she saw the horrific aftermath of a raid. The village was razed. People were dead in the street or hung upside down to drain the blood. From the carriage, she heard a call for Father Wyn. The priest that had accompanied them. “They’re not actually heading for the church, are they?” Sarah asked one guard. Who just nodded. “Idiots.” Sarah muttered to herself as she dismounted from her horse.

After barking a few orders to secure the place and make sure every corpse was burned she then proceeded towards the graveyard with her blade drawn. The commoners’ graves were untouched yet the family crypts were forced open. With a torch in hand she walked in. The stones that were supposed to seal away the deceased had been crushed by something. Several bones were taken. When she was sure nothing in the crypt would attack her she put her blade away. “Bloody necromancers.” Sarah muttered to herself as she took a quick gulp of her flask.

After a bit more investigating she came out of the crypt again. Right in time to hear the commotion near the church. Someone, no something, was still in the church. Sarah spared no time. She dropped her torch and rushed towards the princess, her guards, and Father Wyn. She stayed behind her grace with her hand on her blade. Ready to jump and strike. Her eyes were like a cat’s. Focused on the human-like silhouette within the church. “You should return to your carriage, your grace. This is no place for a princess.” She whispered at Tera’s.

~Hellena Leigh~

Earlier...

Hellena’s drooped eyes fluttered open to sheer curiosity to the distant sound of loud dog barks. She watched a pack of angry wolves at quite a far distance in the forest, making their way in tight groups towards Bloodrose Castle with unbelievable speed. Still stuck in quite a light-headed state from a short nap by a tree stump, she had not been able to grab time to process if what she had heard along with the serious of barks, between it squeezed eerie cries and screams of human voices, before the forest became quiet again.

After what seemed like an hour or so of waiting, she felt the heavy weight of her pet snake, Lucy, as she slithered her way up Hellena’s arm and around the back of her neck, resting both of her ends; head and tail, on both of her owner’s shoulders.
Pinched between Lucy’s fangs was a dead blue butterfly, baby blue wings punctured in holes and scratches, but Hellena gladly disregarded the fact and took it from her pet serpent’s grasp. From her basket, she took out a small glass jar and carefully placed the butterfly inside.
“The wings of a Holly Blue, just as you asked for, my mistress.” Lucy hissed with a slight bow of her head to pay her respects to her beloved owner. “Pray tell, what will you be using it for this time?”
“With how beautiful their wings are, there must be something into it that I can put to good use for my potions.” The witch replied as she scanned the lifeless creature inside the glass container. "Now tell me, how did you find the butterfly?"
"I saw it already dead, stuck on a spider web. No killing, just as you said, my mistress." The snake hissed.

With that last confirmation, Hellena then carefully placed the small glass bottle back inside her straw basket – one of the listed items that the red-headed witch simply cannot roam around the forest without.

The red head had known Alexina for quite some time ever since joining the coven. She knew what the place such as the forest could mean to her leader. As much as possible, Hellena would always put up her respects.

At the very same time, the witch and her serpent looked up at the towering trees of the forest that covered the rays of the sun, but it was getting dim enough to know that more than half of the day had already went by.
“High time we return to the coven, mistress.” The serpent hissed at her owner, making it enough for Hellena to jolt her body to fully wake up and heave herself up into a complete stand.

Dusting off dried leaves and bits of soil that stuck onto her green cloak, she started to lightly tread on the pathway that led back to the castle with her hissing pet just beside her ear.
“Did you see it earlier? Those hounds.” Hellena asked her serpent, tints of weariness lacing around her voice.
“As a matter of fact, I have, my mistress. They were quite loud.” The serpent hissed back at her. At this point, the witch decided to stay quiet throughout the journey. Staying in the coven for a period of time, wolves have grown to have quite a picture for her. Thoughts of only one subject flooded her mind;

Could something have happened with Alexina?

-----------------------------------------------------------

Once the red head reached the castle courtyard, quite a scene welcomed her rather late arrival.

Witches of the coven gathered around the courtyard as they eyed Alexina, standing in the middle of twelve wolves, all of them looking down at five deeply injured witches.
“Look, mistress! Aren’t those the hounds that we saw-“
“Shh. Quiet.” Hellena shushed Lucy.

Hellena watched Alexina’s eyes burn with great fury as the coven leader spoke out about how the audacity and rebellion of five witches led them to terrorize the village of Goldencrest and take the lives of countless innocents, but once Alexina included the lives of young children to the list, Hellena’s eyes bolted wide. It didn’t take long for Hellena’s eyes to start expressing an empty kind of sorrow.

The injustice surely seemed distraughtful.

The conversation between the rebellious and the leader went on. As one of the witches attempted to taunt Alexina, knowing her leader, Hellena could only think of the many possible approaches that she could do, that witch chose one of the least that any one, or at least herself, would do. In the end, the red head watched the expected as Alexina took her fury out on the witch, tightly grasping her neck till her last breath.

Hellena’s face showed revulsion as Alexina tossed the bloody, lifeless body down to the side as if it were a mere toy.
“No!”
A masculine voice roared out. The eyes of the red headed witch distinctively fell on a male warlock who ran to the body and tried his best to reassure any remaining life in her. Unfortunately, luck didn’t seem to stand on either of his sides.

“My, my. This is getting quite exhilarating, don’t you think so, mistress? Mistress Alexina sure has quite an iron heart.”
And once again, Hellena found herself shushing her little serpent to silence.
“Either you stay quiet, or let Alexina have your tongue. She can hear you.” Hellena remarked at her slithering friend. As a sole response, Lucy let out a quiet, long hiss as a way of saying “Oops.”

As Hellena’s eyes went up to her coven leader, she couldn’t help but allow a string of pride lace around her as she continued to watch the woman who took her under her wing. But nevertheless, an ominous feeling that grew and stuck onto her cannot be shaken off, now that these five witches have stirred trouble for their home. And most inevitably, their lives.

Sapphire had just finished placing two drinks down at a table when she turned around to come face to face, well face to chest with a man. Looking up she cocked her head to the side as he spoke to her, very formally if she might add.

“Excuse me madam, does there happen to be a Bobby that works here? If there is, could you to introduce me to him? I’ve been trying to meet his acquaintance.”

After he had finished speaking she couldn’t help but let out a small giggle as she had excellent people skills. “Hehe~ you talk funny. No one calls me madam. It’s usually girly or Lil Red or Hood. Madam is a first.” Saph giggled again forgetting his question for a moment before her eyes widened. “Oh yeah! Uncle Bobby! Follow me!”

The small brunette easily weaved through the tavern but stopped every few seconds so she didn’t just straight up leave the man behind.

Meanwhile…

Hunt half looked up at the man known as Uncle Bobby, half glared at him as the man nudged his back leg. “Alright you overgrown teddy bear, Need you out of the way the counter is gettin’ too busy. To the corner with you”

The wolf simply huffed in understanding and stood up, he was getting ready to go to the corner when he saw Sapphire approaching the bar with a man on her tail. He instead went over to her, getting between her and the man as soon as they reached the bar, staring the man down as Sapphire spoke to her uncle.

Sapphire arrived to the bar, paying no mind to Hunt as he came over, absentmindedly running her hand through his fur. “Uncle Bobby! This man wanted to meet your…. uhhh” The girl paused trying to remember what the man had said again.

“Acquaintance?” Hunt suggested.

“Acquaintance! Yes, acquaintance. Thank you Hunt. This man wanted to meet your acquaintance Uncle Bobby! Ooo more orders! I’ll take them.” With that Sapphire picked up the drinks on the bar and took them. Did she know where to take them? No. Did that stop her from confidently walking into the main area of the tavern? Definitely not.

Hunt let out the best sigh a wolf could and looked at the disappearing Sapphire before shaking his head and trotting over to the corner and lying down. The girl was something else.

---

---

Celosia had seen the fox and the man shortly before they had approached her, more so the fox seemed to lead the man to where she was. She tensed as they approached, her eyes narrowed as they stared the two down even as they stopped in front of her. Warmth built inside her body as she tried to determine what it was they wanted and who they were. Was the man a hunter? He didn’t seem to have any weapons on him so it didn’t seem that likely but as soon as he asked if she was a witch all alarm bells in her head were going off.

Her own hands were about to cast fire when she saw a small fire spark in the palm of his hand. Celosia’s eyes returned to a neutral state as her body relaxed. The man in front of her was a warlock. One of the rare few male witches. It was his next question that brought a scoff from her lips.

“Of course. The coven leader wishes to offer sanctuary to me. I had already pieced together that the town’s slaughter was the doing of witches. But your arrival and the offer. Just the final pieces I needed. It was coven witches responsible for this wasn’t it? You don’t even need to answer because I can tell. There is no other way I would have been found by the coven if they hadn’t been around here.” Celosia was once again tense, her eyes narrowed and now holding the look of tiny fires burning within.

The redhead walked a bit out of her cave, her bare feet making all but no sound as she did. She stared down at the town. The place she had once vowed to protect. “This town. This town I had vowed to protect and until this event I had. From rogue witches, vampires, werewolves, other monsters and creatures. I knew life stories of a good amount of these people. There was a newly wed couple and a woman due to give birth by the time the next full moon comes. Two children who had grown to be teens in love. But now all of that is gone because coven witches took it from them.”

Closing her eyes, Celosia took a deep breath feeling the breeze on her face before she opened her eyes and turned back towards the man. “But you come here from the coven. Asking me to join. To join the people who slaughtered a town, who slaughtered children! I don’t know about you but that type of thing isn’t how I roll. I don’t murder people, especially children. I do not want a part of a coven that allows such things. So count me out. I am content here, where I am.”

Feeling she had said all she needed to say, Celosia walked back towards her cave. She knew she’d have to move now that the coven knew of her location. She would worry about that later though.

Interactions with @Bright_Ops and @hotsyrup, and mentions of @Kitty and @ghastlyInc

---

Sheffield became more painfully aware of how he looked at the moment. He can understand how skeptical they felt when they saw a young Hunter, all youthful and hurried. They probably thought he was just another novice getting unlucky from inexperience. And frying pans? They were cooking tools. And Sheffield’s other weapons and tools were hidden in his satchel, with a rifle tied up and covered in cloth.

It also didn’t help that the wolf Sheffield saw was not far from where he was. He kept on staying aware it wasn’t normal at least. Maybe the serving girl had something to do with it, but for now he had to put them out of his mind.

The giant of a man had looked away not even a minute after. He had been distracted by the sniffing person too. Sheffield let out a sound of protest, but it was drowned out by other patrons making their own notes and arguments. A woman had edged into the earlier conversation though.

“I don’t think chimeras have anything to do with the attack on Goldencrest. --If that’s what you are talking about.-- But, it was too... Intelligent. The attack. Everything burned and with the priest hung up like.. How.. he was. It seems whoever did this is more mocking than anything else. Demons, maybe. Like how --”

She blinked for a moment before gesturing to Bartolomeo.

“-- he mentioned. Witches maybe? But, a part of me even thinks it might be people. Just regular ones with some kind of vengeance up their sleeves. Though that thought makes me sick to my stomach.”

While she babbled slightly, Lyra tried to keep her words concise.

Sheffield blinked. The Hunter with the tear-stained makeup was sad alright. ”Did you lose someone during this attack?” he asked with care. ”Sorry if it’s personal but I don’t know anything about what happened here. Could you explain? Make it short if you want.”

---

---

Alexina glanced Over to Saen as she offereed to bite the witches in question, causing them an agonizing slow death. She would admit the thought did tempt her to allow it to happen. Looking to the remaining witch who had suddenly looked forty years younger. The witch could see in her eyes that she was mulling it over. Thank you for the offer Saen, but I do have plans for them. She said looking to the others.

Osua suddenly came forward picking up the piece of flesh, playing with it in her hands. She almost wanted to facepalm herself. She understood Osua was an odd one… her nativity and social awkwardness rivaled, no was even greater than hers when she joined the coven. She resisted the urge to yell. Knowing that this one clearly didn’t know any better. Usoa. Put that down. Also we will not torture them like that.

She had ignored Ryleth as he rushed to the witch she just killed. Honestly she was surprised he cared so much for this witch. He only seem to care about one thing in his life, himself. Even at the beginning of this he seemed to be holding himself proud of what he did. The warlock always seemed to have a skeme in the works. As to what she couldn’t tell.

She heard the slithering voice inside her head that could only belong to Lucy, she shot the snake a glare as it called her ironhearted. But didn’t say anything else.

When Ryleth asked for what his punishment would be, she narrowed her eyes at the man. She felt he was mocking her title as well. But she didn’t lash out at him. She looked to the other three still standing there and back to Ryleth. She knew he never liked her. That much was clear, and it only made her think he had something to do about this. “You all Have Three options.” She said calmly, but the seriousness in her voice was clear. “ Perform a Penitence mission, riding the forest of some creature that is affecting the rest of the towns, and our own castle.” She put up a finger to indicate that was her first offer, She hoped they would choose this honestly. Dangerous enough to possibly kill off the remaining child killer. But possibly Ryleth at the same time. Less she had to deal with him the better. Phagora on the other hand she didn’t have too much of an issue with. But being a Demon spawn, she would probably come back just fine.

“Second is we Bind your powers for years to come and serve us in any way we deem fitting.” She raised her fingers to two. “Or we end this now with your deaths.” She said offering the third. She didn’t want to use the third, but their covenants were binding to the coven. She had to do so if they wouldn’t take the other options. As was law of the covan even when Medusa was leader,who tended to just kill anyone who disobeyed her.

---

---

---

Bobby looked to the young lad as the lass talked about demons. He wanted to answer but Draco was still speaking to him. “I didn’t know many from there, but it's a right shame what happened to them. He then continued to ask if he hire performers. He sighed in disgust. “Nope, he’s one of those from ‘the pack’ odd bunch of a clan that acts like their some sort of bloodhounds. I haven’t run into many of them, but they all are….generally that odd.”

His attention was turned away from everyone as saph called out to him. Bringing another man towards him. He smiled and looked to the man who she was trying to introduce him to. Thank ye Saph, was all he could say before she snagged another order...which he was positive that she didn’t know where it went to. He reached out to stop her but just gave up.She was already out of arms reach. Rubbing his face he turned back to the man Wot Can I do you for Mr. ?.” He asked as he put a smile on his face.

Once the warlock questioned their coven leader on what their punishments would be, a few witches then started coming forward with their own happy suggestions.
One offered slow torture.
And another one, who suddenly emerged from the crowd like a fast bolt of lightning and started playing with the dead witch’s limbs, suggested something that didn’t seem too understandable to Hellena’s ears. Though the given features were enough for Hellena to know that the particular witch was Usoa. The red head had been quite familiar enough with her, possessing the similar ‘doctor’ role of the castle that she once had with her village in the past as well as how she had lived inside the coven for probably as long as Alexina had.
Hellena’s eyes only widened as she watched Usoa take her merry time with the piece of flapped skin. The red head had already been aware of how…unusual… the witch can be. Though at the very least, she was wearing pants for the occasion.

In the end, Alexina had then declined both suggestions, and Usoa was commanded to stop.

Lucy should’ve been keen enough to listen to her owner’s words. Indeed, after giving Alexina the odd compliment, the coven leader flashed the snake a sharp glance, but still stayed dead silent.

“M-My apologies.” Lucy silently hissed, her head coming down low on Hellena’s shoulder. The owner gave a small smirk as she glanced at her little venomous pet. “Told you.” Hellena whispered.

Hellena’s eyes returned back to look at Alexina as she proceeded to list down her though-out punishments. The first was to perform a Penitence mission, the second was for their powers to be taken, and lastly, death.

Hellena had jotted down her own little thoughts on Alexina’s listed punishments.
With what these 5 witches had done and what they had caused, a Penitence mission didn’t seem all too enough. But in any other questions, what kind of Penitence mission can come to Alexina’s mind? A kind of mission that would make up for the loss of more than half of a village. Raising the dead and apologize? Not even a Master of this world can do such a thing.
Though seeming to be a reasonable choice, the second one will most definitely be of big objection to someone like Ryleth, the warlock. Being one of the only male witches in the coven, the one easy feature that Hellena can extract from his liking is his immense ego. He doesn’t seem to get along well with their coven leader either, for sure. If anything, he would have anything up his sleeve to counter it at any time. Doubtless, it would steer more trouble.
Lastly, Hellena didn’t seem to have the need to think the last choice though, as it would be the most reasonable choice of all.

A big smirk made its way across the corner of Hellena’s lip.
She couldn’t help but think;

What if she could spice up the third choice?

In these kinds of scenarios, the red head tends to always have tricks up her sleeve. Literally.
Hellena dug into her lower loose sleeve such as how a magician would and pulled out a small glass bottle with liquid inside the color of glowing dark red.

The last thing that Hellena would want to do is emerge from the crowd and feel the discomfort of eyes glaring on her, in so she decided to stay in her place.
With the red glowing potion in her hand, she waved it up just by a considerable length, not too high to attract much attention, in where she only wishes to gain Alexina’s alone.

“Hmmm...?” Lucy took notice of her owner’s action and hissed as to let out a small giggle. She knew what Hellena wanted to do. But with the hesitation that was clearly visible, Lucy decided to give her owner a helping hand.

Lucy slithered from Hellena's neck, down to her body till she reached the floor and made her way through the crowd and until she reached the front to where Alexina stood.
Once she neared their dear coven leader, Lucy quickly slithered up Alexina's leg, all the way up to her body till she reached her neck and eventually wrapping herself around her like a loose scarf.
"Mistress Alexina." Lucy hissed. "Pardon me for the sudden interruption, but I do believe that my Mistress Hellena can lend you... a helping hand perhaps?" Lucy remarked as her little head jerked up to Hellena in the crowd with the little glowing glass bottle visible in her hand.

"Maybe... a potion that, well yes, temporarily takes away their powers? They live a life of a normal, boring little human. And the only way they would get it back would be through...a pricy request perhaps?" Lucy slyly hissed closed to Alexina's ear. "Or! Or, what about a potion that tortures them every night? A deep sleep, in where they live in the world of their worst, hellish nightmares." Lucy continued with excitement lacing around her voice. "Ah! Yes! What about... a little poison?" As Lucy went on with her last suggestion, she slithered her body further to come face to face with Alexina. "A poison that is slow to spread, but yes, utterly painful. Limbs one by one will rot and die, until the very last drop reaches the heart. Not even a witch can survive it through, the devil himself will make sure of that." Lucy concluded with shedding a hellish grin at the coven leader.

As she watched from afar her little slithering friend work her charm, the red-headed witch couldn’t help but feel an inner spark for her deep adoration for her potions, and the smirk on her face only grew wider and wider.

Phagora stood like a statue, her eyes flinty and dispassionate. When Alexina mentioned that the criminals had three choices, she slowly mulled them over in her mind. Not that there was actually any decision to be made. She'd never let her powers be bound, and dying was an obvious nonstarter.

"Alright, Alexina. I'll take this mission. Do whatever you want me to do, hunt whatever you want me to hunt. Just point me in the right direction and let me loose."

---

“Think what you will, but I assure you that this was not the coven's doing. That may have been the old way that things were done, but Mistress Alexina is changing that,” He said, watching the witch carefully, less he need to flee her wrath. “It is an unspeakable evil that your village was caught in the crossfire of the coven’s growing pains. But I can assure that every one of those foolish enough to have attacked your village will pay back every drop of blood they have spilled,”

In the distance, the ringing had stopped. Although the caravan of humans seemed to have been riled into action by the noise. Their numbers and weapons were apparent, even from this distance and spelled out only one thing. That it would be absolute maddeness to stay. ” It’s a tiny offering, I know. But you will have safety in the coven. You’ll have people that know the you you couldn’t be before and value you all the same,” He watched the witch pace to him and back to the depths of her cave.

“I know I am the last person you will want to hear this from, but there is nothing left for you here. Every soul that once resided in this village has been released by the flames that burned it to the ground. So I ask again, will you come back with me? Let us prove that we aren’t the monsters a few of our….members want us to be," Taran stood just outside the cave a moment longer.

“ The lone witch rarely survives the night, if I have not convinced you now, hopefully you will think on it, With a last look towards the ashy remains of the city, Taran turned and started heading away from the witch. The fox stood a moment longer, nosing at the dirt, before following his charge.

---

The rough texture of the man’s arm offered hand engulfed not only her hand, but a portion of her forearm as well. All the while, the tavern begin to fill with all sorts. The cheerful few who had not heard, witnessed or cared about Goldencrest started to water down the somber tone of the night thus far. Leaving the tavern with a very run mill sort of night. It wouldn’t be a night where the drinks flowed till everyone crashed under the tables and the oldest hunter told long winded (somewhat believable) stories about the ‘Golden Days of Hunter’. Nor did it seem that the horrors would be allowed to dictate the full mood much longer.

“My name is Emilah,” She said finally, watching the Andvari drink deeply from the mead Bobby knowingly poured. Clearly Bobby knew of this man if he was so bold as to offer the unasked for drink. He must have been one of the ‘good’ ones for Bobby to make such an effort with the drinks. Before the conversation could continue, a third voice joined the conversation.

Emiliah could hear the man long before she could see him. The much small hunter had most of his body blocked out by Andvari’s much larger form.
"You stink of the road mister! If you don’t bathe properly the prey will notice you. ....and then you'll die...I'm Sanjin, do you have work?"

Straining slightly to see the face of owner of the voice around the giants figure, Emiliah saw a man. He was much smaller than Andvari (although who wasn’t), with a mess of scarlet hair. His clothing was not so out of place at the tavern, save the mask strapped to his hip, proclaiming him to be one of the ‘pack’.

She wasn’t unfamiliar with the pack. If you stayed Seren’s Folly long enough you were bound to run into a least a few. They tended to travel together and, as her father put it were, ‘An odd wiley bunch, but good enough when the real enemy is breathing down yer back,’. She had only hunted with them a few times, but they always seemed well enough. If a bit enthusic at times.

"I'm surprised to see a member of The Pack so far North this late in the year, Said Emiliah, watching the boy bounce on his heels. It was clear by several of the hunter's around responses that very few had exposure to members of the pack.

Usoa dropped the hunk of flesh to the ground with a pout, crossing her arms in defeat. It would have been interesting to try atleast, but Alex was apparently in no mood to experiment. "Its not torture if they're still alive at the end and...fine..." She grumbled halfheartedly, more out of childish irritation at not being allowed to try and put the broken witch back together than anything else.

However, Alexina's offer for the prisoners....confused her. "Wait. why are we even offering them a choice?" She asked softly. "I mean...they did a bad thing. why not just take their powers then?..."



Sanjin shook his head at Andvari. "There's a creek bed about a mile south, water comes up through the sand so its decently clean! And no. Its better to have a neutral smell overall. If you smell like you do of musk and loose dirt you stick out too much." He said, never really stopping for breath between sentences and still bouncing excitedly on his spot in the floor.

He was about to continue when another hunter spoke up, asking the nice barman if he was some sort of entertainer. The sound of the insult flying over the younger hunters head was almost audible, the excited smirk stitched on his face not faltering in the slightest. The other hunter was tall and clearly experienced, if a little dim. If he was a werewolf he'd never come this far into town. It was a lot easier to hunt at the fringes and bring food deep into the woods.

He was about to inform Draco of this when Emiliah interrupted, probably saving both men from yet another odd exchange. "Oh. Yes. Most are south right now...or heading there. Some of us are still here to get more experience, resources for winter or ...you know. Get Mates." He explained, pausing awkwardly on the last one. These folks barely seemed to understand how dangerous smell was, so he wasn't sure he wanted to explain why inbreeding caused problems.

Walking down to the lower part of the cave, Celosia thought over the conversation. The man was right in everything he said. Even if the truth did hurt. Celosia still didn’t want to believe the life she had created had simply been destroyed over the period of a day. But it was time she let reality in as if she didn’t her life could be at stake.

The town was already bringing hunters to it for investigation. She knew that they would probably search every inch of the nearby area and more than likely uncover her cave. If she stayed, Celosia would fall at the hands of the Hunters. But if she went, could she control herself to not burn the witches responsible for the town’s downfall? Celosia wasn’t sure of that, despite knowing there was safety with the coven, she knew murdering other witches would not be okay. Her temper was an issue with her though, one that was as fiery as her. But maybe they could help her with it? Maybe she could learn more about who and what she was?

Celosia grimaced. Did she want to know more about the monster she was? The monster responsible for murdering her own family? She didn’t know. But she did know she wasn’t done making up for her sins and that her best bet was to go to the coven. Go with the man and the fox.

Stopping once she reached the bottom of the cave, Celosia stared at the place she had once called home. Bending down she stuck her hand into some lava, picking some up in her hand and using her magic to keep the lava from falling to the ground. A faint smile showed on her lips as she moved it around making shapes with it before letting the lava fall back into the pool of lava. With one last look at everything and her mind made up, she stood in a firm stance and concentrated. She lifted a larger amount of lava out of the pool and threw it onto where she had a few items. The lava completely disintegrated the items as it slowly rolled back to the pool of lava. No trace of Celosia would be left behind in this cave. It would just be a cave with some lava.

Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, Celosia took a deep breath and turned before running up and out of the cave. Stopping at the cave entrance she looked around located the man sent to bring her back to the coven. Once she spotted him, now a good distance away, she knew she needed to distract him so she could catch up. Placing her hands together, Celosia created fire between them before closing her eyes and focusing on a shape she wanted.

Opening her eyes again, Celosia lifted her top hand to reveal a small butterfly made of fire. It had been a new spell she was working on so she could only make smaller creatures and for short periods of time but it was perfect for now. Mentally instructing the creature on what to do, the little fire butterfly took off from her hand going straight towards Taran. Once it caught up to the man it began to fly around him, back and forth in front of him, and sometimes land on him before taking off again.

While the butterfly distracted to keep him from getting farther away, Celosia lightly jogged towards the man and the fox. Once she was within range, about 10 ft from them, she slowed to a walk. The butterfly did one more loop around Taran before flying to Celosia and landing on her hair before disappearing.

“I will come and join your coven but on the condition that if I choose so. I can leave the coven if I am unhappy with it, without any consequences. I also make no promises in being able to control my temper if I meet with the coven witches responsible for the massacre of the town. I will try, but my temper does tend to have a mind of its own.” Celosia looked to the man, her face showing she was serious and not going to budge on what she said.

Then her face lightened ever so slightly. “Also I believe names are in order if we are going to be in this coven together. Mine is Celosia.” She informed him as she walked past him, stopping once she was a few feet ahead of him and looking back. “We should get going though. I don’t want to burn the forest down by accident so I’d prefer we make it before the sun sets.”

Aromull
Witches Paradise
Speaking with Bobby @Aerandir

------------------

Aromull was quite used to everyone outside of Ninevar saying he spoke rather oddly. He really should change his wording and accent around but he still had the mentality that saying anything lower would be of insult to those he spoke with.

The scholar followed behind the girl, or Lil Red or Hood as she proclaimed to be called, and at last arrived at the counter to meet her uncle. The girl seemed to struggle with repeating his words to her, but managed to get them correctly and walked off to continue working. "Thank you madam!" He called out as the girl walked away to serve more drinks. Aromull turned to the man that was confirmed to be Bobby. Secretly, a wave of relief went through him with the knowledge his entire journey actually lead to something this time.

"Ah yes, so good to finally meet you sir! My name is Aromull, I'm a graduate scholar from the school of Ninevar," he extended his hand but reclined to not interfere with Bobby's work of preparing drinks. "I was recommended in your expertise in the field of witches by a colleague of mine. You see, I've been creating my own work on the supernatural world, and was hoping to develop a large section for witches," he explained, opening his book on the counter and flipping through several pages to Bobby. Many pages contained notes about particular supernatural, some even containing sketches of various supernatural and locations. When he turned to the witch section it came up with only a few scattered notes on them. "I was hoping to ask a few questions about them, and possibly conjoin with any hunts going out anytime soon." He paused for a moment, looking around the area before turning back to Bobby. "Might I first ask why the name 'Witches Paradise'? Seems a bit odd for a tavern meant for hunters."

_{Brought to you by Ellion and @Aerandir}

---

---

...It has been debated heavily amongst scholars about the exact origins of hunters. Surely anyone can (and many do) pick up a sword and run into battle. There are thousand of corpses that prove this fact. But the question remains, what makes the difference between a true hunter and fool with a sword. Father Tav theorizes that it is a mixture of luck, skill and determination (in that order) . There are many would agree with him, indeed this writer assumes that most of humanity holds this view (there would be a great many less dead fools otherwise). However, Father Huggs has noticed an interesting pattern. That a great many notable hunters born outside of ‘hunter clans’ and all seem to have been born under the blood moon……

---

---

“Finding a mate...Well good luck with--” The door of the tavern slammed open, groaning as its massive weight bounced off the wall, cutting off Emiliah’s sentence. The sound startled and drew the attention of the most of patrons. Even though a big shot slamming open the door was a fairly common occurrence. There was always someone who thought their message was worth the attention of everyone. Sometimes they were right in thinking so.

Following the door was a rather...Nondescript man. He was of average size and build and wore a red half cloak that showed the clear signs of ‘having seen some stuff’. The man carried his weapon as thought he was expecting a fight or had just come from one. Judging by his appearance it was the latter.

His face was covered in a collection of small cuts and bruises, common injuries from running through the thick woods that surrounded Seren’s Folly from every direction, save the few narrow roads in and out. The quake in his step alluded to having come a far distance. The closer he got, the more extensive his injuries became. Scarlett drops scatter across the floor from a deep gash on his forearm that held up his bow.

“Bobby-” His voice was hoarse, breathless. “We’ve got- got a slight problem ,” The door slammed behind the man, knocking whatever strength he had been holding. He collapsed to the floor. A monster of a wolf that had enter behind him crouched next to the fallen man, lapping at his injuries, trying to revive his human.

Bobby stopped his conversation as he maneuvered behind his bar to get a better look at who called him from the door. His eyes wide seeing the boy collapsing to the floor. “EY!” he bellowed. “What you all waiting for? Pick the lad up! Soph! We need some towels!” He limped around the bar as he noticed nobody was moving. “Well come on you Idjits! Quickly now. Up on the table. Don’t want him bleedin’ all over my floor!”

Interactions with @Ellion.

Sheffield was amongst the first to react. He seized an arm and shoulder first--heavy! He registered the weight he alone would have had to carry, had one hand thrusted into his satchel for a bandage, or anything to stem the bleeding for now, then looked around for help. They needed more people for a safer pass onto the table.

Any poison? Disease? Where is the doctor lady? The wolf that might bite if anyone got too close? The young Hunter gave the wolf a breif glance. Where was the girl? Who was this man? Sheffield tried to process these thoughts as he scanned for any more injuries that could open if the man was moved.

The young Diggard had just set down another drink when the doors slammed open, turning her head to look, Sapphire’s eyes widened. There was one of her older brothers, bleeding from a deep wound. She immediately ran to his side after she watched him collapse to the ground. Standing next to Mishka frozen with concern. She felt a slight tug on her hood before she was lifted off the ground by her wolf.

"Mishka, come with us. Let us get out of the way so they can help him. The healer woman is at the bar tonight. See there she is.” Hunt informed the other large wolf, looking to a woman shoving past people as she tied her hair fully back. Her golden eyes focused solely on Flint. "We will be of no help over here. We will just get in the way, that means you too Sapphire. Come this way." Hunt nudged Mishka with his back hip, turning her in the direction he then began to walk off too. He walked to where there were less tables but they had a clear view of where they were tending to Flint.

Hunt set Sapphire down but didn’t let go of her cloak as her sat down, causing her to begin to fall backwards. This is when he did let go of her cloak, letting her fall back onto back. Hunt then lied down, placing his front paws and his head on Saph’s lap.

Sapphire groaned as she landed on her back and let out a breath as the weight of Hunt settled into her lap. “Hunnnnttttt” She whined wanting to go to her brother and aide him. But she knew Hunt was correct. That healer lady was quite good at what she did and she’d only be in the way. So she settled for sitting up and watching from where she was stuck.

---

---

Rowyn had been simply sitting at a table by herself in the corner observing people within the bar when she heard the tavern door slam open. She casually looked over to the door and immediately she was up on her feet. The man at the door had a large gash on his forearm, it was still bleeding quite a bit and the man was showing signs of fatigue and blood loss. It didn’t help that his words were slightly ominous. As soon as the man fainted she began to make her way towards the front where he had fainted. She pushed men out of the way as they looked at the man.

‘Stop looking and actually help the man you idiots.’ Rowyn thought, ignoring the protests of the men she pushed. Their protests stopping when they noticed who it was. She continued pushing through the crowd tying her hair fully back as she went.

As she approached her body she noticed how only one man had gone to help lift the injured man off the ground. “Oi! Stop gawking like children and help lift the man on a table. Or are you really going to let a woman show all you manly men up by being the only other one to help lift this man.” Rowyn called out to the gawking hunters. Her no nonsense side showing. When she needed things done to help an injured person she had a way to get people to help her. Especially idiots like these in the bar.

After she called the men out, there seemed to be a scramble as more men approached and help the other man lift the injured up onto a table. The men immediately cleared the way for Rowyn as she began pulling things out of her bag and setting them besides the man’s arm. After all her supplies needed to treat the wound and the man were on the table she tossed her bag under the table. Looking to his arm she noticed the leather bracer he had on would get in the way so she paid no mind to the people around and lifted up a small part of her skirt to reach her thigh and pull one of her daggers out. Being careful not to cut the man she cut the bracer off, throwing it to the side. Rowyn then poured the alcohol in one bowl, the soapy water in another bowl, and regular water in the last bowl. She then poured some of the alcohol substance on her hands sterilizing them before grabbing a rag and soaking it in the soapy water.

Rowyn tried washing the blood away but frowned noticing that she’d have to stop the bleeding first as her first rag was now soaked in blood. Setting it to the side she grabbed a long 2 inch thick bandage. She lifted the man’s arm and slipped it underneath moving the bandage above the elbow. She let it sit there for a moment as she quickly sterilized her needle and suture thread and made sure everything else she needed was nearby. Once she stopped the bleeding with the tourniquet procedure she had learned, she’d have to work quickly so to get the blood flowing in the limb again.
Once she was sure she was ready, Rowyn zoned in completely blocking out the noises of the tavern. With swift hands she began. Lifting the bandage around his arm she brought the strands together and began twisting them, tightening the bandage around the arm until the flow of blood seemed to slow from the wound. Once satisfied, pulling taut she brought the two sides around his arm again and tied them to keep it tight. She then immediately began cleaning the blood off with soap and water, satisfied to see that she was able to see the wound clearly now. The location was lucky, no tendons were ripped apart. For a hunter that could mean the end of their career.

Once she finished cleaning it with soap and water, she moved his arm so the forearm was hanging off the edge of the table. Using the soapy bowl of water to catch, she poured the regular water over the arm, rinsing excess soap away. She then laid a clean rag down and placed the forearm on it. She finally took a rag and soaked it in the alcohol. She used the rag to get within the wound to get dirt out and fully clean the wound as gently as she could. Fully sterilizing it the best she could. Grabbing the needle, she threaded it swiftly before getting to work. Rowyn was skilled at stitching wounds at this point so getting each part of the wound was easy work for her. Once she finished she took her dagger and cut through the tourniquet allowing the blood to return to the lower part of the arm.

In an unused bowl, Rowyn pulled out some herbs and crushed them adding some water and mixing it together. Going to his head she placed a hand under his head lifting it up slightly before pouring a bit of the mixture into his mouth. Rowyn finished up by applying an herbal paste over the stitches and bandaging his arm up. “The drink I made should help a bit with his pain and should wake him back up here soon.” Rowyn said, mostly to Bobby knowing how he had reacted to seeing this man come into the tavern like this. “I will stay with him until he wakes up and I know he is stable.”

Kalisel looked at the man with wide eyes. She hadn't expected a wounded hunter to hunter to come in. Then, eons of experience that hat ingrained itself into her mind took over.

The wound had been stitched, but the internal damage still needed fixing. Blood to replenish, skin to regrow. No hack herbalist with a knife could ever do what she could. Placing her hands on the man's forehead, she said in a calm but firm tone, "The power of Heaven heal you, my child." But something was wrong. Where was the glow of divine light, the surge of holy power? Then she remembered the endless plummet to Earth, and she knew. "Oh, right."